B&B: Old/Classic Discussion & Articles

[Soapfan8]

What old school characters do the new gen characters favor me, I’ll list some examples;

hope, Steffy, Liam, Thomas, wyatt, Finn, paris, Carter.  Who are like their classic bold counterparts 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pedro]

This is a very difficult question cause i feel like these are like different eras. The classic actors are incomparable with the contemporary ones. The protagonists from 2022 are simply out of league. Of course we may say Steffy is Taylor or Hope is Brooke but it is not really the case. The show nowadays is dull with no real excitement. There is nothing to be compared really... 

[Videnbas]

I'm not sure I understood the question right - is it about which current characters are similar to or based on classic B&B characters?

I think it's really hard to answer because the current characters are nowhere near as well-developed as the classic ones, so it's not easy to make a comparison.

I guess Hope/Liam/Steffy are supposed to be a next generation Brooke/Ridge/Taylor, but the characters aren't really that similar to their classic counterparts (other than Liam having inherited Ridge's indecisiveness, and the girls having inherited their mothers' strange attraction for a man who will never settle permanently for either one of them).

Wyatt is in a similar position to Thorne - always playing the knight in shining armor to the women who are in love with his brother.

Dollar Bill has some similarities to his namesake Bill Sr, but Bill Sr was a lot more sophisticated on the surface.

Carter is possibly the modern Connor Davis - everyone's lawyer but without any luck in his own personal life.

Paris and Finn are virtually blank as characters - I can't think of any classic counterpart to either of them.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Hell nah. Hope is Taylor and Steffy is like Brooke. I always thought they did it reverse here

[Pedro]

Yeah you kinda right but I don't think Steffy reached the level of Brooke yet. Hope on the other hand is a Saint and a Virgin forever, at least that's how they make her out to be whereas Taylor is no saint as we know at least from 2005 . 

[Videnbas]

How many of you are currently watching the 1993 episodes from the Vault? I have been binge watching the first few months in the past week or so and I'm very excited about what is to come. (I keep telling myself it's time to start rationing the episodes so I won't run out of new ones to watch just yet, but I keep watching and I just can't stop.)

What have been your highlights of that year so far?

[Althea Davis]

Me and my partner are watching the 1993... we are currently up to the uploaded episodes and really hoping for the Angel rsclassic to save us again. 1993 really has been an amazing year. Even if the dialogue is somewhat rushed at times and cheaper. The plot is amazing.

[sheilaforever]

I'm currently up to #1529: Stephanie is about to stage the ultimatum to keep Eric from marrying Sheila.

 

Highlights of 1993?

The paternity test, Sheila& Mike - it still holds up soooo well. 

Lauren's visit in LA which felt so right as if she has always been part of B&B. The scenes with Sheila, Stephanie, Eric, Ridge and Brooke are all so spot on.

 

Highlight of a different kind...

#1520 - have you seen IT yet??? I don't want to spoil anything - I just say musical montage at Forrester Creations...

Macy's alcoholism as well as everything connected to it is NOT working for me. I think it all happens too soon and with too little investment by the writers.

The Ridge & Brooke stuff is starting to get annoying in April (wasn't fond of Connor's intro), but I'm really PUMPED about the battle for BeLieF because Steve Crown is already befriending Brooke in my last episode... 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by sheilaforever

[Videnbas]

Ooh, I'm just a few episodes behind you (just watched 1501) so don't spoil anything!

Please register in order to view this content

I agree the early scenes with Sheila and Mike in connection with the paternity test are edge of your seat stuff - I had forgotten about the existence of the scene with the scissors so it took me completely by surprise and I loved it so much I had to rewatch it several times. I kept getting distracted thinking about the genetics side of it all though and wondering what the best way would be for Sheila to tamper with the paternity test results. It appears to me just switching Eric's and Ridge's blood samples would not be enough since they also had Stephanie's blood (and since Sheila did not actually know for sure that the baby was Eric's). And I kept thinking that Ridge's paternity (as it was retconned later) would have been revealed here.

I am just entering into the Macy alcoholism storyline so I haven't really been able to form an opinion about how it plays out on screen. She has only been drunk once (and I did like the scenes with poor Keith at Sally's apartment) and I remember thinking "wow, that came out of nowhere" and fearing that we'd go from 0 to 100 in one episode, but then the writers seem to have slowed it down temporarily with Macy appearing sober at work a few times. As much as I like Macy and Thorne together, this entire storyline hinges on a LOT of plot-induced stupidity on both sides, where they consistently have to avoid talking about anything that might clear up their misunderstandings.

To me, the Taylor/Ridge/Brooke stuff is where I find my attention wandering elsewhere. I know they were supposed to be the frontburner triangle and I was invested in their storyline back in the day, but rewatching it now, I just don't find them as interesting this time around. Maybe it's knowing that they'll still be at it 30 years later...

[cassadine1991]

Does anyone know when Brad took over as EP?

[sheilaforever]

1996 (probably around Feb-April). The exact airdate is still a slight mystery as we have to wait for "re-runs" to reach that year. There is a lack of episodes with closing titles for 1996 so far.

It's most certainly the BOLDED part. I'm quite happy that I enjoy Ridge&Taylor as much as I remembered; I find them playful and charming. That's what frustrated me post 2005: It was a complete rewrite as to who Ridge had the healthier relationship with: Brooke or Taylor.

However, the triangle as such and the constant "say that you love we, Wiiiidge. Just say it, pleaaaaaase" is so one-note and annoying. It's really hard to stay invested in those scenes and the back and forth considering it's more or less the same drivel we have seen for 30 years now. LOL

[Videnbas]

To me, the most interesting aspect by far of the Bridge/Tridge triangle is how my own perception of it has changed since the first time I watched it.

It really is like a Rorschach test. What you see is a reflection of your own mind.

The first time around, I was watching this as a young girl with my mother. I was maybe 11 or 12 when I first watched these 1993 episodes. And I was completely Team Bridge because I believed they were "destined" to be together and I thought it was romantic. This time around, I am in my late 30s with a family of my own and my perceptions are completely different. Sure, I still feel that Ridge married Taylor partly on the rebound, but he was committed to his marriage and clearly happily married, and Ridge and Taylor had a healthy way of communicating about their issues. Meanwhile, Brooke spent the entirety of her pregnancy scheming and plotting trying to get Ridge to leave his wife for her, and after Bridget's birth, she became even more aggressive in her pursuit of Ridge, who really didn't encourage her all that much. And my sympathies are entirely with Taylor - even though I don't even particularly like the Taylor character - because here she is clearly in the right and Brooke is clearly in the wrong, because Ridge has chosen to be married to Taylor. Brooke comes across as extremely disrespectful not only of Taylor but of Ridge too. And Brooke and Karen plotting together on how to lure Ridge away from his wife (while Karen is already living with a married man knowing he still loves his wife) is pretty sickening to me now.

[Videnbas]

@sheilaforeverI just got to #1520 and the montage that you mentioned. It was very... odd. Not one of their "normal" duets but more like a tentative "fractured" song that didn't quite manage to become an actual duet - like it was broken.

That can't have been an actual existing song, it must have been the scriptwriters getting a sudden urge to do musical theater. (Sometimes I swear Thorne and Macy exist in a parallel universe to the entire rest of the cast, where everyone else is in a soap and they are in a musical.)

I either love it or hate it. Can't decide which.

What were your thoughts on it?

[sheilaforever]

Odd is probably the right word. It was like watching a 60s musical. As you pointed out, it felt sooo out of place because it zero connects to the rest of the cast and usual style of the show. The whole settlement meeting with the lawyers was also yet another highly contrieved event where Macy and Thorne beat around the bush instead of talking. Yikes!
PS: I tried to google the lyrics and couldn't find any result. So you might be right about your hunch.

 

EDIT: B&B's only real headwriter change can now finally be confirmed, but not how we thought it took place...

#1532 which aired May 3, 1993 is the last episode with William J. Bell credited as head writer

#1533 has no credits

#1534 which aired May 5, 1993 has William J. Bell no longer listed as head writer but "executive story consultant". However, the writing credits start with John F. Smith in first position and Bradley Bell in second place... Could have either been a typo (but it happens again the following episodes...) or a trial phase before Brad Bell really took over as head writer.

Edited June 16, 2022 by sheilaforever

[Videnbas]

I did try to google the lyrics too, but nothing came up.

And yes, the premise for this entire storyline is Thorne and Macy completely failing to communicate. In a way, though, I felt like that strange fractured telepathic non-duet with its sometimes awkward rhymes and the music that kept stopping and starting was the perfect way of illustrating that because it felt like they were trying to burst into one of their usual songs, but failing because the connection was broken.

I know I'm overanalyzing it of course but I love doing that, especially when it comes to music. 

Speaking of music, I have to say I absolutely LOVE how they accompany the scenes where Sheila seduces Eric with this song that goes "witchcraft..." Perfect.

And just the fact that they actually have live musicians regularly on the Bikini Bar set. That's a really nice touch.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Videnbas