St3phForrester

Rick should think twice about being quick to burn bridges. One day he's gonna need help getting past a level in Candy Crush Saga, and I know I don't just give lives willy-nilly! MulletorHater, that November sweeps spoiler you posted, And here I was thinking I'm pathetic. (Just kidding, RuntheTable, you know I love ya.) Carter must be the worst lay in Los Angeles. Poor guy. No, she was hiding upstairs. I wish he would cut it. Give him a sharp short back and sides just to satisfy my curiosity please, CBS. Aww, I thought it was cute. Probably helped that I didn't know who anyone was - what was with the guy in the pink hat? He seemed like a bit of a douchebag. And the guy with that enormous beard just reminded me of that lipsy man in Family Guy. I wish they had reconsidered Felicia. What's Lesli Kay doing these days? Her Parisian episode aired here a couple of weeks ago and it made me sad that she's not more often than Christmas. She's a designer (apparently), I'm sure she's got honesty and integrity somewhere, she adores her father so there's no risk of him being shut out of the company, and if she's anything like her mother she'll take shit from no one and then tell 'em what for. Perfect! Yeah but I don't think kissing = having sex. IMO Rick way overreacted and he's going to realize that he let Maya make a fool of him. I think the issue is that Rick won't hear Caroline out at all because she stepped out with Ridge, who he despises. In Rick's mind, there's no difference in the level of transgression. The other thing is that we as an audience have seen how Caroline behaved with Ridge - yes, she kissed another man while married, but as soon as it happened she regretted it and was proactive in stopping the "affair" (for lack of a better word) from progressing. But Rick only knows what he's seen and heard - Caroline never said anything (we know she wanted to, but the end result was that she didn't tell him), which implies that she never wanted Rick to know, which means she was going to carry this secret around with her. What I'm trying to say is that we think he's overreacting because we know Caroline's motivations were not malicious, but he doesn't know that, and won't see past the fact that of all people, it was Ridge. Would he have been as upset if it was, say, Caroline and Eric "collaborating"? (Actually, ew. Even for me.) Me too. As dumb as he is, at least he recognised that Rick is off his head with anger at everyone and didn't press the issue. But still, I'm not happy with him offering the CEO position to Rick and I'm conversly glad that Rick shot back at Eric about him being his father's second choice (let's forget we've heard this already from Thorne). I don't like this "one son won't behave so I'll give the chocolates to the other son" backflip because, as many people have pointed out, it makes Eric look stupid, but I figure it was inevitable storywise with Brooke out of the picture. *blushes* OH! Gudzilla! I forgot to say that Fred Willard's back on Monday! Hooray!

Did Eric say "duplicitous"? Someone's been in a thesaurus! I'm disappointed that he was returned today to the talk-to character for Caroline and thought he was being a little hard on her, given his own sordid history - I would have liked to have seen him counsel her instead of just telling her there was nothing she could do. He has a right to be upset, I get that, but surely he could see that Caroline was stressing out and needed someone to listen to her and tell her it wasn't the end of the world. I'm glad Katie finally addressed the string thing. It's satisfying to hear characters in-show talk about things we've been wondering about in real life. And echoing the applause for TK, he played the "whoops I've been caught" jawn well today. I doubt anyone in Bell-A has ever heard of a condom. You'd think a community full of unplanned children would be more invested in the safe sex message - the only character I can think of who has been pro-active in the contraception department is, funnily enough, Eric. I can imagine Maya looking through all of Brooke's stuff upstairs - playing dress-ups with all the beautiful dresses and fancy jewellery, trying on all her perfumes, using all her bath soap and not cleaning the hair out of the drain afterwards. Didn't she also make breakfast? She would have had to have a taste of everything, just to make sure it was still fresh. How long has Brooke been gone for? Surely her fridge isn't still stocked from when she left. Is Donna staying there? Wasn't Bill living there too? Did anyone call the cops after hearing Rick smash all the windows in the cabin? How did Maya even get in the main house??? So many questions!

Yeah, that's what I meant about getting them butting heads again. It'd never happen, but boy wouldn't Eric's blood boil - Ridge & Rick's constant fighting ends up losing them the company that he worked so hard to establish and build up, and lose it to Spencer of all people! A girl can dream. I hope you're right, Joimiaroxeu.

Guys guys guys guys guys Eva the CBS publicist tweeted that John McCook may do a live tweet in the near future someone get me some Valium because I am JAZZED I don't know if I can properly process today's episode just yet, except that I did get a little - little - laugh out of Hope unfollowing Caroline's social media account to "hit [her] where it hurts". But Ridge shushing Caroline, and Eric & Ridge yelling, and Eric pulling Ridge away from Caroline, and all of the CaRidge stuff, it's all just blown my brain. And the preview for tomorrow's episode has a scene between Caroline and Eric, I don't have to tell you guys about that! I'm not here for Maya/Rick, though. Do people in real life actually have that kind of angry sex? Is Rick pumping Maya now because he's hyped up and needs a release? (Yeah, I said "release".) Is he doing it out of revenge? Does he think that doing so will right Caroline's wrong? In any event, it means Maya's won, and I'm not happy about that. Put me on the list of people who don't like Karla Mosley's doe-eyed look; I much prefer her when she's all sassy. Maya's desperation was so strong you could smell it. Oooh, me too. Maybe Carter could be the Thorne to Caroline's Caroline? Reading this stuff just makes me even more excited - I should have learnt my lesson from the Fred Willard fly-by story but I can't help it. I wonder if TPTB are writing Ridge to be more of an asshole villian now that TK's in the driver's seat - it's certainly stirred everyone up and created an interesting storyline (at least for this viewer). He's coming across as a lot more ruthless which, while not an admirable personal trait usually, has made for great entertainment recently. $Bill's gone soft in the eclipse of Brooke Logan and I feel like Ridge is stepping up to the plate. Speaking of... I like this. Have Bill smell blood and come circling around FC - have him make Eric an offer he can't refuse (literally - Eric hates the guy, force his hand and let's see some conflict!). If the boys can't work together to run the family business, why not bring in an outsider? I don't know how that could actually work out in the end but I would love to see Don Diamont and John McCook butt heads again, it's been too long. Join me in the IDGAF corner, RuntheTable! That's my girl!

Jacob Young, take a bow. You too, Linsey Godfrey. I will forgive Rick giving his father a serve, out of line as it was, because watching JY explode was fantastic. Hope, go away. I'm glad Ivy & Carter didn't blow smoke up her ass. Does Hope hear the words coming out of her mouth? Or maybe the problem is that she doesn't listen to anyone but herself. I wish Ivy would develop the ability to breathe fire and incinerate her. Looking forward to tomorrow when Eric rips Ridge a new one - oh, who am I kidding. Did you guys see the new opening credits? Jacqueline McInnes Wood is out and Ashleigh Brewer & Sean Kanan are in. TK's shot was redone too, except it looks twice as bad as the first take. Seriously! Even if TPTB just ship her off with Eric on his whirlwind world tour (IF he actually takes it - he might stay home after all), then at least we know where she is. I really hope that having had Donna bring up Eric last week that we might see some progress on that front, too - I want Donna to confront Eric about this distance she feels is between them, even if it only takes one episode. Exactly. The other thing is that all that happened between Ridge & Caroline on a physical level was a kiss - no bed sharing, no philandering. I think in some ways that makes this storyline better.

Oh my goodness, didn't my little heart skip a beat when Donna got teary over Eric keeping her at arm's length! I've been asking the same question about this for I don't know how long!!! Do I dare dream that Donna will finally bring this up with Eric himself? Or will TPTB just keep throwing me bones?? My head, it spins. Hope, go away. Funny you say that, TobinAlbers, because Maya's histrionics today reminded me of Taylor spilling the beans about Brooke & Bill, right down to her insisting that "everyone should know the truth!!!" while people are trying to kick her out of the room. I get the impression that Caroline & Ridge think Maya knows more than she actually does and are spilling their own tea. Caroline believes that she did have an affair with Ridge, predominantly emotionally rather than physically, and she doesn't know what Maya did or did not see, so she's jumped to the conclusion that Maya will tell all and thought she'd get her apologies in first.

What did Katie give Ridge as a good luck charm? Was it a watch or just a leather band? My copy of this episode is so pixelated I can barely make out people's faces. Hope proved to be even more of a waste of space today than she usually is. What was with her throwing shady looks at Ivy? Because Eric cheered up in Ivy's company when he was flat with Hope? Who could blame the guy for that? I wish a house would fall on her. Eric saying "the future of Forrester" still makes me queasy. Good point, kia112, I'd forgotten about that. No, they weren't married, but doesn't a committed relationship command the same amount of respect and fidelity that a marriage does? The only difference is that the former isn't recognised by law. I'd want my partner to be faithful to me regardless of whether or not we had a piece of paper saying we were Mr & Mrs. Yes, you take a vow on your wedding day, but those words should be applicable to you everyday. Welcome back, sugarbaker! Here's what you missed: Eric's brother Fred Willard came to town, and suggested to Eric that he should actually live his life instead of be stuck at FC all day long. So Eric decided that he was going to step down from the CEO position and promote one of his sons in his place. He's not leaving altogether, just removing himself from the stresses of the top job. Ridge & Rick are the prime candidates only because they're the only ones still in the show; apparently Thorne doesn't want it (so Eric says). Don't question the neopotism; a proper shareholders' meeting is just too much to ask. I like to think that if Brooke were still in town she would be CEO, but alas. I think so, RuntheTable - I get the feeling that tomorrow we're gonna see Colour me interested, in any event. The sets are erected and pulled down each shooting day, so I think they just like to make use of whatever set that have put up to avoid wasting filming time changing sets.

So... Caroline is now playing Ridge? I don't understand what happened today. Was getting Ridge to design on his own her way of saying "it's over"? Ridge said to Katie that he was going to kill the partnership, and then it ended up being Caroline... When did she decide to be the one to take charge? Yesterday she was all flustered and hysterical about having kissed Ridge, and now her resolve is steely? At least there was no boink - beggars can't be choosers. But I just feel like the bottom's fallen out of this story all of a sudden. We'll see what tomorrow brings, I guess. Rick passing on fashion critique, dressed in a bright pink tie and blue/purple chequered shirt? Don't make me laugh. I liked Maya bringing the sass today, Karla Mosley's obviously enjoying herself and I don't blame her. I also liked Rick dismissing what Maya had to say, although I would have liked it better if he had mentioned that Caroline and Ridge are quasi-family, with Ridge being her half-brother-in-law/ex-uncle, rather than saying he's not bothered by his wife hugging her "design partner". I don't hug my co-workers. But who am I kidding, this is Forrester Creations we're talking about! What the hell is "office etiquette"??? And Maya saying "If I were your wife, you wouldn't find me in another man's arms"? Isn't that how Rick & Maya finished in the first place - Maya & Carter spending the night together when Rick didn't show up for the Room 8 premiere? Check yourself before you wreck yourself, girlfriend. Nice to have a couple of episodes in a row that have A & B stories but it still means I'm only watching about ten minutes of the show. She could eat all three Logan sisters for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then devour Hope for dessert. Safe words, as I understand them, are supposed to be clunky and unsexy and also obvious so all parties can recognise it and cease activity - I guess if "Diamonds" is a word that reminds DeaQuinn of the Hopeless Diamond and therefore of Hopeless herself then that ticks all the boxes? My safe word is "Ronn Moss".

Well, I'm still hooked on the CaRidge story - TK & LG are hitting all the right notes for mine, the latter in particular. The awkwardness of them wanting to be in the same room together but also not wanting to be in the same room together is palpable. I like that Caroline is still questioning not only her motives and feelings but now Ridge's, and that every time she decides that she can't face Ridge her attraction to him grows. I don't know if I like Ridge falling for Caroline, though. I can understand Caroline being attracted to Ridge because he's, well, Ridge, and I can understand Ridge being sexually attracted to Caroline because he's, well, Ridge, but if it becomes a proper emotional affair like many people fear it may be (i.e. Kridge fans) then that's the end of that. I preferred it when Ridge was simply manipulating Caroline for personal gain. And Heaven help me if they sleep together in this cabin scene and Caroline ends up... I don't even want to type it out in fear of jinxing the whole thing. Just don't fuck it up, Brad Bell, for God's sake. But I am enjoying both characters dance around the problem of "them" - first Caroline faking to Rick last week with the selfie thing and now Ridge pretending to recall Katie's words about him acting like Bill, that was cool. And Ridge thinking of Caroline as he was kissing Katie was good editing - I appreciate good cinematic trickery and I'm sad that soap operas don't seem to want to explore the possibilities of that more often. Still not interested in Hope et. al. but I did get a chuckle out of KM & RS being sassy at each other. What was with Katie today? She took one look at Ivy's jewellery and decided to play dress-up without asking if she could handle them; I guess she must be desperate for some bling given her fiance is still holding out on supplying The Big One. And the attitude, like, what brought that on? I mean, yes she likes to stomp around and remind everyone that She Is With Ridge Now, but even this exchange with Ivy came a little out of left field. Ivy was just trying to have a conversation with her (have they ever shared a scene together? I don't recall one) and Katie spoke back to her like she was a second-class citizen. Katie needs a job like yesterday. Judging by the weekly promo for this week, I'd say there's a high chance of that happening. I think so - RM & JMC have too small an age gap to be father & son, but with TK being younger that seems to be reset too. If there was a wildly large gap between Ridge & Caroline a la Eric & Donna I'm sure it would have been brought up by now as one of the many reasons not to enter into anything. I don't think TK has debuted as Ridge in Europe yet; there's something in that Vanity Fair article posted earlier about how in the Netherlands live show no one applauded him when he came out on stage because no one knew who he was. (Reading it made me a sad waffles.) Maybe the L.A. Registry office doesn't want to see any of them any more - "You again?!? Don't waste my time!!" Stephanie rang her to tell her about her Almost Dead Party and Fabio answered the phone, and she was poolside, but I don't think it was mentioned where. My Mere Male asked me the other day what they do about flashbacks now that Ronn Moss is no longer Ridge - I just about fell outta my chair.

Another great day's work from Linsey Godfrey; she's really playing the head-versus-heart struggle in this storyline. And dare I say it? Liam was cute with Ivy. Liam and Ivy were cute together. I think I've caught the kiddie pool cooties - someone call the W.H.O! The only characters that have brought up this particular plot point since TK's arrival have been Brooke, Rick, and Ridge himself recently. Eric repeatedly says that it doesn't bother him, that Ridge is his son the same as Rick is, etc. I don't see it being a factor for Eric as he chooses his successor but everyone else around him seems to. I wasn't watching in 2002-2003 and have only seen clips of the storyline, but I got the impression that if Eric was angry at anyone it was Stephanie for keeping Massimo a secret (both when she left Eric for Massimo and then at the paternity reveal), and he harboured no ill will towards Ridge over it - from memory it was even brought up yesterday with Ridge saying "Mom played a cruel trick on you, don't make me pay for it" (which I remember because RM's Ridge always called Stephanie "Mother", not "Mom"). I think if Eric chooses Rick over Ridge for the CEO position it will be on the back of Rick's loyalty, his disinclination to flighty behaviour, and his business acumen. (And his wife.) If he chooses Ridge over Rick it will be on the back of Ridge's tenure, his experience with FC, and his design talent, although the fact that Eric brought up Ridge's tyranny the last time he was head honcho makes me wonder if he is able to trust Ridge to not backstab him again. Well I gotta say, it's pretty clever. The tease is always the best part! Thanks for reminding me of the Super Mario meme, Joimiaroxeu! Just watched it; why on earth would they cut that scene? It is packed full with all kind of goodies! Beats me, RuntheTable. Most of the bonus scenes have a fluffed line in them somewhere but yesterday's was spot on, so that can't be it. I'm glad CBS choose to upload them for us to see instead of just leaving them on the cutting room floor, though. Good question ByTor! I'll try to keep my answer brief, but here's the story: I started watching Bold after I caught the end of the Brooke/Eric Palm Springs honeymoon tent recreation scenes about 12 months ago, when Brooke was all over Eric asking him to be her baby daddy and he told her no - I was really impressed with this guy being able to say no to Brooke Logan (you don't have to watch the show to know she has a reputation!) and advocate some common sense by telling her to "go to Spencer - tell him the truth!" Then a couple of weeks later I saw him again at Brooke's birthday party with this other blonde who suggested that "if Taylor doesn't show up, you know where to find me...", and I was like, "What is with this guy???" So I did some Googling and some YouTubing and realised that actually Common Sense is not Eric Forrester's middle name, but I fell in love with him anyway because he was (and still is) sophisticated, charming, funny, and incredibly handsome... ... ahem. Sorry. I was also impressed with his work with Susan Flannery, and it was great fun researching the character and seeing their relationship evolve as actors and as their characters. It was really when I started looking up JMC's other TV & film work and enjoyed the contrast between his dramatic work in Bold and his more comedic roles in sitcoms/dramedies that I became a bit of a cheerleader for him, and trying to find more of his non-Bold work is how my blog started. I suppose it's a bit chicken-and-egg - I was a fan of Eric first before becoming a full-blown JMC fan, and now I look forward to any Eric scenes that come up because I want to watch JMC work. I guess I get overly excited whenever Eric's on the show these days because we see him so seldom, and this forum is really my only avenue to gush. I'm sorry if I get a bit over zealous sometimes! I love reading everyone's posts here to get different perspectives on the character, even if you guys all pooh-pooh him for being an idiot (let's face it, he is). I think he's too long in the tooth to be recast - if/when JMC leaves/carks it, TPTB will pull the pin on the character too, and it'll just be a matter of whether the storyline will be planned or reactionary.

Loved loved loved today's episode. I've watched it about five times already. Linsey Godfrey is doing a fantastic job in every scene she's been in lately - the one where she was faking to Rick about being upset over the selfie comment was great, and then the scenes w/ Thorsten Kaye, both the one at the start of the episode and the last one, I mean good gravy! TK getting all up in her personal space like he was going to kiss her but then pulling away at the last second, it was perfect. Talk about hook, line, and sinker! And my man Eric, oh boy - JMC and TK smash every scene they share and these ones are no exception. Have you guys seen the bonus scene on YouTube? I'm willing to forgive Ridge being gravelly-voiced, weirdly-accented, unwashed and out of character for so long as these scenes keep being filmed. At the beginning of today's episode (the continuation of Friday's last scene), Ridge kisses Caroline for real. At the end of the show, Caroline is daydreaming about Ridge when he interrupts her. So the only real kiss the is the one from the start. It's part of Ridge's plan to get Caroline to change her allegiance from her husband to her mentor/idol/etc. by capitalising on her inappropriate feelings for him - like La di Diva said earlier, I don't think Ridge is actually romantically inclined towards Caroline, but rather sees her as a tool to claim what he thinks is rightfully his.

My favourite parts of this episode: Eric; Patrick Mulcahey being the scriptwriter; Bill & Katie arguing about Jackie Robinson; Bill & Katie arguing generally; Eric skulking in Rick's office; Shirtless Carter - HOLLA!; JMC scratching something off his reading glasses, even though it annoys me greatly whenever he just clutches them instead of putting them in a case or making some sort of an effort to protect them, like, no wonder they get dirty if you're constantly handling them! But anyway, pet peeve; JMC pronouncing Bali with a short A; Eric's aforementioned line about his time-share office; Eric & Ivy's conversation overall. Probably for obvious reasons. Although I was very miffed at Rick when he said to Eric that "I don't see you stepping down as an opportunity, I see it as a loss", and then five minutes later he said to Maya that there was an "opportunity" at the top. Way to stab your Dad in the back! And Ridge having a "crush" on Caroline? No thanks. I know I said in my last post here that if it takes inappropriate lip locking to keep this storyline going, so be it, but I didn't actually mean it. Eric should've had a line going something like, "Brooke's sorting shit out in Milan so she's not in the running right now" to sustain continuity. Had Brooke stayed in town, I imagine he would've just promoted her and Ridge as Co-CEOs given that he ships them and they have more combined experience than Rick & Caroline. But where's the drama in that? To be fair, he did say the "current success" of the company, which includes HFTF whether we like it or not. He sees Rick & Caroline as a "power couple" like he and Stephanie were (completely ignoring the fact that they spent more years apart from each other than they did together), and he is probably predicting that they will have the same success as a business partnership that they did. Eric's argument is that no one person can do this on their own, that they need support, someone to balance them out. But yeah, you can't really list "stable and happy marriage" on a job ad as a criterion for selection. I did think Ridge had a good line to Caroline about "What do you want - to thrive as a designer or to be an ornamental wife?" (paraphrasing), given that his mother was the epitome of the trophy wife while her husband worked long hours putting caviar on the table. Sorry sorry sorry! When this comes back to bite us in the ass, you can all blame me.

Ugh, Cliffhanger Thursday. John McCook looked like he was gonna pass out the entire episode. And the gold tie made him look very yellow. Oh God, I can't do this. Join me in the corner, RuntheTable & KerleyQ. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this Forrester Creations storyline. If it takes a bit of inappropriate lip locking to keep it coming, so be it. Anything other than Hope/Liam/Wyatt zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *THUNDER AND LIGHTNING AND MANIACAL LAUGHTER* Christ on a bike!

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, CaRidge actually went there. Well, Caroline went there. I'm... speechless. I'll be in the corner by myself if anyone wants me. Here's what grates - Carter isn't some Skid Row bum, he's a corporate lawyer. He wears nice threads and looks divine. Either he has terrible body odour or he's an awful lay because girl, I ain't seeing the problem here. His name isn't Forrester? His name could be Pee Wee Herman for all I care. Ride that wagon 'til the wheels fall off, y'know what I'm saying? Give the brotha some love! Tomorrow's promo is making me real nervous.

I just read a spoiler from Soaps In Depth that said that But you better believe my heart skipped a beat in that scene too. I just lost my job; I can't lose Eric in the same week! Hello sailor!

Well put out a W.H.O alert for Quinnsanity because I'm coming down with a bit of Is anyone else following the Bold Live show happenings in Amsterdam? David Gregg said it was being filmed, maybe they'll put it on YouTube or something.

I think that's the idea. John's not Australian, he's American; he would have grown up with Eric and their parents before leaving the States and travelling around the world selling his dud inventions. I imagine he wouldn't stay anywhere too long to pick up the local inflection. Ivy would be born-and-bred Australian, living with her Aussie mother while Dad's off to parts unknown. It's possible that Ivy was conceived and born while John was still married to Maggie - they divorce around 1994-1995; Ashleigh Brewer was 4 years old. Not that timelines matter anymore on this show, but it's an interesting thought. Maybe that was the trouble John & Maggie were having when Jessica came to stay?

I KNOW RIGHT HOW COOL WAS FRED WILLARD AND JOHN MCCOOK AND ALLEY MILLS AND DICK CHRISTIE BUT WHAT WAS WITH ALL THE YELLING??? Is Fred Willard deaf? I don't remember him yelling quite as much on Modern Family as he was today. Maybe John is just a yeller? I don't know. I'm glad it has now been cleared up in-show that John is Eric's older brother; the press releases all said he was his younger brother, which is just impossible. I watched an old scene the other day between Stephanie & Eric and Stephanie actually said "Brooke's been trying to marry Ridge for seven years now, if it was meant to be it would've happened by now," etc., and I was like, "Wow. Someone's been paying attention!" I guess it's easier to keep track when the numbers are single digits... Me too. Today when he was playing with toys on the coffee table while Katie was stuck in a Batie flashback, singing his own song to himself, I melted. I'm so clucky these days it's driving me bonkers. But didn't you hear him say the other day about following one's heart, and if you don't fulfill your heart's desires you die a little bit inside?!? Consequences be damned!!! I can get with Eric forgiving Brooke for the Ridge thing because they've always had this "bond", and getting involved with her at the time was a "mistake", blah blah, but betraying their daughter, when Eric is a character focused strongly on "family", should be a big deal, and I too am miffed that it's not. Eric's not hot on Bill (shame!) - why? Instead of just saying to her, "Well you love him so I guess that's cool", he should have listed all the reasons why people don't like Bill and why people would think marrying him is a bad idea, and then if that doesn't talk Brooke out of it then he can give her his blessing, such as it was. But anyway, I guess it's a moot point now. He forgave Stephanie for a lot of heinous stuff, too. One time when he got involved in a Twitter argument, Scott Clifton said that soap operas are like Rorschach tests; everyone takes something different out of the same show. It's so true. Everyone has their favourite characters and the biases that come with that, different life experiences, different expectations of what the show should be against what it is, etc. And I love that. I especially love that this forum, against all other fan-run forums, gives everyone the space to give their opinion, and we are all mature enough to respond to those opinions respectfully. You want to call Eric a dirty old man? Go ahead, I don't mind; that's your opinion. Well okay, it's actually true, but you get what I'm saying. P.S.: If anyone is interested, here's an interview with JMC and Hunter Tylo on Dutch television talking about the show, what's like to work on a soap these days, storylines, etc. It's not all in Dutch, either, they do ask them questions in English.

I actually woke up all excited about today's episode because I knew we were going to continue on with Brooke & Eric, it was like waking up on Christmas morning. Last night I got a reply tweet from Katherine Kelly Lang herself (!!) which was pretty cool; she said she wishes she had more scenes with JMC. Can't say I blame her. When they say things like "we've known each other for over 20 years" I can't help but think they (the actors) are talking about themselves as they play their characters - same vibe from JMC & Susan Flannery when Stephanie was kicking the bucket, there was a lot of dialogue like "I hate that you're leaving me", etc. Which is not a criticism; I think it makes those scenes better, and that's what makes them feel real. Tell me about it! I was not expecting the 1991 balloon ride to pop up like that and I'm so glad they had Eric make a joke out of it. That's how you do a flashback, show. La di Diva, this is my face right now reading your post. Zane was fantastic, he's such a little scene stealer! Those "Miss" interjections were so cute. And that "Mine, mine!" thing he did when HT took the coin from him, so adorable. He'll be 2 at the end of October, how crazy is that?! It's possible they told him to roll around on the floor for them, he was definitely told to take the coin from the table. Also, how does one get a ticket to ride the Don Diamont Tickle Machine??? Back to the Dope Show tomorrow by the looks of things. Sigh.

Wait, so is Eric going to be in every show this week? Oh my God. This "person" Brooke is talking about at the end of today's show - does anyone else get the impression she's talking about Stephanie? Both she and Eric were judged harshly by Stephanie on the life choices they made (consequences of Stephanie's actions, ironically), so it makes sense to me that Brooke would want to talk to Eric about that. I'm glad at least that TPTB are using KKL & JMC, the last two standing, in this kind of sound-boarding, friendly, easy relationship, and taking advantage of the 25 years between the actors and feeding that into the characters. It's just a shame that Brooke is again lamenting the fact that being involved with her brother-in-law is a Bad Idea when it wasn't too long ago that that didn't seem to matter... I read somewhere that KKL is between contracts, and that she decided to take some time off before resigning - but I can't remember where I read that to know if it's true or rumour. I say good on her - are our lives always about work? I don't know what the employment entitlements are like in the States, but Down Under we get Long Service Leave if we have worked in the same position for 10 years or more, so I see KKL's break as akin to LSL. *shudder*

Sometimes I like to imagine what Eric/Donna would've been like with Carrie Mitchum. Something says she wouldn't have been as hysterical as JG's Donna.

Guys guys guys have you seen the promo for next week?!? I'm so excited I think I'm gonna be sick. This part was my favourite. I may have squealed. (That's just between us, okay?) Not here for the Hope/Liam/Wyatt baby mamma drama zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Surely you would think that after the last pregnancy scare and how earth-shattering that was for everyone involved Hope would have invested in something a little more substantial and less tamperable in the birth control department, like a Mirena or an Implanon, or tubal ligation, or a hysterectomy. Girl's too stupid to function and I ain't got no time for it. Preach it, girlfriend. Bill's problem is that he hasn't got anything to do outside chasing Brooke down to marry him - when he was first on the show he was hell-bent on crushing Forrester Creations; now... ? He's a primary antagonist, but he's not doing much antagonising anymore. If I were writing Bold I would've had him expose Ridge's inability to draw in a full-page spread in Eye on Fashion - not sure how he'd escape being implicated in his "impediment" in the first place, but whatever. If TPTB are allowed plot holes, so am I! *shudder* You and me both, RuntheTable. JMC has said he doesn't want to retire but I hope he changes his mind and gives Eric a proper exit story like Susan Flannery did - I'm frightened that one day Eric will have to take a call, or attend a meeting, or visit the bathroom, and will never come back. I don't know if I'll keep watching after JMC departs - TK & DD are my next favourite actors, but I don't love them as much. You too?! =D She'll be in Monday's show - JG was just on Y&R as Grace for I think one episode (I don't watch it). She's also doing a TV movie of some sort. Yesterday was the seven-year anniversary of Eric & Donna's first kiss, actually. You're welcome. ETA: Forgot to say, welcome aboard La di Diva! Enjoy the crazy!

Surprise Eric! He didn't sound very well, poor thing. Why doesn't Hope put the baby up for adoption? Think long term, Brad Bell - Hope's baby can come back to BellA in 20 years' time (or 10 with SORAS, I guess) to cause some sort of chaos. Or do a stillbirth story - heavy but real-life, huge potential for drama and Emmy reels, and TPTB don't have to worry about having another character on the canvas. An experience like that could change Hope, too - but maybe I'm getting too ahead of myself here. Thorne! Bring him and Taylor back from Paris. How would Aly like that? LOL. As good as it would be to see Aly spin out over that one, Quinn would crush Thorne. She needs someone with a bit of fight, like Bill & Liam. Maybe with KKL on her break they'll do more about Quill? And really, when you think about it, isn't that why we watch soaps in the first place? Ridiculous couples, transgressing the boundaries of decency and common sense, and steaming up the screen while doing so (I'm not talking about Ridge/Bridget here, that's just wrong)? The way I see it, soaps are fantasies in the real world, somewhere we can see illicit daydreams played out by gorgeous people. Or have I just shown my hand?!? Eh, you guys already know I'm weird. As a zombie! I can see Eric trying it on with Zombie Stephanie:ERIC: "Hey sweet girl, why don't we head on upstairs for a bit of love in the afternoon?" STEPHANIE: "BLEEUUURRGGHHHH" ERIC: "Just like old times!" Sigh. I miss the Honeybear thing. Even as recently as 2007 the show had A stories and B stories running parallel - Donna/Eric/Stephanie, then Brooke/Ridge/Ashley, Nick & Taylor, Nick & Brooke, Nick & Katie, Thorne & Katie, Rick & Taylor... Someone needs to offer Kim Matula a really lucrative film deal to get her away from B&B for a while, and let some other characters have a turn.

Also check out Lorre B's Susan Flannery website - she has about 25 years' worth of SF/Bold clips from her own recordings as well as other fans' tapes. The most detailed collections are the ones from about 1989-1996, and then again from 2006-2012. This is where I've done all of my research into the show and collected the bulk of my Eric/JMC clips from. I think it's an invaluable resource for Bold fans all round, not just for SF/Stephanie fans. Brooke in particular - as pointed out above, she went to school, got her chem degree (and worked part-time), and then got a job at FC, and not as a model but as a chemist working on BeLieF, and these were her decisions, not necessarily her parents'. But I guess they seem to like having Hope simply being a talking head for the HFTF line - it brings in money, so who the hell cares about anything else? At least on occasion Eric will say something like "I worked hard so that my family can enjoy life".

Haven't watched since last week's Thursday Night Football episode; don't seem to have missed much. I wouldn't normally do this because no one likes a horn tooter, but I wanted to share this with you guys because I love you all and I know there are a couple of people here who might enjoy this - earlier this week I received a couple of bootlegged episodes of a show called Mister Roberts from 1965, guest starring a verrrry young John McCook - I uploaded a clip to YouTube and posted screencaps on my blog if anyone's interested in checking it out. Dear God in Heaven! Or at least put it up - KKL and Jennifer Gareis look fantastic with their hair done up, I don't know why they don't style it like that more often. Living upside down has its advantages! That the show needs some redirection and focus? Preach, preach, preach. I think this is partly the reason why I have enjoyed the Ridge/Caroline thing - it's business and it's personal. (And also inappropriate.) Whatever happened to Margo? Lauren Koslow is on Days now, right? One of my favourite scenes is of Margo describing to Eric the man she loves (it's him) - handsome, successful, creative, well-bred, older... and he says, "I think I know who you're talking about. It's Bill Spencer, isn't it?" and Margo's just like, "OMG ERIC IT'S YOU DUH" Fixed - I know I'm the resident Eric Apologist here but I have to say, Eric always loved Stephanie and always desired her - it was when she was horrid to him and others that he started turning away from her and found comfort in other women. Stephanie made an assumption that Eric didn't want her because she was jealous of Margo (and Kristen), but then wouldn't even deign to acquiesce to his requests for intimacy when he told her he wanted her. And then she would lay the blame for their marriage going bad on Eric's wandering eye, when it was Stephanie keeping her distance all along that made him return to Beth in the first place. But anyway. I am obviously biased. Oh my God no. Can you imagine Eric & Quinn? There would be tears. I actually laughed aloud upon reading this - thanks for the chuckle, godfreydaniels!