A Critic’s Review Of B&B: A Roundup of the Best and Worst of 2023

We here at Soap Hub are never shy when it comes to giving The Bold and the Beautiful its lumps when it proves grating or downright frustrating, nor are we backward at coming forward with praise when it’s due – moi especially.

Bold and the Beautiful — Best and Worst of 2023

In that vein, below you’ll find a roundup of the staff’s Best and Worst of B&B followed by my ever cheeky, always heartfelt contribution – which may include endorsements and/or rebuttals to my colleagues’ picks…how surprised you must be to hear that we don’t always see eye-to-eye.

Best Bonkers Connection: Hope (Annika Noelle) and Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) — said almost every staff member. (Read about their connection here.)

Best Character Turnaround: Hope ditching Liam (Scott Clifton) the drip and hooking up with that hunka-hunka burning love Thomas (Matthew Atkinson). — Sandra Leaming, Community Manager.

Best Performance: John McCook (Eric) has give one tour-de-force after another as his character grapples with his mortality. His performance has earned him a spot on next year’s Daytime Emmy ballot and just maybe a bookend statuette. – Michael Maloney, Sr. West Coast Editor

Best Father Vs. Son: The Forrester Fashion Showdown. Fantastic evening wear. — Sandra Leaming, Community Manager.

Best Friendship While It Lasted: Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) and Taylor (Krista Allen). — Rachel Dillin, Managing Editor (A sentiment shared across the board. We should have known the kinship was too good to last. As if Brooke was ever really going to give up on her destiny.)

Best New Addition: Dr. Li Finnegan (Naomi Matsuda) — now just use her. — Diane Brounstein, Editor-in-Chief

Best Candidate for The Bachelorette: Hope Logan. I can buy Hope leaving Liam — he’s still in love with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood). But going to Thomas is a head-scratcher. He knew baby Beth was alive and stayed silent to suit his own agenda. How does Hope feel safe around this guy? Can people change that much? It’d have made more sense for Hope to turn to good-guy Wyatt (Darin Brooks). – Michael Maloney, Sr. West Coast Editor

Best New Romance: Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) and Deacon (Sean Kanan). It’s about time these two were paired together. — Amber Sinclair, Editor

Best Sights For Sore Eyes: Thorne (Winsor Harmon) and Bridget (Ashley Jones). — Rachel Dillin, Managing Editor

The Reason Soap Operas Need Their Own Razzies: The insistence on only running one story at a time. “That’s not a soap.” — Diane Brounstein, Editor-in-Chief

Most Glaring Absence: Multiple actors have played the parts of Kristen, Felicia, and Rick. Why couldn’t any of them be tapped to reprise their roles to make Eric’s health crisis more poignant? Marcus (Texas Battle), Eric’s adopted son with Donna (Jennifer Gareis), should be there, too. – Michael Maloney, Sr. West Coast Editor

Worst Secret: Liam kissing Steffy. Why is she still hiding it? — Amber Sinclair, Editor

Worst Storyline: Finn temporarily falling for Sheila’s manipulation. He’s a doctor…surely, he’s more intelligent than this. — Amber Sinclair, Editor

Worst “Thank-you, NEXT”: Ditching Krista Allen when Taylor’s kids could use her most. — Rachel Dillin, Managing Editor

The Critic Muses Over B&B In 2023

And The Point Was?: Of the plethora of swings and misses this year, Bill’s (Don Diamont) failed ploy to entrap Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) was the singular worst. He used blackmail to ensure the attempted murder charges that the prosecutor could prove in order to * and this is where the mind boggles * seduce the villainess into confessing to out-and-out murder that was later declared inadmissible despite Bill and Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) working hand in hand with the FBI. Riiiiiiiiight. That all makes perfect sense.

Best Cut And Paste Job: Inserting Stephanie into Eric’s near-death experience. Every scene could be made better with just a hint of Susan Flannery. My goodness, how she is missed.

Biggest Parenting No-no: I get that Finn (Tanner Novlan) is new to this whole being responsible for a child and all, but surely his instincts as a doctor should have told him not to turn his back on a small child while at the beach.

Drop The Ball Award: Echoing Diane’s sentiment above, it would probably behoove the creatives at B&B to cease starting and stopping those much-needed B and C plots. Is Liam still obsessively pinning over Steffy? Are we ever going to circle back to Luna (Lisa Yamada) possibly being Bill’s daughter? Will there ever be two storylines running in parallel ever again?

Characters Most In Need of a Storyline: Katie (Heather Tom) and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) — either together or separately, I’ll take whatever I can get — Bill, and Wyatt (ANYTHING to get Darin Brooks back on my screen).

Least Affecting Reunion: Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) decides to reunite with Brooke because he * checks notes * spied her through a “magic” keyhole. Surely that’s not right. And yet….

Most Needlessly Stretched Out “Death”: Rare is the soap that would kill off its patriarch when the actor is still in fighting form. Rarer still is the soap that would kill off its patriarch via a disease they couldn’t even be bothered to name.

Most Overexposed Prop: Eric’s stapler. This inanimate object seemingly clocked in more screen time than any of the veteran players listed above in the Characters Most In Need of a Storyline category.

Worst Excuse To Spend Money: Hope, Brooke, and the gang travel to Rome to…pose in a few dresses in front of a fountain. The shots weren’t worth the expense.

The Bold and the Beautiful 2023 Report Card: C- This middling grade was earned by virtue of the “Fabulous Emancipation of One Hope Logan” plot, which has seen the character shed her goody-goody image and adopt a take no *ahem* you know what attitude.

The rest of the year was a hodgepodge of storylines that meandered, crashed and burned, and failed to up the stakes to any serious degree.

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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