B&B: Old/Classic Discussion & Articles

[Khan]

That scene was so ridiculous.  I wish Thorne had walked in before he did.  And no one is so drunk that they can't OPEN THEIR DAMN EYES and see the person they're making love to is not the person they're supposed to be making love to.

[BoldRestless]

That scene was fascinating... he literally goes with the "dude, it was a prank" defense.

[kalbir]

It was actually quite disturbing considering Caroline was a rape victim less than a year earlier.

[Soaplovers]

I recall that particular scene was the set up for a great 1988 story when Thorne (drunk on alcohol/sleeping pills) shoots Ridge with Stephanie witnessing it.. and Stephanie covering it up especially when Thorne forgets that he pulled the trigger.. while Stephanie takes the rap and ends up in prison.  I don't recall if this story was before or after Eric/Beth broke up and before Steve Logan came back into the picture or not.

 

1988 was a good year for the soap.. it was fairly balanced.

[sheilaforever]

Both the return of Stephen Logan and the beginning of the Angela story started before the shooting. You may check imdb.com for recaps of at least the first half of 1988...

[JamesF]

I've had a chill out day  today and decided to binge through a load of the 1992 episodes posted up thread.

 

When I watched in the UK, episodes started from 1994 and although I've  gone back and worn out YouTube since then, I've never watched so many consecutive full episodes from before the time. I've watched a fair bit of 1987 but it's all a bit dry and lifeless as Bill Bell got a grip on what worked.

 

Having got to mid-December 92, it's such addictively trashy soap. Even though by my reckoning there are 5 or 6 fewer contract characters than there are in 2019, the show feels so much more expansive and varied. It also (in spite of being 100% pulpy entertainment) feels so much more like it exists in the real world.

 

I've always (well...bar 2018...) loved Sheila but she is such a shot of energy and the different dynamics with the other characters are fascinating to see play out. The Eric/Brooke/Sheila awkwardness feels way more modern than anything you'd see on soaps today. All trying to be adult but stepping on egg shells.

 

It made me reflect on the state of the  show today. Instead of lurching from one story to another and letting the show basically eat itself alive, I wish someone could take over with a long term view. Work out the ideal shape and size of the  canvas, types of stories etc and then get there. Ridge/Brooke/Taylor should be filling the roles that Eric/Stephanie/Jack/Sally fulfilled in 92, not repeating the same stuff they were doing themselves.

 

On the other side, Karen  just does not work as a character at all. Joanna Johnson is perfectly appealing but I've got no concept of what Karen's personality is supposed to be. There's also a gross scene with her insinuating to an icked out Bill that she's going to "do things" with Thorne in spite of being a virgin. This is in the same set of episodes where Eric talks earnestly with Ridge about whether he does or doesn't want to have a new sexual relationship. Guess some things were always consistent.

 

Zack and Felicia are zzz too but that story seemed to be finished up quickly. No one story dominates for weeks on end.

 

I sincerely hope for 1993 in the future because  from what I've seen, it's even better.

 

 

[YRfan23]

I do miss the show having a variety of stories, and while it wasn't perfect by any means, it was delightfully fun to watch! Everyone was at least still pretty consistent on how their characters were suppose to act, but yes the obsession with everyone else's love lives on B&B I think is something that will never go away..haha

I actually really liked Felicia/Zack, and I always say I'll never get why it was so hard for the show to incorporate more stories for the Forrester sisters....watching Stephanie not being obsessive with Ridge and Eric, and actually showing concern for her daughter is much more fascinating to watch, and it should have been an on-going thing. 

[Marquise]

I really liked when Stephanie was so loving towards Felicia and Thorne. The story of Thorne shooting Ridge and she getting the blame showed how much she loved Thorne and will do anything to save him. 

[j swift]

I checked the IMDB recaps from 1988 and Ridge's party for Kristen with the 10 Most Eligible Bachelors happened the week after he slept with Caroline in June (still no video of the episode on youtube).

 

Not to indulge in too much fanfic, but, I wish the focus was on motivations for Ridge's voracious sexual appetite (cough, cough, his Oedipal complex) rather than pathologizing Carolyn's lack of sexual desires.  B&B always played off Ridge as 'just a playboy', but his need to sleep with every woman that his father and brother have ever slept with (except Stephanie) is odd.

[BoldRestless]

I've been trying to catalogue the B&B that I have, and I noticed that the IMDB listing is messed up for 1987 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092325/episodes?year=1987

 

It jumps from episode 100 on 8/7/87, to episode 102 on 8/17/87, to episode 105 on 8/28/87.  I highly doubt those were preemptions, so that means I can't go by IMDB.  It's really annoying because some people upload B&B by date but others upload by episode # (probably because it's so popular internationally with various airdates).  Does anyone know of a reliable resource to obtain episode numbers?

 

[sheilaforever]

The problem with 1987 is that - apparently - there were like a dozen (!) premptions in July/August. Yet, it seems impossible to find out when exactly the show was preempted. So it’s all a wild guess. 1988 is a lot safer as there it seems were a lot less  preemptions. Often airdates given on youtube are sketchy at best as there is conflicting information.

 

The easiest way to get episode numbers is the German recap (but don’t buy the supposed US airdates listed there...) site I posted a couple of pages earlier in this thread. But beginning with episodes from 1989 I think.

Edited March 17, 2019 by sheilaforever

[Marquise]

i have used this episode archive http://www.history.soap-reichundschoen.de/index.html

But there are some recaps with wrong dates and some are missing, also there are recaps with same text different dates.

this has been a problem for me too.

I have been collecting episodes of B&B for ages.....

Still can not figure out some dates.

Actually i do not care for dates, but for real episode numbers.

Edited March 17, 2019 by Marquise

[kalbir]

 

Iran-Contra Hearings were July 13-August 7, 1987 but I'm not sure how much the daytime lineup was affected. 1987 is also the first year I remember the US Open break in September.

 

[YRfan23]

Based on some research, ( not sure how correct this is) I have the 1987 Y&R/B&B preemptions as:

Jan 1-New Years

July 7-15, 23,24-Iran Contra hearings

Sept 7, 11- Tennis

Nov 26,27-Thanksgiving

Dec 25-Christmas 

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by YRfan23

[sheilaforever]

Speaking of airdates: do we have the exact date for the first TRIDGE (Taylor & Ridge) wedding in May 1992? 

This is day 2 with the actual ceremony.

 

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