Retro B&B: When the Beautiful Were Also Bold

[AndySmith]

Best party at the Forrester mansion ever.

 

 

[Anna Yolei]

Epic win! Next to the scenes of Bridget dumping Brooke and Deacon out of her life, this is one of my favorite classic moments.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Anna Yolei

[ByTor]

I wish I wanted to watch those clips to feel nostalgic, but I hated (not love to hate) Sheila, regardless of what show she was on. If she ever gets retconned to being alive, I won't bother with whatever show she'd be put on.

[AndySmith]

Oh ByTor...I feel like you just stabbed me in the heart. Sheila style. ;)

[grisgris]

I'd be game for a Sheila-Steffy battle.

[AndySmith]

Sheila would eat Steffy for breakfast and still find time to get her hair and nails done.

[Anna Yolei]

I wish I wanted to watch those clips to feel nostalgic, but I hated (not love to hate) Sheila, regardless of what show she was on. If she ever gets retconned to being alive, I won't bother with whatever show she'd be put on.

Unless she deep sixes Liam or Victor Newman, I agree.

But I miss those types of villian like her in soaps. Sheila was on B&B for years who despite her obvious mental instability remained a viable character. They found new ways to keep her around once her relationship with Eric went south.

Not like Aly, who went from zero to padded room overnight, and over an issue that, quite frankly, was none of her damn business to fight anyway.

[ByTor]

This is where I think I'm in the vast minority of soap viewers, I never enjoyed a soap villain or found one entertaining. If there's going to be a character we're supposed to actively root against (it really would be boring if all characters were wonderful and likable), I prefer the nosy shit-stirrer to the villain.

[AndySmith]

A full episode from 1996. Ah, the glory days...

 

[AndySmith]

More mid-90s fun. Sheila crashes James and Maggie's wedding!

 

[Anna Yolei]

What the....?

I know I was following the show in 2009, but somehow I don't remember this happening!

[Bill C.]

I vaguely remember the whole "cougar" campaign, but yeah--I didn't remember an actual cougar showing up either.  I'm more disappointed I don't remember Lesley-Anne Down rocking that outfit.

[Harmony233]

Does anyone know why they recast thorne for a third time in 97? 

[Anna Yolei]

Note to Caroline: Here is how you do a poker face. Here is Brooke planning a secret wedding to Eric ahead of the divorce proceedings, which she pretends not to know about when Stephanie barges into her house (some things never do change on Show):

As an aside, I've noticed there are very scant few videos to be found of Brooke and Eric's marriage. I've never seen a full clip of their wedding online for example, which is odd since it's the first onscreen wedding for either of them. Nor is there anything involving her pregnancy with Rick apart from when her yelling match with Steph in the hospital forces her into labor. Were Eric and Brooke not very popular?

[ByTor]

Ugh, I HATED Jackie and that cougar crap!

[AndySmith]

I loved that scene of Stephanie and Brooke! Yeah, Brooke definitely was a better poker player than Caroline.

 

Anna Yolei, here you go...two shorts clips of the wedding. As always, the usual B&B Wedding Awkwardness, what with Stephanie attending (!), Ridge as Best Man (!), and Taylor is there as Storm Logan's date (!).

 

 

 

Here is a series of Brooke and Eric's race to be married (13 parts), that got thwarted by Stephanie. Of course, Stephanie won temporarily, as the wedding did happen...

 

 

Here is Brooke and Eric post his divorce from Stephanie. She had given birth by then.

 

Edited April 23, 2016 by AndySmith

[Anna Yolei]

Wow, this music was epic for this scene:

I've always wondered about what happened behind the scenes regarding the short return of Bobbie Eaks. This clip was in 2002. There's another one in 2003 where Stephanie learns she's alive, suggesting she was discovered around the holidays. Almost one year later on New Years Eve, Darla gives birth to Aly, who in a bit of chutzpah that even egotistical Ridge wouldn't pull was named after the recently deceased Macy. Why bring the character back just to kill her off yet again less than a year later?

[Harmony233]

I assumed they brought her back but didnt know what to do with her.This show tends to do that a lot.Suprised the baby story didn't last longer though

Edited April 26, 2016 by Harmony233

[grisgris]

I think during that time period, while Macy was in limbo, Bobbie Eakes accepted a much better role on "All My Children," and said, "bye felicia" to B&B.

[AndySmith]

That was a weird return. I'm not sure if the issue was not knowing what to do with her. I think it was more they just didn't want to keep the Spectras around anymore as a viable long term rival family for the Forresters. Which was a shame. For me, the Spectras worked better as a rival family, more than the Logans, Marones, and Spencers.

 

I did like during Macy's return that they show did seem to be moving in a new direction. I like that they set up Brooke and Macy as rivals. I always felt the show squandered that when they killed off Macy the first time. And while I wasn't an initial fan of Deacon/Macy and Darla/Thorne, I did grow to enjoy as again, it felt like the show was doing something different.

 

Of course, they killed all of that by killing off Macy AGAIN, and then killing off Darla a few years later because someone at B&B really did not care for the Spectras.

 

I really can't imagine that Bob Eakes and the show would have accepted her appearing on the show for a limited time knowing she would eventually leave for another role on AMC (and it being better is debatable). At the very least, I wish they had written her out without killing her again. But oh well.

[Harmony233]

I also Remeber around this time 2002 them trying to set up CJ and Bridget as the next spectra and forester realtionship and CJ and mark fighting over Bridget but they dropped it.

 

IA spectra was a much better rival company for the forrestors.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Harmony233

[Anna Yolei]

Submitted without comment *goes into the corner to sip on tea*

[AndySmith]

So I guess Clarke was the first one to "keep it in the family" on this show?

[Anna Yolei]

This was 2003, im assuming right after the foundry blink and Sally somehow discovered Brooke was preggers. I mess Darla Conley.

[AndySmith]

You mean Darlene Conley...and yeah, I miss her too. Sally was such a great character. At least on the show she is off somewhere on a ritzy beach, still enjoying those cabana boys :)

Here is a fun scene with her and Massimo. Ride, Sally, ride, indeed.

[Anna Yolei]

Apparently, Dionne Warwick covered the theme song for the show in one episode and that the show used for the end credit for a year afterwards:

[AndySmith]

I always liked this clip...not because it was the first time Brooke and Taylor get into a catfight, but because someone in costuming thought the Hilary Clinton look and style would be a good one for Brooke.

Edited May 25, 2016 by AndySmith

[AndySmith]

B&B at it's wonkiest. When Taylor returned from the dead the first time, she somehow fooled everyone with the help of a wig, glasses, and a very curious British accent. Even Stephani was fooled!

Man, 1995 really was a great year for this show.

Edited May 30, 2016 by AndySmith

[Anna Yolei]

I had forgotten that once upon a time, Steffy was not only a character people liked, but found to be a refreshingly balanced character after years of Stevie Nicks!Phoebe. And there's video evidence of Steffy once being a sane, compassionate person. Notice how he's actually HAPPY to see Brooke and was even concerned about Katie, whose heart transplant was failing at the time.

That shirt is godawful, though.

And let me be the first to say I prefer her dark look of today over this color she has in the video.

[TobinAlbers]

1 hour ago, Anna Yolei said:

I had forgotten that once upon a time, Steffy was not only a character people liked, but found to be a refreshingly balanced character after years of Stevie Nicks!Phoebe. And there's video evidence of Steffy once being a sane, compassionate person. Notice how he's actually HAPPY to see Brooke and was even concerned about Katie, whose heart transplant was failing at the time.

It's funny though - Steffy, Maya, Caroline all came on as nice girls and then morphed into the bitches on wheels once it was realized that their entry personas needed tweaks. Nicole and Hope have stayed good girls. Ivy and Aly were good, a little offbeat, dipped into crazy/bad girl and were then shuffled off canvas (although Ivy's returning so who know who she'll be this time although with her siding with Quinn seems she's now a lot more morally flexible).

Quinn and Sasha are bad girl/vixens that are mellowing with the power of love ;)

[Anna Yolei]

Caroline needed the shake up IMO. I couldn't tell her apart from Hope a lot of the time. It worked because of Lindsay Godfrey but it was a literal turn around out of the blue WTFery, not unlike the beginning of Queric was.

[Anna Yolei]

Forrester Wars Episode I: The Logan Menance

 

in all seriousness, it looks like Bell just cut and pasted most of the dialogue from 2008 and added more Steffy and we got this crap. At least the concerns over Donna having any knowledge of company is a valid one, far more so than Steffy's so called fear of Quinn.

[AndySmith]

I'm not sure if this is Sheila's first actual scene on B&B, but it was definitely among her earliest appearances on this show (and definitely her first with Eric and Brooke).

Edited August 28, 2016 by AndySmith

[grisgris]

Oh, yeah. I saw that not too long ago on YT. Yep, that was Sheila's introduction to the show. Brooke sure was a rude bitch to interrupt the job interview like that and barely nodded to Sheila. That's the Brooke we need today.

I forgot, did Shelia set out to L.A. and FC specifically targeting Eric, or was it all just a happy coincidence? I never watched much of Y&R, but I do know that she was on the run from Genoa City and saw the ad for the RN position at FC.

[Anna Yolei]

From what I gathered, it was all a coincidence. She left GC after the Scotty Jr stuff and truly wanted a new life. The insanity we know and loved kind ked in once the Forrester started circling the wagons around her and Lauren found out she was still alive.

[Anna Yolei]

This scene perfectly sums up Bridge in a nutshell: the both of them wanting to put the other on the shelf and Ridge making passes at Donna. She and Ridge had all the fizzle of a three day old opened soda.

[AndySmith]

I remember in the early 90s, during Brooke and Eric's first go around as a couple, Brooke and Original Donna were talking about Brooke and Eric. I can't find that scene on Youtube anymore, but I did watch it a few months ago and kept thinking to myself "Don't worry, Donna, you'll get your turn with Eric in a few decades..."

Actually, found it! Here it is. It's part 13 of a 13 part series someone posted about Brooke & Eric's "Race to the Altar".

Edited September 10, 2016 by AndySmith

[Anna Yolei]

Wyatt and Liam can both take cues from Nick. After Massimo sets Jackie up for BS fraud charges to force Nick to break up with Brooke, he basically calls out the bluff. This was right before Nick staged a coup to get control of Marone Industries to settle the fight and right before  the character became N. Sane and forever ruined.

https://youtu.be/8DgKv5ZdaGI

[AndySmith]

I always liked Nick with Brooke.

[Anna Yolei]

Me, too. Here was a man with none of the Forrester baggage, who hadn't fucked any of her relatives yet and accepted her for who she was, even after hearing how Hope came to be conceived . Best of all, you believed that he only had eyes for Brooke. Why TIIC ever drug Bridget into that is beyond me, especially when the Deacon fiasco was still recent history. 

Regardless of how Jack Wagner's inflated ego ate into the show in a way that only Hope and Liam could eclipse eventually, it's unfornate that they didn't bother giving the character a decent send off. One day, he's dating Donna and the next....POOF! Out to sea. I wonder who is raising baby Jack now that Bridget has a kid of her own.

[AndySmith]

Heck, I also liked him with Taylor as well. Definitely more than him and Bridget, that's for sure.

Edited September 17, 2016 by AndySmith

[Anna Yolei]

The recent CaRidge/Douglas debacle really got me thinking how many other, better possibilities there would have been had Nick told Taylor from the beginning about the egg mix up and the two of them decided to not tell Brooke instead of the shrieking and self-fulfilling prophecizing we ended up with. And then, after they've had the baby for a while and Bridge were more solidly back together, little Jack could've taken sick and needed marrow from Brooke then. Not to mention, it would've been a great way for the both of them to remain in each other's orbits once Ridge was gone and without getting involved with their daughters' fight over Eggo.

Le sigh. I made the mistake of watching those episodes not that long ago, and somehow, even for as horrendous and trite and repetitive as B&B is today, not even nostalgia or the sympathy for Tylo's loss of her own son around the same time could make that shrieking tolerable.

[AndySmith]

On a more lighthearted note...Sally...and Eric...singing! Together!

[TobinAlbers]

46 minutes ago, AndySmith said:

Heck, I also liked him with Taylor as well. Definitely more than him and Bridget, that's for sure.

I just thought that Bridget was crazy stupid to set herself up to be a rival to her mother again over a man after the Deacon mess. Bridget should've been smarter than that (and usually was) but to get involved with a man who was once with Brooke? Neeeeeope!

Gah, seeing Sally just makes me sad that Spectra is gone. CJ should be running it with Aly as second in command, Caroline as their lead designer, Oliver as their photographer, and Sasha as their lead model. They'd be the young, fresh, edgy counter to Forrester's classic look. You'd have Rick vs CJ, Thomas vs Caroline, Aly vs Steffy, Sasha vs Maya, Heck Oliver vs Zende. The fashion show battles would be amazing. CJ would try romancing Steffy, Thomas try romancing Caroline or Sasha...it'd be a true storyline for the younger generations.

Edited September 17, 2016 by TobinAlbers

[Anna Yolei]

More than anything else, I kinda miss the camp feeling of the old days, with silliness like this for the sake of silliness. Kinda like the baseball thing earlier this week. Even for all that, B&B is still the only daytime show that isn't entirely depressing to sit through like The Billy Abbott and Chuck Pratt Mastubatory Fantasy Hour Y&R and for all practical purposes, it's not like anything else about the show has fundamentally changed (the quality of writing and shrinking budget aside). Theres no mob family that's taken over the show and the only sociopaths that are being sold as heroes are the ones that were born into one of the legacy families....as it should be. :p

[AndySmith]

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Gah, seeing Sally just makes me sad that Spectra is gone. CJ should be running it with Aly as second in command, Caroline as their lead designer, Oliver as their photographer, and Sasha as their lead model. They'd be the young, fresh, edgy counter to Forrester's classic look. You'd have Rick vs CJ, Thomas vs Caroline, Aly vs Steffy, Sasha vs Maya, Heck Oliver vs Zende. The fashion show battles would be amazing. CJ would try romancing Steffy, Thomas try romancing Caroline or Sasha...it'd be a true storyline for the younger generations.

The show seemed to lose interest in the Spectras from the mid-aughts onward. I always said, and still maintain, they were the best rival family for the Forresters ever. I like your idea, though I'd add Macy or Darla or both, just to have a couple of the old guard there, to add some weight and history to the Forrester/Spectra rivalry. Granted, that would have meant the show not stupidly killing off both Macy and Darla to begin with...

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I kinda miss the camp feeling of the old days, with silliness like this for the sake of silliness

It seems when they got rid of the Spectras, they got rid of of a good chunk of the fun and camp as well.

Edited September 17, 2016 by AndySmith

[Anna Yolei]

I could kinda get Darla, who until her marriage to Thorne was like a tertiary character to the show. But killing Macy off twice? And bringing her back again just so she could die less than a year later? Even if Bobbie Eakes got a better deal on GH, why not just write a loose ending and leave the door open for a recast? 

The rivalry worked because just like the one between the Forresters and Logan, this was always about class. The Spectras were getting successful but didn't know the old money circles Stephanie did, which was why her underwriting the Queen Mary event was such a big deal. And also, there were a direct competition. And not a distributor like Jackie M or being shamed in the press by Spencer. 

[AndySmith]

In some ways, that is what bugged me about Darla's death. After being involved with Thorne, it looked she was going to grow from a (fun) tertiary character to someone more relevant. She seemed to be coming into her own, finding her voice more, being more confident, developing a friendship with Taylor, etc. So it seemed like she would be having a bigger role, and then...they killed her off.

And yes, what they did to Macy was just baffling. Especially since unlike other characters, she seemed to move on from her past (Thorne) and onto someone new and different (Deacon), which was a nice change. So of course the solution to bringing her back from the dead was to kill her off...again.

Man, the aughts were something of a bloodbath to this show, weren't they? Macy, Darla, Steffy, Beth Logan, Storm Logan...

The Spectras worked for me too for many of the same reasons. There was the issue of class, like there was with the Logans, but unlike the Logans, the Spectras could provide direct competition. And I liked the way the Spencers worked with Bill Sr. much more. Having him be an old friend of Stephanie's, and owning fashion publications, was a nice way of having him be involved in the show without being a direct competitor to the Forresters. Ah, the good old days.

[Anna Yolei]

i assume you meant Phoebe instead of Steffy? 

Now that you point it out, the show was a bit liberal in killing off characters, weren't they? It's a shame we lost Storm. Besides the headache we have now of Katie using it to manipulate her family, the show could've used another on call lawyer and perhaps reunited with Taylor. 

[AndySmith]

Ooops! Yeah, Phoebe.

What makes all the deaths in the 00s more interesting was, in the 80s and 90s, we only lost a couple of major people. I think the only major deaths were Caroline and Grant. I can't remember if Sly died or went to jail, though I wouldn't call him a major character.

Quote

the show could've used another on call lawyer and perhaps reunited with Taylor

I wish they had kept Connor. He made a nice rival for Ridge and had lots of chemistry with just about anyone. And was a pretty good lawyer too.

As for Storm...had they hooked him up with Taylor, I'm not sure it would have worked, since the show in the late 00s and early 2010s seemed to have the same cycle happening repeatedly. Ridge chooses Brooke. Taylor moves onto another guy. Ridge and Brooke break up. Ridge decides he wants and pursues Taylor. Taylor goes back to Ridge, whether she is with a guy or not. Brooke decides she wants Ridge and pursues him. Ridge dumps Brooke for Taylor. Taylor feels sad. Lather rinse repeat.

Ok, I might be exaggerating, but it did feel like the show recycled that plot repeatedly.

Speaking of campy, check out this clip from 1990. Margo daydreams about Stephanie shooting Eric at a fashion show. I mean, just the fashion show itself is dripping in camp.

Edited September 18, 2016 by AndySmith