B&B: Old/Classic Discussion & Articles

[Y&R21395]

haha She certainly nails that sinister appearance like no one else can.

 

Most of my B&B memories seem to be Ridge, Brooke and Taylor. My Dad's side of the family were massive American daytime fans, Ronn Moss and Hunter Tylo were the favourites. I think I'm the only child that ended up liking any soap operas at all. Granted, I've always been a Y&R fan before a B&B fan. I think the only soaps my mother and siblings ever watched were Home and Away and Neighbours.

[YRfan23]

I honestly always had more of a recollection of B&B characters then Y&R......maybe cause it was a small cast, and even then I always sensed Y&R was a huge cast, but besides Victor, Nikki, Jack,Katherine, Cricket, Nina, Paul etc (oh and the Winters though I never got their names when I was that young LOL they were just the black people to me when I was little haha)......I never really had such a strong recollection for most of the Y&R people as bad as it sounds......I honestly didn't realize characters like Jill, Lauren,Danny,Ashley,John, Victoria,Ryan etc.....existed on the show until I started watching old clips...LOL I know that sounds bad.....I think the first time I realized Lauren and Sheila were enemies was when I watched her fighting with her in the wedding dress, and I was like "gosh this red headed woman sounds so annoying....who is she?, why does it seem like she hates Sheila so much then Stephanie?  etc....haha......then I got introduced to the lab fight and it was like "woah this isn't B&B....."the music sounds soo scary".....yikes those screams at the end......LOL then I did my Sheila Y&R research and the rest was history...LOL

[soapfan770]

Hey guys, thanks for sharing those 1994 episodes! It was a good time period for B&B really although it was indeed cheesy! I certainly remember when Taylor first got her memory back it was a really, really bad joke: 

 

Omar: And today we shall go horseback riding to a lovely view on the top of the ridge!

Taylor: On top the Ridge? Ridge? Ridge? RIDGE?!!? Oh that sounds so familiar!!!

 

As for Michael Sabatino he made a decent, sexy villain on the show, probably the last time he actually looked decent in a role(he really let himself go). The Ivana murder caper was fun, although it was sad that the zany, sinister Ivana was so brutally murdered and then Sally being gunned down on the way to canasta by Anthony during the story's climax. 

Edited January 19, 2016 by soapfan770

[YRfan23]

LOL I just remember Brooke literally hyperventilating when she realized it was Taylor in that goofy disguise.......(maybe that was the 2005 return? haha) 

to me the Omar stuff is one of those old stories a modern day writer like Carlivati when have an orgasam over.....just because he would totally put a modern day OTT camp spin to it....

Edited January 19, 2016 by YRfan23

[soapfan770]

Ah it may have been in '95 when Taylor was running around with Sally and Gladys with that hideous British accent. Her 2005 return she disrupted on Nick and Bridget's umpteenth weddings by screaming and getting kidnapped and everyone thought they saw Taylor but weren't sure. Brooke and Taylor were actually initially very civil when Taylor showed up alive and were trying to accept each other.

[YRfan23]

I forgot about Gladys and Sally being a team for a while.....there was once a hilarious scene posted when Lauren and Stephanie became enemies and she was bitching to Sally and Gladys at the hair salon about her, and Stephanie was sitting right next to her with her head covered the whole time....haha B&B arguably can be better with comedy then Y&R is (which tbh would probably make some of the stories more watchable if they added more humor......)

 I remember Brad Bell attempted several times for Brooke and Taylor to become friends even going as far as them both getting therapy and doing a mud fight Dynasty rip off.....it honestly proved that no matter how much of a you know what Brooke is, it's always been the fact that Taylor is so self righteous acts like she's better then Brooke most of the time...even being in denial on how much her own daughter turned out to be more like Brooke....

[Y&R21395]

I have to agree there, I remembered a lot more of the characters from B&B than Y&R. Y&R however appealed to me more because it was the 'darker' soap in my eyes, the storylines intrigued me much more than B&B. I think because as you said with B&B being the more campy soap and injected a lot more comedy than Y&R, that was what pushed me more towards Y&R.

 

haha Yeah, I did a lot of Y&R and B&B research on YT too. As much as I do have a soft spot for the early 2000s because that was the Y&R I remember, I could not believe how much good stuff I had missed out on. B&B I'd disliked for years by this point, but it was the same result. I could not believe how much Sheila alone had committed before I was properly introduced to her in her 2002 stint, on two soaps no less! I had no idea she and Lauren had so much history together. One of my favourite experiences however was finally getting to see just when and how the Stephanie and Brooke feud began. 

[YRfan23]

oh yeah, I agree with you on Y&R being the darker soap as another thing that stuck with me as a small child was how dark looking the show always seemed....I think I probably said to myself "why does it look like it's always nightime" LOL of course way later I learned it was intentionally like that and even now that's a characteristic I'm sad the show has lost forever.....

The B&B research led me into Y&R research LOL.....all I did basically was remember things about the show like Sheila, Sally and Brooke/Stephanie fighting (as I've always had a soft spot for mother/daughter in law's feuding because of a son.....like Kate/Sami LOL) 

Of course I became very intrigued with the all the stuff Sheila committed on Y&R but back then when I was just getting into all that stuff I was just stunned how much I learned she basically was in her own bubble.....for some reason it was always the younger Y&R characters at the time I was more interested on how Sheila would effected them if they crossed paths....people like Victoria,Ryan,Nina cause visually I probably would have liked to see them all standing side by side, especially since Scott Reeves was such a baby faced person who I couldn't believe once had such a beautiful mature looking woman like Kimberlin as a co star(I seriously probably would ask him in person point blank what he thought of Sheila since that was basically the big story going on when he first came on LOL), but I'm glad now they she never crossed path except with Lauren, Scott, Paul and a few others....

[Y&R21395]

I agree completely, the fact that the show's entire look is now gone is probably what annoys me the most watching the current episodes. I could easily mistake it for any other soap opera on the air. Days of our Lives and Y&R air back to back here in Australia, I have actually done that on a few occasions (Y&R's quite a bit behind here, it's amazing how much this show changes over time!!).

 

haha Besides Sheila, needless to say as I think you know, Brooke and Stephanie were the highlight for me for a long time there. Could not get enough of them. And seeing how it all began was an absolute ball. Hell, even now I go through that Susan Flannery fan site and find new clips of them I've never seen before. I almost hate to say it, but Sally was a character I never really began to appreciate until I got older unfortunately. I think it's because I was more interested in Macy than anything to be honest 

 

One storyline I cannot believe I did not know a thing about, even up until I discovered these forums, is David Kimble. I had absoluely zero clue about the character's existence at all until I saw those Masquerade Ball episodes I think it was. I was in total shock that Y&R had a sicker and far more twisted villain than Sheila running around, while she was still in GC! 

[YRfan23]

The show's production is just godawful now.....jeez it has never looked so cheap and what's funny is that it's been that way for years now.....for the first 25-30 years or so Y&R's production looked so much more cinematic compared to the other soaps, and now it looks like some cheap school production if I'm being honest....I can't really say which soap has the better production (probably B&B) but Y&R is not at the top of the list...

haha I actually first discovered Brooke and Stephanie actually being enemies when I was watching the episodes of Stephanie going ballistic  on her at the big bear cabin when she was involved with Thorne.....haha i kept thinking Stephanie was so scary, but I remember liking all the flashbacks they showed of Brooke being a bitch to Stephanie and even then at the age of 8 I think I was rooting for Stephanie haha...of course I found out that Stephanie did some pretty awful stuff to Brooke but I think it was pretty even matched for the most part....Sheila being Stephanie's ultimate payback.....

Yes Lorie B's site I believe? that's a very good site that unfortunately I haven't visited often but they do seem to have almost every Stephanie scene which is great! They use to be on youtube which was better but of course the copyright idiots drove them away....

I feel like there is a void with Sally being gone....they tried to fill it with Pam and before I think Jackie, but it just never quite works......I have thought that if anyone could be the show's new Sally, Tawny would be a great choice....I always liked Andrea Evans so maybe that's why I'm thinking of that, but it would be kind of fun for her (and Amber) to come back and somehow she inherits or gets enough money to start a rival fashion house......I could see her and Brooke rebuilding that modern Stephanie/Sally rivalry considering how Brooke always felt about Amber....

Yeah David and Sheila being on at the same time is pretty fascinating......I think the first David scene I saw (which is in my episodes) is Jill squeezing David's balls at the hospital LOL.......when I realized that the scene was in 1991 while Sheila was still on there, I think I was just more shocked that Jill did something as crazy as Sheila would have done.......I always knew Jill was the show's bitch but that was such a psychotic dark thing to do and I always thought if Jill and Sheila were enemies it would be a bloodbath LOL.....but it's fascinating that Sheila and David DID have a scene. together, in one of my September 1991 episodes David breaks into John Silva's office (in his disguise) to look up Nina's will, then he has to hide behind a desk cause in walks John with Glenn Richards AND Sheila....who came wanting to know how they can keep her mother locked up without visitors (this was after Sheila made it look like Molly was gonna kill herself) David looked like he was so into Sheila's conversation but when they left all he said was "finally those morons left" and all I kept thinking is that if Sheila had advanced hearing, David would have been a dead man....LOL

 

[Y&R21395]

 

 

I would probably go with B&B having the better production design. At least when I look at it, I feel like I'm watching Bold, even if the writing isn't...well, great, or even passable.

 

That's what I loved about the Brooke/Sheila dynamic. Them bonding over their hatred of Stephanie was just great. It was nice to finally see Stephanie up against someone completely out of control and willing to go to limits that only she would go to once upon a time. I'm just disappointed they never crossed paths again after 2002. Was Sheila's final reign of terror in GC ever acknowledged on B&B? 

hahaha Oh, I laughed until I cried at Jill's handywork on David. The look on Katherine's face just made it even better  Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that scene in John Silva's office. I don't think I could have tracked that episode down faster if I tried, I was over the moon when I saw that. I had to chuckle at his comment about them. If only he knew, I almost get the feeling he'd admire Sheila for her equally twisted ways.

[YRfan23]

I feel like Y&R was the opposite of that for a while....while I admit the production was pretty solid till maybe 2005/2006, starting from even the early 2000's I don't think it was ever as good as it was before that.....the writing was at least strong though, so that's what held it together...IDK it just seems like the real classic look disappeared as early as before 1999 IMO....and it's kind of a weird obsessive thing to say, but I always love the episodes starting with the "CBS Sterosound" logo cause it made the show look more movie like....same with B&B, but I always like Y&R's better cause they start it with their background music most of the time....

Oh I agree, Stephanie really had it coming with all the stuff she pulled the first 5 years, whether she was driven to do it or not.....It's so sad that even today someone who had potential like Quinn to cause damage to characters who deserve it, like Bill have never full been developed and or made to look weaker then they should be.....and I say that cause I like Quinn and her causing Chaos to Liam was great fun....but Bill really deserves payback for just being a prick altogether....LOL

haha, yeah the scene was so perfect and to top it all off, Jill and Kay both looked so good int hat scene.....seriously I know the 80's/90's had some OTT wardrobe but the outfits are part of the characters and Jill's were a character of their own (like her long hair) which is why I cringed of how frumpy she dresses the last 12 years or so!

I love that episode and have watched it several times....haha, it's also crazy that in another 1992 episode Sheila met Michael when she was visiting Cricket....I would have never guessed they interacted before the 2005 stuff, Cricket introduced them and they shook hands, LOL he seemed so captivated by her.......I guess Bill Bell wanted Sheila to at least have one scene with the big male psychos at the time, for the fun of it...haha

 

 

 

[Y&R21395]

 

I love that CBS Sterosound logo as well. The one thing I despise the most in regards to the first 'Best of' DVD release is they edited them out at the beginning of each episode, and not with much care because you can just hear the last section of the music cues they'd play over it.

 

Oh, I know what you mean, I LOVE Quinn! I'm disappointed Stephanie isn't around to witness all the chaos that she's caused. Can you imagine the hell she'd raise if she was around to discover her son nearly died in that helicopter accident because of Quinn and Bill? I'm hoping this is just the calm before the storm. I was worried after she nearly killed Liam that she wouldn't be around for much longer. 

 

Jill really has lost that larger than life sense of style hasn't she. Hell, no matter how campy an outfit looks, she somehow manages to make it look good. I absolutely HATED that shorter cut she adopted for all those years. Still, the one character out of everybody that made shout 'Oh, hell no!' in terms of hair style was Lauren back in 2000 when she had it cut beyond short. 

 

Oh wow, Sheila and Michael had met previously? I had zero idea. I can't even remember if it was mentioned in any of those 2005 flashbacks or what, but I was always under the impression they'd never met until she returned to GC. Good for Bill Bell though. If that was his intention to give Sheila and David a scene just for the hell of it, at least he was clearly having fun writing all of this. 

[YRfan23]

haha I did notice that.....but really, I know they started doing those in like 1988 or 1989, but it just made the show a lot more interesting to watch.....I sometimes cringe a little if an episode decides not to show it for some reason, LOL 

 

Oh Stephanie would loathe Quinn for sure......but I feel like she would totally just blame Quinn for everything and not really bother with Bill which would annoy me.....gosh I just hated how Stephanie while not actually doing anything had the gull to call Hope a "Logan" cause she was trying to save her relationship with Liam....Steffy was and IS still the Brooke there and Taylor and Stephanie had to be totally blinded by that......if anything I feel like Stephanie should have been warning Steffy that her antics with Liam are reminding her too much of Brooke. It just made no sense....I'm not saying Hope is totally innocent but she was ganged up on those years.....I get so annoyed when any show goes into that phase were all the manipulating people gang up on the "innocent" person while supporting the other girl's actions....almost like they are trying to put out "bad is more fun and good is boring"...

I can;t believe it's been almost 15 years that Jill's hair has never fully recovered....even the way it looks now,with it being sort of grown back isn't as appealing as it should be....

Oh G*D! you had to bring up that hideous short hair of Lauren's!...LOL, I still remember a comment made on one of those 2000 episodes when Lauren came back to help Mackenzie with the prom and was talking with Katherine, who also had a lot shorter hair then, that they looked like lesbian lovers. and they did, haha....I don't know what it was but it seemed like 1998-2001, the short hair look was in for practically all the leading divas on soaps.........Y&R had Katherine, Nikki,Lauren,Olivia (though she wore a wig mostly) and even Nina with really short hair, and on B&B Stephanie and Brooke got into it to (though Flannery's short hair was a wig too cause of cancer) I guess it was just a popular style then.....unfortunately for people like Lauren and Nina it just didn't look right...haha

here is the episode where Michael and Sheila meet

It is really weird how they didn't have Michael or even Cricket remember them meeting as you will see here SHE introduced them.....I don't know why it's hard to keep little details like that in check.....but I think it certainly would have been more interesting if Michael remembered this......though to be honest sometimes people do forget meeting people from a long time ago....

[Y&R21395]

 

It just set the tone of both shows immediately. I actually mentioned this in a seminar I did at college recently, I used the opening to 10/04/1991 as an example. That ungodly creepy music cue I used to only be able to associate with Sheila, but David is the first person to come to mind nowadays. That truly was a morbid, eerie, sadistic storyline, and I loved every second of it

 

I actually picked up on that too. Steffy's antics definitely remind me of Brooke's early years with Eric and Ridge more than anything. I used to utterly loathe Hope, but I have to admit, after going over some 2014 episodes recently, I actually miss her. Hell, I don't even mind Ivy dare I say it. The only thing I have to say on that one is I would love it if they stopped giving her the victim card to play, I would love it if her devilish side came out and she went up against Steffy or Quinn.

 

hahaha Oh, you didn't think I was going to let that one slide did you? haha Yeah, I remember that being a thing for a while there. Hell, I just have to go through my photo albums, people such as my aunt and my mother had that hairdo and do not have fond memories of it I remember Ashley had a similar hairstyle around 2002 wasn't it?

 

Wow, thanks for that! I actually remember seeing this episode on YT years ago, I think it was on saynotoursoap's channel. I'm surprised I didn't remember that scene. I'm absolutely digging how intrigued Michael was about her too. Oh, if only he knew I am surprised that scene was never used for the 2005 flashbacks. But, as you said, even if they did forget about this scene entirely, you could narrow it down to Michael  himself just forgetting, considering how much happened between them meeting and her return over 10 years later. It would have been a sweet scene however, in the opening to 08/08/2005 when Michael was going through the GC archives, if he saw her face and recognised her. I would buy it if he only knew her as Sheila Grainger to begin with.