B&B: January 2014 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

As I said in the status ticker, this show is entertaining me at the moment. I turned it on again out of curiosity and I mean - I've always been unable to stand B&B. The lack of consistency in any plots, characters, etc. beyond the same two or three notes, the endless repetitive triangles that seem to have gone on since I was in grade school, the token diversity hires. But I always understood and respected that it had a rock solid formula which worked for it - even though I feel it exists in a reality beamed in from another planet, it is a global smash and will probably be the last American network soap opera standing because of that. It does what it does, it speaks its own language and it makes no apologies. And people love it. I expect Europe and other parts of the world love it that much more because of that strange world and its weird rules.

That being said, as an untrained newbie, the reason it got me this week is because I turned it on and I saw sort of the building blocks of soap opera in the storytelling and the scripts with the foursome of Bill, Brooke, Zach Ridge and Katie. I thought all four of those actors did a hell of a job, I thought some of the dialogue was actually quite good - and I usually hate B&B dialogue whenever I tune in - and I thought there was sort of a weird poetry to it, how Brooke is always the same middle-aged sex addict she's always been, deluding herself about 'following her heart' and that's just the way it is.

I may be wrong, but I have to assume that the way it works is that B&B has the last of the Bill Bell imprimatur on soap operas - people following the same emotional or psychological patterns throughout their lives, with Bill the stallion marrying neurotic Katie, or Brooke the hedonist torn between Bill and Ridge. I've always seen repetition and schlock in the past, but there is obviously something deeply-rooted to it. And it's still got a lot of international money behind it, so the show looks great. There are still business stories, and Rena Sofer is fantastic. There's a lot of things I don't like, but for the moment this brisk half-hour soap with the sort of raw building blocks of the way soaps work - primal stuff - is interesting to me. Am I nuts?

[Cheap21]

Quinn vs Brooke for Ridge? YES! Bitch vs Slut. I'd be all for her being thrown in the quad with Bill and Katie taking a hike. bell, make it happen!

[ChitHappens]

Yeah, weak pathetic Katie is not interesting. Quinn would make Brooke sweat, and she would read her like the yellow pages!

[Chris B]

I still say the next step should be either to make Katie a lesbian or bi-sexual. I would do a triangle with Karen and Dani and see how viewers respond. Maybe at first she could just become really close friends with one of them and create a "will they, won't they" scenario, or play with the idea of an emotional affair. Putting Katie with Ridge just puts me to sleep.

[Juliajms]

While B&B is doing a lot of things right, that cheesy Hawaii nonsense with the hulu dancing. Just no.

[Vee]

Oh, that was awful.

[Cheap21]

id buy it. Wasn't she a virgin before Bill?. She hasn't had much experience with men and I think they could easily make her bi without it feeling contrived

[Juliajms]

No, Katie was with Nick for awhile. Cheated with him actually.

[Cheap21]

oh yeah I forgot about that. I think it was Nick that took her virginity on her prom night fantasy

[DRW50]

Katie is drawn to Dani as Dani struggles with "lesbian bed death."

In a confusing ad-lib that somehow makes it to air, Crystal Chappell mumbles, through a waxen visage, "I know who killed the bed! Kristian Alfonso!"

Crystal is quickly whisked off the show, and Dani is said to have gone to be on a long quest for funding of a remake of the classic lesbian cult film, Bar Girls.

Katie then sleeps with Wyatt because she learns she has hypoglycemia and needs comfort.

[Juliajms]

Didn't she date Thorne before that? I can't swear to it, but I don't think Katie was a virgin when she came back to LA.

[Cheap21]

they dated very briefly but there was no sex

[Aback]

Considering she was on the show in the late 80s, I can't believe Katie made it to late 2000s as a vergin.

[Soapsuds]

Saw today's episode and Dollar Bill is disgusting. He and Brooke are just blah together. I can't believe he still wants to hump her.

[slick jones]

I think Kim Matula is a stunning beauty. That said, every time she comes onto the screen with one of those lovesick puppies, I start to fall asleep. It doesn't matter Liam or Wyatt, instant Sominex.