B&B: How Would You Revive the Show?

[Sylph]

1. Fire the costume and set deigner(s). Susan Flannery's costumes are especially horrible. Her weight shouldn't be an excuse for such lack of taste. Clean Brooke's place of all that clutter. And change completely the look of the beach house.

2. Someone said that they should hire new subwriters. I agree. I just think Tracey Ann Kelly should go first. She did write some nice lines, but I somehow still think she should go.

3. End the shabby Brooke/Ridge thing, send Nick away for a time, and when he comes back, reinvent the character completely.

4. Add some more business-oriented stories. And more true romance. Not all these silly things they sell for it.

5. As for firing Bradley Bell, I think he shouldn't be completely excluded from the show. Maybe keep him as EP. I just don't know who could replace him without taking some of the Bell legacy away.

It kind of has. It's interesting how people criticise it but it's ratings are always the same.

And, no, I wouldn't like Days to replace it in the 2nd place. At least, not now.

[bellcurve]

The set and costume designers are probably, IMO, the best in daytime. With that said, I think in order to get in touch with the 21st Century, they probably do need a new costume designer. The one they have now(Brigit Muller is her name?) does a decent job with costuming, IMO, but sometimes it feels like the characters and the fashions are still from the 1980's. Brigit is definitely hit or miss, but IMO, she hits more than misses.

As far as Susan Flannery's costumes go, I've gotten used to them. I think those pants suits are her own personal choice and not the choice of the costume designer. That said, I would really like it if they gave her more pantsuits and variety in colors. I notice she wears the same ones OVER and OVER again. I don't know who has it worse: Susan Flannery with the "Hand Me Down" Pantsuits at B&B or Jane Elliot with her cartoonish, Cruella DeVille outfits at GH.

I SO agree with this one! B&B is at its best when there are boardroom showdowns. Because, no matter how much anyone admits it, their personal feelings and relationships always come into play. And that usually makes for a good umbrella story. There's more to soaps than constant sex and infidelity.

I don't think Brad Bell needs to be completely excluded from B&B either. But he needs to give control of the writing to someone far more talented than him in that arena. And as far as the Bell legacy goes, there will BE no Bell Legacy if Brad continues to destroy B&B.

The ratings are always the same and #2 in the Households, but that may be attributed to the fact that DAYS has been sucking monkey butt since the start of the new century. NBC and ABC fans probably fled to B&B just to stay away from the craptacular destruction of their show. B&B has been riding Y&R's coattail since Jim Reilly left DAYS in 1997. Not to say its ratings success isn't warranted. I think some of it is well deserved. But I think this contributes to the overall laziness of the writing on Brad Bell's part. "Hey, we're #2. We don't need good storytelling. Just MORE shock value!" Pretty soon, that's gonna bite him in the ass.

I would NEVER want to see B&B lose its #2 spot in the ratings. But if they don't take a preemptive strike against what is about to happen at DAYS and possibly AMC, it will happen.

[Bree]

I agree about writing Brooke more maturely. My mom and her SIL used to watch this show but got sick of Brooke and her Cooch of Power. Everyone's taken a trip to her sugar walls except for her son. It's time for Brooke to close her legs and start acting like a mature woman instead of a horny skankho.

Ronn Moss is a walking zombie and I'm sorry, he may have been the thing 20 years ago, but now he looks a Ken doll in a Marilyn Manson video.

B&B has the same problem DAYS does. All the characters screw with each other and marry each other and when they bring unrelated characters on, they either make them relatives or don't keep them long enough to establish ties and make fans care. End the incest!!!

[Sylph]

You're probably right. Although, I didn't 'study' in particular detail the costumes/sets on other shows. I'll always remember that the first thing Gloria Monty did was to fire the costume/set designers when she came to General Hospital and hire other professionals from Broadway.

I think B. Müller even got an Emmy for outstanding achievement in costume design, and it shouldn't be any other way for a show that deals with fashion industry. But I'm starting not to believe in Emmies any more since Susan Flannery lost this year to Kim Zimmer and General Hospital was voted best drama with that ridiculous train wreck...

P. S. The costume department currently consists of:

Costume Designer

Birgit Müller

Assistant Costume Designer

Craig Aspden

Costumers

Ross Fuentes

Gina Chapa

Well... You made me realise they should fire him. I'm mean, he even majored in television production at UCLA, and that's what he should do. He had a stint as HW, it was nice and pretty, but now it's time to move on. And respect the legacy of television's magic hour.

Right, again.

I just keep hearing all these people wanting to expand it to an hour. I think it would be a mistake. It's the show's core, this chamber atmosphere, relatively small cast and a fast pace.

It should also keep another of its trademarks - episodes about a single storyline, something reminiscent of 1950s.

P. S. Give "flashy, fiery and flamboyant" Darlene Conley a story!!!

[Huntress]

Remember when they brought Kristen back in 2001? Within one month, her and Tony fell in love. After their wedding they had nothing to do and the happy couple plus their adoptive son went to nowhere land.

Becky's and CJ's romance was also very popular but then Becky was suddenly killed off.

Thorne and Darla - another popular couple, but always on the backburner.

The Ramirez family was so enjoyable; Kayla Ewell, Sydney Penny and even Lorenzo Lamas were good actors. After their "happy end" when Caitlin found out that Sam was her mother and Hector and Sam got back back together, they were also put on the backburner. Okay, Caitlin had a little romance with Rick afterwards but she also disappeared with no explanation.

I wonder why Lorenzo Lamas is still on the show. Bell fired every other cast member that did not have a story - why does he allow Hector to stick around? I mean, I like this character, but he has no purpose.

The Marones were a flop as well.

There were so many contract actors on B&B during the last years, just look at this custom made opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTnAKFh9Uvc

[Sylph]

Stop making cr*p out of Taylor's character. She could be put to far better use.

And forbid her to pump her lips again. Write that down clearly in her contract.

[bellcurve]

I also agree that would be a HUGE mistake. Part of B&B's charm for me is it's half-hour length. Without it, it would be SUNSET BEACH on its bad days. Except EVERY DAY.

And ontop of that, Brad Bell doesn't have enough focus for an hourlong show. I want Bell Jr. and Lee to let him create his own show.

I like Taylor's character as a pathetic, tortured soul. I've been waiting a long time for this. Anyone who has the nerve to tell Queenie off is golden in my book!

And I thought I was the only one who noticed that. Hunter Tylo's lips looked like they were shrinking down and in the last couple episodes, they look like the behind of a bottom boy in desperate need of Preparation H. She needs to lay off the plastic surgery and Botox. She was beginning to look normal again.

[Sylph]

The problem is - does he have a buyer for his show? I'd like him to create something like The O.C. with a brain.

Who's in your book now? I'm constantly divided in the sense that I like Taylor / I hate Taylor. I wish I stayed with one view...

She was so beautiful back when she was maharaja's daughter. Now, she looks like brunette Joan Van Ark.

[Sylph]

Hire French people.

[juppiter]

I just came back from Italy.... I asked some young people there (teenagers) if they knew the show "Beautiful" (as it is called there) and they all said they HATED it. They were much more interested in asking me about shows like 7th Heaven, The OC, and other stuff like that.

[bellcurve]

Ah, Young people don't know QUALITY shows! Hehehe.

I think Barbara Bloom at CBS would jump into bed with the Bells. The produce California shows...cheaper, by far, than NY Shows or PGP shows. I can see a lineup with Y&R, B&B, BRAD BELL SHOW within the next two years, if not sooner. I still think that once GL is finished, so is ATWT.

I like Taylor this way. She's not a saint anymore. She's no vamp, either, but I just hate hypocritical saintly !@#$%^&*]es on soaps. My target of hate nowadays is Bridget(but always has been since Bridget pursued Nick).

[Sylph]

Well, that's a problem nowadays. Young people don't know what quality drama is, as Bellcurve said.

The O.C. eg. is nice and cute, but there's no substance and the stories are so pallid...

[sheilaforever]

But did you actually turn on the TV?

There you would have seen Hunter Tylo selling you some workout training stuff, probably actors on talk shows or on magazine covers. It's really bizarre; the B&B people seem to be huge in Italy. Just look at the numbers: every 10th Italian is watching Beautiful...

But to answer the essential question: What B&B needs is a) focus (re: more long-term storylines) and a real villain (re: again more longterm character development). I still think Bradley has it in him to write amazing stuff - for me B&B started blooming when Bill Bell took the sidelines and Bradley started taking over in the early 90s... - but he definitely should promote Patrick Mulcahey to a headwriting position. Most of last summers stories (the faked heartattack) seemed to be his work and though being outlandisch the execution of these ideas was just brilliant - storyline-wise and acting-wise.

And I can only underline what someone mentioned: bring back familiar faces instead of adding new ones. Especially during the 90s B&B harvested so many great characters and actors - why don't bring some of them back. Ian Buchanan, Kimberlin Brown, Lindsay Price, Michael Swan...

But most of all; cut the crap with the Logan retro-bonanza and bring back SPECTRA.

[Sylph]

Oh, Guiding Light is so beyond repair. Megan's H-bomb destroyed it utterly and from now on - it's just money spent badly.

I was just about to say the same thing and then I read your post. So I corrected mine.

Sometimes I'm just soo surprised who is in charge of daytime nowadays... Barbie of all people... Anyway, I just hope he makes a show and from then on we will be able to live happily ever after.

Oh, the sweetest girl in daytime. Get her out of that comatose state and give the girl a life. And next time when someone comes to ask fro sugar, she should throw the cup at that person.

Because they don't know how to make television. Their shows are the worst of all. I think Lebanese soap is fifty times better than any Italian.

[BoldBeauty]

It would take me around 3 hours to write down what should change.

Most important: End Brooke/Ridge/Nick triangle - and never return to Brooke/Ridge/Taylor triangle. Reduce screentime for Brooke and Ridge.