The History of The Bold and The Beautiful

The Bold and the Beautiful (often referred to as B&B) 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 fashion house business Forrester Creations.

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 continues to hold on to the second-placed position in weekly Nielsen Ratings for daytime dramas. The Bold and the Beautiful has also won 31 Daytime Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Drama Series in 2009 and again in 2010, as well as in 2011.

On September 7, 2011, the series switched to high definition, 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. It is the youngest airing daytime soap opera in the United States, celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary in March 2012. Since December 2, 2013, The Bold and the Beautiful now airs same day CBS repeats on Pop.

Set in Los Angeles, California, The Bold and the Beautiful centers around the Forrester family and their fashion house business Forrester Creations. Stephanie Douglas, a strong-willed woman, 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 Chicago, Illinois.

 The young lovers hurried to get married after Stephanie became pregnant. They moved to Los Angeles, California, where they established Forrester Creations, designing and producing upscale men and women's fashion, based on Eric's designing talent and Stephanie's financial funding.

 

While winning international recognition, fame, and wealth with their work, the couple managed to raise four children in a happy and caring environment, including the elder and favorite son Ridge, brother Thorne and younger sisters Kristen and Felicia. It was discovered years later, when the children were all adults, that Stephanie's elder son, Ridge, was actually fathered by Massimo Marone. Like many soap operas, The Bold and the Beautiful 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.

The pilot episodes of the show focused on the preparations of the wedding of the Forrester's eldest son, Ridge, to Caroline Spencer Forrester, 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 as "the wedding of the year in the fashion world". Thousands of women see the pictures of Ridge in the newspapers 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.

 In addition, the rivalry between Ridge's mother Stephanie and Brooke has played a key role in the drama since its inception. Following one of her breakups with Ridge, Brooke married his father Eric, who divorced Stephanie to do so. Brooke gave birth to two of Eric's children. They eventually divorced and Eric reconciled with Stephanie. Likewise, Brooke and Ridge resumed their pattern of an on-again-off-again relationship, in-between Brooke's relationships with other men and Forrester family members, and Ridge's multiple reunions with Taylor. Eric eventually married Donna Logan and legally adopted her son Marcus but they later divorced due to their family's bitter history. Felicia and Kristen have chosen to venture their own paths leaving the family company to be run by Ridge, Thorne, Rick, Marcus, and their families.

One of these women is a chemistry student named Brooke Logan, who comes from a working-class family and who lives with her single mother Beth, her siblings Storm, Donna and Katie in a typical American home in the San Fernando Valley in the city of Los Angeles. In an ironic twist of fate, Beth was Eric's college girlfriend before he married Stephanie. Brooke's life soon became a key element in the series. Originally from a middle-class background, her love affair with Ridge set up much of the storyline beginning in the first year.

 Every so often, Ridge and Brooke reunite only to break up due to circumstances, and Ridge invariably finds comfort (in most cases, this would lead to marriage) with another love of his life Dr. Taylor Hayes.

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 coiffure, helmed both comedic and dramatic storylines, with the help of ditzy receptionist Darla Einstein, and fashion designer Clarke Garrison, who fathered CJ Garrison, Sally's son. Though, at first, Sally and Stephanie Forrester were bitter enemies, in later years, they developed a friendship; Sally even went to work at Forrester Creations after she finally made the decision to shut down her own company.

Sally's daughter Macy Alexander, a singer, underwent many traumas, most notably alcoholism. Having an on-again-off-again marriage to Thorne Forrester, whom she eventually lost to Brooke, Macy went abroad into hiding with her father, Adam. After being discovered in Italy, Macy relocated back to Los Angeles where she reunited with Thorne Forrester before developing an interest in fellow recovering alcoholic, Deacon Sharpe, whom she married. Weeks later, Macy was gravely injured at a nightclub where she was headlining as a singer. She went into a coma and it was implied that her family pulled the plug off-camera.

The Spectra family and friends were supplanted by the introduction of Massimo Marone and his entourage. Marone, a billionaire shipping magnate who was a childhood friend of Stephanie dated her in college. They slept together once just before Stephanie began dating Eric Forrester, and after forty-something years, a medical crisis revealed Massimo was Ridge's biological father. Shortly thereafter, Jacqueline Payne, a former lover of Massimo, arrived on scene and announced that her son, Dominick "Nick" Payne, a captain at Marone Industries, was also fathered by Massimo. Unlike Ridge, Nick wasn't a businessman and took the surname Marone.

In recent years, the Spencer family and their media conglomerate Spencer Publications have returned. Original character Bill Spencer's children Karen Spencer and Bill Spencer, Jr., along with Karen's daughter Caroline Spencer and Bill's sons Wyatt Fuller, Liam Spencer, and Will Spencer make up the Spencer family.

In 1986, CBS was on the hunt to replace Capitol, and contacted several writers and producers for proposals. Paul Rauch created Grosse Pointe as a replacement. During her absence from Ryan's Hope, Michael Brockman, former President of CBS Daytime, asked Claire Labine to develop a new serial in 1986. Her proposal was entitled Celebration but never made it to the air. Had it been greenlit, Jane Greenstein would have been Assistant to the Head Writer like she was on General Hospital. William J. Bell created The Bold and the Beautiful, which was originally titled Rags.

B&B has been shot at Stage 31 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles for its entire run so far. The show typically uses the traditional soap opera look, featuring constructed sets such as the Forrester Mansion, the Shady Marlin, and the Forrester Creations offices. Like other soap operas, B&B is usually taped three to four weeks in advance. In recent times, the show has increased shooting on location, in the way fellow CBS soap Guiding Light did in its final two years. Many of the characters have taken trips to the fictional "Bikini Beach" which is actually a nearby California beach, and there have been scenes around the Forrester Creations building which appear to be shot somewhere on the lot or inside of CBS Television City.

"High Upon This Love," the theme song of The Bold and the Beautiful, was written by Jack Allocco and David Kurtz and features a prominent saxophone sample played by Eric Marienthal. From November 1998 to July 1999 in the United States, a vocal version of the theme song performed by Dionne Warwick was played during the end credits.

Upon its debuted as the replacement of former soap opera Capitol in the CBS Daytime lineup, The Bold and the Beautiful ended eighth in the final year ratings. Initially CBS' lowest-rated soap, its numbers were still respectable and began to climb. By 1992, after a successful crossover involving villain Sheila Carter from The Young and the Restless, it had climbed to third  place.

 By the mid-to-late 1990s, following yet another crossover, it moved up to second and since has consistently remained there. Throughout the 2000s (decade), The Bold and the Beautiful and all the other remaining network daytime dramas have witnessed a steady erosion of viewers, mainly due to vastly altered viewing habits induced by cable networks and alternative genres such as reality, court shows, and talk shows on minor network affiliates.