Jump to content

B&B: Bold from the beginning


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 410
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

There have been hilarious fan fights under the classic episodes, day after day... it's so amusing... the show is so strong, it gets people so angry. There is absolutely no commentary like that over new episodes anymore. It sure is a blow to Bradley's ego to see his father's episodes from 1988 doing better than his. Haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah, I noticed the fan wars too! I think it's a bit sad really when the complexity of a storyline is reduced to fighting over who Ridge loves - it's kind of missing the entire point of the storytelling.

I didn't know what a shadow ban was either, until I noticed my comments were only visible when I was logged in on YT and I started Googling why that could be. The funny thing is, I was not the only one who pointed out that the Christmas episodes had the wrong dates (because the uploaders didn't take into account the preemptions of 1987), and the uploaders never corrected the dates but just kept labeling obvious Christmas episodes as having aired early December. And fans were commenting on it like it was a bizarre 80s thing to have Christmas episodes take place on the wrong day... 

I do think the quality of the discussions is a lot higher here than on YT or any of the other B&B message boards. No fan wars and more people interested in having in-depth conversations about the show and characters. 

I wouldn't say Bill Bell wrote any of his main characters as clear-cut villains. But Bill Spencer is certainly a morally dark grey character. His motivations are not entirely villainous (usually either protecting himself or his daughter), but he does bend the rules quite freely to achieved his goals. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'd say he was more of a "Ridge Antagonist", to make the (fairly shallow) Ridge character seem somewhat more sympathetic to the audience.  In the early episodes, Ridge is no one we'd be tempted to sympathize with -- proposes to Caroline to spite her father, cheats on her, gets photographed cheating, gets exposed, gets miffed because she dumps him, criticizes his father's designs, basically just acts like a whining brat.   He's not very easy to like.  But since Bill Spencer sits around plotting against him, it makes him slightly more sympathetic.  I'd say that was the initial purpose of Bill.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think Bill Spencer didn't have a lot of villainous traits at first. He was just an overprotective father and a powerful man. His grey sides were more developed later on, as we learnt about his secret magazines and the shadier side of Spencer Publications.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I was curious about how season 1 ended with an episode titled in Feb 1987...and season 2 picked up in March 1988.

I'm surprised that Margo and Clarke had hardly any build or hint of an involvement until a recent season 2 upload.

A character like Margo is a prime example of a grey character.  Some good elements, some not so good elements. Bradley could never write a character with shades like Bill Bell wrote for Margo 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Bill's only real "offense" was that he inadvertently hurt his own daughter.  And I guess that's what makes him somewhat villainous -- he damaged his own child's confidence and future plans in order to hurt Ridge.  But in Bill's mind, he was just saving Caroline from future heartache.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That happened because the uploaders don't have the correct air date for Season 1. Every episode from July 1987 and onwards in the Season 1 playlist has the wrong air date.

Agree about Margo! She is a truly grey character and quite an interesting one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If someone told me that I am being cheated on, I would never be hurt by or upset at that someone. I would be upset at my partner who was cheating and got caught. I think Bill's timing was horrible, telling her just minutes before she was about to get married to Ridge. So Bill should have done it much earlier, imo lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Or Megan is shot by mobsters as retaliation for Dave's unpaid gambling debts.
    • Finland seemed such an odd choice for a location shoot. ATWT went to Greece and later Spain while GL had Tenerife and there were others in that timeframe. But Finland not being a known tourist destination or offering the tropical/sunny atmosphere usually associated with location shoots seems off brand. Maybe they were negotiating a deal with a tourist association and it fell through.
    • I was talking about 1986, but the glimpses of 1982 are about the same. 
    • I skimmed some of the 1982 synopses; Steve was planning on an opening an office in Finland, and I think Jim went there as part of the preparation. That probably was a big issue; AW had already gone to San Diego that year, with Rachel/Steve/Mitch. And to upstate NY with Pete and Diana. I wonder if upstate was as expensive lol  AW in 1982 has always fascinated me, because of how messy it was 
    • That makes sense. What a messy time for the show. And any changes they made were mostly for the worse.
    • The transition from Neal to Adam was very abrupt, and to be honest my theory is that the character of Neal was designed so that we think he is super shady but then it turns out that he was on the side of good all along so Neal could have seamlessly become a hero of the BCPD with no need for Adam. I don't know whether Robert Lupone was hired on a short contract or if he was fired from a longer-term contract because they decided they wanted someone who was more of a leading man type, but I can imagine a scenario where Charles Grant did both the undercover Egyptian treasure/flirt with Victoria and the straighter-arrow day to day police investigation. But in my imagined scenario the MJ prostitution plotline probably doesn't exist and instead he probably continues a relationship with Victoria. The story seems very odd to me. I assume that David Canary would have been included only because a plotline where Steve is going to Finland in which only Rachel is seen in actual Finland seems unlikely. The synopses explicitly mention that Alice can't go with Steve but would whoever was playing Alice at that time have had the kind of clout to get the remote cancelled? It also strikes me as unlikely that production would have approved the expensive location shoot and *then* cancelled it only because of jealousy. It seems more likely that they rejected it because of the expense but then the jealousy part got added to the gossip speculatively, possibly because while it was being worked out they justified not including more castmembers because of the expense. 
    • My comment has nothing to do with cast resentment, but does relate to the Finland location shoot: It may be a coincidence, but Jim Matthews died in Finland in 1982.  Hugh Marlowe's final episode was in April 1982, but the character probably didn't die untll May or June. (I'm unable to find the character's date of death, only the date of Marlowe's final episode). SInce Jim and Rachel had very little interaction after around 1975, it is unlikely Jim's death in Finland had any connection to Rachel's potential visit, but the choice to have Jim die in that location at that time is a head-scratcher.  I'm sure the writers sent Jim on an extended trip (and off-screen) because of Marlowe's illness.  But Finland seems like a strange choice considering the (then) recently cancelled location shoot.  
    • I totally understand your sloths concern about it and I agree with you. Let’s hope the show plays it’s cards right.    Further comments about the last few episodes: - I liked that one of the attendees was filming the scene. That’s realistic. I wonder if the writers will follow up with that.  - Martin and Smitty trying to drag Leslie out was very heteronormative, so perfectly in line with them two as characters lol.    As for the future: it’s obvious the Duprees will come to accept Eva one way or another, but the rivalry with Kay should be here for the long term   On the topic of acting: the only bad actors I’m seeing are Ted and Derek. Tomas hasn’t proven to be either good or bad, so far, but he’s certainly mediocre and uncharismatic. He sucks the energy out of the scenes and I don’t see any couple of women ever vying for him. 
    • I’m trying to think which actors VW were working with at the time, and none of them had been there for a while. Even like Mac and Ada didn’t have that big of a part in Rachel’s storyline.  And Jamie was involved with all that movie stuff.
    • Brooke did ads before ATWT too. That probably helped get her the job. After ATWT she seemed to branch more into hosting, along with ads.  I think I saw Kelley in an ad or two, but you're right she wasn't on as much. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy