B&B: Old/Classic Discussion & Articles

[will81]

I also feel like they don't seem to care about character anymore. Soaps should always be character driven and story comes out of that. I think this is why I don't recognise many of the vet characters anymore (outside of the actors trying to maintain continuity for them) and I don't care about the new ones.

[Faulkner]

 

[Vizion]

Oh that's from B&B, the terrible years. 

 

I have to say, Flannery is Flannery and they obviously let her do what she wanted but I kind of hated the change in Stephanie's attire and overall lack of care given to her appearance after a certain period. The clothes, the hair, all of it felt very out of character. I think again most of it was the show doing whatever it could to make Flannery happy so she wouldn't quit that crapfest earlier than she did but still....

 

In the same vein, they also started letting Ridge morph into Ronn Moss with all the ugly scarves and that nonsense. 

Edited September 2, 2019 by Vizion

[YRfan23]

There definitely was some sort of deal set in to make Susan stay longer, because I think she had grown tired of the show at least a decade or so before she actually retired...

[DRW50]

Stephanie became such an awful caricature by her last decade on the show. I despised the thug life Stephanie we got of later years. 

[YRfan23]

Stephanie was always an obnoxious shrew (yet at least had more heart also the first decade or so) but half of what she became is why sometimes I wouldn't be able to stomach her hypocritical mouth anymore on this show.... and I realize it was never Susan's fault that Bradley got his jollies wet  seeing Stephanie being physically, emotionally and verbally abusive..........just because he thought that Sh*t was hilarious...

Edited September 2, 2019 by YRfan23

[Vizion]

 

Ronn Moss said something to the effect of Susan wanted to leave since like 2004 at some event. 

 

KKL is never going to leave but everyone else  from that generation seemed to be pretty over it the last decade tbh. Plus the show moved into becoming all about Liam and his harem.

[BoldRestless]

 

Has anyone ever tried to figure out the dates of the clips on this YT channel? I really prefer full episodes to clips, but with B&B, a 13 minute clip practically is the full episode, so it could be useful.

[Planet Soap]

I noticed this too! Somewhere after 1998ish it seemed Stephanie stopped trying to be the glamorous self she was earlier on. I grew up with gray haircut Stephanie but when I saw what she looked like in the late 80s-mid 90s on youtube I was surprised it was the same person!

 

To a certain extent the problem with Stephanie & Katherine Chancellor on Y&R is that they became too obsessed with the life of their nemesis...Brooke/Jill. It was fun to watch but slightly pathetic after a while. At least with Stephanie Brooke's endless hoeing gave fuel for Stephanie's constant vitriol. But with Katherine the constant martyring of Phillip for YEARS was questionable given that she drove him away and killed him, plus Rex Sterling was a waaay better husband...but that's for the Y&R thread lol. 

 

Aside from what Stephanie became the show isn't worth watching at all without her! 

Edited September 6, 2019 by ironlion

[DRW50]

I thought this story sucked, but I can't deny this sequence is impeccably filmed.

 

 

[sheilaforever]

The full episode used (is?) is on YouTube... It was a marvellous fashion show. I agree with you that the storyline itself sucked, though. Brooke marrying Grant, Taylor eventually plaing safe card with Thorne when she was pregnant with Thomas and everyone was unlikeable.

[Marquise]

oh, yes the fashion show was great! I so miss the fashion shows - they were something to watch and those like the ones on Queen Marry, in Lago di Commo, Portofino were just wow! B&B is no longer about fashion, it is rearly mentioned these days

[sheilaforever]

Notwithstanding that we have seen many angles on how use a fashion show as a story catalyst, I think under today's budget restraint environments these biiiiig fashion shows are a thing of the past. I liked how they tried something different with the Monte Carlo Mini Swimwear (!?) fashion show in 2017 (?), but that said: there is no excuse not to occasionally have business taking place at Forrester Creations. This year in particular has been so bad with the focus on the baby switch that absolutely nothing else has been happening. This used to be way better in the past.

 

Speaking of the past: I've reached episode 430 on the wonderful AmySilence YT uploads and by now, Ronn Moss is just ONE episode shy of raking in 200 episodes in the year of 1988 which no doubt is going to happen as there are roughly 15 more episodes until we ring in 1989. I thought air hogging in the 200+ per year appearances range was a rather modern thing of the 2000s (on GH, Passions and B&B!?), but apparently even Bill Bell was not immune to this. The show was still a lot diverser than it is now, but Ridge is pretty much like Hope in that year of the show. There hardly is an episode where is not gracing the screen. Interesting!

Edited September 19, 2019 by sheilaforever

[Vizion]

 

It was weird. Taylor and Ridge were very obviously Bill Bell's favorite and his preferred couple. But Hunter was so back and forth with the show from 1994-1996 that the writing felt very sporadic. Hunter would leave, and they would slap Brooke and Ridge back together and then Hunter would return and they'd very swiftly go back to Taylor and Ridge. 

 

Taylor accepting this proposal made very little sense. She and Ridge had little interaction leading up to this because Hunter had just returned to the show and was pregnant so wasn't taping as much. It was like they rushed a Taylor and Ridge reunion cause they weren't sure if Hunter was going to stick around (an understandable concern during that time but still.....)

 

I disagree on 1997-1998 though, I loved that whole Who Shot Grant, Taylor claims Thomas is Thorne's and Brooke fakes a pregnancy/miscarriage mess. Bold was a bit of a mess in 1995 and 1996 but got back on track in 1997 IMO. 

Edited September 21, 2019 by Vizion

[will81]

I really liked Grant when he first came on, on top of that KKL and Charles had great chemistry and if the writing had allowed it, the pairing could have worked. He really pushed her out of her comfort zone and away from her obssession with The Forresters. After Brooke's breakdown and when Ridge proposed to Taylor basically out of spite, Brooke should have matured and wised up and realised her love for Ridge was never anything more than a girlish crush. It was this point that Brooke's growth was stunted and she stayed in the same endless cycle, she just eventually transferred this to Thorne and then Deacon. 

 

I wish Brooke had become pregnant to Ridge, but decided Grant was the better option, having Ridge with Taylor and Brooke with Grant but also having Brooke with Ridge's baby would have kept conflict, plus Grant was such a foil to Ridge. Keeping Grant as a more loveable rascal instead of the douche they turned him into would have been so entertaining to watch. 

 

On top of this, they could have had Stephanie and Brooke's conflict remain mostly about business and pushed Stephanie out of her endless cycle of involvement in Brooke's love life. Maybe have them be more like Jill/Kay in the 90's, sparring partners. Stephanie would have still been wanting to have a connection with Brooke's children and concerned about the business and Grant's influence on both the children and Forrester Creations. 

 

I felt 1998 was the end of these characters, it was the point at which Brad Bell needed to grow these characters and move them on, and he didn't.