B&B: Week of January 19th, 2009

[SOAPSFOREVER]

Interesting choice to have Rick sabotage his family company. But why was Steffy crying about the storen designs. Crying?? Angry, yes. But boo-hooing to Rick? Seemed like a strange acting choice.

[bellcurve]

What was the point of bringing it up?

(1) Because I can and (2) Because she is.

No one needs to be "the new" anything on a TV show. Unless someone is being recast, why bother trying to pigeonhole a character to fit a need?

Cheers was just fine without Coach and Diane. Woody and Rebecca were completely different characters and still added alot to the show's dynamic without being copycat characters.

Yeah. What DaytimeFan said.

[Money]

It would not have that much of an impact when he told her he was responsible if she wasn't hysterical. Compared to the others she was way over the top. If it was anyone other than Rick she would be in the background.

[bandbfan]

I wished it wasn't Rick. The only good thing I see in this is that Stephanie can say she told Eric so. This will just make the Rick/Steffy thing bigger when it eventually comes out. Does he really think not working together is going to fix everything? And Steffy working there? What can she even do?

Brooke WOULD go over there and try to use her powers to convince Nick.

Really random of her to be so sad about it. Crying to her mom about it, when Taylor has nothing to do with the business? I can see her being mad. But even the adults who worked on it directly were much more constrained.

And the worst part is that this whole good story is being used as a tool for that awful couple.

[P.J.]

I'll admit I was shocked. Then I was ashamed I was shocked, because it was a really obvious choice.

[Toups]

I agree on both accounts. The traitor being Rick was a big disappointment and today's scenes with Rick/Steffy were just awful. The show was on fire this week and then it just blew up on Friday. What a let down.

[MarkH]

Perfectly said. I guess this is THE most CONSISTENTLY UNEVEN show on daytime, eh? What is amazing is that those two words shouldn't go together .

But we're all like gambling addicts. We keep tuning in because maybe today, for a rare change, will be the day when something good happens.

Oh, I have a question. Why is the whole future of the Marone shipping empire riding on the financial health of this little chain of boutiques? Or is it ONLY Jackie M that is going bankrupt? It sounded like -- when Nick was talking about supporting his family -- that all of Marone Shipping is in trouble due to Jackie M. Weird.

[DaytimeFan]

It's certainly only Jackie M Designs and the Jackie M boutiques that are going under...fortunately Brad and Co seem to have deliberately forgotten about the shipping industry (which had no business on B&B!).

OK so the traitor isn't exactly a brilliant choice...but it isn't bad either. It blows up the Forrester/Logan alliance because it's Brooke's son, the one who 'killed' Phoebe, who is responsible. I don't really mind and the last two weeks of LAD gleefully poaching designs has been a joy to watch.

I'm just happy fashion is back, B&B, to me, is the easiest soap to enjoy, even when it's bad. It's only half an hour, the sets are nice, the people are pretty, the acting is generally passable for all involved...it's campy, it's hammy, it's fun.

[bandbfan]

I don't really know what that would do though, other than just make Thorne and Fefe keep b!tching. Donna isn't close to Rick and with back-boneless Eric, I don't see him blaiming her. Brooke is the closest to Rick. If she doesn't side with him, then I don't see this changing the dynamic that much. If she did still like Rick, would she jump ship to Jackie M for him?...somehow I don't really think that would happen. Never know though. Basically for anything big to happen, Eric would have to grow the balls he hasn't had for 21 years. He doesn't even have to kick Rick out since Rick is going to Jackie M on his own accord.

[y&r_fan]

I brought up Aldrich and Seymour to make the point that Heinle is much more accepted by viewers. Bellcurve brought up Sursok to be provocative. That's the difference.

BTW, I didn't mean to offend anyone who liked Aldrich and/or Seymour.

(1) No she's not and (2) you were trying to start a fight (a Y&R fight in the B&B thread, no less!).

So can we PLEASE keep these conversations civil and on-topic?

[boldfan01]

Nick hasn't had anything to do with the Marone shipping empire since early 2007. After Stephanie exposed Jackie's secret past selling herself for sex in Seattle at the first fashion show of the Marone-run Forrester Creations, the Marone board voted to oust Nick as Marone's CEO and to sell Forrester Creations (which Marone had purchased from the Forresters and Brooke). Stephanie and Ridge were quick to offer to buy back the company, but Nick pulled a fast one and sold all his Marone stock options to the new CEO in return for getting Forrester and the Marone mansion as his severance package. When the Forresters opened their new company, Forrester Originals, Nick tried to lock them out of the market by taking out loans against all his assets to buy up all the couture distributors except Fenmore's, which he incorporated into Jackie M. After Nick sold Forrester back to Eric, he used some of that money to buy Spectra, which has also since been incorporated into Jackie M, but he still had loans to pay off. So pretty much everything Nick has is tied up in Jackie M in one way or another.

[foxhunter]

7. Victoria has been retooled to fit Amelia's range.

this is such a sad statement. tragic even...

[boldfan01]

And most of those recasts had reasons behind them. Winsor came on when Jeff Trachta, a recast himself who had dropped to recurring, didn't want to go back on contract. Colleen Dion couldn't do the bi-coastal gig, so they brought on Lesli Kay when Felicia returned to die. Emily Harrison failed as a rushed recast when Jennifer Finnegan left, so Bridget was off the canvas until she came back as Ashley Jones. Rick similarly had been off the canvas for a while, and I couldn't see Justin T playing the stories Kyle did. Donna and Katie, outside of occasional visits, had been off the canvas for years. And bringing back the previous Steffy would have made no sense since Phoebe had been recast. These weren't recasts at a whim like other shows do.

[bandbfan]

And B&B has been lucky for the most part, with the exception of JenFin leaving when Bridget was on the front-burner and they needed a fast filler. I'm sure the good treatment of actors by the show is one of the reasons (as far as their personal lives anyway). And even when they SORAS the kids, they usually take a break from them for a while so it's not so plainly obvious. Phoebe and Steffy weren't even that big of players when they were kids so it didn't matter. Even though B&B may be a big mess at times, at least they handle their re-casting pretty well.

[boldfan01]

Yep. Almost every actor on the show loves the work/life balance of being on the show, to the point where some have mixed feelings thinking about B&B ever going to an hour since that will surely change the dynamic.

It's probably tied to the half-hour duration and the idea to get the most bang for their buck out of their 20 minutes of airtime a day, but the kids spend a lot of time off screen anyway, and that probably helps. Even the previous Phoebe and Steffy, who were teens and weren't that much younger than their recasts, were shuffled off to London to get them off the canvas. When something like that happens, the prior versions might come back for occasional visits (like Drew Tyler Bell as Thomas or Justin Torkildsen as Rick). But when the need comes for them to come back to a story that warrants a change (like Rick, Phoebe, Steffy), B&B will make that change.