When it comes to Liam Spencer on The Bold and the Beautiful, where does one even start? He can become an entire deep dive “On The Couch” column for Soap Hub which can be a multi-part series, but for this article’s purposes, we will discuss why he needs to be shown what a backburner looks like.
B&B: Liam Spencer Needs To Lay Low
Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) was all of us recently when she rolled her eyes and let out a sigh upon learning that Liam (Scott Clifton) was at her door, ostensibly to complain about something. It turned out she was right because when is Liam not complaining about something? For that matter, when is Liam not at the center of a story?
B&B is a soap that rotates front burner characters and stories, presenting shorter arcs than the other three soaps mainly due to the time constraints of being a half-hour soap. However, Liam is somehow always involved with one of the two stories the soap features at a time and we seem to always have to hear his point of view. That’s because Liam can’t stop telling people his point of view — especially his brother Wyatt (Darin Brooks) and his ex, Steffy.
In fact, Wyatt’s current sole existence on the soap seems to be to listen to whatever Liam has to say and then try to reason with him. Wyatt has no story or on-screen love story (where exactly is Flo?), and barely gets any airtime — and he’s not alone with the latter. We barely see Liam and Wyatt’s father Bill (Don Diamont) when he doesn’t have a story to play, and we also rarely see characters like Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor), Katie (Heather Tom), Eric (John McCook), and Donna (Jennifer Gareis). However, Liam is always around and always has his hands in something even when fans make it clear they have had enough of him for now.
Currently, he has inserted himself into Steffy’s drama with Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) and Finn (Tanner Novlan) because Hope (Annika Noelle) dumped him. He cried about that for a hot minute but then moved on, which brings us to the other major Liam problem the show can easily solve.
B&B: Liam Needs To Be All Alone
Since the moment Liam first stepped foot in B&B’s fictional version of Los Angeles in 2010, he has always had a woman and invariably, that woman is either Steffy or Hope. Yes, he was once involved with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) and had dalliances with the younger Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope), as well as Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer). Heck, he even had an affair with Quinn (Rena Sofer), but in all fairness, he had amnesia at the time.
Still, for the better part of 13 years, Liam has either been with Steffy or Hope and when one disappoints him, he heads straight to the other. He even had an affair with Steffy while engaged to Hope because Hope didn’t want to have sex before marriage and Liam didn’t want to wait. If Liam is not involved with a woman, it’s as if Liam can’t exist. Even Ridge, the original B&B waffler, sometimes manages to spend a few months at a time alone, but not Liam. Within moments of spying Hope kissing Thomas (Matthew Atkinson), he planted one on a very married Steffy — and did it again a few days later after confronting Hope about the kiss.
Bold and the Beautiful: Liam Spencer Isn’t Even Likable
To Liam, everything is about Liam, and it often feels the same could be said for B&B. Somehow, everything always ends up being about Liam. The problem is, it’s not easy to like Liam. Between the whining and waffling, he can grate on anyone’s nerves — that includes the audience and other characters on the show. He likes to think of himself as the hero, but whenever he gets in a tough situation, he will either panic or make the situation worse because he never, ever thinks things through.
Hope and Steffy have finally wised up to who Liam is and both want better for themselves now that they are in their 30s and mothers. Perhaps it’s time for Liam to wise up to who he is as well. He can go to therapy like Thomas did and he can even do it off-screen and give us all a break for at least a few weeks. Then, maybe a new and improved Liam can enter the scene after 13 years of narcissistic waffling. That would be one way to solve B&B’s Liam problem while still keeping Liam and the very talented Scott Clifton around.
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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