The Bold and the Beautiful Watching The Bold and the Beautiful

[Rove]

Bizarre casting choice

Katherine must be getting paid handsomely to stick with B&B. She sometimes must turn up for work and think how far removed the soap is from its inception. Ridge has been recast and now Taylor...again.

Why do viewers continue to watch?

 

[tommie]

What on earth are they doing? They basically struck gold with Krista Allen and she seemed to like doing the show.

The exposition is just bizarre too:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1820869527418097878

VO: The role of Taylor Hayes is now being played by Rebecca Buding.

(Cut to phone showing Taylor Hayes (Mom)).

"Mom?!"
"It's right Steffy, it's your mom!"

"... that's right honey, mom's coming home!"

"I love you mom, I can't wait to see you!"
"I love you, my daughter! I love you Steffy! Mom's coming home!"

I've had sledgehammers hit my face more subtly than this.

 

[DallasFanForever]

This is just bizarre! Rebecca is 14 years older than Jacqueline, which isn’t the worst age difference I’ve seen on screen, but Rebecca looks and sounds far younger than her age to play her mother. That scene sounds more like a conversation between two sisters to me. Her scenes with Brooke and Ridge are going to feel even more odd.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

My favorite "age difference shocker" was when Jed Allan was a recast Edward on GH, playing the father of Stuart Damon's Alan, who was only two years younger than Jed Allan.

Budig would have made a great recast of Felicia Forrester, the sort of "spunky, self-reliant every-woman" role that Budig played on several soaps.

 

[tommie]

They should've cast Lisa Rinna. It would've been very kharmic.

 

[Emelee]

They should've cast Lisa Rinna. It would've been very kharmic.

Don't even suggest it. *shudders* Keep her far away from my screens. Far far away.

 

[Emelee]

When B&B put out the casting call for Taylor, they were actually looking for an actress aged 45-50:

"a strong, sophisticated leading lady who is 45 to 50 years old."

Since Bell loves to trash Taylor, I fear he cast a young Taylor so that she can end up sleeping with Liam or Finn. Just to whitewash Brooke some more.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

Soaps can "de-SORAS" a character this way if they are attempting a reboot of the character, to re-set the character's relationships with others or to pair them with other scene partners. They famously lopped twenty years off the character of Nicole Drake on The Edge of Night via recast in an effort to shift her from matriarch back to plucky, young heroine because that was the type of character the show needed. But unlike Taylor, Nicole began dating a new man and took on new roles within stories with very little effort to connect her to her previous life and continuity. Taylor, on the other hand, is going to pick right up where she left off in this interminable Ridge/Taylor/Brooke triangle and will likely be right back in the middle of Steffy's family and romantic dramas. B&B is not "rebooting" the character---RB will likely pick up right where Krista Allen left off. Which leads me to believe something really bad must have gone down between KA and the producers for them to dump her so easily....and then bring the character back via recast so quickly without some sort of explanation of how "it'll be different this time".

 

[tommie]

It's a shame really - because they did strike gold with Krista Allen. I know she's only two years older than Buding, but she really did fit the role.

Buding just projects at least a decade younger. She's also tiny, so it'll be odd to see her in scenes with her "daughter" and if she and Brooke gets into a fight, Brooke will just essentially toss her around with ease. Nothing against Rebecca Buding, of course, but this is just the definition of a miscast.

 

[Rove]

My favorite "age difference shocker"

...was when I learnt the age difference between Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie) and Larry Hagman (JR) was 9 years.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

But let's face it: whoever they hire to play Taylor will never enter the "inner sanctum" of B&B. If you are not Brooke, Ridge, Steffy, Liam or Hope, you're just set decoration.

 

[Emelee]

But let's face it: whoever they hire to play Taylor will never enter the "inner sanctum" of B&B. If you are not Brooke, Ridge, Steffy, Liam or Hope, you're just set decoration.

I've heard that at least all B&B actors are treated well and they can all hang out together. Krista may be the exception? She didn't seem mistreaded by her co-stars though, but the showrunners.

I've heard worse tales from Y&R, where it seems to be difficult to be let in by the other actors, especially those who've been there the longest. And if you don't get accepted by them, you're out.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I do wonder why they would even bring back the Taylor character again at this point. It’s obvious she’s not going to win in the end when it comes to Ridge and getting what she wants. Taylor continually coming and going throughout the years doesn’t really allow for her to be on equal footing with Brooke anymore as a competitor. At this point I’d like to see them do something completely different with the character but of course we’ll get Part 296 of the longest triangle in daytime history with another predictable result.

 

[Monzo]

Looking back, I think Krista Allen was good for the show, but she wasn't a good Taylor. Krista Allen was full of energy and fun, but was that the Taylor we used to know? At first I thought that only the last messed-up 20 years of Taylor's life had been erased by Krista Allen, but then I realized that Taylor was never the way she was written for Krista Allen. Taylor will probably continue to be written for Rebecca Budig as just as self-confident and strong as she was for Krista Allen, and despite this supposed strength, Taylor, a world-famous psychiatrist, is not strong enough to resist Ridge. What advice does Taylor give to patients who cannot get away from their toxic partner?

It's a shame that there is no fantastic chemistry between Katherine Kelly Lang and Thorsten Kaye. Brooke had more chemistry with every previous lover and nuRidge showed more passion with Katie, Caroline, Quinn, Shauna and nuTaylor. It's sad that the ulitmate supercouple of the show is only average romantic these days. And does it actually suit Brooke that she hasn't been interested in any other man for years? After all, it wasn't just Ridge who never wanted to commit to one spouse, Brooke wasn't much better.

Aside from the latest (kind of bizarre) casting coup, I think a major problem is that there is too much happening that you don't see, you only hear about it. Why did Katie and Carter break up? How did Bill and Justin reconcile? Why is Zende suddenly reconciled with his family and why is he now a great photographer? And why doesn't mega-influencer RJ take care of the promo for Brooke's new collection and instead prefers to trash his girlfriend's mother who is said to have always been a gold digger, even though she raised Luna alone in rather poor conditions.

 

[tommie]

I do wonder why they would even bring back the Taylor character again at this point. It’s obvious she’s not going to win in the end when it comes to Ridge and getting what she wants. Taylor continually coming and going throughout the years doesn’t really allow for her to be on equal footing with Brooke anymore as a competitor. At this point I’d like to see them do something completely different with the character but of course we’ll get Part 296 of the longest triangle in daytime history with another predictable result.

Honestly, I'd just drop the triangle aspect of Brooke / Ridge's relationship at this point if they decide they must end up together. There are more ways to write drama for a couple. Or even just have them together, but have them involved in different storylines individually.

 

[GillesDenver]

Brooke, Taylor and Ridge should do a trouple !

 

[DallasFanForever]

Honestly, I'd just drop the triangle aspect of Brooke / Ridge's relationship at this point if they decide they must end up together. There are more ways to write drama for a couple. Or even just have them together, but have them involved in different storylines individually.

A triangle going on 35 years really doesn’t give me any vibes at this point that they can do anything more with it that we haven’t seen.

Brooke, Taylor and Ridge should do a trouple !

Okay, well there’s something we haven’t seen them do yet.

 

[tommie]

A triangle going on 35 years really doesn’t give me any vibes at this point that they can do anything more with it that we haven’t seen.

I have so many thoughts.

 

[The Averyville Horror]

There is the often-cited maxim that a happy couple on soaps is a boring couple, that unless there is conflict of some sort, the couple is in danger of being back-burnered or just written out entirely. So perhaps Brad Bell is just not up for the challenge of writing a happily-married couple who have exciting adventures and overcome obstacles together, because we KNOW he'd never put Brooke and Ridge on the back burner. Unfortunately he seems to be a one-trick pony, unlike his father who was a much more talented writer.

 

[Emelee]

B&B turned really twisted today. Luna the lunatic. Girl is twisted! I hope they do this story like the twisted Sheila stories back in the day, where most people are completely unaware of how sick and dangerous she is, so she can do some real damage along the way.

Finn has some great relatives... Sheila and Luna. At least Poppy seems to be innocent of most things.