“Bold and Beautiful”: Coming Round Again?

Rebecca Budig and Sean Kanan

My longtime readers know that I have been very attached to “The Bold and Beautiful” since its debut in 1987. I wrote the first story about it for Soap Opera Weekly, headlined “Bold and Beautiful is a Camp Classic.”  This turned out to be an accurate prediction. Unlike so many others, “B&B” is still with us, and still a fast moving, relatively entertaining half hour I never miss.

The game has not been without a swing and a miss every now and then. I found the latest particularly perturbing. Over the last two summers, the focus of the show was shifted from its familiar world of the fashion business to an exercise in dramatizing serial homicide. Way too much time was devoted to the nefarious doings of a psychopathic murderess named Luna Nozawa, played by a capable young actress named Lisa Yamada. This show isn’t “Edge of Night,” I complained! Finally, this fall Luna was killed off, after Yamada deservedly won a Best Emergent Performer Emmy.

And so, the show is again firmly anchored in the fashion world, with its main focus the Forrester Creations and the family of Eric Forrester (John McCook). Out of nowhere this month, his son Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) forced retirement on his father and Eric would have none of it. He began to design for Katie Logan’s (Heather Tom) new fashion line. What followed was some stupendous acting between Kaye and McCook as Ridge begged for his father’s love as it looked like Eric was going to have a major medical meltdown. Sisters Katie and Brooke (a Forrester fashionista, long played by Katherine Kelly Lang, always in love with herself and her achievements) also had some atomic confrontations.

Young Lovers Electra and Will

All this family drama came at a good time. The show had made a major error by recasting psychiatrist Taylor (once played by the spectacularly beautiful Hunter Tylo and later by Krista Allen) with Rebecca Budig. She’s a very intelligent actress, but I wasn’t a big fan of hers when she played Greenlee Smythe on “All My Children” and Michelle Bauer on “Guiding Light.”  She was too young to be playing Steffy’s (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) mother, and she looked very lost her first few awkward months on the show.

But then….soap magic! “B&B” staged a total soap turn-around by launching a hot, hot, hot romance between Taylor and Deacon (Sean Kanan). The romance is even more risky because as you know Deacon is very much married to that Cruella De Ville of soaps, Sheila (Kimberlin Brown). I laughed hysterically this week when Sheila seduced her husband wearing a seductive boudoir ensemble, including a feather sandal showcasing her infamous missing toes. Plus, during the lovemaking Deacon started fantasizing that he was making love to Taylor. As remarked loudly across the Internet by “B&B” fans, Taylor also should not be sexually fraternizing with patients!

You just never know what’s going to happen on “B&B.”  This year it introduced its first gay character, Deacon’s son Deke (Harrison Cone).  Duh, isn’t this the fashion soap? And the show really struck gold with the kind of new young love couple soap operas craved in the Eighties (remember Greg and Jenny on “All My Children”?). “B&B”’s beautiful young lovers are Will (Crew Morrow) and Electra (Laneya Grace).

I’ve already complimented the talent of young Morrow (who seems as talented as his father, Joshua, who plays Nicholas Newman on “The Young and the Restless.”  Electra is very beautiful…and very stupid. Her aunt Ivy (Ashleigh Brewer) has interfered in every area of her niece’s life. The motivation of this strange character is yet to be fully explained. Also complicating the young romance is its spoiler, Miss Dylan (Sydney Bullock), who has done everything she can to get Will’s attention–including one very strange seductive dance complete with ballet shoes. Dylan, once a teacher, is now homeless and wants to bunk with Will. This is not the first time “B&B” has dealt with this societal issue — remember when Stephanie Forrester (the great Susan Flannery) played homeless and roamed the streets of Los Angeles?

Oh, and there’s yet another spoiler in the Will and Electra romance. “B&B” has smartly brought back the character of R.J. Forrester, son of Ridge and Brooke, who recently kissed Electra. He is played by news comer Brayan Nicoletti, who has an impressive head of very thick Italian hair.

I think the best thing I can say about today’s “B&B”’ is that it packs a lot of entertainment into its half hour format. It doesn’t drag like its hour-long sister show “The Young and the Restless.”  It’s constantly adding new treats such as the gorgeous wedding of Carter Walton (Lawrence St.-Victor) and Daphne (a relatively new character played by the beautiful Murielle Hilaire) and Carter Walton (played by Lawrence Saint-Victor who is a writer on the show.) Daphne’s dress was spectacularly beautiful as befits this fashion soap.

Do you love “Bold and Beautiful” as Marlena does after all these years? Tell me how you feel!