B&B: Week of April 27, 2009

[brimike]

LOL! Just giving you grief, Mark. Sorry!

[sheilaforever]

Caroline was too pure on some occasions but Joanna Johnson gave her an incredible "aura". The Karen character on the other hand was terribly conceived but after so much time and in a different context like now could work. Actually she could well give the show some dignity back.

That is, as long as Brad is writing her as a strong female again and we're ready to have her clash with Brooke. For the same reason I'm cautously interested in TRIDGE and the current sparring of Taylor & Brooke. I think I gonna start watching B&B very soon and will even catch up with some episodes prior...

[MarkH]

Ultimately, Faith was a mistake, and Karen was such a ham-handed attempt at a reboot, it boggled the mind.

Karen was no Caroline...and she NEVER INTERACTED WITH RIDGE (well, barely). I realize Taylor was on the scene, but Karen never sparked with Macy or Thorne.

(In 2009, Karen would possibly have had a thing for Macy...if she were still alive...hmmm recurring mistake by Brad Bell...and that might be a heck of a lot more interesting)

I cannot invest in Tridge. Taylor is ruined for me on many levels, and Ridge was NEVER anyone I rooted for. I love it when Moss plays BAD. I wish he were the show's villainous central male...he could do that well. But as romantic lead or emoting father...nein danke.

[DRW50]

I don't think any woman on B&B will ever be allowed to have dignity again. That ship sailed somewhere around 2002.

I loved Caroline, and I still think that charm scene with Caroline and Ridge was one of B&B's finest moments (and Ronn Moss gave a very good performance). I was never into Karen, because the show never seemed to care about her, but I did watch today's show to see Joanna again. I had heard that she didn't want to appear oncamera again because she'd aged too much, but that's obviously untrue, because she looks great.

I will miss Bill Spencer. He was an important part of B&B's early years, and I enjoyed his scenes with Margo. I also liked his brief relationship with Darla. I don't remember how that ended. I do remember a quick story where Katie took naked photos of him as payback for him publishing naked photos of her (as insane as this sounds it must have been better than what HTom's had to play). I don't remember most of the details. I thought Bill was a hot soap "daddy" figure, probably one of the first I crushed on, actually.

[MarkH]

I hear there might be future Bills who are hot daddies too...somewhere...someday

[Cheap21]

Watching Monday's show now but didnt we already get these same Taylor/Ridge/Brooke scenes just a few months ago?

Is B&B EVER going to resolve the Brooke/Ridge marriage issue. She and everyone keep talking about her marriage and how Ridge is her husband but they NEVER got married. Thats a major detail that keeps getting ignored.

Stephanie Douglas is love. Her monologue against Eric was fabulous

[sheilaforever]

At the risk of taking this thread further off-topic - kinda like every Y&R thread as soon asthe Colleen issue arrises LOL - I must say that I agree and disagree with you at the same time.

Ronn Moss is indeed best and actually not half bad while playing bad. Moss seems [a] to be enjoying such material and it seems to be within the emotional range he can portray convincingly. That's why I would like to see Ridge and Taylor in Victor & Ashley type of storyline where he schemes against Rick or anyone else for that matter, yet plays innocent master of the house with his madam.

The reason I want Tridge and am 1000 % certain that the show could benefit from it is simple: There's no longer much emotional investment on my part on Taylor or this couple involved which I both once loved, but the simple fact that Brooke is beyond useless when paired with Ridge. Moss sucks the life out of KKL, the pairing is sickening on so many levels (starting with Moss' hair patching on KKL's head and probably ending with them talking about a non-existent "marriage"...) and Brooke is ridiculed to a liveless Victoria Newman-pod. Brooke works best as an outcast, pining for a man or acclaim in business: that's one issue both Bill Bell and Bradley soon got in the early years of the show and hence they wrote off the Logans and ut Brooke in story driver seat. Since Brad is giving KKL basically 99% of screen time, this character has to be appealing in order to make the show watchable - obvious errors in the writing department in terms of pacing/plotting aside of course.

Therefore, I'm hoping that the return of Spencer Publishing and an imminent break-up of Bridge will re-draw the battle grounds with Ridge & Brooke & the other Forresters squaring instead of playing happy homemakers.

And finally: Bill Spencer was just devine. One of the show's great male characters. He was deliciously evil and a great sparringspartner for Susan Flannery. Hopefully

[MarkH]

Stephanie's monologue against Eric on Tuesday is a WORK OF ART! I cannot wait till the transcript is posted. I was so happy to see Joanna Johnson. I know she's not coming back, but that actress just ELEVATES. One thing I'd forgotten about her is that her line readings are just so natural. It honestly puts Moss and Lang and Tylo TO SHAME. I mean, I was a little surprised how "dry eyed' everyone was about Bill Sr...but his death was just an out-of-the-blue plot device, and they scripted that folks had a long time to anticipate this...so I guess it was okay.

I'm happy to have Karen mostly off-screen, but occasion guest appearances like this would be uber-cool.

[MarkH]

You know, I can't even disagree. For all the ruination her character has seen, I can't stop loving Brooke/KKL. Hands down, I'm her boy.

So, I agree, her current "torn between my son and 'husband'" tale is awful.

But I also don't want to see a 40-something woman always striving, yearning, searching for her destiny.

It actually makes me wonder if Brooke can WORK as a bona fide character at this stage in her life. She is a perfect "young heroine/villainess"...but now...

I think I'd like to see Brooke's romantic life be 'settled' (in whatever way) and not part of the story. I'd like to see Brooke be mini-Stephanie, manipulating the lives of her many children (who need to be SORASd). So I guess that is similar to your hope for Tridge, whom you'd also like to see 'settled'.

I think the relentless inability to focus on folks other than the big-four...especially with GOLD like Heather Tom and Lesli Kay on canvas...is appalling.

All I know is that some kind of rivalry between Heather Tom and Lesli Kay would restore this show to glory.

I also wish, wish, wish, wish we could have a better Thorne. But I realize I'm in the minority on that one.

[JackPeyton]

IMHO Brooke needs to be revamped.

I am talking Ridges makes her choose between him and Rick. She tells him to [!@#$%^&*] off and get out. She startes her own fashion empire on her own no help from anybody and insetad of always being a woman of love be a women of buisness who doesnt need a man to make her happy and happily strings them along.

That will never happen tho.

[Cheap21]

I dont think the show can handle 3 fashion empires. It could barely manage with 2 the past couple of years

[MarkH]

We seem to be getting back into a magazine empire, too.

I wish they'd remember Brooke was a CHEMIST. That is her special gift. (Just like Taylor is a failed oncologist).

[MarkH]

4/28 script was by Tracey Ann Kelley, and directed by David Shaughnessy

This is Stephanie's "goodbye" speech to Eric. No matter how many millions of times they have gone around this block, it is always terrific to see and hear. For me, Eric and Stephanie are at their best when they're fighting. I hope they stay this way for a long time to come, and that Eric is allowed to be more withering and verbal in his response.

Indeed, in the dialogue below I mostly excised Eric's lines, because they were just cues to help Flannery get through her monologue.

[skiman12082004]

I find it truly amazing how B&B can transform itself from awful to great from one episode to the next. I am loving the show right now though. Stephanie is B&B to me and when she is front and center or involved in the major happenings I find the show to be at its best. Surprisingly, I absolutely love Jackie & Owen. And I want Ridge to leave Brooke for being an idiot.

[MarkH]

You know, in transcribing that Stephanie monologue (because TVMegasite didn't have it up yet), it became very clear to me that Flannery "channels" the dialogue but probably doesn't read what is written. There were a lot of "fillers" (ums, uhs)...which made the dialogue seem a trifle more natural.

But she is quite remarkable, because...without ever raising her voice...she did these most remarkable things...a bemused sigh here...a heavy sigh there...a furrowed brow...a defined pattern of movement around the office. Another key point is that Flannery and McCook never broke eye contact...so they were LISTENING to one another, I think...even though he wasn't doing much talking.

I really, really want Brad Bell and team to have the courage to at least BACKBURNER Brooke, Ridge, Taylor and (for my taste) Donna. Just recede them all, if not write them off. I love KKL, and I am drawn to whatever she does...but the character is so destroyed now. I don't have any sense of what HER goals are...other than to keep everyone happy. Back in the day, Brooke's goals (snag Ridge) DEFINED the show. I'd love it if she could set new goals (and, for my money, they'd be Stephanie-type goals...living through her children...trying to engineer goals for them).

But we have some intriguing players on this show. Although I'm not fond of Nick Marone, Jack Wagner is capable when challenged, and there is this interesting group of others (Heather Tom, Lesli Kay, Leslie Anne Down, and -- yes -- Brandon Beemer) who could all give us something fresh, I think. But it requires backburnering of the core (except for Stephanie, who must be played 5 days a week until she dies).