Reich und schön

..And that's maybe not the worst yet!

Since the 1950s, soap operas, in radio and TV, had their lovers. However, (Dallas) came out in (1979) to make a great effect on the TV soap operas with its wicked formula of manipulating everybody and everything just for having you on your seat for years! Watch that effect on next soaps like (Knots Landing - 1979) or (Falcon Crest - 1981). But some goods, when outlive for more than their competence, transform into envenomed!

At first, (B & B) was another, late 80s, so TV-ish, daytime soap. Namely hot, melodramatic and yeah.. boring! But after that, it turned - while keeping itself outwardly glossy - into ugly huge farce.

I can't say it's a diary of a family. I can't say it's fine thrilling melodrama. I just can say that it's a living exploitation of soap. And you know what? It's successful. So successful indeed!

(The Bold and the Beautiful), after 22 years and counting, is a real fine example of the kind of drama which some viewers need everyday like a requisite meal to satisfy their hanger; for living a romance, feeling rich, beating enemies.. etc. whatever the acting was, and whatever the manipulation is.

I somewhat caught on its formula: a sexual desire, a sinful love, a separation between 2 lovers, a wicked plot and a surprise. Then another round. Then another one. Then another with other characters, with new characters, then between the old and new characters, then between them and us maybe!, then the same formula again with the same characters afresh, going on and on, till the end of you, the end of days, or the end its time on screen (meaning: its cancellation!).

It's a perfect scheme. So loved and long-lived. But who can stand endless storylines, everlasting dialogue, the silence of the actors before cutting to another scene or commercials, and - most of all - the changing of partners?? Whoever can stand all of this, for more than 5500 episodes, I'm surely not one of them. Why is that? Because I don't have non-critic mentality, a desperate passion for melodrama, and that PATIENCE!

Speaking about the changing of partners thing, I recall a line was said by (Dean Stockwell) in one of (Quantum Leap)'s episodes talking about a soap opera: "Here Sam, everybody is sleeping with everybody!". (B & B) maybe broke this rule since in it everybody slept, sleeps, and will sleep with everybody! Sometimes I think that they have nothing to do in this world but sleeping with each other, then chatter and chatter and chatter, to re-sleep again yet with others. It's not the story of life, it's the life of very profitable story! I know that it got the power to make you sleep in front of it too!

Did its success become a curse?! I don't completely think so. Not for the actors, since they're all well-paid. Not for the viewers, since they get what they want. But maybe for the writers. These people got to write one work for over than 2 decades?? OH MY GOD! This is, in spite of all the money in the world, so heavy mission to be done. So, based on my compassion, I'll forgive them for such events like the one of my title's line which was the first thing I heard when I tried to continue watching this series again, after years of losing any interest in it (Yes, first I felt panic, thinking that the mom slept with her own son, but I understood it right later!). However, when things reach this far, I invite you to do what I already did: Change the Channel. Believe me, you'll feel so bold and beautiful after!

In the next episodes I bet you; the son will turn out to the real father of his sister, (Ridge) will turn out to be a brother of his mother, (Eric Forrester) will have a sex change operation, (Brooke) will turn into lesbian (if she didn't yet?!), and I can see the end right now; the aliens will take them all away (it kind of happened before, didn't it?!); and for that alone I'll salute the creative writers. Simply, what can a teleplay writer do.. More?!!!

Originally, as much the viewers want it, as much it gains more time on air, and so.. that's what has to happen. Though it triumphed over any jesting - even its own - already, being the most-watched soap in the world, with an audience of an estimated 26.2 million viewers in more than 110 nations. So while I believe that it is provoking sitcom; running without laughing tracks or laughing, others don't, and that's in fact what makes it provoking. But everybody got their own classics. This show is classic for some. Classic nonsense for others. GOD!, it is classic both ways!!

How much longer is this show going to make Hope be in pain over losing Beth? I am about to stop watching this show. Then this show is going to have Steffy adopt Hope's baby!! That's wrong as wrong can be!!! Your story line is Ridiculous and I hate it!!!

I can't believe how bad this is. I've only been tuning in about twice a week for about four months. I find the writing predictable and the characters annoying. It's almost as if someone decided to try to come up with the worst soap ever. Well, they succeeded. Wait - I think the ill - fated Passions might have been a tie, but that at least was funny. This is like soap opera 101, maybe geared to the junior high crowd. The men are all controlling and the women are like characters from the 1950s.

I'm sad to see Jacob Young here. I was a big fan of All My Children, we all know what's happening with that. AMC was everything that this is not; it had great writing, it was classy and the actors made the characters come alive.

Also I'm surprised that Bell also produces Young and the Restless, which is far superior to this drivel.

Wondering why we have seen the same story line for the last few months. I am so sick of this never ending "will they tell, and of course they will not tell: for so long now that I have made the decision that watching this show from the very first episode, I am so sick of watching every day the same story line. Think it is time to put this stupid soap behind me and move on because the show has become boring. I am switching to the game channel, watching a reruns of the game shows has to be better than this soap. Now I am down to watching just one soap, The Young and the Restless. At least they have a show I try not to miss so I can keep up, but with The Bold and the Beautiful, I missed 3 weeks and find I missed NOTHING. Sorry, but your show sucks now.

Two things tickle me in relation to this never-ending saga: the illogicality of many situations, and the blatant inconsistencies, hypocrisies, contradictions and double standards displayed by most characters. These two ingredients combine to make up an insidiously alluring cocktail, which may explain why B & B, in spite of its cheesiness, has the potential for becoming addictive, as exemplified by so many testimonials, both within my own social circle and elsewhere (for example, on this website). The principal characters, who are rarely seen engaged in normal activities (such as work), are prone to proclaim their undying loyalty to one another, backed by strong moral principles, family values, marriage etc., then break their promises and behave like alley cats, just a few weeks down the track. One example amongst hundreds: when Brooke is confronted by Taylor with the question: 'How could you sleep with Nick the night you thought your husband had died?', she contrives to look dutifully repentant and says something like 'I don't know how to explain it'. Not very convincing. The endless proclamations of belief in the sanctity and permanence of marriage are contradicted with monotonous regularity by the behavior of most characters. In spite of this, all second, third etc. weddings take place in a chapel in the presence of an (ostensibly Christian) celebrant. Christianity of course, or at least the traditional view of it, is frequently set aside when characters indulge in bitching about one other, undermining the reputation of others, cheating in various ways, etc. The most common method of rumbling the frequent conspiracies is by eavesdropping behind a half-closed door, then charging into the conspiratorial environment and confronting the conspirators with dramatic remarks. Again, not very convincing. There seems to be a tendency, on the part of the scriptwriters, to demonize female characters to a greater extent than male ones. There are no male counterparts to Sheila, Stephanie or Sally Spectra, just to name a few. The glitzy ambiance and would-be glamorous surroundings are an obvious smokescreen, designed to hide the basically vacuous lives of the majority of characters, deprived as they are of any authentic ideals. The mirage works quite well. And one could continue ... in spite of all the above (and more), B & B remains an entertaining soapie which will be missed when, inevitably, the final curtain falls. PS. Incidentally, have any of the characters ever heard of contraception?