With BTG hitting that milestone soon, I thought it might be interesting to look back at BTG's first year and other soaps past and present to discuss what changes on and offscreen occurred before the first anniversary.

BTG had one recast with the role of Ted and it's still not clear why that happened. And Bob Guza departed as co headwriter, but that seemed to be the plan from the start. As far as story is concerned it seems that Shanice taking a more major role was probably not in the cards at the outset and Derek and Ashley being de-emphasized seems to have come into play. Andre and Dani marrying??

Looking into the past a lot of soaps didn't even make it to Year One.- The Best of everything, Hidden Faces etc

The most recent example being Lovers and Friends. Rather than revamp on air it was taken off after 4 months and returned 6 months later with a new title For Richer, For Poorer, some cast changes and new stories but it was cancelled after 10 months.

Santa Barbara had recasts and revamps almost from the beginning .

What do you recall of those first 12 months of various soaps?

All I'll speak to here is BTG. Given the very circumspect way MVJ has talked about the recast and talked about the necessity of making a change followed by Maurice Johnson's less than politically correct comments re: LGBT issues in a later interview, I think it was a personality conflict BTS.

As for Guza and Ron Carlivati, IIRC MVJ has said they came in as a favor to her for the first year/early months to help get it off the ground (Guza as co-HW and RC I think on breakdowns) and were always set to leave. And yes, Andre and Dani marrying and becoming a serious relationship was also a change of plans per Karla Mosley's interviews. They appear to have blessedly abandoned their planned Andre/Ashley endgame in its entirety.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Vee

I remember Sunset Beach had a few issues (Ashley Hamilton being replaced by Eddie Cribrian, Kelly Hu and Adrienne Frantz* being let go etc), and the show ended up doing a flashback week of clip shows about seven months in (August 1997?) to give them an extra week while they retooled. The most notable change they made during the retooling was changing the theme song to something a little bit more upbeat (which IIRC was based on one of the show's already existing musical cues).

And then after a few more departures and recasts there was that murder week at the start of the show's second year, followed by a few new arrivals. After that I think the show mostly stabilized for the rest of its three year run (Shockwave aside, pun intended lol).

*In Frantz's case, her character Tiffany was actually temporarily recast and then written off.

The short version (I'm going to write a longer one some other time) is that BTG premiered with a BANG. Then 2-3 (maybe even earlier) months after that they had some real issues and hardcore growing pains. I was close to calling it quits sometime last summer... and then VOILA everything started clicking for me in October. Since then I've been in love with the show and I find that they've begun telling real stories... instead of doing shocks and newsflash of the month type of storytelling. I love the slow burn and that they are not hurrying things as much as they did in the beginning... and I love that the characters are evolving and breathing, they are given more opportunity to bond and to connect themselves and with the audience.

It was a bumpy road till October, not gonna lie. I was being critical every single day. I'm not saying now that things are perfect... but IT FEELS like a show to me... like a family, like a grown energy and not something that is rough or in the works.

There is a flow to the show at this moment (I have 10 or so episodes to catch up to, btw.)

B & B in season 1 was almost like an odd hybrid of a high gloss California based soap and their attempt at remaking Y & R for the late 80s audience with the Logan family. The biggest changes during that first season was a recast of the Logan mom, de-emphasizing the Donna/Rocco/Katie triangle, and realizing that Beth/Eric weren't exactly going to be end game even though early episodes seemed to indicate that.

Capital not only dropped their original headwriters (the creators), but they moved the focus away from their Romeo & Juliet story (Tyler/Julie) onto their more grey area characters (Sloane and Trey).

BTG has the disadvantage of writing and filming so far ahead that when something isn't working, the corrections aren't apparent for weeks/months.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Soaplovers

2 hours ago, Dion said:

I remember Sunset Beach had a few issues (Ashley Hamilton being replaced by Eddie Cribrian, Kelly Hu and Adrienne Frantz* being let go etc), and the show ended up doing a flashback week of clip shows about seven months in (August 1997?) to give them an extra week while they retooled. The most notable change they made during the retooling was changing the theme song to something a little bit more upbeat (which IIRC was based on one of the show's already existing musical cues).

And then after a few more departures and recasts there was that murder week at the start of the show's second year, followed by a few new arrivals. After that I think the show mostly stabilized for the rest of its three year run (Shockwave aside, pun intended lol).

*In Frantz's case, her character Tiffany was actually temporarily recast and then written off.

A big problem with Sunset Beach was that its creators seemed to view the show as a burden rather than their baby. Pratt was busy with Melrose Place. Guza (who was the HW at the start) saw the writing on the wall quickly and (smartly) went back to GH in less than 9 months. Didn't he volunteer to walk the plank for its bad ratings? Griffin turned down the chance to become HW.

It was too late to save the show, but I enjoyed The City's revamp when they traded Sydney for Tracy. Bringing back Lorraine from Loving and the mob princess were great additions too.

Ironically, Passions had the worst ratings debut of all the post-Generations launches by a long shot. But it stayed the course, became the only show to increase its ratings at the 1 year point and was rewarded with the longest run.

I feel like the first season of Bold had a distinct fairytale vibe. I was truly astonished by how many storylines were happening simultaneously while I watched it for the first time... because these days, Bradley can hardly manage two at once. Quite frankly, he struggles with one. Bill Bell managed to have nearly every character pursuing their own thing while still interacting with the others in a natural way. It didn't feel crowded or busy like some other shows do when there are too many things going on. Everyone had something. Donna wanted to be a model. Katie had pimples and low self-esteem. Brooke was ambitious and envious of the rich and famous, wanting to experience first hand the glitz and glamour from the magazines. The fashion house side was also pretty well crafted, even if some of these characters are cliched archetypes - Ridge - the spoiled favorite son/Don Juan cheating player, Thorne - the anti-Ridge/good-hearted underdog, Eric - the horny ageing rich guy, Stephanie - the controlling frustrated matriarch with a sharp tongue. The season wasn't flawless, but it laid the groundwork for what was to come in the years ahead. For example... Bill Bell was consistently dropping hints about Stephanie going somewhere behind Eric's back. You would think she had a secret gigolo waiting in his briefs in some hotel somewhere, but no... that mystery continued well into the second year... until it was finally revealed that she was concealing a secret daughter. It was eerie, yet so brilliantly executed and thoughtfully crafted FROM THE GET GO. 300+ episodes of build-up. We also saw Brooke being set up as a social climber right from week one. Reading about Ridge and the Forresters, imagining herself in their world. It's pretty amazing that Bill Bell stuck to this storyline for thousand plus episodes after that. It was RIGHT THERE from the start.

And that's what I adore about that first season. To me, it’s absolutely essential viewing... if you want to fully grasp these characters and witness their evolution... even if it has its dull moments - Donna's boyfriend bored me to death, Beth and Eric just didn't work as supposed to and they QUICKLY got that and moved on (in a way Brooke took over that path). That reminds me of the one thing that changed slowly but progressively - the level of involvement of the entire Logan family in the narrative. Initially, they gave nearly everyone their little place in the spotlight. We even got to see Brooke's grandma occasionally... but once Brooke stepped into the realm of the rich and famous... the other Logan relatives started to fade away and received less and less screen time. The dynamics changed. And couple of years later... when they were acting as Brooke's babysitters, helpers... people who we see once a month consoling her... - it was over. I would cringe when Donna or Katie would be babysitting for Brooke and being given 1 line a week, when I remember how essential they felt to me in the beginning. 😄 So yeah... the conflict and contrast shifted from rich family/working class family to Brooke's fairytale/nightmare into the Forrester mansion and her war with Stephanie. The rest is history as they say.

Once Sally Spectra joined the show in 1989... along with Macy (who was so fresh in the beginning), the show was running like a well oiled machine. But even now, I think some of the most iconic moments from the entire series happened in that very first season. I can still remember the concrete dialogue. I remember Stephanie warning Eric, Ridge, and Thorne about Brooke being an opportunist... just a week or two after they met her. And then there was that moment when Stephanie told Eric what Brooke was going to do... it was like she was reading the script of the future seasons. Like a trailer for what's to come. Everything unfolded just as she predicted. As time went on, Stephanie's foresight only made her character appear stronger, a sort of wink from the writers to the viewers... "If we let this girl into our home... she’s going to do this and this..." And guess what? SHE DID.

The first years of Bold are so underrated by many soap opera fans. Some of them have barely watched more than a couple of episodes... yet they still bash that period. But I love these years and I always rewatch them. Every single time it's like a new experience. Season 1 is again... like a fairytale to me.