B&B: Bold from the beginning

[Manny]

Indeed, I love both Johnson and Flannery. Others are very hit and miss.

Even when I bookmark the link to the vault, in time it stops working for me, so I don't have it.

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[kalbir]

Why is the YT channel cutting episodes? It's not like they have to make room for commercials, or do they?

Queen Stephanie and her bitch slaps are everything and it was a shame that the classics last year did not give us a week of the best of Queen Stephanie.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks anyway for responding. Maybe someone will come across it.

Wow, so bookmarking it won't guarantee that you'll be able to locate it? Oh no.

They do have brief ads but they are rarely placed at the proper scene breaks anyway.

It's not often, but there have been a few episodes that are poorly presented- either something wrong with the audio/visual or in this case, an episode that looks as though someone recorded it on a VCR and left it on "pause" too long, forgot, then realized they should have hit "record" and hastily did so. I mean come in, these episodes are what, 22 minutes, how are you going to have minutes missing? 

Why are soap production companies so bad at archives and preservation?! And Bell productions are one of the better companies where daytime soaps are concerned.

I'm convinced that the people in of the business of daytime soaps, really don't like soaps.

Otherwise, what are they doing??

[Manny]

Re: the vault - I have my own person drive, so even if bookmark the vault, when I click on it, my browser takes me to my drive instead of the vault. Maybe if you don't sure the drive personally, then it would work. 

About the latter part of your post... I do think people in soap business don't like soaps. I have been thinking that for many years. Which is weird that someone would produce something that they don't like their own product. But I am grateful for the episodes of B/B that we get. So far I am still in summer 1987 and so far all the episodes are intact, as far as I can see. But I can imagine that an episode missing a key moment like the slap between Stephanie and Brooke would be a very jarring omission. Maybe something was wrong with the copy and nothing can be done to fix it?

[DramatistDreamer]

When I did a brief freelance stint in television production, I was taken aback by the expressions of open contempt that some of the production people who I worked with had towards many of the viewers, they would even mock many viewers, not making the connection that ratings = job.  I had to guard against falling into that mindset myself. I think sometimes people are treated badly at the job, and end up taking on those same characteristics themselves and begin to treat others badly, in turn. It becomes a vicious cycle imo.

And it wasn't just the slap that was missing. In this episode, the video skipped that and another section, then went completely blank at minute 15 or 16 until the end of the video. Just incredible.

[DramatistDreamer]

I'm currently reading an article about doctor and celebrity charlatan Dr. Oz, now running for the Senate in Pennsylvania and the article mentions the cavalcade of kooks who have repeated the 'Big Lie', who have joined the race, including Carla Sands, one of Trump's form ambassadors. We had recently been discussing her in this thread.

[j swift]

I was just watching an episode of Thorne and Caroline and it made me wonder: in the course of her limited time on the show (not counting the backstory), how long were Ridge and Caroline actually together as a couple?

[kalbir]

I think about a month or so from the engagement to the terminated wedding, then their marriage to Caroline's death was 6 months.

[DramatistDreamer]

I really appreciate that we get to hear the use of popular music by the singers/songwriters like Al Jarreau, Barry Manilow and Janet Jackson. I doubt this would be possible if these episodes were being sold.

[j swift]

Since they seem to post so many Jackie and Owen episodes it got me thinking about how dumb the character of Whip seemed to be. 

First, Jackie inexplicably moves into Steffy's old apartment with the tub in the living room and those huge stairs, while her son lives in a much fancier house.  Anyone who has lived in LA for more than two seconds will tell you that it is torture to commute from downtown to a store in Beverly Hills (although it might have been closer to their warehouse).   Then, Whip moved into the unforeseen apartment above her which can only be accessed by the stairs in her living room.  And, his attempts to break up Jackie and Owen involve a series of photo shoots where Owen wears skimpy outfits. 

It was as if someone in production one day looked at the stairs on set and questioned where they went, and it became an entire plot.  And, where is the logic that Jackie seeing Owen in a fig leaf would suddenly make her want Whip?  And, then they all just went away one day to travel the world.

[Manny]

I am in October 1987, Caroline's rape trial began. I am pleasantly surprised at how they are telling this story, with a lot of explanations about why they are choosing a female attorney for Ron; a female judge; also the conversations that Caroline had with the counselor... 

I don't think they deal with rape like that anymore. I mean, they could be (I haven't watched modern soaps in years), but back when I did watch, I don't remember being handled like this.  

On the topic of Brooke... she really did change her mind about Ridge really quickly. She is telling her Mom that she is going for Ridge because Caroline is no longer interested in him. As a real friend, she should have checked with Caroline first. But she knows deep down inside that she is doing a wrong thing. 

[kalbir]

This was around the time Brooke intercepted Caroline's letter to Ridge I think. Bill Bell used the letter intercepting plot with Leslie/Lorie/Brad. Caroline/Brooke rivalry was in many ways a redo of Leslie/Lorie rivalry.

Bill Bell had rape storylines on both shows in the late 1980s, Caroline and Cricket. Both were virgins at the time of their rapes. Caroline's rape storyline was a redo of Chris Brooks's rape storyline while Cricket's was a summer social issue on date rape with PSA dialog.

[DramatistDreamer]

The actor who portrayed Caroline's rapist also did a stint on Y&R.

 

Brooke entered vixen territory at this point. Pretty early on in the series.

 

Evidence of the WGA strike is really apparent throughout quite a bit of Season 2.

There were moments of filler in the first season but in Season 2, you can see entire episodes chock full of filler, with flashbacks galore.

[Videnbas]

This may seem a random question, but... is anyone else here interested in opera?

I remember a discussion a while back about character archetypes in B&B, and the other night when I was watching clips of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (Don Juan), it suddenly hit me.

Early B&B of 1987-1988 features EVERY SINGLE ONE of the characters in Don Giovanni.

Don Giovanni (high social status, playboy, arrogant, charming, keeps a list of women in a little book) - Ridge
Leporello (low social status, employed by Don Giovanni, loyal to his boss but dreams of being his equal in status, knows about the little book) - Rocco
Donna Elvira (was seduced by Don Giovanni and then dumped by him, is fiercely bitter but still attracted to him) - Margo
Donna Anna (high social status, Don Giovanni snuck into her room at night and seduced her, it is unclear if this was with or without her consent) - Caroline
The Commendatore (high social status, Donna Anna's father, very protective of his daughter, Don Giovanni's nemesis) - Bill Spencer
Don Ottavio (high social status, Donna Anna's fiancé, loyal, gentle and supportive of her) - Thorne
Zerlina (low social status, starts out as a happily engaged and innocent young girl but is seduced by Don Giovanni and dumps her fiancé in order to be with him) - Brooke
Masetto (low social status, decent man who gets dumped by his fiancée because of her fascination for the attractive and rich Don Giovanni) - Dave

Of course, the opera has a different story, but the characters and several plot points are very similar. This is probably not intentional, but it's interesting nevertheless because it proves the archetypal nature of the early B&B characters.

[Manny]

I am not a fan of opera, but omg this is very interesting!

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Did you also find any similarities with the course of stories? I mean, I assume there is similarities, just wondering to which degree.

Thanks for sharing!!

Edited January 12, 2022 by Manny