From TV Guide:

This spring look for an increased emphasis on the show's twenty something crowd & the surprising departure of some much loved vets.

BB says that "these are difficult times for soaps and luring the younger demo is really what matters now"

he says that "the key to survival is youth, revelance & topicality"

Viewers will get all 3 starting this week(week of the 12th) with a prescription pill plot involving Hope who promotes sexual abstinence with her successful "Hope for the future" fashion line. BB says parents are buying the clothing line for their kids because they want a positive anti-Kardashian role model. It comes out she's living with a married man & is labeled a hypocrite & adultress & it becomes a media nightmare

She'll be so anxiety ridden that she'll be abusing meds.

Late this month BB will be adding another young heroine Caroline Spencer who is headed for a love triangle with Rick & Thomas. To make room for this he's trimmed the older cast dropping Wagner, Down & Beemer

The show still has the core 4: Eric, Stephanie, Ridge & Brooke. They're not going anywhere.

The March 23rd anniversary show will be a flashback filled event honoring Stephanie & Eric's enduring romance. Meanwhile, Ridge & Brooke will be display less sexual gymnastics & start dealing with conflicts & challenges of a more parental nature

WTF?.... (regarding Hope's story.)

This spring look for an increased emphasis on the show's twenty something crowd & the surprising departure of some much loved vets.

BB says that "these are difficult times for soaps and luring the younger demo is really what matters now"

he says that "the key to survival is youth, revelance & topicality"

How ironic, since he has consistently failed at all three. I don't believe that Liam/Steffy/Hope appeals to a young demo. The only time I saw any real interest in Steffy was when she was with middle-aged Bill.

I actually like the sound of the Hope stuff! We'll see how it goes.

I know they have to reach out to the younger crowd, but I really hope the "core 4" get story as well, and NOT just supporting the twenty somethings and talking about them 24/7, that's really gotten old.

Rick/Thomas/Caroline triangle - um ok but what about Rick and Amber? Rick and Beverly? Rick and Steffy? WTF??

TFP, dragonflies!

I would rather see some of the "core fore" written out for a while and some other longtime characters given a chance. Like Felicia.

Thomas is a failed character and always has been. He's never had a popular pairing in ten years as a teen/young adult character. This Thomas just seems creepy.

B&B needs to give people a reason to care about their younger group before doing more revolving door romances.

TV Guide said it this way in regards to Ridge & Brooke: "the now AARP aged Ridge & Brooke".....

Are they that old?

this all sounds really good, actually.

What flashbacks will they show for Eric and Stephanie? I remember a handful. I guess they could do the one where she was bathing him. And when he proposed to her in 1997.

I really wish they'd break them up for good.

I wonder if Bell will have Steffy giving Hope pills.

I think they may be shifting too young. We don't really need this Caroline character (really Thomas either, unless he's gay) and they need to use Amber and Dayzee more. I feel like they're focusing too much on one group at the expensive of everybody else. I'd be adding more people to interact with Katie and Bill. They also need to consistantly keep Thorne and Taylor as a nice supporting couple, with the occasional bit of story. Ridge and Brooke should also still have their own stories.

I think they feel like they have overused Brooke and Ridge so they will shift younger. It's a waste of many older characters who have rarely been used. I'm also not sure why they let Brandon Beemer go if they are going to try to give stories to men in his age range. Thomas is a huge dud, and they have no idea what to do with Rick. At least Beemer has some charisma.

They also have no real stories for these characters. They have stretched the Steffy/Liam/Hope story out. Now we get a pill addiction, which is usually another last resort storyline.

I can't speak for others, but the characters I connect with on B&B are not of one particular age group. As Carl and Chris pointed out, when a young 'un like Steffy mixes it up with Bill and Katie, that is a story that I can get behind. When oldies Bill and Ridge squirm at getting along, that is something I can get behind. When Jackie and Owen sweetly and tenderly reunite, that is something I can get behind (though I can well understand why the Marones have been dropped). When Taylor holds the cards of future ownership of FC and allies herself with Thorne, making Stephanie, Brooke and Ridge extra-nervous, that is something I can definitely get behind.

Variety is the spice of life, B&B. I think you'd be surprised at how well a core character like Stephanie trends across a lot of fanbases.

That being said, this scarlet woman-->shame-->pill-popping story for Hope sounds heaps better than her endless solliloqueys about her hymen. I was hoping for a sex-therapy SL with her and HBS (again! Mixing age groups up!) but oh, well.

P.S.: Toning down the sexual gymnastics between Brooke & Ridge? A relief.

i think SF likely gave her notice and they are preparing to move on by moving brooke/ridge to the oldest group and bringing in some new characters to breath life into the thomas/amber set of nothingness.

TV Guide said it this way in regards to Ridge & Brooke: "the now AARP aged Ridge & Brooke".....

Are they that old?

No but at least they are no longer treating 50 year old Brooke as if she's a horney teenager

i think SF likely gave her notice and they are preparing to move on by moving brooke/ridge to the oldest group and bringing in some new characters to breath life into the thomas/amber set of nothingness.

New characters won't do anything to help Thomas (who just seems creepy and asexual, and pointless), Amber (recycling stories galore to fill up airtime). I do see where they might help Rick, but the big problem is they need to rebuild these characters. Rick has always been a poorly written character and often very poorly acted. Take advantage of how Jacob Young has developed as an actor and give him a real storyline, not just a romance that will go nowhere.

B&B needs to figure out their canvas - the cuts are relatively superficial. I would get rid of Donna and Taylor, and put Eric on recurring, and mostly work to develop material for people who are left and who are known to viewers, instead of more new faces.

Even their pet story involves a non-character (Liam) and someone who is just there for things to happen to her (Hope).

Even their pet story involves a non-character (Liam) and someone who is just there for things to happen to her (Hope).

for a non character and someone just there for things to happen, they sure were part of B&B's best, consistent, long lasting stories that helped gain them more than few ratings.

the issue they face now is the same on days faces and failied at after the last baby swap - how to keep going forward and keep those ratings and the greatness going without just further stretching that single story out.at least this hope story is not about her vagina.