B&B: How to fix the mess that the show has become?

[Matt Powers]

I don’t see how DAYS can ever get a new writer with their low budget and wackadoo advance 7 month taping schedule.

[SteelCity]

I can't see any writer wanting to work that schedule.

[Maxim]

The answer to this topic has been sitting in front of my eyes the whole time.

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[Soapsuds]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[SteelCity]

I will say it until it happens! We need a big earthquake or something! Maybe a killer. A big umbrella story where people actually die. Even a massive tsunami. Kill people, bring some together. They have the budget! Maybe instead of a remote they can do it.

[Planet Soap]

 

If starting a new soap or wiping the slate TOTALLY clean were off the table

Similar to @Soapsuds I would..

-Eighty six Brad Bell, get a head writer who hasn't been recyed through soaps. 

-completely write out Liam/Hope/Steffy/Finn 

-get rid of usess characters like Wyatt, Katie, Donna etc

-start a new fued between Brooke and a strong older matriarch of a new family.

-Bring Lauren over to resurrect her fued with Sheila in an actual concrete storyline

-re-explore Justin taking over Spencer Publications to open the door for a strong black villain.

(otherwise send send Dollar Bill & Sheila to Y&R)

 

 

Edited June 11, 2024 by Planet Soap

[Boldsoaps]

Steffy is the star of the show. Why write her out?

[Rmodelboy]

The show is so claustrophobic now. The cast , the sets, nothing feels like this show is set in LA.

The young cast is saddled with marriage and babies.

This show continues to treat it's black characters like afterthoughts which has been a problem for decades.

 

[Planet Soap]

those 3 characters: Liam, Hope, Steffy are tired. If Steffy is to stay let's explore story lines with her not involving Liam hope or any other tired romance plot.

[SteelCity]

All of this! She needs something else to do!

[Planet Soap]

Truth. The whole show needs something else to do. B&B has no storyline variety, it's all romance. At least on GH and days you get that with some corporate intrigue, some spy drama, crime stories, medical stories etc, no matter how poorly written. 

[SteelCity]

There really is no variety. There's never a B-story and if there is is just as overwrought and recycled. They need a big shake up!

[Maxim]

We all know what can save the show and that is if Bradley some day decides to rest from writing his drivel and just gives someone else an opportunity. I don't want to sound cynical, but I think even some amateurs on the internet could write the show better at this point. There are so many talented people just sitting in the shadows. 

I really don't see how anyone else can out-bottom Bradley's bottom he hit with the last few years. I only see UP.

So every day I will light a candle in the hope that Bradley may want to give the show to someone else. And... isn't he bored with it at this point? Brooke is not anymore at an age where she can pregnant and she has already slept with all the men in law, there isn't anything for Bradley to write anymore. So... give it up, sweetheart. We will remember you with warm feelings.

 

 

[DaytimeFan]

I've been re-watching 2001 episodes as they're being uploaded on the B&B YouTube Channel and they're right in the middle of the Morgan DeWitt storyline. Having seen it before, I know where it's going, but I'm still hooked. 

What I noticed right away is:

1. The show had three storylines going, an A, B, and C storyline, and as one ends, the next ramps up. This is consistent and obvious in every single episode. These storylines stand on their own from each other, and then in certain episodes, characters will interact and bring some of storyline A into storyline B or C.

2. Sally Spectra was the Greek Chorus of the show. We've all known that Darlene Conley was an incredibly important part of the show and added humour, melodrama, glitz and style that nobody can touch. But the character of Sally was also a Greek Chorus. She weaves in and out of scenes, summarizing what's gone on, gets different character perspectives, and delivers what the audience is often thinking. The show needs that. 

3. Brooke was being written as the second coming of Stephanie with how she despised Amber Moore and that would have been a good route for the character to mature as KKL herself aged. After 2003 or so, Brad veered off course and made Brooke hypersexualized which doesn't serve the same narrative function 20 years later where Brooke now feels a bit pointless and written into a corner. KKL is capable of the material and Brooke needs maturing.

4. The show was not all about romance. The characters had jobs, the fashion shows were a huge part of quarterly storytelling, they went out at night, they went out during the day. They had lunch. They went for coffee. LA felt much more real.

5. Ridge and Brooke function better apart. In 2001, Ridge is happily (?) married with Taylor and Brooke is happily married to Thorne. Both characters function well being in each other's orbits while not being romantically involved. 

6. The scenes were much longer. This is a problem with every show, but given B&B is 30 minutes, it's noticeable how much they packed into each episode, whereas now 30 minutes feels like much of it is filler. 

[YRfan23]

Steffy doesn’t need to be written out, but they need to stop writing her so sanctimonious and judge-mental towards Hope and Brooke all the time and have her learn to become self aware of herself and own up to her own questionable decisions in the past…Bradley is making her Stephanie 2.0 and it’s not cute.