Entries tagged with “b&b” from Webb 2.0

When a soap opera is written well, acted well, directed well, and has enough production values to effectively convey the story it tries to tell, it becomes a pleasure to watch. The Young and the Restless may have its flaws at times, but despite my misgivings about particular plots, I will still attempt to find myself in a position to watch the program at 12:30 p.m. every weekday. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for The Bold and the Beautiful when it airs an hour later.

To be fair, The Bold and the Beautiful (B&B, for short) has been compared unfavorably with The Young and the Restless (Y&R, for short) for a good portion of its existence. While the overall look of B&B is not that different from Y&R, B&B also has a style that is decidedly outlandish and over-the-top. Also, in spite of the soap opera receiving the lowest ratings as it has in its existence, it is still the second most watched soap opera in the United States, which is to say nothing of its popularity overseas. I can forgive the show for some of its more outrageous moments, such as when The Bikini (a bar, not an article of clothing) exploded or more recently, Pam pouring honey on Donna and setting a bear on her. I can also tolerate the discrete nature of the story arcs and character motivations -- i.e. for X period of time, Thorne is genuinely in love with Donna, then one day after the interrupted wedding he suddenly hates her for going after his father and wants nothing to do with her.

These traits, though, still do not excuse the show as it is today. This program is simply broken.

B&B is broken in the sense that the show was once an entertaining and cohesive experience that used elements of humor, drama, and sparingly, tragedy to tell stories. Along the way, the pieces that made up this whole separated were never restored or mended. This is particularly heartbreaking as there are many competent pieces to this puzzle that merely need a little pressure to stick together. The cast is as good as any you will find on daytime.

It is also broken in the sense used more informally among some of my peers -- the story structure and characters are poorly designed, leading unbalanced storytelling which pushes viewers away instead of keeping their minds focused. The Bold and the Beautiful only airs for thirty minutes, and as a consequence it must focus on a more limited cast of characters than that of all other soaps. Over the years, though, the cast has practically whittled down to the lineal descendants of Stephen Logan, Eric Forrester, and Massimo Marone.

This was not always the case. While at times the love triangles between family members abounded, it was balanced by the new blood that counterbalanced the near incestuous relationships among the Forresters and Logans. For every escapade involving Brooke Logan, there was a Keith, a Dylan, a Deacon, an Amber -- characters who were part of the main cast without being a part of the high-society life. Now, though, the show has become so insular with regard to its characters is that the only regular characters who are biologically unconnected with any other on-screen character by blood are Owen Knight and Bill Spencer, Jr. -- and the former has been sabotaged.

For instance, although Owen was immediately the third party who threatened the Donna/Eric marriage, after this situation was resolved he was relatively unattached. He could have, for instance, fallen for Bridget, a woman who has been heartbroken time and time again. This could have been an interesting story where Bridget falls in love with someone who is neither using her for status or as a surrogate for her mother. This would not necessarily have to be drama free, as Nick could still become jealous of Owen for going after Bridget. However, Owen has instead been paired with Jackie, and Bridget reunited with Nick. While this does bolster Jackie's presence (which is a plus, since the character has been problematic), it does so at the expense of Bridget who is in Nick's arms once more. It also makes Nick a bit possessively jealous over his mother.

None of the other stories have any appeal. Rick and Steffy are a completely unbelievable couple given the circumstances under which they fell in love, and that's discounting the fact that not only do both of them share the same last name, but they are named after their progenitors (Eric and Stephanie). While the triangle of Brooke/Ridge/Taylor does at least make better use of Phoebe's death, it can't be denied that this is a mere repeat of the same plot that has been recycled for a little less than 20 years. I still don't understand the appeal of Donna and Eric, while Thorne and Felicia have been underused for years, although I can understand why, given that most potential love interests are related to them. (My suggestion would be to put Felicia with Bill to see if any sparks happen; if not, at least there was an attempt.)

To the producers: The Bold and the Beautiful is broken. Fix it.

Long before the announced cancellation of Guiding Light, it had been commonplace in entertainment media to declare the death of televised daytime serial drama series, more simply known as soap operas. Ratings for the televised programs have been on a steady decline for years, and the budgets have tightened in tandem. With the impending last airdate of Guiding Light nearing with every broadcast, it is easy for those who have long criticized the genre of soap operas to rejoice, and for the remaining fans of these programs to stop watching.

Despite this, I will watch the soaps.

My soap opera viewing started when I was so young, I cannot remember young I was when I began to watch them, so it seems as if soap operas were always a part of my existence. When I was a little girl, I used to watch The Young and the Restless (henceforth abbreviated Y&R), although I don't think I quite understood what was going on on the television until the later part of the 1980s. I watched them because my grandmother watched them, although my grandfather watched what both he and my grandmother called the "stories" as well. Repetition led to affinity and soon I grew interested in the never-ending tales of the residents of Genoa City, although I pondered the lack of wisdom displayed by those characters. I never figured out why Ashley would keep sniffing the (unknown to her) poisoned flowers if she kept feeling sick after smelling them.

One of the many aspects of Y&R that did keep me interested in the program was the emergence of African-American characters that stabilized into a core unit. The characters of Mamie Johnson, Nathan Hastings, Olivia Barber, her sister Drucilla, then Neil Winters and his brother Malcolm were involved in memorable plots. Yet I was equally entranced by villains like David Kimble and Sheila Carter, as I eagerly waited for the comeuppance. Unlike the cartoons and films I watched, the bad guys weren't defeated at the end of the episode or movie, but continued to be evil and scheme to the point, where as a viewer, I rooted for them at times. It was the crossing over of Sheila Carter from Y&R to The Bold and the Beautiful (also known as B&B) that prompted me to begin watching that program.

Toward the end of the 1990s, I began to watch snippets of the show that aired after B&B, even though I didn't understand the reasoning behind a woman's rush to give birth to a baby before the new year. I slowly became addicted to that program, As the World Turns. I later added Passions at the end of 2000 to my daily platter, and from there Days of Our Lives. Although I have since stopped watching the latter three on a regular basis (although in the case of Passions, this was due to it being cancelled), with each soap opera I watched, I grew to appreciate the genre and the actors more rather than less. Despite the fact that soap operas do have staple plots, each show has a distinct flavor beyond the cast, the direction, the sets, and the wardrobe. There is an intangible consistency that becomes each program's fingerprint, which is often missing from primetime television shows today.

Soap operas have a history that is beyond their airdates. They are a link to times both past and present, and I can attest from personal experience that my soap opera viewing never existed in a vacuum. As I was a child when I began to watch the soap operas, I could only watch Y&R and B&B during summer vacation or when I did not have to go to school. As a result, soap operas represented leisure to me, and occupied a special place in my heart next to Saturday morning cartoons. They also proved to be a vital link of the daily conversations between me and my family, as part of the our daily conversations I would ask my mother and grandmother what happened on the soap operas. They marked the periods of my life, childhood, adolescence, to college, graduation and beyond. They provide the sole icebreaker topic of conversation in which I can participate. Soap operas, are a part of me.

Thus, if soap operas are truly on their last legs, then for me, there is no better time to watch them than the present. After all, one of the criticisms of the format is that no resolution can ever be brought to any plot. If all good things must come to an end, I am sure that the end that comes has to be at least as good as what came before it. In the case that my expectations are misplaced, at least I can criticize out of love rather than out of gleeful malice.