Welcome back, Taylor!

How do you act when a deceased spouse pops back onto the scene? Is there a manual or instruction booklet for that? Do you faint? Do you scream and THEN faint? Do you throw up?

At least Taylor had the good sense not to just walk in the front door screaming 'Hi everyone...I'm home!' With a week overflowing with emotion and heavy hair petting from a stunned Ridge, we all were given a rare week in B&B land. We knew she was back but it did not seem real until she actually spoke and Ridge could reach out and touch her. Unlike her last appearance as Taylor the Friendly Ghost during the Who's The Daddy debacle, we saw her embrace Ridge and even got to see the two of them make out a little as well. OH MY GOD! That's right! They WERE kissing! Gee, I wonder how Brooke would feel about that...

I can't imagine how I would feel if faced with the same weirdo resurrection that Ridge was faced with. How do you act when a deceased spouse pops back onto the scene? Is there a manual or instruction booklet for that? Do you faint? Do you scream and THEN faint? Do you throw up? What? I don't know but I suppose Ridge's reaction were appropriate for his character. Lots of half-squatting down and stroking her hair. Some tears and more 'Doc's' than I ever care to hear again. Honestly, what is up with Ridge NOT calling people by their given first name? 'Logan' and 'Doc'...it's so over done. One thing is for certain...ol' Omar didn't tell Taylor much about Ridge's life after she supposedly 'died'. Poor thing had no idea about him marrying Brooke and obviously will be shocked about little RJ (another Forrester child we never see until he is ready to go to boarding school). Taylor has quite a shock coming.

Once again, my Inbox was buzzing all week with opinions and questions, like 'How does anyone explain the ghostly appearances from Taylor to Ridge, Brooke, and Jackie?' Good question, but don't count on any answers. If the events of the last few years have shown me anything, it's that there is NO logic to the writing and never any explanations to all that is weird or impossible. Don't count on it, just roll with the changes and hang on for the ride. Talk about something making no sense...allegedly the truth will come out that Omar manipulated the paternity results for RJ to 'show' Taylor how Ridge has moved on and to give Brooke a reason to stay with him. However, if that were the case, Taylor would have come back from the beyond already KNOWING about their marriage and child. She's obviously in the dark now by her reaction to the wedding ring. By the way, I must say that I was surprised that by some of the dialogue that Taylor may think that she and Ridge can just pick up where they left off. As much as I can't stand the Brooke-Ridge coupling, I somehow don't see it being so easy for him to kick Brooke to the curb just because Taylor is back. He's had this unhealthy sexual obsession with Brooke for so long that I wonder if the writers would even entertain the possibility of them being without each other now. I don't know if I would want Taylor to go back to him anyway...he's proven himself a selfish pig and an overall horses ass to everyone in his life as of late. He hasn't been there for Thomas much or he would not have been hitting it with Amber and those girls were shipped off to boarding school pretty quick so.....

I'll say this...it's too bad that Ridge was not wearing a wire during his tearful reunion with Taylor. If Brooke had heard herself referred to as the substitute and the 'void-filler' for Taylor, I imagine there would not be much manhood left on ol' Forrester! What happened to his feelings that Taylor was the 'safe' choice and that Brooke was his one TRUE LOVE? My how we conveniently forget all THAT dialogue! One too many shots to the HEAD?? Selective memory? Or are the things he said to Taylor his REAL feelings after all? Is it possible that Taylor IS his one true love? I'm 'drinking the Kool-Aid' and believing that theory. How will it all shake out though? Not sure but if BOTH women sent him packing and found new non-Forrester loves, I wouldn't be the least bit sorry.

However, for now at least, we all have to watch the delicate balancing act Ridge will do between Wifey #1 and Wifey#2 The Sequel. I hear they will be all cozy on the couch together. What do they talk about? Taylor tells Brooke she's back and wants her to leave her house? Brooke tells Taylor that she can stay at her beach house and that she is the new lady of the manor? Ridge sits there like a rock saying nothing? I say there are some legal issues to go over first, like Brooke and Ridge marriage can't possibly be valid now. What do you do about that? And there are the children! Ok, how do we handle that? Is Brooke going to be a single mom or is Taylor going to be 'visiting' her kids because she can't live with them? This is all sounding like a bad episode of Montel Williams to me. We all have already seen the spoilers that the girls freak out about their Mom coming back from the dead, but what about poor lost sexually conflicted Thomas? Will this get him back on the straight and narrow? I think Taylor's absence from his life had the biggest impact of all of them and I hope this helps him become a better man than his philandering and self-absorbed father.

Many emails this week kept referencing the absurdity of this story and while I read them, I could not help but feel a little sorry for the writing corps and producers of the show. How desperate they must have been to construct such a wild explanation in the name of ratings and obvious viewer apathy towards the show. Let's face it, the Boards were dead, scores of longtime viewers were jumping ship due to the long and protracted WTD story that had some promise of variety until they made the baby Ridge's and all other stories/characters were always left so unfinished that there was little to tune in for each week. The ratings were slipping and for the first time in my recent memory, B&B was not always right behind Y&R. So, love her or hate her, Taylor's return proves one thing without a doubt...she was missed enough as a character that having her coming back in ANY fashion has brought viewers back with her. Numbers don't lie and the Boards all around the Net are filled to capacity every hour with posts either supporting or not supporting this move. Either way, there is a renewed interest and that can't be a BAD thing. I know I am rearranging errands now to make SURE I am sitting here at 1:30 everyday where I may not have in the last few months. It's change (sort of) and it's all the possibilities that this story will bring that have kept me chained to my couch this week. Hell, I can't wait for Antonio Sabato Jr. to hit the screen! A new man! Just what this show needs! Some fresh eye candy to spice things up!! I love JW and Nick as a character but he and Thorne can't be the only good looking men in LA. I would count Hector in that list but we simply never see him enough unless there is a fire, just like we never see cute Dr. Mark unless someone needs their pulse taken. What a waste!

Since today is Mother's Day, I thought it may be appropriate to examine all the Mommies on B&B and what make them so...well, unique. Who gets the Thumb's Up or the Thumb's Down? Let's take a look... Stephanie Forrester...no June Cleaver but certainly loves her kids, almost to a fault. She meddles, controls, and has played favorites so much with Ridge that he could get away with anything and be forgiven. A champion of the family and constant arch-nemesis to Brooke. Does all things shady in the name of 'protecting the family'. I suppose she gets a 'Thumbs-Up' for that good intention, huh?

Brooke Logan Forrester...tries harder as of late to be June Cleaver-like but really only had the first two to trap Ridge (hoping either of them could have been his). Didn't pay much attention to Rick or Bridget as kids but got better when they were going through their adult calamities. Slept with her daughter's husband (sorry, no getting around that one!) but did the right thing by having the baby I suppose. She had little RJ and he AND little Hopeless are rarely seen or taken care of by her...Katherine gets all that duty. She has had a hard time being a role-model for the Doublemint Twins as her own past is so checkered but has risen to the stepparent challenge well trying to support Thomas and show him the error of his ways boinking Amber. I'm impressed with that and have to give a Thumbs-Up on that point alone.Jackie Payne Marone...she raised a wonderful and highly principled man. However, her Oedipal-like control issues with regards to his life choices have got to GO! She makes Stephanie look like a saint when it comes to meddling in his life. Keeping the paternity news from him was just plain cruel and I'm sorry...any mother that keeps referring to their son as NICKY gets a Thumbs-Down for that alone! My son is named Nicholas and I have already told my husband that if I EVER refer to him as 'Nicky' to shoot me. Ok, well not literally but you know what I mean. Nick's got to be over 40 for heaven's sake!

Darla Einstein Forrester...did not become a Mommy under the most ideal circumstances but has (from what we SEE) become a grounded and focused mother. Due to her own background, I figured she would be portrayed as a good mother. Thorne should be proud and she gets a big 'Thumbs-Up'! Priscilla Kelly...a woman that should have been raising cobra's instead of children. Domineering and just plain nasty, poor Samantha never stood a chance when she showed up in town. The whole Caitlin mess was just awful and there is not a big enough 'Thumbs Down' I could give for this monster. Makes Joan Crawford look like Carol Brady.

Sally Spectra...she's funny, wild, and the most unconventional Mom on the show. She did a good job with CJ, even though we don't see him AT ALL, and Macy was a good person. After all, she too may have the uncanny ability to rise from the dead in the not-too-distant future! Sally gave to her kids until it hurt and never seemed to meddle nearly as much as her counterpart Stephanie. 'Thumbs-Up' to Mustang Sally!

Rather than end with the usual question of the week, I though it would be entirely appropriate to end the Scoops with a little personal tribute to the late William J Bell would passed in recent weeks. I actually began watching soaps when Y&R was just in its infancy in 1974. At the tender age of 7 I began to watch the super-hip residents of Genoa City go through all kinds of predicaments that I couldn't possibly understand at that age. I remember Luke and Lance Prentiss (now today's Eric Forrester) fighting over Laurie and Leslie Brooks, Chris and Snapper Foster, and even a VERY young Nikki stripping for Victor. I remember the woman Victor kidnapped and held hostage in his basement (what was her name?), Paul joining a cult, and the first time Jill hung out at the Chancellor mansion with Kay and Phillip. Now THAT's going to the back of the rack. Though it 'dates' me a little, I loved that show and STILL watch it to this very day. I even became a believer in the Bell magic when B&B replaced that awful 30 minutes abomination 'Capitol' in the 1:30 time slot in 1987. Bill Bell certainly had the 'touch' and his ratings and critical accolades are proof of that. Millions of viewers all around the world watch these two shows and they have become pieces of the fabric of our daily lives. For instance, I remember I was getting married in 1992 two days after the Ridge-Taylor wedding where Brooke ALMOST made it to the church in time to stop it. I also remember my friends sitting around on Senior Skip Day in 1985 watching Y&R and arguing about who was the hottest guy on the show (Paul beat out Danny by a large margin). My thoughts go out to the Bell family and I think it goes without saying that his presence and amazing writing abilities will be missed.

Who's on the Soapbox? Sherry writes... '...how did (Taylor) appear as a 'ghost' in past episodes to Jackie and others if she wasn't already dead...it makes me wonder if the writers do think the viewers are stupid and we will keep watching no matter how weird the storyline goes.'

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Majka writes... ...I am thrilled Taylor is back...I stopped watching the show when she 'died'...it was just not exciting without her.'

Until next week, stay in touch with your thoughts...it's the best part of my week when I hear from everybody!

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