Agree with many of the sentiments here. For me, B&B was never on the level of Y&R, GH, ATWT, but it was fun watchable "smut" up until the early 2000s. The problem was that B&B was heavily dependent on (often near incestuous) romance based drama, occasional fashion business drama, and Brooke being a slut. Not much plot diversity there.

 

Amazingly it's still #2 in the ratings, and still boasts better production quality than that of DAYS or GH. As for why it's still #2 IDK, the show has been in the gutter for a while now. Stephanie was the Erica Kane/the Viki Lord of the show and now that she's gone the show is suffering. Her antagonistic relationship with Sally, Sheila and of course Brooke played well for years. 

 

The one thing B&B did right though was sticking to the 30 min format. At least it's easier to produce 19 mins worth of content 5 days a week with a smaller cast,  stretch plots, and maintain decent production values. 

 

Favorite scene: Sheila taunts Stephanie about marrying Eric (1993):

 

Edited February 20, 20196 yr by ironlion

I was only interested in Stephanie up to the mid-90s or so. Brad Bell made her a grotesque caricature. I still remember sitting their laughing and laughing in the awful scenes where she confronted Brooke at Big Bear and had a stroke. 

 

For me the best of B&B was always Sally, and Caroline (the first one). And Brooke up to the mid-90s. 

The first two or three years of B & B showcased a soap that had a lot of promise, but like Santa Barbara, eventually put all of their eggs into one or two baskets (i.e. Stephanie, Brooke/Ridge).  Seeing Bill Bell write off most of the Logans in 1989/90, and not nurturing the Spectra's after the mid 90s really caused an imbalance on the show. 

 

The only reason B & B became popular in the US (it was always popular outside of the US) was because of Sheila. and we saw how Bradley Bell spit on her when he officially took over as head-writer from his dad.  Same as with Stephanie, turning her into a one note shrew and Brooke into a sex addict.  The first few years showed Brooke and Stephanie as more well rounded characters.

 

Here is my favorite scenes from 1990 with Brooke/Stephanie:

 

 

 

And I had forgotten this little nugget from the early months of B & B.. back when the show wrote Stephanie as more than a shrew.

 

 

 

Lastly, here is my favorite scene of Alex and Sherry Stringfield's Blake.  They're evenly matched like in a chess game, and I couldn't imagine Keifer or Dusay playing this scene.

 

 

To me it was the arrival of Sally that really set B&B off - as much credit as the Sheila crossover gets, I think it was Darlene Connelly/Sally that brought a certain energy to the show that wasn't always there before. 

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

Lastly, here is my favorite scene of Alex and Sherry Stringfield's Blake.  They're evenly matched like in a chess game, and I couldn't imagine Keifer or Dusay playing this scene.

 

 

I love how effortless Sherry was as Blake. She communicated so much with so little. Liz was fine and had a similar smoky voice, but you always saw the wheels turning. She didn’t have that same backbone and quiet power. And she became this troubled, matronly heroine after a while, and that was tiresome.

 

Bev was always a joy.

Nothing is complete without these two:

 

 

 

54 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

To me it was the arrival of Sally that really set B&B off - as much credit as the Sheila crossover gets, I think it was Darlene Connelly/Sally that brought a certain energy to the show that wasn't always there before. 

 

+1.

There is something about Susan Flannery in her B&B prime that always makes me see her as a quintessential Bill Bell actress.  Cerebral, chilly, contained but with tension like she could strike at any moment.  Deeply loving of her family, intelligent, and also kind of sad and broken.

 

I’m sure her turn as Laura on DAYS was wonderful under his writing too.

It's strange to think Bell initially wanted Susan Seaforth Hayes or Jamie Lyn Bauer to play Stephanie first - neither actress had/has the prowess or range of Flannery in her prime. 

I'm surprised there have been so few really sultry scenes posted so far. 

This is the "Love In the Afternoon" genre, is it not?

Watching these two in scenes together must've have sent me into early puberty.  There are more scenes I could post but I think I'll just post these two and leave it there.

 

Hey @DramatistDreamer: I can’t load those clips for some reason. Not sure if I’m the only one since I use the mobile site.

16 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Hey @DramatistDreamer: I can’t load those clips for some reason. Not sure if I’m the only one since I use the mobile site.

 

Hm, that is strange. 

The last time I loaded clips directly from that particular editing platform, it kept looping, which was driving me crazy, which is why I downloaded it as a .mp4 file first before posting.  

Can your mobile not read Windows Media files? 

I can try the way I did it before but it will probably run on a loop unfortunately and I don't want to annoy anybody else visiting this thread.

 

Is anyone else having a problem viewing the clips I've posted?

9 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

Hm, that is strange. 

The last time I loaded clips directly from that particular editing platform, it kept looping, which was driving me crazy, which is why I downloaded it as a .mp4 file first before posting.  

Can your mobile not read Windows Media files? 

I can try the way I did it before but it will probably run on a loop unfortunately and I don't want to annoy anybody else visiting this thread.

 

Is anyone else having a problem viewing the clips I've posted?

It’s an iPhone or mobile issue. They come up fine on my MacBook.

34 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

It’s an iPhone or mobile issue. They come up fine on my MacBook.

 

Aaahhh, I see.  I posted from my laptop too.  I guess there are still compatibility issues, from time to time.

On 2/20/2019 at 2:13 PM, BetterForgotten said:

It's strange to think Bell initially wanted Susan Seaforth Hayes or Jamie Lyn Bauer to play Stephanie first - neither actress had/has the prowess or range of Flannery in her prime. 

 

I have a feeling that in the story bible, Stephanie was going to be the heavy.. the one to root against.  Early Stephanie actually was mean and projected her own manipulative tendencies on Brooke's mother Beth.  Oddly enough, Beth didn't even want to pursue anything with Eric because he was married.. but Brooke encouraged her mother to do so.  

 

 

Here is a fun clip I came across from 1987 of B & B.. showing again the promise the show had and how Caroline wasn't just the typical ingenue.