B&B: April Discussion Thread

[Cheap21]

Did you see it in spanish? I suggest giving it a try bc that sh-t was hilarious

http://www.cbs.com/daytime/the_bold_and_the_beautiful/video/?pid=QFUZdR57f7C4KiNeX4OoGf76N4ph8Qie&vs=Default&play=true

[P.J.]

When Beth got to call Stephanie a bitch...just for a second, I wished that she'd been written as Stephanie's equal, not some half-witted lunatic who only got to call Steph out in some psychotic rage.

[bellcurve]

The whole reason why the form of soap has resonated with its rabid audience for years is because of the time writers used to tell stories. As I said in another thread, this story with Beth's Alzheimer's could have really been Brad's ace to be seen as a writer who attempted to say something instead of doing his usual flash-in-the-pan incest stories for ratings ticks and cheap controversy.

I don't expect every story on B&B to be as serious and as socially relevant as Wendy Riche/Claire Labine's General Hospital.

The way Brad has rushed this story doesn't make me feel or care for any of the players involved. This could have and should have been a story that played out for years. Not taking central stage, but with recurring appearances from Beth and Stephen over the years(and especially during holidays), showing how Alzheimer's hurts family, friends, and the person suffering with it.

Not to mention I can't completely buy Robin Riker losing her mind because a.) I can tell she's not into the material and b.) Because the writing is standard, cliche nonsense that we've typically come to accept from B&B, a show that refused to raise the bar. Now it's just too late.

Hope that didn't sound too "Marlena"-esque. I'm really just speaking from the heart.

[Cat]

TRUTH. It's especially hard to watch a show that has SO much potential waste it so purposefully. And vindictively!

Bradley Bell is the biggest, laziest hack in Daytime today. I don't care how many interviews La Flannery gives about how "Bradley is so smart," "Bradley really understands the challenges facing our industry," "Bradley would make Bill proud if he were alive today," "Bradley is the kindest man in show-business." Bradley can kiss my ass. He hasn't had an original idea since 1995. He is the Anti-Imagination. I'm not asking for Mad Men when I tune into B&B, but I am asking that "Bradley" treat his audience with a modicum of respect and intelligence. His plotlines clearly indicate that he thinks we have the thought processes of in-bred neanderthals straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

And I'm sick of this frankly insulting response that B&B is the shitstorm it is because of the "international market." Jesus Christ. Do people think everybody outside of the good ole US of A are brain-damaged peons reduced to crapping into a pot somewhere in Europistanland?

[Cheap21]

I hate that this show has no direction. It keeps changing its focus at the drop of a dime. Whatever happened to the Steffy/Bill/Katie triangle? Dropped and now they are pushing Steffy between Hope and Oliver. Whip and Taylor dated for all of 15 minutes and now are married and back on the backburner. We are in the middle of Stephanie/Eric/Donna round 5 and the focus has now shifted to Beth and her mental issues,after she and Stephen just appeared out of nowhere. Again what was the point of adding Justin to the cast? I cant even tell what Brooke/Ridge's storyline is. They are on almost anyday but dont do anything but talk. Love me some shirtless Bill, but how many times can Donna run into him and vent about her problems as if he cares? Bridget and Agness are BFFs, then enemies and now back to being friends and soon will be enemies when Bridget's one night stand comes out. And what was the point of Steffy finding that out and making it appear as if she was going to target Bridget next in her quest to destroy everyting Logan? Im getting whiplash just typing and thinknig of this crap. I wish the show had a clear vision and end goal in mind but they dont. They are writing this as they go along and will drop and start things for no apparent reason. Makes it hard to care or get invested

[bellcurve]

In hindsight, I often wonder if Brad Bell deeply resents soaps, which is why he doesn't bother challenging himself. I started watching the show regularly as a freshman in college(2002) and people say the glory days had long passed. I never thought B&B was just dog awful, but I always thought of B&B as the more accessible and the more interesting of the two Bell shows, given my track record with soaps.

I've definitely had my tune in and out periods with this show, but I finally just gave up on it and found that I didn't really miss it.

It's the same reason why people like Eric Braeden, Kristoff, and others praise Maria Bell in the press. Because the Bells like to blatantly lie to people's faces about being interested in someone when they are really too lazy, too uninspired, or to a degree, too threatened, to go beyond the norm and the status quo. Sue says this sh*t about Brad because she believes everything he tells her about her being so good and how the show can't survive without her and while that's true, he tells that to everyone. He's a spineless weakling who's literally incapable of finding his balls.

Pretty much.

Maybe so. But as I've said earlier, international revenue means [!@#$%^&*] to CBS. They don't make a dime off of this show's international revenue.

It's too late to do anything now. The Bells will slash this show to next to nothing to keep it on the air, even at the expense of its quality.

And Brad Bell's ego makes him incapable of retiring or handing over the reigns to someone with a fresh perspective(and NO, NOT KAY "WORKERBEE" ALDEN! Jesus God, she's a poor script editor! So much for all of her masturbatory grandstanding in that MIT interview.)

+1

[Rakesh]

I cannot believe how Stephanie is being written as a heartless, selfish, pathetic, man stealing, bitch.

[P.J.]

Steph's always been a heartless, pathetic, selfish bitch. It's not even that she doesn't have a point---Beth's family could benefit from professional help. It's just that once again, STEPH is the one making it personal, ranting about "the Logans" and how they should get the hell out of Eric's...when she really means HER house. It's NONE of her business how "the Logans" handle Beth, and it's Eric's decision whether or not they stay. She's a hypocritical bitch. NO ONE ever tells her how to handle her business...not with Ann, or when she faked Felicia's death to get treatment, or when she hid Angela away.

I admit, I did LMAO the other day when Eric snottily told Donna "(blah blah)what did you think I'd do? I stand by my commitment to you..." when she was amazed that he asked her parents to stay. Considering he'd just moved his EXwife into the guest house, over Donna's objections...I didn't blame Donna for assuming she'd find her bags packed and on the porch within 24 hours.

[Cheap21]

Stephanie is tame compared to the way she used to be. She used to be alot more mean spirited and heartless. I would hardly call her much of a bitch these days bc she's lost alot of that fire she once had. She vs Donna pales in comparison to her feuding with Brooke

[wingwalker]

You took all words out of my mouth and summed up problems with this show perfectly. I don't mind a show dropping a story if it's bombing with the audience, but this show has no direction at all. He'll focus on one or two stories for weeks on end, then all of a sudden they will be dropped and one or two different one still start and suck up all the airtime for a while. The writing is so volatile. If Brad's not going to step aside, I think Brad needs to take a trip to Europe a look at some of their soaps, especially German soap, Alles was zählt (AWZ). The parts of that show I see (since the whole show isn't subbed on youtube), reminds me so much of B&B in it's good days. It's basically the German version of B&B, except it takes place in Germany centers on ice skating, instead of being in LA about fashion. But everything else so similar and everything B&B should be.

[BadZoe]

She's always been writen that way.

PJ you left out the man stealing bitch. Are we even sure that Stephanie ever thought that Eric was the father of her baby? Or did she just find Eric passed out one night, stripped naked, crawled into bed with him and claimed Massimo's chld was his? I wouldn't put anything past that evil old bitch. It's a return to history having her shove Beth/Donna out and herself into Eric's life.

[P.J.]

Hard to credit StephanieSr. as a "man stealer", when the only man she's ever "stolen" is Eric. I'm not convinced Eric's capable of being faithful. For all we know, Eric dumped Beth the minute he understood Stephanie Douglas came from money. The more I see Eric heartlessly blame Donna for her "betrayal", the more I think "Beth the high school sweetheart" became a liability as his ambition grew.

I know the "official" story is something along the lines of "Steph beguiled a clueless Eric from Beth"...but seeing how he loves exploring "greener pastures" every chance the old goat gets...that story doesn't quite add up.

[Cat]

Exactly. I love Stephanie but even I recognize that she's a freaking psychopath. However, it always suited Eric to forever play Good Cop to Steph's ball-busting Bad Cop. To be the Good Guy, the Artist. The fact is, he's work-shy and lazy and under the delusion that he is this great, artistic talent. How wonderful to have the Douglas dollars plowed into a company built around his trifling ass, with Stephanie to do all the financial heavy lifting while he wanders into work from the golf course in order to "sketch" and run his hands all over the models. Uh, just to make sure his gowns fit them OK!

Beth was a sweet college romance, but the idea of him holding down a couple of jobs to provide for a family with her somewhere in Van Nuys when he could live it up having affairs with leggy models and charge everything to his wife's credit card was, I suspect, a much more palatable lifestyle choice.

I notice he didn't marry his True Wuv Donna until FC was in the Logans' hands.

[Rakesh]

Eric finally grew a pair of balls.

[P.J.]

^^^Oh, boy...I'm sure Steph's fangs will be separating him from them shortly...