Jumping in on what JamesF and MarkH already said, the dialog they quoted, along with some quotes from Eric, was very telling about a lot of things that B&B has often been vague about, specifically regarding how Forrester Creations is run. Many people have asked for years, "Just what does Stephanie do at Forrester Creations?" This was especially puzzling if you remember the earliest episodes of B&B, where Stephanie was in the audience or in Eric's office, watching and cheering him on without being in the thick of things during their fashion shows. At the same time, Stephanie always talks about how she and Eric founded the business and made it what it was. But the drama of Friday's show had dialog that filled us in by making part of the story rather than beating us over the head with a narrative.

Stephanie told Rick:

I was keeping this company afloat before you were born. I was the one that bankrolled Eric and got him up on his feet. No one-- no one in the fashion world ever believed that high fashion could come out of Los Angeles, California. I made them eat their words.

While around the same time, Eric was explaining to Donna why Stephanie stays around by saying:

She's been here since day one. And to our suppliers and-- and to everyone who works here, our employees, all of our customers, she's a walking assurance that everything's gonna be the same, that our quality's gonna stay the same and our promises will be kept.

and:

We started this company with a loan from her miserable father. And if she hadn't been such a terrific businesswoman, we wouldn't be standing here today.

All of that makes sense when you think about B&B's history. Eric had the design sense and the talent to create these beautiful dresses, but then he agreed to marry Stephanie after she told him she was carrying his child. And even when Stephanie got her father to put up the cash so she and Eric could start their own business, Eric was no businessman. His family, as we learned years later, came from the farmlands, so what would he know about starting, and more importantly, running a business, in Los Angeles, no less? But John Douglas tried to make Stephanie into the son he never had by teaching her about the business world, so Stephanie handled the business side of this new venture.

Over the years, Eric learned about the business end. While Stephanie was raising their children, Eric eventually had to go it alone, but he had the benefit of what Stephanie had taught him when they started F.C. Eventually, the kids grew up. Their sons joined the family business and the daughters moved away to get away from their domineering mother. So with the business a success and now run by Eric on his own, and with the children all grown, a malaise crept into their marriage, setting the tone for one of the cornerstones of the show.

Now consider Rick's comment:

My father already fired you as his wife. You know nothing about fashion nor marketing or money except how to spend it.

When you think about Rick's lifetime, is it any wonder he sees Stephanie as nothing but a society matron? By the time Rick was born, Eric's marriage to Stephanie had ended, with Eric then engaged to Rick's mom. By the time Rick was 3. Brooke had gained majority control of Forrester, which further phased Stephanie out. And even during the times Stephanie and Eric were back together, Stephanie only had a major role in the company once, during the time she gained full control after learning that Eric had hidden her ownership of Forrester from her by not letting her know about the Douglas trust. During that time, we saw that Rick was right: Stephanie doesn't know about fashion, since confidence in the company dropped when she abandoned lines championed by Eric, Ridge and Brooke and turned to fashion for the average woman. When that all adds up, I can see why Rick, Donna and viewers all question Stephanie's place in the company based on what's been on screen for almost 22 years.

Quite a bit in a few lines of dialog, huh? And the setup for a lot of this came out of the controversial death of Phoebe story, so maybe something good might come out of it after all.

Edited January 11, 200916 yr by boldfan01

Other than Mykel Shannon Jenkins's brief stint in 2007 before being dropped to recurring, TB is B&B's only representative of diversity among its recent contract players, so will that be enough to keep him around?

It seems like CBS has been trying to do their part for diversity. This case could be much like the controversy in colleges, do you keep him for his diversity or because you really need/want him. I really don't care whether he stays or goes, I just want them to fix the script problem I mentioned before.

Many people have asked for years, "Just what does Stephanie do at Forrester Creations?"

They really slipped that in carefully in the midst of these awful B&B weeks. I know I've always wondered, lol. But I think the business-side explanation makes the most sense. She doesn't act like she cares THAT much about fashion (except for what she thinks is awful).

I'm sure tomorrow we'll get some waffle-y choice by backbone-less Eric.