Should Bold and the Beautiful Turn A Deaf Ear To All The Eavesdropping?

Secrets can only remain secret for so long on soaps and one of the easiest ways for them to be spilled is to have someone conveniently overhear people talking about a topic that’s being kept under wraps. Sometimes, it seems that The Bold and the Beautiful employs this soap chestnut as often as hour-long shows do!

Bold and the Beautiful — Those Are Some Thin Doors

For example, Shauna Fulton (Denise Richards) recently had gone to great lengths to let people think that she – and not her bestie Quinn Fuller Forrester (Rena Sofer) – was having a fling with Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor). However, when Paris Buckingham (Diamond White) heard the two women in the executive offices at Forrester recapping Shauna’s fake confession, she discovered that Quinn was the one having sex with Carter.

Just this week, Brooke Logan Forrester (Katherine Kelly Lang) overheard Quinn and Paris arguing about the same situation when they were in an upstairs room at the Forrester mansion. If certain parties hoping to keep things quiet were to just, well, keep quiet, then everything might be okay!

Instead, characters continue to recap damaging information, which we understand is commonplace within the genre but there are times when characters might want to go to a secluded place to hash things out. They could opt to use their indoor voices more consistently or at least make sure that the door to the room that they’re in is locked!

B&B has moved stories along for years by having people overhear things even though there was a time when few went into Eric Forrester’s (John McCook) office at Forrester Creations without first being announced or knocking – unless it was a key member of his inner circle, family, or executive staff.

Eavesdropping Through The Years

Other examples of people overhearing things on B&B include Quinn getting upset after spying Donna Logan (Jennifer Gareis) being all flirty with Eric. Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) overheard Brooke tell Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) that he’d always have a special place in her heart for him.

There was a lot of eavesdropping that went on in one of B&B’s most memorable and relatively recent stories. Several people including Emma (Nia Sioux) and Douglas (Henry Joseph Samiri) overheard that baby Phoebe was, in reality, baby Beth, leading Douglas to say one of B&B’s most famous lines, “Baby Beth is alive!”

We know B&B is capable of revealing information in more creative ways. Remember last year when Flo Fulton (Katrina Bowden) was tied to Sally Spectra’s (Courtney Hope) radiator? Wyatt didn’t need to overhear Sally detailing her scheme with Penny (Monica Ruiz) to realize Flo needed help. Instead, his creative girlfriend wrote a note on Sally’s underwear in order to get word to Wyatt! That was a novel way to get information out there!

Another example, from years ago, was when a baby monitor was left on and Bridget (then, Jennifer Finnigan) overheard on the device Brooke and Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) talking about how he (Bridget’s then-husband) was the father of Brooke’s baby! Sure, that was eavesdropping but it wasn’t the standard stand outside the door and look horrified.

More Ways To Move B&B Story

There’s always the chance that Eric is going to reinforce and/or padlock the doors to his office and his home, which will make eavesdropping a lot more difficult. So, how will B&B characters share and reveal information to one another?

There are lots of ways. Some characters could start keeping journals on their computers and leave their laptops open or use obvious passwords. (On The Young and the Restless, Jack got into Victor’s files by guessing correctly that the mustached mogul’s password was “Nicole.”)

Another option would be for the show to cast a gossipy (but loveable) receptionist for Forrester Creations until Pam (Alley Mills) pops up again. This person could be unable to keep a secret and could pass along information unknowingly if he or she only has bits and pieces of the story.

Sure, unlocked diaries and busybodies are also soap opera staples and B&B does need to move stories along. However, mixing up the ways in which secrets get out will add some variety to the storytelling. The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes.