B&B year-end review: Morals obscene in 2017

This week, while Steffy and Bill count the seconds until Dr. Campbell gets the paternity test results back, we're getting two scoops deep into our year-end take on the best, the worst, and the morally obscene of B&B in 2017.

2017 was an event-packed year for the Forrester, Spencer, and Spectra clans. From the return of old characters to the introduction of some new kids to the block, the Bold and the Beautiful's thirtieth year brought us fashion showdowns, catty put-downs, and outrageous throwdowns. Our characters traded their morals for secret rendezvous, and corporate coups. This year, it was get out or be burned out, extorted out, or played out.

In case you missed the whole year, Brooke collected more engagement rings from the usual shady fiances and bounced between Bill and Ridge like an Australian boomerang. The retro Spectra crew revived the knockoff trade. Eric struggled to trust Ridge while Ridge's brothers still tried to reconcile how a half-breed Marone always wound up with Brooke and the executive keys to the steam room.

Nicole and Zende wanted a baby, but Maya and Rick gave them Paris. Wyatt brought Katie's sexy back, which might have leveled her out a bit. Liam let a little power go his head, and his wife wound up in his father's bed. Now Bill wonders if he's about to be a father or a grandfather. Katie had a gun, but Deacon was the real not-so-sharp shooter. Quinn defended her marriage against Sheila's attacks. Bill's love affair with "Sky" almost reduced his family to rubble.

By the time the dust settles on the year, we'll learn that the more things change, the more they painfully remain the same. This week, we get two scoops deep in the best, the worst, and the morally obscene occurrences of 2017.

Best plot of the year: "Sky" is the limit

Bill Spencer believes he can do anything he wants to do, no matter the collateral damage. For him, the sky has always been the limit -- until "Sky" pushed the Spencer family past its limits and threatened its very survival. The tale of Bill and his love affair with a skyscraper is the best plot of the year because it permanently affected the most characters and changed the landscape of Los Angeles, figuratively and literally.

When "Sky" first appeared in February, she was a small model of an office complex Bill wanted to build as a legacy to himself and as a monument to the Spencer name. At first, his obsession with the tower seemed to be a distraction for him while he awaited his chance with Brooke; however, after he'd won Brooke back and married her, Bill remained preoccupied with "Sky."

"Sky" got bigger by several dozen stories and turned into a tower with the Spencer name as her crown. Bill envisioned "Sky" boosting employment and commerce in Los Angeles. He wanted to live in a penthouse on top of it. In Monte Carlo, Bill said he was surrounded by his two favorite things -- money and skyscrapers. Brooke asked about her, and he added that he'd meant his three favorite things.

Bill practically referred to "Sky" as his mistress and insisted that people refer to the model as "she," not "it." Bill often polished it, sometimes talked to it, and lovingly stroked it. Brooke giggled about it, but she had no idea the moral corruptness, criminal recklessness, or family betrayal Bill would make people suffer for the birth of "Sky."

The "Sky" storyline tested Bill's patience, ego, and need for control. It also tested his relationships with his employees, his family, and his wife. The "Sky" storyline spun off into subplots that involved principled splits between the Spectras and Forresters, too. People had to take sides and decide just how far they were willing to go for their own morals and aspirations.

"Sky" can take credit for the formation of romances. Coco and R.J. met after Bill's poison-pen review and his deal with Sally's loan officer sent the Spectras easing on down the road to corporate espionage. "Sky" reignited the spark between the newly broken-up Sally and Thomas, who reconnected to form a rags-to-riches romantic partnership after Thomas saved Spectra from demolition with his financial investment.

The "Sky" plot led to the end of Tally when Thomas fell for Caroline's dying routine and moved to New York to make a family with her.

As for Bill's employees, Jarrett asserted his principled spine and refused to write a fake review about Spectra. Bill dislocated said spine and published his own scathing review under Jarrett's byline. Ride-or-die Justin ordered the fire at Bill's behest, and after swearing loyalty to Liam over Bill, Justin hired a hacker to steal the blackmail files Liam held over Bill's head.

Bill had been adamant that the skyscraper was for the family legacy, but as the plot unfurled, it became apparent that his determination to have it might have destroyed the family. Brooke left Bill when she found out what he'd done in the name of "Sky." Bill's obsession with getting his way and what Brooke perceived as Bill's ambivalence over how his criminal and violent actions affected her caused her to walk out on Bill and not even look back.

Wyatt felt caught between his father and brother. While Wyatt loved his brother, he didn't agree with the way Liam had assumed control of Spencer, and Wyatt didn't appreciate Liam treating Wyatt like a disposable employee. After Bill ousted Liam from the CEO seat, Bill set himself, Wyatt, and Liam up as tri-CEOs. Bill secretly let Wyatt know he'd be the tiebreaker in Bill's favor when Bill made decisions like evicting the Spectras and demolishing the building because Liam had illegally gifted it to Sally.

The "Sky" storyline had the largest effect on Liam, who, in a rare moment, resorted to chicanery to right the wrongs Liam believed that Bill had visited upon Sally Spectra. Bill and Liam had always been perfect foils for each other, but in the fall of this year, their differences went from laughing matters to decking matters. Liam blackmailed Bill out of his CEO chair and made it his mission to right any wrongs or slights Bill had done to Sally and the Spencer employees.

Liam turned into a Bill-correcting machine and lost sight of his family and his wife. He almost lost his life during a sit-in to stop Bill from demolishing Spectra, but it was only after Liam had to confess to kissing Sally the he realized that there was such a thing as helping someone too much.

Liam and Steffy put their marriage back together and found out that they were having a baby, but an indiscretion between the alienated Bill and Steffy has left everyone waiting to find out if the baby aboard the Steam train belongs to Liam or Bill.

Worst plot of the year: Thomas partners with Sally Spectra

There's a reason people say that you shouldn't mix business with pleasure. Anyone partnering with or relying on Thomas Forrester had better have a backup plan. Sally Spectra put her faith and her business in Thomas' hands after her design theft almost ended Spectra fashions, but when she needed Thomas the most, he abandoned her and the partnership.

Thomas and Sally's partnership gets the worst plot of the year because Thomas set out to prove himself as a designer and businessman but wound up proving he was as fickle, immature, unprepared, and gullible as his father always warned him he was.

Steffy tried to tell her brother that Sally was bad news from the start, but the contrary Thomas liked courting Sally simply because it irritated his sister. At the same time, Shirley tried to tell Sally that she was just Thomas' side chick while he waited to reunite with his baby mama, but Sally insisted that Thomas was their faithful hero.

When Sally proved Steffy right by stealing Forrester's entire collection right down to the bracelets, Steffy expected her brother to stand with the family in prosecuting Sally. Thomas was disgruntled about his station in the company, and he felt sorry for Sally. He believed Bill Spencer's actions had forced Sally to commit the crime. Thomas spoke on Sally's behalf with the judge, and he swooped in at the last second with money to save Spectra from Bill.

Sally turned into an insecure dollop of pudding when Caroline came to town with Douglas, but Thomas kept reassuring Sally that he could be a father to Douglas and be Sally's man at the same time. During the plot, I was frustrated with Sally because I didn't understand why she couldn't trust what Thomas was saying to her. After all, he'd left his family's company to be with her, and he was putting his reputation in the fashion industry on the line to partner with her. Thomas made me have to retract my words because, as it turned out, his promise to Sally was worth about as much as the real results of the fashion challenge.

Caroline whined to Bill about messing up her chance with Thomas because she hadn't been ready to commit when he'd been with her in New York. Figuring that getting rid of Thomas would make Spectra vulnerable again, Bill told Thomas that Caroline was dying. It was the dumbest thing Bill could ever conjure up. A fake blood clot hadn't made Liam stay with Steffy, and surely a fake illness wouldn't make Thomas abandon his new company and new love to move all the way across the country without looking at even one lab test result.

At this point, let me remind you that Thomas ain't too bright. He's the same guy who thought Caroline was slur-consenting to sex with him and the same one who was all, "Umm...okay..." when Caroline told him that Douglas wasn't his. He didn't ask for a test then, and he didn't ask Caroline for any tests this this time, either.

Caroline acted like she was so guilt-ridden about lying to Thomas, and she put all the blame on Bill and his damned skyscraper once she deduced that he'd had ulterior motives for helping her. Caroline wasn't so guilty that she ever told Thomas the truth, though.

Sally attempted to remain strong when she and Thomas supposedly lost the fashion challenge. She remained understanding when he just left her on the beach in Monte Carlo to fly to New York indefinitely with only the clothes on his back. He didn't even bother to help her figure out how she and all their designs were getting home.

But it was all okay because Thomas would return as soon as he could, right? In the meantime, Sally had to rely on herself to get the new orders filled. She had to rely on herself to finish the lines for legitimate Spectra's first legitimate showing. And you know what? She did it. She did every stinking bit of it without Thomas. Too bad for her, the whole thing went up in flames.

As Sally sat in the hospital, being treated for smoke inhalation. Thomas rushed to her bedside, and she hoped that he was there to stay. After all, Caroline didn't look that sick, and doesn't a burned-down business and hospitalized partner rank with Thomas at all?

Nope.

Thomas decided to stay in New York with Caroline, who'd miraculously recovered from her deadly, unnamed disease. He didn't even lift one pinky to help Sally recover from the fire. And that, folks, illustrates why the Forrester family never let Thomas be the permanent CEO of Forrester Creations. After the way he abandoned Spectra Fashions, he'd better not ever question why Steffy gets to run the family business but he doesn't.

Best affair of the year: time to pay the pizza man

Brooke's bedroom used to be the seduction lair, but in 2017, Katie's bedroom became the secret hot spot. Katie likes her closed-door affairs with extra cheesy roleplay, and Wyatt loves serving it up piping hot. Katie and Wyatt win best affair of the year because their relationship is fresh and fun, and it ain't hurting no one.

This week, Katie confided in Brooke about it and was surprised when Brooke was happy for her. Katie was all, "the sex is amazing!" She must have said it about ten times. Apparently, there is something to knocking boots with the young folks because Steffy blew Bill's mind, too. Can I still say "knocking boots," or is it to nineties of me?

To Brooke, the secrecy of the affair sounded fun, but she questioned whether Katie was sure there wasn't more going on than just sex. Katie insisted that it was just this whimsical thing, and she and Wyatt might decide to take up with other people at any time.

Remember, this is Katie talking -- the woman who bought Wyatt a spare shirt in preparation for spontaneously ripping open his shirt during sex. She's either got OCD or she' super meticulous -- or she's crazy. Wyatt found her in her bedroom this week, performing "neighborhood watch" with her telescope, so you know which thing I think she is. You also know Katie isn't going to pack Wyatt a lunch and send him on his merry way if he happens to want to take up with another woman -- like the returning Hope, I'm speculating.

Things are a tad more serious than Katie led Brooke to believe or is leading herself to believe. Katie gave Wyatt a key to her house, and his shirts are in her laundry basket. If he gets a hole in the toothbrush rack, I'm calling it true love.

Katie asked Wyatt if they should be taking in movies or basketball games. She didn't know what the rules were for the closed-door relationship. Wyatt said the first rule was that there weren't any rules. They just did what they wanted to do.

What Wyatt wanted to do was give Katie a pair of earrings to wear on Christmas. Katie looked at them like they were bugs in the box. He asked what was wrong, and she said men bearing jewelry were usually guilty about something. Wyatt claimed not to be guilty of anything, but he wanted something he'd given her to be touching her at times when he couldn't.

The worst extramarital affair of the year: Kissgate

Ever since Ridge spied Quinn naked in the outdoor shower last Christmas, it seemed inevitable that the two would devastate Brooke and Eric by having an affair. Ridge and Quinn tried to leave their lustful thoughts in San Francisco; however, each loaded gaze, inadvertent touch, spicy innuendo, and blazing kiss they shared inched the two closer to an explosive payoff when they'd finally hit the sheets.

Because they're gonna hit the sheets, right? Isn't that the point of all the sexual tension? Even Liam anticipated it because Ridge kept bragging about how irresistible he is to the ladies. Bill didn't know who it would be with, but he assured the sandwich-fixing Brooke that Ridge would eat other women's sandwiches, too, because -- well, because he's Ridge.

Every day seemed like it would be the day that Quinn and Ridge would succumb to passion. But after awhile, there is only so much necklace touching in the mirror and husky murmurs this viewer will put up with before I'm like -- either nail it or put down the hammer, because I'm over watching you swinging around it instead of banging it.

Kissgate goes down as the worst affair of the year because it took forever to go from less than zero to nowhere, and the fallout from it is neverending. Quinn and Ridge probably wish they had gone all the way because at least they'd have fond flashbacks to help them through all their tribulations.

First of all, I still don't understand when kisses became so scandalous on soaps. It's not like Ridge and Quinn did the horizontal cha-cha-cha in the guesthouse. Okay -- technically, they did roll around on the bed, but it wasn't like the sheets were everywhere, the shower was wet, or Quinn forgot her art-inspiring bracelet! Bill and Steffy fell all over each other like Jell-o, so why can't Quinn or Ridge get some credit for resisting?

Quinn and Ridge never did the deed; however, it might be due to the lack of opportunity, not desire. It's not easy to rack up romantic felonies while their detractors staked them out harder than Lieutenant Baker undercover as a slaw dog at a hot dog cart convention.

In fact, Brooke was crooking her head to spy on them through the office doorway just the other week. Ridge claimed they'd been discussing Quinn's necklace. Brooke was all like, "A necklace, huh? Better not be a pearl one."

Charlie was the first to suspect Quinn and Ridge. After rescuing them from the bathroom, Charlie swept the place like a CSI investigator and collected a lipstick-blotted napkin as evidence. Charlie conducted forensic lipstick comparisons, but Pam insisted he had nothing.

While watering the bushes by the porch one night -- because what else was Ivy doing, creeping around outside at night -- Ivy witnessed a kiss between Ridge and Quinn and almost smacked Quinn's teeth out of her mouth for it. Ivy chose not to tell Eric about the affair, but she left that sting in Quinn's jaw as a reminder that she'd be watching her.

Ivy wasn't the only one watching. Katie had been rage-stalking Quinn ever since she moved to the neighborhood, and Ridge and Quinn eventually registered on Peeping Katie's radar. Ridge was dumb enough to tell Katie why Brooke had aborted their wedding plans. Being such an honest friend to Eric, Katie rushed right over to tell him that his son and wife had betrayed him.

No, I'm just playing. Katie forgot to take her "Like I Really Give a Damn" medication that day, and she instead blackmailed Ridge and Quinn for a job at Forrester. Katie assured Ridge and Quinn that if Katie was happy, she'd let Eric be happy in blissful ignorance. But, before Wyatt, Katie never used to be happy. Anybody she's ever held at gunpoint knows this.

Sheila arrived on the scene and did what no one else had the balls to do -- tell Eric about Quinn and Ridge's "affair." Eric walked out on Quinn and stayed gone for nearly a month. He cut Ridge down with harsh words and disowned him, too. It took time for Eric to heal, forgive Quinn, and begin the work of forgiving Ridge.

I still say Eric is a louse for holding a grudge about Quinn and Ridge kissing when Eric had a similar emotional affair going on with Sheila at the hotel. Sheila was all like, "Eric, I got your razor. Eric, I got your meds. Eric, here's your dry cleaning. Eric, I just took a bullet from your granddaughter."

What makes this plot the worst for me is that Thorne shows up late to the game, declaring that Ridge needs to be punished for kissgate by losing his job and losing Brooke. Thorne can take that suitcase full of haterade right on back to Paris, because he is one plot climax too late with that talk. Ridge already got punished for kissgate, and I don't feel like seeing it happen again.

Eric and Ridge fell out, worked on their relationship, and healed some. Ridge suffered through watching Brooke marry Bill because of what he'd done, and Ridge finally got her to trust in him again. Things are going so well that, at the Christmas party, no one even noticed when Quinn kissed Brooke and Ridge on their cheeks to greet them.

Let kissgate die, Thorne. And while you're at it, please stop complaining about Ridge being a Marone. We've hashed that out, too, several times.

Best character return of the year: Deacon just trying to get Quinn's attention

Eric put Quinn up to firing Katie when it became apparent that Katie wasn't a jewelry designer. I don't know what about Katie never designing jewelry ever finally gave him the clue about that. Katie decided to see how Quinn liked firings -- gun firings. Katie pulled Charlie's gun on Quinn, and when Ridge wrested it away and discovered that it wasn't loaded, Katie wondered why they couldn't take a joke.

Deacon wondered the same thing when Ridge punched and disarmed Deacon after he'd held Quinn at gunpoint. Deacon gets best return character of the year because he was the last person on the list of suspects who'd use Quinn as target practice.

Katie's gun show at her Forrester firing catapulted her to the top of the list, and she enhanced her eligibility by spying on Quinn through a telescope with a bull's-eye similar to the one a gloved gunman was using to aim at the flowerpots and walls around Quinn on her balcony. It broke Eric's heart to have Katie arrested, but I was cheering, "Book 'em, Danno! That chick is cray cray for reals!"

But then someone even crazier showed up in Katie's living room -- Sheila Carter. We really thought the mystery was solved at that point because if anyone loves shooting up in those hills, it's Sheila. She shot two people in that mansion that I know of, but we should have had a clue that she wasn't the real shooter because Sheila prefers handguns, not rifles.

Quinn thought she was safe again with Sheila in jail, but the moment Quinn stepped out on her balcony, she heard, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Quinn crawled on her knees into the house, and to her relief, Deacon rushed into the house. Right. She was relieved to see him, which should have been her first clue that something was very wrong.

Quinn told Deacon to get down and call the police because there was a shooter on the loose. He called the police for Quinn because her hands were jittery. She wondered what was taking the police so long, why Deacon wasn't ducking like she told him to, and why in the world he was rehashing the past when they were in mortal danger.

Deacon ticked off a list of the people who'd want her dead, and he was the last person he could think of who'd have a motive. Deacon whipped a gun out on Quinn, who pleaded with him not to kill her because they'd had something good once. He told her that she knew what they said about all good things.

Is it that they hit the floor? Because that's what the awesome plot climax did when Ridge burst into the house, socked Deacon in the face, and took the gun. Ridge knocked Deacon out cold. Deacon woke up in the next episode like, "Where am I? What happened? Did Merry and Pippin meet the white wizard yet?"

Deacon claimed that he'd only been trying to get Quinn's attention. He was broke and needed money, but she hadn't returned his texts. He and Quinn argued about her pushing him off a cliff, and he even told the police about it as they hauled him away. Apparently, nobody believed Deacon because he was drunk, and Quinn called him insane.

Let this be a lesson to all of you out there with texting exes. Don't just ignore the text. If nothing else, text back "STOP" like you do with the telemarketers.

Worst character return of the year: the James Warwick Sheila bot

While Deacon takes the prize for best return, the worst return goes to James Warwick. I'd had high hopes when we learned that James would return to give Eric an opinion about Sheila. After all, James was the doctor who cured Brooke of guilt about sleeping with Thomas while high on berries when he told her simply that she knew good and well she didn't do it, so she needed to snap out of it and stop giving away all her money to charity to make up for it.

Unfortunately, the James that showed up to counsel Eric had become addicted to painkillers and was writing his own on prescriptions. Sheila had heard it from Mary, their daughter, and Sheila threatened to expose James for it if he didn't advise Eric that she was too badly injured from the head trauma she'd suffered in a brawl with Quinn to be transported off the grounds. James further deterred Eric from taking Sheila to the hospital because they'd have to explain how the injury had occurred.

James wins worst character return because he had no real role except as a robot character who performed at Sheila's command, despite the loyalties he had to Eric and to Brooke, who'd stopped by to try to drag Sheila out of the house herself until James backed up Sheila's story.

Just as conveniently as he'd shown up, James conveniently disappeared from the storyline and the show without having to answer to Eric or Brooke for why he'd lied for Sheila.

Boo....hiss....What a horrible way to ruin and abuse a legacy character, writers!

Worst siblings of the year: split the baby in two

The newly wedded Zende and Nicole caught baby fever and anxiously started working on making themselves a baby. Nicole found out that she couldn't have children anymore, but she refused to accept such a diagnosis from the doctor. She asserted that she'd told Zende that she'd make him a father, and that was how it was going to be. Um... or not.

Nicole gets the worst sibling of the year award because once she found out she couldn't have children anymore, she tried to renege on Lizzy's adoption -- even though Zende had always emphasized that he wanted his own child, not Rick's child. In fact, Zende had resented the whole surrogacy because he hadn't wanted Nicole to have his uncle's child. Imagine being Zende and learning that now he can't have his own children with his wife because they all went along with a procedure he told Nicole not to do in the first place!

Nicole began to resent Maya when Maya and Rick went to Paris for business and tried to leave Lizzy in anyone's care but Nicole's, supposedly so the newlywed wouldn't feel like Maya and Rick were burdening her. Lizzy said "mama" while Nicole was holding her, and Julius and Vivienne hotly debated whether Maya had a right to keep Nicole's only child.

Carter presented Rick with new adoption papers because the others had been peppered with typos. Rick and Maya signed them, but when Rick took them to Nicole, she refused to comply. For the first time ever, Rick lost his patience with Nicole, and even though Zende jumped to Nicole's defense, even he had to ultimately side with Maya and Rick.

There are just some things you can't get back once you give them away. Those things would be love, time, and babies. Nicole gave away all three to Maya, and so did Rick. Nicole needs to start understanding that she didn't give Rick a baby. What actually happened was that Rick and Nicole let Maya adopt their baby. Had Nicole stood firm about refusing to sign the papers, I'd be very interested to see how a judge would rule on a case like it.

Zende extended faith enough for Nicole and him both in the idea that they'd eventually have their own baby, but Lizzy was the gift Nicole had given Maya. Nicole signed the papers, but the moment she started staring at Lizzy too long again, Maya alerted Rick that it was time to ship some people off to Forrester International.

Maya shares the award with Nicole for worst sister of the year because Maya had no compunction about uprooting Zende and Nicole from their families to send them to work in a foreign country just to make sure that Nicole didn't get any more ideas about going from Aunt Nicole to Mommy Nicole again.

Like I said before, all is well that is manipulated well. Zende and Nicole seem happy with their new careers, so vive la Paris. In case you thought Nicole forgot about making Zende a father, during her holiday visit, she and Maya mentioned that the couple was still trying.

Best sibling of the year: Zende defends Maya's honor

In this segment, brothers-in-law rule the world. Not only does Zende take his job of defending his wife seriously, but he dutifully stepped in for Maya when Rick wasn't available.

The first time it happened, Zende and Nicole had just had a deep conversation in which he'd urged Nicole to remember why she'd given birth to Lizzy and had asked Nicole to consider that taking her from Rick and Maya would destroy the family. When Zende arrived in the CEO's office, Julius was there, harassing Maya for trying to selfishly keep Lizzy, Nicole's only child.

Zende ordered Julius to back off and respect that Nicole and Maya had made an agreement no matter who liked it or didn't. Julius retorted that if Maya had been meant to be a mother, she would have come equipped with the parts to be so. Zende defended Maya's ability to mother Lizzie. He reminded Julius that Julius was supposed to be a man of his word, and Zende asked if Julius wanted Nicole to be a woman of her word.

Julius and Zende ended the argument in a stalemate with Zende asserting his authority as Nicole's husband and Julius asserting his as Maya and Nicole's father. Maya hugged Zende, grateful that he'd been there to support her.

The next time Zende defended Maya was in Monte Carlo. Rick and Nicole had bowed out on clubbing that night. Lizzy was sick, and Nicole was drained from modeling all day in the summer sun. Maya went out with Zende, and as they partied in a club, a couple of jerks approached them and hassled Maya for being transgender.

Fortunately, the incident didn't escalate past a war of words, but it shook Maya up all the same. Maya didn't want Zende to tell Rick or Nicole about it, and Zende agreed to keep it between the two of them. On the jet home, Maya and Zende had a meaningful conversation about the incident and Maya's gratefulness for her support system.

It was an insightful conversation and reminder of who Maya is and the challenges she still faces. But leave it to roleplaying Katie and her overactive imagination to spy on the in-laws and tell Wyatt she suspected them of cheating. Wyatt laughed at the idea, and Katie guessed she just had trust issues. She thanked Wyatt for talking her imagination down about it.

Yes, Wyatt. Thank you. You have made Katie amazingly tolerable -- and even fun -- for this viewer. And Zende is a good man, too. I'd almost rather the writers pretend Zende is in town, in another room, or traveling than break up Zende and Nicole to bring her back to town without him. They do it with Sally senior. Why not with Zende?

Best show of the year: The Bold and Beautiful turns thirty in Australia

Of course there is no competition for best show of the year, but 2017 was a special year for the Bold and the Beautiful because it turned thirty. For our anniversary present, we got a retro show opening with a glistening "30" in the logo. We also got treated to several versions of the theme instrumental, and I hum along to it every single time. Music department, we appreciate you!

The show took the cast to Australia and threw a wedding for Liam and Steffy near the Sydney Opera House. Eric and Brooke sat beachside at sunset and reminisced about their long friendship. It gave each of us viewers a moment to reflect upon our own intimate experience with the show and how we've grown and changed right along with it.

Tuning in to the Bold and the Beautiful is an automatic act in my life. I don't think about it. I just do it. I have done it since day one, and the non-soap watchers in my life do not understand.

People uninvolved with soaps have no idea the amount of talent it takes to pull off a production that has a new episode every single weekday of the year except certain holidays. The ability to maintain a captive audience for decades with little to no reruns is an epic and rare achievement, not to mention trying to maintain congruency and integrity in the history and characters throughout the years.

It's hard to adequately put into words how I feel about the show, but how do you describe love? I love The Bold and the Beautiful. If you are reading this holiday column, you know exactly what that feels like. B&B is love, and B&B is life. Whatever keeps you tuning in from year to year, it's got to be bold and beautiful, baby!

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