Brad Bell, B&B Executive Producer & Head Writer
With six Daytime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team, Bold and the Beautiful head honcho Brad Bell is excited for the future. Of course, he's also excited about those big noms.
"We submitted the shows where Storm took his life in order to give his heart to his sister, so mostly hospital [scenes], but great family drama," Bell says of Bold and the Beautiful's Emmy reel. "Tragedy and triumph. Everything that goes into the drama. Those were special shows for me. In the whole run of the series, those are stand out shows. There have been great ones in the past, but this one is top tier, so we'll keep our fingers crossed."
Bell has already received a congratulatory email from Y&R head scribe Maria Arena Bell over the big new and admits he's "shocked" B&B won't going up against its sister show in the big categories Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team.
"The Young and the Restless is far and away, in ratings, the top ranking show," he contends. "It deserves to be nominated. That's hard to understand… but it's great to be nominated and to have a show from each network is exciting for the networks."
With the August 30 awards show still a ways off, however, Bell is most eager to talk about what he's getting into at B&B these days.
"We're bringing camp back," he reveals. "Camp has been lost. It was big in the '80s and '90s and now, it's time to have fun again, so we're going to! That's the difference you're going to see in the show for the next six months or so. We're going to have so much more comedy, craziness, silliness."
It will also maintain a familiar balance between the drunken haircuts and dramatic showdowns. "We're going back to Forrester being serious, hard hitting drama and Spectra being a contrast to that," Bell explains. "There is nothing like Spectra, led by Sally. Darlene (Conley, Sally) was the ringmaster and led a circus. That was her own thing, but Jackie M has emerged as the new Spectra and now we have a sexy, naughty cougar running the fashion house. Lesley-Anne Down is so sexy! She's like a Bond girl and we're writing her as though she's 19 years old, too.
"What's exciting for me is we're back in the two fashion house storytelling and with Spencer Publications in the middle causing trouble, it's almost like 1988 all over again," he raves. "It's wonderful and very exciting: It's all new, and yet the B&B formula."
That mix of old and new is also reflected in the shows recent casting coos. While Y&R star Don Diamont is already making a new name for himself as B&B's Bill Spencer, Rick Hearst is heading back to town as Whip, the man who once pretended to be Brooke's baby daddy.
"Two great actors, two great characters… We've got some great new romances on the show," Bell teases.
Those who were clamoring for the return of Sean Kanan's devilish Deacon Sharpe, however, will have to hold on a bit longer. "I love Sean," Bell admits with a sigh. "Right now, we're onto Bill and the return of Whip, but I don't rule anything out. Sean's a brilliant actor and Deacon Sharpe, he's trouble!"
It sounds like the show's got just about all the trouble it can handle for now, which is just how Soaps.com likes it!
- Deanna Barnert
