Have you checked the soap sites on the Internet lately? They are filled with angry letters from longtime fans of “General Hospital,” the once great soap that has suddenly turned terribly disappointing. During the summer I wrote about this alarming downturn. (“When Plots and Characters Don’t Make Sense,” our headline advised, “It’s Not Viable Soap Opera.”) Now, as we get further into the fall, the situation is just getting worse. Who is responsible? The writers? The producers? The network? Veteran “GH” watchers Mama and Junior Snark agreed with me as we commiserated on their podcast last week. Comparing this scandal to Watergate drew a mutual snicker. But the state of “GH” isn’t funny to those who care about the struggle to preserve soap opera. Where does the fault lie? Someone has to take the blame for this show letting down its longtime viewers.
Whew! I really do like writing about soaps for my own enjoyment, so I have shifted my affection this week back to a soap that has always not just made perfect sense but entertained me since its 1989 premiere: “The Bold and the Beautiful.” As a half hour soap, it couldn’t be more different from the hour-long “GH.” Unlike “GH,” which often strays into crime and action adventure (neglecting love and life in the Hospital), “B&B” has never strayed from its central focus as invented by the great Bill and Lee Bell at the show’s 1989 premiere: the fashion industry and its leading practitioners, the rich Forrester family of Los Angeles. Let’s look at some of the current storylines on “B&B”:
Sister Act
A current focus is a high-stakes fashion industry war between Forrester Creations and the new and aggressive House of Logan. Heather Tom’s Katie Logan has wooed away talented Forrester designers. Almost daily Katherine Kelly Lange’s Brooke comes screaming after Katie, “You are no longer my sister.” The joke is on her. In these fights multiple Emmy winner Tom’s Katie has emerged as the strongest woman on daytime. In their bitch scenes (a soap staple) Tom and Lange remind us of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” with a dash of “One Life to Live”’s Vicki and Dorian.
“I’m … I’m Pregnant!”
Speaking of over the top soap gals (Marlena loves and maintains that good soap opera is all about them) is there a campier non-stop crying heroine right now than Jacqueline Macginnes Wood’s Steffy Forrester? Married to Finn (Tanner Novlan), she had a careless one night stand with Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and she believes she’s pregnant. She must have sobbed over her positive pregnancy test in her hands for at least seven straight episodes! And she’s still crying — Carter’s wife Daphne is sterile and insensitive Carter has asked Steffy to be their surrogate. Ouch! This week (spoiler alert) Finn is just about to let Steffy find out about his wife’s betrayal. Get out the hankies.
Delon de Metz
Hello, Young Lovers
What would a soap opera be without a hot young love triangle (which used to be the bedrock of summer soaps.) “B&B” has certainly hit upon a valuable one with Electra-Will-Dylan (Laneya
Grace, Crew Morrow, Sydney Bullock) These actors are beautiful, playing characters who are largely hormone driven. As often happens on soaps, that isn’t always wise. The formerly homeless Dylan has succeeded in getting Will away from Electra, and lately they have been having hot soap sex, which reminds me of what kid characters were mainly up to in the Eighties and Nineties. Will’s mother Katie keeps trying to get him to cool off, but it hasn’t worked. Recently the show smartly brought in Darcy, Dylan’s very appealing and mother (played by Kelly Sullivan, who played Connie on “GH.”) to add some brains to this love fest, but so far she’s only been on a scant few times.
(Note from Marlena: I’m an old-fashioned girl. After all these years, I still prefer love in the afternoon rather the violence of a soap opera like “GH.” So sue me!)
A New Star
Out of the blue, a soap superstar is born. Delon de Metz has been on “B&B” for a while now as Zende Forrester — he’s Eric’s grandson via his daughter Kristen. This week, as Zende decided to quit Forrester for the House of Logan, we were treated to an actor doing a startling star turn. Like Richard Burton in Broadway’s “Equus,” de Metz suddenly tore down the house as Zende defected from his family’s fashion house to Logan. That diction! That power! De Metz was matched emotion for strong emotion in these scenes by John McCook (Eric Forrester) who tearfully pleaded with Zende to stay. It’s been a very long time since a soap had a show stopping scenes quite like this. Wowsa!
Can I make a very important point here? I think all the credit for ”B&B” being this good right now belongs to the show’s executive producer Bradley Bell, who over the years has always safeguarded the Bell family tradition of first class intelligent soap opera. Some may find “B&B” frothy and frivolous, but Marlena is always entertained by this show. “B&B” would never dream of letting down and confusing its viewers as ABC’s “General Hospital” has done so disgracefully these past few months.
Postscript: Check out our Substack (conniepassalacquahayman/substack.com) for another “BB” column from our Archive. And there’s more to come. We’ll soon be posting Marlena columns from Soap Opera Weekly, along with articles from other vintage magazines, including ABC’s Episodes. Do sign up for a subscription. And contribute if you like. We’re grateful for your support.
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