Um, so we have that ever lengthy thread on classic Y&R articles and discussion, I was wondering if we could do one for B&B? I mean the whole show is a hot mess and has been well at least since 2007/2008 and unwatchable but I'd like to think back to when I loved the show 1991ish-2006. A lot of stories liked and/or remember well have now been long forgotten like Ivana's murder and the mystery around it, Macy vs. Karen, Connor(someone mentioned him recently!) Dylan and Michael, CJ/Becky, Sly, Grant. Hell Macy was my favorite character right after Sally of course.

Edited June 27, 201114 yr by soapfan770

2 hours ago, YRfan23 said:

And in late 95 they teased Eric/Taylor. That woman literally tried to sleep her way through many families as Brooke has yet is still regarded as a “saint”

Well Just Like Brooke, Eric Is Making The Moves, She's reluctant but She's not utterly disgusted either, I'd say it would've been great if Taylor Became The New Mrs. Forrester at the time, not Only It would've been the incarnation of Bold and Beautiful I could see her making some changes in the family, Exercising her newfound strength and power, being Eric's Muse and Fighting Back The Entire Forrester Clan, and see Stephanie Biting Her Tongue

4 hours ago, YRfan23 said:

I always figured 1994 wasn’t nearly as strong as 1993, but it’s interesting that everyone on here notices the dip in quality compared to Bill and Bradley’s writing. I guess 94-97 seems better in hindsight compared to how messy everything on the show seems now. I do wonder if Thudley really was inspired by the likes of JER and the other more outlandish soap writers. 

We should not forget that the mid 90s were in Melrose Place craze. DAYS also excelled in the extreme stuff. I think this was the influence of the times for Brad Bell to got for HUGE shockers and some more OOC plots.

1994 ever since Brooke and Ridge got together and Dylan and Jessica started has been... absurd.

1. There are 2-3 monologues in every episode, while in the past people were talking to themselves rarely. Now Ridge is talking to Taylor's picture every other episode and every character is summarizing what happened in every episode. 

2. Episodes are repeats of the same episode again and again. How many times will I have to hear My lady... the prince loves you... or Taylor... Ridge has moved on... so should you. Repeat after repeat after repeat.

3. The pacing is SLOW. I mean... SLOW. Brooke and Ridge had 1 dinner in the Omar palace for like... what... 10 episodes... or 15? My partner has fallen asleep 2 times while watching the past episodes and this has NEVER happened before. Once we made a mistake and played an episode that was 10 episodes further... and we didn't even knew we missed like 10 episodes... I caught the mistake by the end and we went back and watched the missed episodes.

4. The dialogue is cheap and melodramatic. THE WORD.... LOVE... is used in basically every scene and every episode... Everything is so in your face and there is no subtext.

5. There are scenes that are like from a turkish soap opera. I mean... Ridge has gotten like 5 feelings in his gut that Taylor is somewhere out there... It's so unrealistic and laughable. The scene where he told Omar that he basically cant wait to DIE AND BE WITH TAYLOR again... All while Brooke is sitting there witnessing this... I mean... THE WRITING. If I were Brooke I would call divorce lawyer ASAP.

6. Stephanie has been deserted as a character... She is now just obsessed with her niece having sex and talking about this with everyone every episode.

 

My question is... WHEN is the show going to get at least watchable again...

I was so into the Princess Leila storyline when I was a kid. I thought it was the best thing ever. I even reenacted it with my Barbie dolls. (this is kind of embarrassing to admit...)

Let's just say that is one storyline that was far better in my memory than it is on the actual screen. (I still kind of do like the characters of Ahmed and Moustafa though. They remind me of some Turkish friends of my family when I was a kid.)

So far, the second half of 1994 leaves me with mixed emotions. I like that there are actually four storylines going on at once. What I don't like is that these seem kind of "isolated" from each other - during the Bill Bell years there was usually this feeling of the entire show existing within the same world, and you got a feeling that this was a world populated with people whose lives went on and evolved and whose stories intersected in different ways. It was even hard to talk about isolated "storylines" because the character-driven writing made sure that each and every character had their own story arc and everything just grew organically from there. Everyone and everything felt "alive" in a way. Everyone and everything was connected. The world they lived in felt "real".

The second half of 1994 has a different kind of plot-driven writing where each storyline exists on its own but less attention is given to the actual lives of the characters outside of the storyline they are involved in. And that makes the whole B&B universe feel less like a real world and more like a collection of unrelated stories. Very often, characters have ONE single plot-driven objective rather than an actual complex life. For example: we hardly ever see Jessica taking part in anything but her romance with Dylan. Thorne and Macy barely exist outside the studio. Taylor is isolated in Morocco. Ridge and Brooke are in a love bubble. But we see much less of the kind of scenes where many different storylines and characters can interact and develop, and too little of characters being involved in multiple storylines at once.

I think this is temporary because I do remember the first half of 1995 as very good (and I hope it's not my memory painting a rosy picture).

All this talk about the rest of 1994... can't wait to see it... and how lousy it gets 😂😂

I'm on 1800 right now.

10 hours ago, Videnbas said:

I was so into the Princess Leila storyline when I was a kid. I thought it was the best thing ever. I even reenacted it with my Barbie dolls. (this is kind of embarrassing to admit...

That's ok. Every soap fan has embarrassing confessions. I know I do 😂😂

Does anyone have the new German episodes from 7800 and can upload them? I would be very happy about that.

Another request, can someone upload the November 2022 episodes?

5 hours ago, Bundy1965 said:

Does anyone have the new German episodes from 7800 and can upload them? I would be very happy about that.

Another request, can someone upload the November 2022 episodes?

Yes i do . I will upload them soon

have you seen the new vault link from yesterday,posted in the vault thread? 

7 hours ago, Bundy1965 said:

Another request, can someone upload the November 2022 episodes?

I second that, can someone upload November 2022  ? 

On 12/2/2022 at 6:08 AM, Videnbas said:

I was so into the Princess Leila storyline when I was a kid. I thought it was the best thing ever.

Taylor the Desert Princess was cheesy and offensive and would not fly today.

On 12/2/2022 at 6:08 AM, Videnbas said:

I think this is temporary because I do remember the first half of 1995 as very good (and I hope it's not my memory painting a rosy picture).

The first half of 1995 highlights were Taylor revealed to be alive in Los Angeles and Sheila Genoa City past being exposed to the Forresters (we saw one of those eps during the 2020 classics). 

10 hours ago, rsclassicfanforever said:

have you seen the new vault link from yesterday,posted in the vault thread? 

Yes, I have.

I've been going through some VHS tapes. Found one of the missing episodes 2001-02-21 #3493 and uploaded it to the new vault. 

2 hours ago, Bundy1965 said:

Yes, I have.

Episodes 7800-7856 are finished. I am uploading more tommorow

Have fun. They are in the folder "german".

51 minutes ago, rsclassicfanforever said:

Episodes 7800-7856 are finished. I am uploading more tommorow

Have fun. They are in the folder "german".

I thank you very much.

13 hours ago, Pedro said:

I second that, can someone upload November 2022  ? 

I third That! The new vault has the November folder but no episodes 

Where are the recent episodes being sourced from? Not a complaint (I promise), but episodes appear to be SD 576p quality (I only had a quick look in the October 2022 folder).

Would it be worthwhile sourcing the international distribution edit instead? For those that may not know, episodes distributed to international markets are 2.5 minutes longer - they contain a bonus scene not broadcast in the US/Canada (the scene is known as ‘Prologue C’, Brad Bell explains here).

10play (AU) and Videoland (NL) both carry the longer edit. 10play is same pace as the US, however the 10play video interface is a dismal SD 576p resolution. Videoland on the other hand is HD, albeit 3 weeks behind the US broadcast. I believe the CBS website is full HD 1080p, however episodes are the shorter 19 minute edit.

Edited December 4, 20222 yr by boldau