Retro B&B: When the Beautiful Were Also Bold

[Anna Yolei]

I actually saw that last week, and was kinda blown away with how cool she was about the whole thing. She even told Steph to CTFD about Brooke "setting it up" since there was some snowstorm that prevented them from leaving the mountain. I miss this version of Taylor. :(

[sugarbaker design]

And Taylor was so gorgeous!

[Robert]

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 1:32 AM, AndySmith said:

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.

 

Don't forget Saul also died (granted he was as tertiary as Darla was at that point) when the actor Michael Fox passed away (a bit of trivia - this actor was the reason Michael J. Fox had to use the J. in his stage name) though I remember the funeral they had for him on the show and the tears where real :(

I want to say Sly died in a fire when the Bikini Bar burnt down. Granted this is a fuzzy 20 something year old memory.

[AndySmith]

Oh, that is why I didn't include Saul on purpose, since that wasn't a decision the show really had any control over.

Much like I can't blame the show for writing off Sally, but I can and do blame them for killing off Macy, Darla, and Aly, and just decimating the Spectra clan in general.

Yeah, now that you mention it, I think he did die in the Bikini Bar fire...the same fire he set to try and kill Jessica and Jasmine, no?

Edited February 24, 2017 by AndySmith

[ByTor]

7 hours ago, AndySmith said:

Much like I can't blame the show for writing off Sally, but I can and do blame them for killing off Macy, Darla, and Aly, and just decimating the Spectra clan in general.

I'm not exactly sad the Spectras were decimated, I didn't like them then & I'm not warming up to them now, but geez poor Thorne!  He lost 2 wives (well, 1 of them an ex, but still) and a daughter, yet he was still relegated to the cellar and forgotten about!

[AndySmith]

@Anna Yolei and @grisgris if y'all thought the explosion with Ridge in the lab was bad, check this out...I mean, I love this show, but action sequences were not their forte...

Edited March 6, 2017 by AndySmith

[ByTor]

hahaha the way Ridge was sitting at the beginning of the clip it looks like he was naked :)

[grisgris]

Yowza!  I would have loved to have been KKL filming that. It would have been well worth ruining my nice clothes for!

[TobinAlbers]

Ronn Moss really was a brunette Ken Doll. And yeah, they were teasing the ladies and gents with his repose on the pool chair.

Brooke should've been dead as doornail or have permanent brain damage with how she cracked her skull on the side of the pool. She could've been B&B's Jason Morgan.

[Anna Yolei]

1 hour ago, TobinAlbers said:

Brooke should've been dead as doornail or have permanent brain damage with how she cracked her skull on the side of the pool.

Can we blame her current stupidity on this fall? 

[tessaray]

I would seriously consider subscribing to CBS All Access if they showed classic soaps. 

[Anna Yolei]

13 hours ago, tessaray said:

I would seriously consider subscribing to CBS All Access if they showed classic soaps. 

I'm kinda surprised they wouldn't do this. B&B is the most popular soap opera in the world and the 30 year anniversary was a huge deal around the world in every other country in which the show airs. Plus, if they wanna dip into the nostalgia well with Spectra, it'd be nice for viewers to, yanno, see that.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Anna Yolei

[AndySmith]

Maybe the current showrunners need to go back more than we do and remember Brooke at her best?

[ElizaD]

I would love to watch an eighties/nineties episode every day. A couple of years ago the first months of B&B were uploaded to YouTube: before they were deleted I watched all of those episodes and it was such fun to be reminded of how entertaining soaps used to be.

[sugarbaker design]

Wow, what a great clip, thanks for posting AndySmith!  I forgot how much I loved Connor and how much I lusted after Robert Gentry (I forget the name of his character, he must've been the F's attorney).  Good dialogue, characters with clear motivations, long term plotting, fantastic staging and music.  All these were Bell trademarks - once!!!

[AndySmith]

His name was Elliot. He was the F's attorney in the early to mid-90s.

[AndySmith]

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I would love to watch an eighties/nineties episode every day

This account has a handful of full episodes from the 90s. Better than nothing, I guess. Here is an episode from June 1996. Stephanie in the hospital! Brooke in jail! Taylor leaving LA! Oh, the drama of it all...

Edited March 11, 2017 by AndySmith

[tessaray]

It's hard to believe that this is the same show. Decent writing, scenes that breathe  and still enough time for a long montage. 

[ByaNose]

The show really ampted up the glamour back then. Even B&B had a bigger budget, too. I think they are doing the best of the soaps budget wise now. First off, they are only a 1/2 hour show but I think they make more money internationally. I had forgotten that the pool set was so big along with the big compfy lounge chairs. I'm sure sure RM speedo cost a lot of money. LOL!!!

[AndySmith]

Here is a youtube account with the first 14 episodes of the show (or so it says, I haven't watched any of the episodes myself)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd0haLywgw75XyK1RREz2ig/videos

[AndySmith]

Somewhere in an alternate universe, there was a spin-off featuring Stephanie and Sally solving crimes on a weekly basis. I know I would have watched that.

[tessaray]

So who murdered her?

[Robert]

On ‎8‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 4:43 AM, AndySmith said:

Maybe the current showrunners need to go back more than we do and remember Brooke at her best?

 

Wow, I will admit I never actually knew how Brooke gained control of Forrester Creations, even though it seemed to be such a major plot point in the mid to late 90s when I was watching (this must of occurred just before I started watching heavily. In my head I always assumed it was her playing off Eric & Stephanie in her divorce from the former.

Gosh I miss that 90s fun they had in the show.

I recall at one point in the late 90s (when soaps in general where still going strong) there was a lot of complaints about how the 30 min format was limiting B&B and how TPTB on the show wanted to expand it to one hour (I cannot recall the details but it was around the time they let three relatively new cast members (including two Hispanic ones) go because they where struggling to tell anybody's storylines outside of the core families (I think Tracey Bregmann went back to Y&R around this point as well). Fast forward 20 years and the 30 minute format (and its saleability to overseas markets) is what has kept it alive and strong in a world where most of its fellow soaps have died a sad death.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Robert

[Robert]

I miss that Sally/Stephanie dynamic. The actresses bounced well of one another, and the characters, while friends, where willing to piss the other off (just for the sheer fun of it), but where still none the less loyal and steadfast true (in their own unique way) to each other. Basically they could throw each other under the bus, but nobody else dare too do it or their will be some mighty hell to pay!

That is such a fun and enjoyable dynamic that made such entertaining TV, that you don't see much of these days.

Yes, AndySmith I'd loved to have seen that alternative universe spinoff! :D

[AndySmith]

Quote

So who murdered her?

It was Anthony.

Quote

Wow, I will admit I never actually knew how Brooke gained control of Forrester Creations, even though it seemed to be such a major plot point in the mid to late 90s

This Youtube account has quite a few videos from that story line. It isn't all in sequence, but you can probably still get the general idea of how things went down from those videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLh4E1KklOnOHW9MH1bmZQ/videos

Bear in mind, in the Sally and Stephanie video I posted, the two of then certainly were not friends at that point. They don't start to become frenemies until much later.

[BBHN]

Where it all started...

[Anna Yolei]

Hey-o!

Found a few clips:

AJ's first appearance as Bridget (which looking back, I realizedshe and Nick had their first wedding attempt less than six months after this aired! Holy smokes!)

 

...and Bridget reading both Katie and Nick for the filth they were after Katie became pregnant (she took off her ring at the end of the first clip, so it means they can totes be together now! [/Brill Logic]).

I got the order mixed up when pasting the links, and the Nick clip got put on the bottom. And in retrospect, damn she picked up quick and rightfully went from zero to sixty faster than a Bugatti Citron.

I wish I could find the clip of when Nick found out about Bridget and Owen and getting cucked. I will never not love Bridget flat out telling him "You owe me!"

 

[TobinAlbers]

WOW. KKL looks sooooo young in these. She really could've been Bridget's sister back then.

I was so used to Ashley as a brunette on Y&R as Tricia's sister Megan that it took me a while to get used to her as blond Bridget. Especially after red headed Jennifer Finnigan (who later also went more blond).

[BBHN]

The Forrester building steam room. Even "uptight" Taylor liked to get her freak on in there.

[MulletorHater]

On 5/6/2017 at 2:06 PM, BBHN said:

Where it all started...

 

He was sooooo pretty!  Too bad it was established in that very first episode that he was a piece of shit even then.

[Anna Yolei]

The aftermath of Cabo. Scott Clifton has come a loooooong way in five years.

 

i had forgotten that there was once a point where we all considered Thomas as horrid and self serving as his sister, but god that actor was hot!

Oh, and while I was perusing my B&B playlist, I found this clip. I’m gonna post receipts for anyone who cannot believe that a time where Bill was not Steffy’s biggest cheerleader exists (which is all the more ironic, give his warning is coming to pass about six years later):

Edited October 22, 2017 by Anna Yolei

[TobinAlbers]

Man that Intimates sizzle reel on repeat loop was just awkward. Gosh, everyone looked like babies then! Even DD and RM didn't look as hard. 

[Anna Yolei]

Ronn Moss has definitely gone full eccentric since leaving the show. The most recent video of him I've seen was him in a Hawaiian print shirt with a full beard. I swear he looked like my sixth grade teacher.

[ByTor]

On 10/22/2017 at 11:11 AM, Anna Yolei said:

Scott Clifton has come a loooooong way in five years.

Honestly, I don't see any difference, I think he's just as bad now as he was then.

Wow, I didn't remember Taylor looking so bad.  Why she felt the need to rearrange her perfectly fine as it was face will always be a mystery.

Edited October 27, 2017 by ByTor

[BBHN]

Quote

Ronn Moss has definitely gone full eccentric since leaving the show. The most recent video of him I've seen was him in a Hawaiian print shirt with a full beard. I swear he looked like my sixth grade teacher.

Remember his and Ridge's look in the early 2000s? The long hair and chunky necklaces, the 70s style shirts...

Quote

Wow, I didn't remember Taylor looking so bad.  Why she felt the need to rearrange her perfectly fine as it was face will always be a mystery.

Hunter Tyler was so beautiful in the 90s. When she came back on the show in the 2000s it almost felt like the had hired an actress who looked like her.

[ByTor]

Her face actually looks like it hurts in the most recent picture.

Edited November 12, 2017 by ByTor

[thewhiteowl]

1 hour ago, ByTor said:

Her face actually looks like it hurts in the most recent picture.

It hurts me to look at it, does that count?  j\k.

I know what you mean and I think it must be painful to her in more ways than physical.

[ByTor]

1 minute ago, thewhiteowl said:

It hurts me to look at it, does that count? 

LOL joke or not, it counts :)

[TobinAlbers]

It does make me sad to see how much HT's face was altered. The woman was simply stunning in her first run as Taylor Hayes. She and RM really were brunette Barbie and Ken. 

Also of note in the above pictures is her also increasing her boob size. 

One thing I've noticed, for the most part the NY soap actresses had better surgeons- Susan Lucci, Erika Slezak, and Robin Strasser obviously had nips and tucks but they looked like themselves. Then you'd see Jackie Zeman and Leslie Charleston on GH which is in LA and their faces were like Hunter's. Leslie and Jackie were also stunning beauties in their early days on their shows but when you see them now it breaks your heart. 

MTS and SF on Y&R and B&B must've gotten the NY surgeons; Dierdre Hall on DOOL seems to have split the difference as her face isn't that bad. Problem is she has a twin sister who hasn't had as much surgery so you can get a clearer idea of before and after ?

[grisgris]

Merry Christmas!

Look what I found ... and ... without the foreign dubbing. Enjoy!

[Anna Yolei]

YAAAAAS

[Joimiaroxeu]

Dayum. Bill. Went. In. On all of them. That was spectacular.

This scene was before I started watching B&B so it was weird to see Bill sitting in the Forrester CEO chair. And geez, does DD never age?

[SweePea59]

Thanx @grisgris, that was fun! And I still miss Ronn Moss. The real Ridge. I don't care what anybody says.

[grisgris]

Me, too!

[ByaNose]

Wait! Is that Steffy in the background saying.......nothing?

[Anna Yolei]

Yep, that was her, eight years, four surgeries and a marine platoon's worth of shoe polish ago.

Amazing, ain't it?

[grisgris]

I just found another one we've been talking about.  This is what needs to be done to Hauxdi, only I don't know who would be in the Stephanie 1.0 role.  This isn't the best quality video and it repeats parts (but the best ones. Hee!)

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

[Anna Yolei]

That clip shows why Brooke was even at her worst more tolerable than Steffy. If no one else, we could depend on Stephanie to call the cat a bastard. The only person Steffy's had to call her on her shit ever was Hope and she just steamrolled over her with her posse of thugs.

[TobinAlbers]

Thank you for finding this! I love this clip sooo much.

I know Brooke doesn't have it in her to be this ruthless, but this is exactly what I wish she would do to Steffy. Let her know that she is not a long suffering damsel/heroine starring in a Lifetime drama. She's been a targeting seductress from jump with complete disregard for the women she ran over and the lives she made for the worse. Katie, Hope, Ivy, Aly, and Sally have all been the worse for knowing her as well as Wyatt and Liam. 

If Steffy were still married to Wyatt and had the affair with Liam or Bill, OG Quinn would totally be the Stephanie and she'd totally make her keep the affair secret and return to Wyatt even if the kid wasn't his. 

Also if Steffy was to seek comfort from any female presence on this show it should be Pam since she is family. The only reason I think Katie is back as Steffy's shoulder is that she also went with her to the doctor after her miscarriage years ago and was one of the first to know that at the time she'd likely never carry a child again. So with her being pregnant now and needing comfort again...it fits? Actually, no it doesn't. 

The long story beats/planning of this storyline sucks. 

Quote

That clip shows why Brooke was even at her worst more tolerable than Steffy. If no one else, we could depend on Stephanie to call the cat a bastard. The only person Steffy's had to call her on her shit ever was Hope and she just steamrolled over her with her posse of thugs.

That clip was just more of the same for me with regard to Brooke. A woman who was destructive and self centered but saw herself as a victim of destiny and fate. Any women who could try to claim that she and the man she was having an affair with deserved sympathy is nuts. Stephanie unleashing on her ass was so damn good I needed a cigarette. Brooke didn't even pay all that long. Bridget delivered the baby and they were reunited inside of a year. Would it be unhealthy for Bridget to hold onto that pain? Yes, but having Brooke finally have a consequence to her actions in losing her eldest daughter due to her youngest and having to deal with that could've done loads for the character. 

Edited January 1, 2018 by TobinAlbers

[Anna Yolei]

There's no genuine friendships anymore. Not that B&B ever excelled at that, but Old Skool Show had Kirsten/Margo  (before Clarke came between them) and the Spectra gang (before they all either got killed and Darla banged Thorne) and Brooke and Sheila before Sheila reverted back to who she is.

And then, there was actual balance with characters. Even when they did problematic shit, most of them were likeable or at least showed genuine remorse. Steffy doesn' care who she hurts. She's never apologized to Ivy, will never confess about Caroline to Sally and I'm not holding my breath about her showing any kindness to Hope unless she gleams her as another tool to hurt Sally and/or Liam with.