The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera The Young and the Restless; several characters from each of the two shows have crossed over to the other since the early 1990s. Set in Los Angeles, California, the show centers upon the Forrester family and their haute couture business.
The program features an ensemble cast, headed by its longest-serving actors John McCook as Eric Forrester and Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke Logan. Since its premiere, the show has become the most-watched soap in the world, with an audience of an estimated 26.2 million viewers. As of 2010, it continued to hold on to the second-place position in weekly Nielsen Ratings for daytime dramas. The Bold and the Beautiful has also won 77 Daytime Emmy Awards, including three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
On September 7, 2011, the series switched to high-definition television, making it the second-to-last American soap to make the switch, at the time. B&B was the last American soap opera to make the transition due to the cancellation of ABC's One Life to Live before it returned along with All My Children on April 29, 2013. The series celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on March 23, 2017. The serial aired its 9,000th episode on April 18, 2023. Currently, the serial has been renewed by CBS to run through the 2027–2028 television season.
Premise
The Bold and the Beautiful debuted on March 23, 1987. Set in Los Angeles, it centers around the Forrester family and their fashion house business, Forrester Creations. Like many soap operas, B&B looks into the lives of wealthy families and how love affairs, scandals, and betrayals affect each of the family members and their relationships with each other.Following the original premise of sister show The Young and the Restless with the wealthy Brooks and the working-class Foster families, B&B also introduced the middle-class Logan family as a source of conflict with the Forresters. Like the Fosters of Y&R, the Logans were also initially headed by a single mother. The rivalry between Forrester matriarch Stephanie Forrester and the Logan's eldest daughter Brooke Logan plays a key role in the drama of B&B, like the Katherine Chancellor–Jill Abbott rivalry in Y&R. Another enduring B&B storyline is the star-crossed love of Brooke and the Forresters' eldest son Ridge.
The back story was that Stephanie Douglas, the strong-willed daughter of wealthy Chicago businessman John Douglas, met her husband-to-be Eric Forrester, who aspired to become a fashion designer, while they both studied at Northwestern University in 1959. The young lovers rushed to get married after Stephanie became pregnant, forcing Eric to break up with his college sweetheart Elizabeth "Beth" Henderson in the process.
Eric and Stephanie then moved to Los Angeles where they established Forrester Creations, designing and producing upscale men's and women's fashion, based on a combination of a loan from Stephanie's father, Eric's designing talent and Stephanie's business acumen and connections. While winning international recognition, fame, and wealth with their work, the couple managed to raise four children: elder and favorite son Ridge, brother Thorne and younger sisters Kristen and Felicia. Meanwhile, Beth married their classmate Stephen Logan on the rebound, raising their own family in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The Logans had four children of their own: eldest son Stephen "Storm" Jr., and daughters Brooke, Donna and Katie. Unable to achieve success like Eric, Stephen walked out on the family, leaving Beth as a single working-class mother.
Start and development of the series
The pilot episode of the show focuses on the preparations for the wedding of the Forresters' eldest son, Ridge, to Caroline Spencer, the daughter of the media mogul Bill Spencer. At this time Ridge has already become a fashion designer and vice president of Forrester Creations. Many media outlets throughout the world, from the big television networks to the most honorable newspapers, to the last gossip newspapers publicize their wedding, declaring it "the wedding of the year in the fashion world." Thousands of women see the pictures of Ridge and speculate on the identity of the woman who has won the heart of the man who has, until recently, been a playboy, and who has refused to settle for one woman.One of the curious is Brooke, whose life soon becomes a key element in the series. Her love affair with Ridge sets up much of the storyline, beginning in the first year after the aforementioned "wedding of the year in the fashion world" was called off when Ridge was caught cheating on Caroline with an old flame. Every so often, Ridge and Brooke reunite only to break up due to various circumstances, and Ridge invariably finds comfort with another love of his life, Taylor Hayes. Following one of her breakups with Ridge, Brooke marries his father, Eric, who divorces Stephanie to do so. Brooke gives birth to two children with Eric. The couple eventually divorce and Eric reconciles with Stephanie. Likewise, Brooke and Ridge resume their pattern of an on-again-off-again relationship, between Brooke's relationships with other men and Forrester family members, and Ridge's multiple reunions with Taylor. Eric eventually marries Brooke's sister, Donna Logan, and legally adopts her son Marcus. They later divorce due to their family's bitter history.
The rivalry between Stephanie and Brooke also becomes a key storyline in the series. The strong-willed Stephanie originally has a cordial relationship with the Logans after hiring their catering company. But she soon disapproves of Brooke becoming part of the Forresters' lives, believing she is an "opportunist from the valley" who swooped in after the "wedding of the year in the fashion world" was called off. Stephanie also does not initially recognize that Beth is the same woman who was Eric's former college girlfriend. Having marital problems since the start of series, Eric soon seeks the comfort of Beth. Once Stephanie learns of the affair, she secretly hires a private investigator to track down Steven Logan and then sends an anonymous letter to the Logan household as to his whereabouts. After Donna finally convinces their father to return home, Stephanie arranges with Bill Spencer to give Stephen a job in Paris. Only Brooke figures out that Stephanie was the one working behind the scenes. When confronted, Stephanie justifies her actions to Brooke saying that she is trying to save both of their families, and threatens Brooke that otherwise she will ruin her relationship with Ridge. After her parents reunite and move to Paris, and realizing to what extremes Stephanie would go to get what she wants, Brooke swears revenge.
Felicia and Kristen Forrester eventually choose to follow their own paths, leaving the family company to be run by Ridge, Thorne, Rick, Marcus, and their families. A key element of the show in the late 1990s was Brooke and Eric's son Rick's relationship with singer turned fashion designer Amber Moore.
Complementing families
The Spencer family and their media conglomerate Spencer Publications were first introduced in the pilot episode. Patriarch Bill Spencer was a widower and originally claimed that Caroline was his only daughter. A love triangle develops between Caroline, Ridge and Thorne, leading to a point in 1988 where a drunk Thorne shoots his older brother in the back. After Caroline dies from leukemia in 1990, her twin sister Karen Spencer, who was abducted from the Spencers when she was a baby, resurfaces. In 2009, Bill dies from a terminal illness, dividing Spencer Publications between Karen and his previously unknown illegitimate son, Bill Spencer Jr. The Spencers have been expanded in recent years to include Karen's daughter Caroline Spencer and Bill Jr.'s sons Wyatt Spencer, Liam Spencer, and Will Spencer.For many years, Spectra Fashions was Forrester's main rival, headed by Sally Spectra. Sally, a larger-than-life character with outrageous clothes and a sizable red hair, is a key element in both comedic and dramatic storylines, with the help of long-time confidante Saul Feinberg, ditzy receptionist Darla Forrester, and fashion designer Clarke Garrison, who in 1991 fathered C. Garrison Fathman, Sally's son. Originally, Sally and Stephanie Forrester are bitter enemies; Spectra is only referred to in 1987 when Stephanie hires Clarke away from her rival. Sally and Spectra Fashions finally appear on-screen in 1989 when Clarke goes back to his former boss. In later years, Sally and Stephanie develop a friendship; Sally even ends up working at Forrester Creations in 2006 after she finally makes the decision to shut down her own company.
Sally's daughter, Macy Alexander, a singer, undergoes many traumas, most notably alcoholism. She and Thorne Forrester are involved in an on-again-off-again marriage. After she eventually loses Thorne to Brooke, Macy goes abroad and into hiding with her father, Adam in 2000. After being discovered in Italy in 2002, Macy returns to Los Angeles where she reunites with Thorne Forrester before developing an interest in fellow recovering alcoholic, Deacon Sharpe, whom she marries in 2003. Weeks later, Macy is gravely injured at a nightclub where she is headlining as a singer. She enters a coma and it is implied that her family pulls the plug off-camera.
The Spectra family and friends are gradually supplanted after the 2001 introduction of Massimo Marone and his entourage. Marone, a billionaire shipping magnate, was a childhood friend of Stephanie and dated her in college. They slept together once just before Stephanie began dating Eric Forrester, and after forty-something years, a medical crisis reveals that Massimo is actually Ridge's biological father. In 2003, Jackie Payne, a former lover of Massimo, arrives on the scene and announces that her son, Dominick "Nick" Payne, a captain at Marone Industries, was also fathered by Massimo. Unlike Ridge, Nick was not a businessman and took the surname Marone.