B&B really took a wrong turn since the 2020 pandemic break (General)

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

i dont know, i am glad Steffy finally got a love away from Liam so big points on that for me.
i agree the history is sometimes forgetten and loops are not always closed.

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

I enjoy the show most of the time. I think they need to cut a lot of corners because of budget and therefore the show suffers a little. But, I'd rather they do that than to have the show cancelled. Soaps are hanging on by a thread these days. I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can. As long as I'm not bored then I don't have many complaints. That's all I ask.

--
"I love you more than anything or anyone in the world. And I want you by my side for the rest of my life."

"You're the love of my life."

Liam to Hope. Debate over.

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

'The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s..."
This statement says it all, but I would say the quality of the writing decreased greatly when Brad Bell replaced his dad, when you look at the B&B Classics and what we see today, it really no comparison.

Bravo!!! It is all so true. Brad Bell is a pathetic story teller. What happened to fashion? There are no redeeming characters at all. I don't feel loyal to anyone or any couple. Let them just keep passing each other around.

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

The show is a mess. There's no respect for history, no tension, nothing to root for. I mean other than a few people, who can root for Carter and Quinn, who are just partners in lust, not love. Others feel Eric and Donna are mismatched. The women are blamed for everything, the men are blamed for nothing. You'd think a woman cheated with herself the way the show is written. I don't even watch much anymore, maybe one day a week. Otherwise, I keep up with the SLs here. The show is not worth investing 30 minutes of my time.

For me a goofiness has slipped into the plots. That’s been going for at least a decade. I half listen for laugh tracks. I experience some characters as very cartoonish such as Quinn, Charlie, Sheila, Baker, and Pam. I recognize that all the soaps try to have different personalities, but goofy and corny dont work.

I agree with every word you wrote.
Your post should be read to BB every evening after he went to bed and every morning before breakfast.
The writing is an insult to viewers and the scripts are an insult to the actors.

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

As long as there's no triangle from he!!, I'm good. I would like to see Bell give Lope and Sinn totally separate s/l's. And the show desperately needs to get back to the fashion shows.

--
Shown on screen, Steffy blackmailed Bill. Yet, she told Ivy (and Liam too) that “blackmail is a crime”. Per Steffy’s own words, she IS a criminal cuz she has blackmailed.

I disagree. The bold and the beautiful is a great soap. I’ve seen it since the 90s.

I really enjoyed Massimo Marone.
But during that time it really was the Brooke Logan Show. From Ridge to Nick to Ridge to Nick....
I agree that the writing today - and well before the pandemic - has been of low quality. In my country we`re currently seeing the episodes where Ridge and Deacon had a fight in the broom closet over Brooke. It`s been the same characters and same conversations for a few weeks now. Nothing goes forward.

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

The characters been rewashed too much and these oldies from twenty years ago brought back boreing ..they don’t add many new when they do they don’t fit in Paris is a flop and her mommy horrible …breakup make up over and over yuck…men cheat women want them back it disgusts me

I'm not sure what shifted,... but it feels like a lot of aspects really went downhill when the soap returned in Summer 2020.

I don't live in the US but I've watched B&B since (almost) the 1st episode. The first wedding I watched was Caroline and Thorne's.

The quality of the soap decreased a bit when Brad Bell replaced his dad, some time in the 1990s...

I think the first big shift was around 2003. The introduction of the Marone family was a bad move, then they made some questionable decisions. But I didn't see much difference between 2004 and 2019. Slow decline but the quality of the soap was still tolerable until late 2019.

Something definitely took a wrong turn after the show resumed in July 2020 (after a 3 months long break)

The characters are all too unlikable. Honestly there isn't even one who gives me any positive vibes.
The lead couples are all used up, boring and pathetic. Hope looks like she could be Liam's sister, Steffy looks like Finn's mother. Brooke and this Ridge look like old drinking buddies. But I sure wouldn't prefer Leffy and Tridge, that'd be even worse.

That last Bridge SL has to be the worst they've ever had. I don't even like Brooke but how can she stand there and let Ridge, Taylor, Steffy and Thomas berate her for kissing Deacon when Ridge did the exact same thing with Shauna 2 years ago? He literally spent the night with Shauna, then kissed her (more than once) and even married her because he was drunk, but Brooke isn't even allowed to bring that up.

The music isn't the same anymore. What the hell happened to the background soundtrack? There used to be so many good ones. Now there is hardly any good music including for huge cliffhangers.

Too many repetitive dialogs and empty conversations that serve no purpose. How many times has Brooke lamented about why she drank on NYE? Or Steffy repeated that Brooke kissed Deacon and doesn't love Ridge?

They don't use the history well. No mention of Sheila's other children, no mention of RJ, Will and so many other children.
Bridget returns and not even a scene with Deacon or a mention of Logan.
Taylor returns and zero mention of Jack. Zero mention of her involvment in the Beth SL even if it was her last mistake before she left town. No mention of her shooting Bill even if it was THE reason why she was told to leave town.
Sheila's past 's crimes aren't documented enough.
Still no explanation for why Nicole and Zende divorced, he just returned, pretended she never existed and fell madly in love with the first girl he met.
Where are Flo and Shauna? I don't miss them at all but Bell invested so much to bring a new family... the Fultons. And all of a sudden it's like they never existed. Quinn never mentionned Shauna's name again. Wyatt proposed to Flo and she dropped off the face of the earth without any explanation.
And so on... the list is long

But the main problem is most storylines are too rushed and don't have long-term consequences. The only one they really dragged out for months is Sheila's label switch and it was totally unnecessary.

Vinny switched the results of Steffy's paternity test? Why? 1 month later he got exposed. Neither Finn or Hope dumped their partner. No consequence. If Dr. Campbell dirrectly announced the correct results it would've been exactly the same thing.

Bill/Liam run over Vinny and are arrested? What was the point. Hope didn't even move on from Liam and Bill was single. Nothing happened. The truth came out 2 weeks after the arrest, they were released and it's like Vinny never existed.

Thomas' brain clot / redemption story? That's one of the biggest mistery. They invested so much to redeem Thomas' character and for what? His brain clot appeared after he hit his head, it had nothing to do with his long obsession with Hope and all the bad things he did. They "redeemed" him only to completely ruin him again with this obsession with his parents and his association with Sheila.

Steffy's addiction? It was handled poorly. She took a few forbidden pills and was labelled as an addict. She spent 1 week in rehab and it's like this addiction never happened. That storyline was an insult and completely ridiculed real addicts. Same happened with Brooke's alcoholism. If a viewer had issues with drugs or alcohol, he should never take this soap as a source of inspiration...

Absolutely nothing makes sense since Sheila shot Steffy and Finn. They completely lost me this time. What was the point of Steffy's 5 second amnesia? Totally useless. They should've written a long-term amnesia (like Adam and Eve) or no amnesia at all.
What's the point of killing off Finn if they always knew he'd come back 1 month later? It's such a useless, recycled, poorly written story. They should've brought him back 2 years later, with Steffy married and raising her kids with someone else. Or immedlately informed the audience he was alive and planning his vengeance, but this?

They've made Li so stupid and selfish, I can't have an ounce of sympathy for her.
They have completely RIDICULED paramedics and the police with this SL.
Li found out about the shooting THREE episodes (that means minimum 1 hour) after the paramedics declared him dead. You can't find a pulse so long after the heart stopped. A few minutes yes, but not 1h. Then Li stated he was BRAIN DEAD. IRL you can never heal someone who's brain dead.
And don't even get me started on Baker and his colleagues, they're just the most pathetic policemen in the world. They never even bothered to question the waiter who saw Steffy and Sheila's fight 5 minutes before the shooting. Never bothered to check the cameras of the restaurant. They would have never caught her if Steffy died. And then who do they pick as her cell guard? Mike...The guy who conspired with her for years. It's not even Funny.

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. All the things I brought up were partly true until 2019, but it's really gotten A LOT worse since the pandemic. And I think the ratings reflect that. Even if there's a small improvement since April, B&B still lost over half a million viewers between 2019 and 2020, and most never came back. The pandemic may be one factor, but it doesn't explain everything.

Other feel the same way? When did the show take such a wrong turn IYO?

I agree with a lot of what you said!

For me, the show's decline started in 2003 (after the excellent Portofino remote shoot) when the Marones started replacing the Spectras as the show's secondary family. I still think of the 90s as the golden age of B&B. Then it has been steadily and progressively getting worse.

Right now, everything about the production feels amateurish and low budget. The storylines lack overall structure. ALL characters are underdeveloped and unlikable. The dialogue is repetitive, dumbed down, and without any forward motion in the individual scenes. The background music actually detracts from the drama because it's so heavy-handed. The sets are too few. There are virtually no extras or day players, meaning there are almost no scenes with crowds. The fashion element is gone. Every hint of subtlety and wit is gone.

But the main problem in my opinion is the poor quality of the writing. The show just brought back many characters from the best period of the show (Sheila, Deacon, Taylor, Mike) and still it does not work because the characters are just shells of their former selves and they are no longer given psychologically believable stories to play. And there are so many missed beats and plot holes.

Now that the show is uploading classic episodes the difference in quality becomes quite jarring. It is not the same show.