On March 23, 2025, The Bold and the Beautiful celebrates the 38th anniversary of its debut on CBS. But does the soap that the late, great William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell created actually have any reason to pop the cork? In fact, it does. A whole bunch of ’em.
We know that we are often critical of the show, and honestly, it’s deserved. (The repetitiousness! The senselessness! The “WTH have you done to Bill Spencer”-ness!) But at the end of the day, it remains a helluva ride. Though we may have to wait a hot minute for Bold & Beautiful to get there — and then OK, fine, a few not-so-hot minutes as well — it never fails to arrive at thrilling drama, with high stakes, humongous payoffs and gorgeous background music to underscore the action.
Does it always track? Eh, not so much. Our eyes haven’t stopped rolling over merry murderess Sheila Carter’s screed about how people like Luna Nozawa deserve to rot in prison. Yet we can’t deny that we were still entirely sucked in by the creepy scene in which the madwoman learned that Luna was her granddaughter. That kiss! That sting! Perfection!
And another thing: Even when we know days, months, years in advance that a plot twist is coming — and we usually do; bless its heart, Bold & Beautiful does not do subtle foreshadowing — the show manages to sell its “shocks,” anyway, and make a moment really feel like a capital-M Moment.
Also working in the favor of daytime’s only 30-minute soap is the fact that it’s as romantic as all get-out. Sure, we grouse about Ridge’s fickleness and the fact that he should have graduated decades ago from the whole rose-petals-on-the-bed thing. But who among us wouldn’t go weak-kneed if someone arranged a candlelit dinner for us? We might even forget how many times the dressmaker has dumped us to run back to his ex. (Right, Taylor?)
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Finally, Bold & Beautiful can pat itself on the back for being arguably the soap that is the best at riling up its audience. Not since the Hatfields and the McCoys — or at least shippers of General Hospital couples “JaSam” and “Liason” — have two groups been as divided as fans of Steffy Forrester and Hope Logan (and, by extension, their mothers). There is no middle ground. There are no shades of gray. There is only “You’re either for Steffy or against her, for Hope or against her.”
In the final analysis, isn’t that why we watch any soap, not just Bold & Beautiful? To feel something passionately, to react strongly, to be distracted from the troubles of the day? This show doesn’t always get it all right, but it gets enough right enough of the time that, grumble though we may, we’re still hooked.
Check out the below photo gallery for a walk down memory lane. It’s chock full of pictures from Bold & Beautiful through the years.
