B&B: Old/Classic Discussion & Articles

[Liberty City]

I hated the swap-over; Clayton Norcross, to me, was far superior in the role of Thorne than Jeff Trachta ever was. And the recast left me disliking Thorne when he was the superior son to me.

As for Teri Ann Linn, I feel like she got the raw deal. Kristen was very clear as a forefronting character, especially in her rivalry with Stephanie, and it feels like she was dropped off for Felicia, and they never returned it. Not to mention the subpar recast with Tracy Melchior in 2001. Someone like Brenda Epperson (ex-Ashley, Y&R) would've been more suited for that role.

[bongobong]

I haven't seen Melchior in the role, but it would be astounding if she's worse than Linn. Her rivalry with Stephanie was sidelined IMO because Linn was one of the few actors who didn't have chemistry with, nor raise her game, when paired with Susan Flannery. To be fair, she did show some signs of life in scenes opposite Darlene Connelly, but way too little too late.

It feels like Bell finally woke up after the Thorne switchover and sidelined the Kristin character with Mick to 1 or 2 appearances a week. As a result, the show improved by leaps and bounds after she was inexplicably at the center of the show for most of 1989. Margo is so much more enjoyable when not tied to that albatross. Even Clarke is watchable with less Kristin interaction. She can't exit stage left soon enough.

As for the new Thorne, I agree that Norcross feels like a Forrester a lot more than Thrachta, even if the latter is a better actor.

[fivethej]

Is there first encounter scenes when Brooke first meets Sally and Amber first meets Stephanie & Eric? Tried checking old recaps but had no luck finding anything. If so, does anyone know air dates on either?

Edited June 14 by fivethej

[Maxim]

We are close to abandoning the classic re-watching at 2003... This year is impassable. It's soooo badly written day to day, the dialogue is so wretched... it's giving me 2024-2025 level of nothingness.

We just have to push through till 2005 when some more upbeat stuff happen and Patrick Mulcahey comes to write some beautiful dialogue!

[Maxim]

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I don't know what happened to this episode, but it's not 1080p. It's very low quality. I hope this doesn't happen a lot. 

[BoldKara]

It's 360p. It's worse than the original 480p one on YouTube with the counter and clapper. Clearly the intention was to load a 1080p version given the "Full HD" branding, but someone screwed up uploading it to the channel. Like all the other errors on the channel, it's unlikely to ever be fixed.

I wonder what version they play during the "live" airing on rotation?

Edited June 14 by BoldKara

[Maxim]

Judging by how absolutely everything they have played in these live streams so far comes from the actual playlists (same quality, same glitches, same everything)... I'm inclined to believe it's the same 360p quality. Bummer, but I'll live with it if it's only this one episode. LOL, it will be very over the top if they continue putting 360 episodes with 1080 tag. Youtube actually bans channels for things like that.  

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[Maxim]

Youtube is finally up to Stephanie's fake heart attack.

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[Maxim]

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Ugh... they uploaded the amazing Brooke/Stephanie clash in the hospital in 360p. I mean... it's one of the highlights of the year. So bummed. I wanted this episode in HD. 

[Liberty City]

Seeing season one during the Shout! FAST on Prime Video and then continuing my first watch-through and landing on Jeff Trachta's Thorne (debut episodes), it's painful seeing the transition. Clayton Norcross is the definitive and superior Thorne.

[I Am A Swede]

They should have cancelled B&B when Susan Flannery left. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, can compare to Stephanie vs Brooke. Susan and KKL are pure gold together.

Edited June 17 by I Am A Swede

[kalbir]

I had a feeling SF retirement was going to overlap w/ the 25th anniversary which it almost did.

SF smartly walked away on her own terms and Stephanie got a proper sendoff fitting of the show's matriarch.

[Liberty City]

I agree: she said, "This is the time you have and I'm out". She did it on her terms, on her accord, and it showed.

[1974mdp]

ITA. My teenage self had a huge crush on CN and was so sad when he was replaced.

Also, Tubi now has the early seasons to watch on demand as well!

[Anooj]

I’ve made it to February 1999.

The first half of 1998 was very mixed in quality, held afloat mainly by the Rick/Amber/CJ material. But ever since May or June, when Ridge finally picked between his two women, the show’s been good. I love Amber’s pregancy storyline, and the Rick/Amber/Kimberly love triangle. Sheila’s psycho breakdown was entertaining, though it’s sad to see her gone from the show. I also greatly enjoy the Brooke’s Bedroom storyline, and the one about the return of Macy’s lost father. 

The only real weakness has been the Pierce/Taylor hypnosis storyline. First it consisted of weeks of interminable and repetitious scenes of the two arguing back and forth about the ethics of the program (it didn’t help that the show failed to establish how exactly Pierce’s technique differs from regular hypnosis). Then it went campy with Pierce’s assistant secretly hypnotizing Taylor into falling love with Pierce, which had some fun moments, but all of it got dropped in an unsatisfactory manner.

Also not a fan of how little we’ve seen Stephanie/James pair after Sheila left. It seems Bell was only slightly more invested in them than Stephanie/Jack, a pairing that mysteriously disappeared back in ’94. The sense of tragedy over Mary’s disappearance with Sheila is also nowhere to be seen, even though it really should be a part of their relationship dynamic.

Overall, I’d rate 1994-98 as such:

1994: 5 out of 10 - Easily the worst year among the 1987-2002 group, barely saved by the generally high quality of the January-February period, some fun moments with Sheila, and the Thorne/Macy Rotterdam storyline. But I hated Taylor devirginizing James due to an earthquake, the Prince Omar saga, the sidelining of Stephanie’s feuds with Brooke and Sheila in favor of the statutory rape storyline with Dylan, Connor becoming the show’s public toilet, the loss of momentum in Sheila’s storyline due to Brown’s maternity leave, and many other things.

1995: 6,5 out of 10 - There’s much garbage here too (Sheila’s disappointing exit storyline, Thorne being schooled in prison life by ”Slash”, the interminably long reveal of Taylor being alive to the wider cast of characters, the overall lack of storyline coherence in the 2nd half), but the best parts were genuinely entertaining: Anthony Armando’s villainy, Rick not wanting to be raised by Ridge, Maggie/Dylan, and Eric’s fake proposal to Sally.

1996: 7/10 or 7,5/10 - An extremely entertaining year, just lacking in overall macro-level storyline cohesion (e.g. the muddled nature of whether Stephanie/Eric are now a couple; Maggie gets framed for Stephanie’s poisoning, but the police inexplicably stop following this lead; Stephanie inexplicably not blaming Brooke for tampering with Bridget’s paternity test past a certain point, despite the letter’s true origin never coming out; Ridge’s sudden pivot to Taylor after Brooke kisses Grant). But if one tuned into a random section of the year, it seems a high quality example of how a soap should be, and is almost never boring.

1997: 7,5/10 - A far more cohesive year than 96, with a near-great first half, but somewhat less entertaining than ’96 overall (the Taylor/Thorne storyline, while interesting at first, eventually grows a bit grating and repetitious, as did the story where Sheila is living with Maggie and James while pregnant).

1998: 7/10 - If we went by just the 2nd half, it would rank above ’96-’97. But the low quality of the first half drags the overall rating down.