The location was pretty, and KKL did a good job. I'm too hard on it.

But that never seemed like an umbrella story to me, more like a reason to break up Brooke/Ridge again. The whole thing was a rewrite, and they never even finished the story (not letting viewers know whether Brooke or Sheila had done that). The only story which I remember coming from it was Sheila poisoning Stephanie.

That was the real start of the awful musical pairings - poor Grant was thrown at a half-dozen women, then stuck with Brooke in a story which was never going to develop. This led to Rick shooting him due to "violent video games," in a story so pathetic, it was immediately dropped.

Ah yes, I remember that. I also remember Chubby CJ and Rick having a rivalry in middle school and TBH that was the best part of the entire "young Rick" story. Rick shooting Grant led to Ridge "bravely" deciding to take the fall for Rick and he nobly went to jail for a few weeks, where I'm sure his chiseled good looks made him the man-crush of the inmates. BTW, I thought Grant was just swoonsome and would have loved to see him pursue a relationship with Taylor, much to the consternation of Stephanie and Ridge. I also think that Grant was Macy's best pairing.

Wow. I had forgotten how stilted the acting could be in those early episodes. Even old pro Susan Flannery looked stiff and uncomfortable (though it was nice of B&B to through her in head-to-toe Chanel -- a Chanel pantsuit would do wonders for her today). KKL, Jim Storm, Lauren Koslow and Joanna Johnson stood out with their naturalness and ease in front of the camera.

Grant had limitless potential and effortless chemistry with everyone. Look where that got him!

The show was very stiff early on, not helped by some of the stories. I think the Forresters, aside from Thorne, clicked sooner than the Logans though. I get that they wanted a shock for ratings but I think the attempted gang rape on a first episode (even if it was offcamera) was a little too much.

It seems like the Forresters never find out what other people have done to destroy their family. They pointed the finger at Brooke when it came to Sheila changing Bridget's paternity, and of course we have this thing right now where they are not gonna let everyone else know that Bill changed Steffy's result. (Not that it would honestly matter now).

This promo describes Stephanie far better than any of B&B's writing has in years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM2UffWgqN8&feature=channel

How long were Stephanie and Jack together after Stephanie broke him and Sally up with that fake pregnancy scandal?

I guess that the return of Adam was a long term in the making since i have heard Sally make a reference to him an another episode other than this one. Too bad that Bradley botched it up.

I miss this Stephanie. This was the woman who you could go for advice to, but had an edge when it came to her enemies.(Brooke, Sally,Sheila.)

Taylor/Thorne round 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UfnZwnt1N8&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNAKw_erN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nrimxqHAHM&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8jjrZTmR8&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kGP3rKFMCg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9HLXPyXf_8&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ZWEu1nlHg

I always liked Julie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK0yb-w2plI