Rating the Replacement: How Krista Allen Rates as Taylor on B&B

Krista Allen made her debut as Dr. Taylor Hayes on The Bold and the Beautiful on December 10, 2021. In her short time on the show, Allen has convincingly brought to life the beautiful psychiatrist as she’s interacted with the majority of the key people in Taylor’s life.

Krista Allen as Dr. Taylor Hayes

Taylor’s absence from the canvas was glaringly obvious when her children, Thomas Forrester (Matthew Atkinson) and Steffy Forrester Finnegan (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), were going through their respective battles with mental illness and opioid addiction. As both their mother and a psychiatrist, Taylor’s presence was deeply missed. True to nature, Taylor (Krista Allen) was doing selfless work across the globe, helping others in need.

It was clear in her debut as Taylor that Allen had terrific chemistry with TV daughter Wood. They both have different approaches to life – Steffy’s far more of a go-getter but in the Taylor/Steffy scenes, it was as if the two women had known each other all their lives. Believing there’s a familial bond between these two is not a stretch at all. That’s not an easy feat to achieve in a first impression. We’re not sure how much homework Allen did on her new character’s detailed history but we wouldn’t be surprised to discover that she’d done quite a bit.

Krista Allen has Taylor’s beauty, of course, but she’s also inhabited the character. She knows Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) is the great love of her life and even though he hasn’t always stood by her, Allen’s Taylor lit up like a Christmas tree the first time she and Kaye worked together.

The big test came when Taylor first encountered Brooke Logan Forrester (Katherine Kelly Lang). The two characters have decades of history and animosity between them. The two women were mostly cordial with one another, finding common ground with their mutual respect for the late Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery).

Allen, who scored Soap Hub’s Performer of the Week for B&B for her work in these scenes, played Taylor as being able to see right through Brooke’s agenda. Men are putty in Brooke’s hands, but Taylor wasn’t about to let the chemist get the best of her.

The Brooke/Taylor rivalry drove much of the action on the show starting way back in 1990 when the character made her debut. Now, the stage is set for this dynamic to continue as B&B once more has an actress in place who can play out Taylor’s numerous relationships and intrinsic good nature. We can’t wait to see what Allen does next with the role!

The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Los Angeles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on B&B spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.