Line #100 Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bold_and_the_beautiful_title_card.png]]
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6	''The Bold and the Beautiful'' is a DramaticHalfHour American SoapOpera that airs on Creator/{{CBS}}. The show premiered on March 23, 1987, making it the youngest American soap opera on television; it is also the last remaining half-hour soap opera on network daytime television, in no small part, because its CBS timeslot was abbreviated to allow stations to carry their midday newscasts at noon local time.
7
8	Set in Los Angeles, California, ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' centers around the fashion industry, and the struggles of surviving in such a competitive environment. At the center of the show are two families; the influential and elitist Forrester family – headed by Eric and Stephanie Forrester, founders of the fashion company Forrester Creations, and the once upper-middle class Logan family – primarily headed by oldest daughter Brooke Logan. Both families become integrated together through marriage, affairs, and bitter feuds. Adding to the conflict includes the Marone family, headed by Jackie, the Spectra family, headed by Sally, and the Finnegan family, currently headed by John.
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10	The show rounded a milestone of 8,000 episodes in 2019.
11	----
12	!!Provides examples of:
13	* AbortionFalloutDrama: Morgan [=DeWitt=], an ex-girlfriend of Ridge's came to town still bitter about the abortion she'd had years ago. Flashbacks showed that she had ''wanted'' the baby, but had been browbeaten into terminating the pregnancy by Ridge's [[MyBelovedSmother controlling mother]] Stephanie, who didn't feel that Morgan was good enough for Ridge, nor that the two were ready to take on the responsibility of parenthood. Her storyline consisted of her manipulating and seducing Ridge into committing adultery with her in order to conceive again, spending the next nine months pulling out all the stops to keep Ridge's wife Taylor from finding out, having a TragicStillbirth when she did, kidnapping their daughter Steffy, kidnapping Taylor herself when she found out, trying to kill Taylor, trying to kill Stephanie after Ridge managed to rescue the other two, and finally being carted ofc to jail. ''Whew''.
14	* AccidentalAdultery: Morgan sends Ridge a fake email supposedly from Taylor, granting him permission to sleep with Morgan and father her baby. Ridge does so and is promptly horrified to learn that the email was false and that he has in fact cheated on his wife.
15	* AdvertisedExtra: Wayne Brady was added to the opening fashion reel ''right after'' his character appeared for the final time.
16	* AffectionateNickname: Ridge calls Taylor "Doc" (she's a psychiatrist), and Brooke "Logan" (her surname).
17	* TheAlcoholic: First Macy, then Taylor, now Brooke as well. Taylor's alcoholism tends to resurface when she's under deep stress. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, her relapse caused her to temporarily lose custody of her son, Jack.]]
18	* ArchEnemy: Without a doubt, Stephanie and Brooke, although they sometimes [[FriendlyEnemy got along]]. In fact, Brooke was the last person Stephanie saw when she died of cancer in 2012, with the two finally putting their adversarial relationship beside them.
19	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: In a crossover with ArtisticLicenseLaw, we have Dr. Finnegan's relationship with Steffy. While the show goes out of its way to not truly put them together until Steffy is officially no longer his patient, the fact remains that this relationship breaks every kind of doctor-patient ethics law that exists, for the exact reasons that Liam brings up. This kind of relationship compromises a doctor's objective thinking and would get his medical license suspended as soon as it becomes public, ''former'' patient or not.
20	* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Steffy Forrester has recently meddled in on relationships and is unabashed about it. When the Logans – particularly Brooke – confront her about her misdeeds, she throws all of their previous crimes in their faces.
21	* AxCrazy: Morgan fits into this, as does Pam (though she got better), and later Quinn (who could easily be called Machete Crazy, if such a trope existed) and Aly.
22	* TheBabyTrap: Stephanie used this against Eric to get her to marry him over Beth Logan. It's quite despicable in the first place, even more so when a retcon reveals that Massimo Marone is Ridge's father and that Stephanie had to have known there was a possibility of this. Eric often throws this in Stephanie's face whenever he's caught in an affair. [[spoiler: It doesn't quite explain though why Eric goes crawling back to Stephanie after all his affairs end.]]
23	** Also, when Sly poked a hole in the condom he planned to use while having sex with Jessica, hoping to get her pregnant so that he could "do the right thing" and marry her – and get his hands on the Forrester millions. It backfired, as he was too drunk to... complete the deed.
24	* BackFromTheDead: Being a SoapOpera, this happens frequently. Most prominently with Taylor (twice!) and Macy. Some characters, however, stay dead; for example, Stephanie Forrester (due to her portrayer, Susan Flannery's, decision to retire from acting) and Darla Forrester (whose actress, Schae Harrison, has appeared on the show since Darla was killed off in 2007 but only as either a mental illness-induced hallucination or a ghost in a dream sequence).
25	* BetaCouple: Compared to the constant drama of the main characters, Rick/Maya is surprisingly stable and sane. Wyatt/Katie is a more recent example, as all their problems are caused by outside forces (i.e., Bill).
26	* BettyAndVeronica: Taylor and Brooke for Ridge, respectively. In recent years, the focus was on Hope and Steffy for Liam. However, a larger focus had been placed on Wyatt and Liam for Hope since Wyatt's introduction, with Caroline and Maya for Rick getting some steady increase in screen time and plot relevance as well. Liam's tendency to waffle on his feelings for women would later result in a Betty-Betty situation with Hope and Ivy, which Quinn put a stop to by pushing Ivy off a bridge into the River Seine to keep Liam from taking Hope away from Wyatt (Quinn's son). Ivy then became the Betty to Steffy's Veronica after Liam's, Steffy's, and Ridge's takeover of Forrester Creations, and the end of Liam and Ivy's ''very'' short-lived marriage due to a misunderstanding regarding Ivy (who's Australian but a dual U.S.-Australian citizen)'s citizenship status.
27	* BigDamnReunion: Finn and Steffy have one of these in Monte Carlo after being separated for 3 months.
28	* BigScrewedUpFamily: Seriously. The Forresters and Logan are tied forever because of the numerous affairs Brooke has had with ''all the men'' in the Forrester family, not to mention the children produced from said affairs.
29	* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The 2020 storyline featuring Liam taking Kelly away from Steffy has Liam and Steffy fight, with both of them bringing up accurate points. On the one hand, Steffy is correct that Liam has no right to barge in and invade her privacy the way he did whether he genuinely was worried for her or not, and to take her daughter out of nowhere the way he does is borderline cruel. On the other, Liam is right that Steffy very clearly needs help for her incoming drug problem before it becomes a full-fledged addiction, and his concerns about what could've happened to Kelly while Steffy was passed out are all valid.
30	* BreakThemByTalking: In the episodes shown at the end of July in 2022, Finn finally manages to break free of Sheila's grasp literally by doing this and making it clear she's not considered his mom and that she will ''never'' be forgiven by him or accepted as his family.
31	* BreakTheCutie[=/=]BreakTheHaughty: Steffy Forrester has experienced these two tropes a few times.
32	** After Steffy finds out she is pregnant with Liam's child in 2013, leading to them getting married, Steffy miscarries her baby after crashing her motorbike. Upon discovering that the accident has left her infertile, she decides to divorce Liam and move to Paris.
33	** After returning to L.A. to take over Forrester Creations with Liam and Ridge in 2015, Steffy is repeatedly [[SlutShaming Slut Shamed]] by cousin Aly Forrester[[note]]herself broken and resentful of Steffy through a case of SanitySlippage, due partly because Steffy's mother Taylor had killed Aly's mother Darla in a DUI-induced auto-pedestrian accident when Aly was a child, and being treated like a servant by Rick and Maya when the former was Forrester Creations' president[[/note]] for "flaunting" her body and attempting to snare Liam from their shared cousin (and Aly's best friend) Ivy. ''Extremely'' mentally unstable, Aly attempts to "re-enact" Darla's death[[note]]upon urging from a vision of Darla, who appears to Aly as a [[ItMakesSenseInContext floating head]][[/note]] by trying to run Steffy over on the same stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway where Darla died as her cousin tries to repair the tires on her car (which Aly punctured) when it breaks down. Steffy – unsuccessful in trying to talk her cousin down – is nearly killed by Aly with a tire iron, which Steffy kills Aly with in self-defense when she tries to bludgeon Steffy with a rock. Adding to the trauma, a resentful Ivy (a witness to Aly's death, who ends up making veiled accusations that Steffy murdered Aly[[note]]Steffy, who initially blocked out the self-defense killing in shock, told a police officer on-scene that Aly died after tripping and falling on a rock[[/note]], not knowing the real story) decides to use a cell phone video she taped of Aly's killing (which makes ''Steffy'' appear as the aggressor) to blackmail Thomas into making her a lead model of the "California Freedom" fashion line (under the guise of trying to honor Aly's legacy by trying to keep the line from becoming "overt" – sexualized – than if Steffy was in it), in exchange for her silence. Insisting that Steffy lied about the self-defense claim, Ivy even chastises Wyatt (whom she catches trying to delete the video upon Steffy's urging) for "siding" with Steffy's account, forcing him to back down when she expresses her own loneliness. The fact Ivy even used blackmail to keep the tape under wraps from the police was even [[{{Lampshading}} Lampshaded]] by Ivy as being [[OutOfCharacterMoment out-of-character]] for her. Then after the video is deleted, during a confrontation with Ivy over her kissing Thomas while still dating Wyatt (resulting in Wyatt breaking up with Ivy), Steffy accidentally electrocutes Ivy on a broken electrical panel, resulting in Steffy being slapped with a restraining order; she then accidentally injures Ivy ''again'' on the staircase during an argument over her feelings for Liam as Ivy prepares to return to Australia. So to summarize, she nearly gets killed by one cousin, kills said cousin in self-defense, and is blackmailed by another cousin, whom she nearly kills by accident twice.
34	** Probably the most notable example is losing Finn, and then being led to think he died, something she never had happen with her previous lovers. Steffy began to show signs of being broken by this after her parents received a phone call that she had checked into a mental health facility in Monte Carlo. Justified due to thinking Finn was killed, and even after learning he was alive and reuniting with him, [[BrokenBird she's still irrevocably damaged as a person]] from the entire incident.
35	* BreakUpBonfire: Bridget does this after finding out that her husband Deacon has been sleeping with her mother and gotten her pregnant. She takes particular glee in throwing his ashtrays into the mix--"Kissing you was like licking one of these! I HATED it!"
36	* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: After being gone from the show for almost more than a month, Finn comes back into the show around the end of May in 2022, revealed to somehow have been alive the entire time thanks to Li]].
37	* ButtMonkey: Thorne. Not only has Ridge overshadowed him for most of his life, but he's had to deal with Stephanie's obvious favoritism towards Ridge. The fact that he exposed Eric's plot to elope with Brooke wasn't enough to turn Stephanie away. He's also repeatedly accused (primarily by Ridge) of being an idiot and a loser with no original ideas. He's often had to gain strength from the women in his lives – Macy, Darla, and Taylor – in order to stand up to Ridge or fight for his place at Forrester Creations. [[spoiler: He even initiates a physical fight with Ridge one time Ridge unnecessarily insults Darla.]]
38	* CainAndAbel: Ridge and Rick, just who is the Cain and who is Abel varies depending on the applicable storyline. There are moments of civility between the two, but Rick's feelings of being TheUnfavorite in Eric's eyes when compared to Ridge contributed to their rivalry.
39	* CallingTheOldManOut: At one point Brooke had gotten pregnant by Eric (eventually giving birth to son Rick), and Eric wanted to get a speedy divorce from Stephanie without the latter finding out so he could marry Brooke. Ridge decided to go along with the plan to protect Brooke and her baby, but Thorne found the whole thing disgusting and ratted them out to Stephanie. Eric treated Thorne like he'd committed treason, and it was then that Thorne really let Eric have it about what he was doing. [[spoiler: Not that it made any difference, because Eric followed through with his plan regardless]].
40	** In recent years, this has pretty much qualified for all of Eric's children with Stephanie when he's caught in an affair with another woman.
41	* TheCameo: The most recent example would also be the weirdest—a [[http://www.tvinsider.com/article/101035/game-show-great-wink-martindale-guest-stars-on-the-bold-and-the-beautiful/ wedding-related storyline in October 2016]] had '''[[Series/TicTacDough Wink]] [[Series/{{Debt}} Martindale]]''' as Reverend Brown.
42	* CelebCrush: Brooke fell in love with Ridge when she saw him in a magazine, and she helped her mother cater a high-end LA party because she knew Ridge would be there and she wanted to meet him.
43	* CharacterOutlivesActor: The late Darlene Conley's Sally Spectra.
44	** Played straight when Michael Fox, who played Sally's friend and employee Saul Feinberg, died in 1996.
45	* CitizenshipMarriage: While the main goal was to help her stay in the country, Thomas and Gabriella might be the only example of this trope where the couple in question was genuinely in love with each other (rather than one half of the couple being in love with someone else or neither being attracted to the other) and had to convince the INS that their FourthDateMarriage was for real.
46	* ConvenientMiscarriage: After manipulating things to get pregnant with Ridge's baby (she was desperate to replace the child Stephanie forced her to abort years ago), Morgan has a TragicStillbirth following an argument with Ridge's wife Taylor and falling over a balcony, thus eliminating the couple having to deal with a permanent reminder of his infidelity.
47	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Steffy and Hope's response when they find out their mothers have gotten into, of all things, a FoodFight, ruining Hope's wedding cake? Make them both walk out into the reception and tell everyone what they'd done. Without giving them a chance to clean up first.
48	* CrossOver: Most prominently with ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless''. Characters from Genoa City like Sheila and Ashley Abbott show up in L.A. to be new love interests.
49	** In the June 17, 2009 episode, Pam and Donna wind up in the audience of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight''; Donna winds up being picked to play on the show and wins big on the next day's episode.
50	* DeadGuyJunior:
51	** Several babies on this shown have been named after deceased relatives and/or friends (and even more have been named after living ones). Mary Warwick was named after her dead grandmother, the new Caroline Spencer was named after her aunt who died of leukemia, and Alexandria Forrester, who was conceived in an adulterous affair between her father and his then wife's best friend, was named after the betrayed wife...
52	** Subverted with Steffy Forrester, who was named after her grandmother Stephanie, who had just suffered a potentially fatal stroke at the time of Steffy's birth. However, the elder Stephanie miraculously survived.
53	** And the fashion house Spectra has been revived, with younger namesake versions of the previous employees--Sally, Saul, Darlita (for Darla).
54	* DomesticAbuse: The 2019-2020 Thomas storyline is not subtle about depicting the many forms of abuse, showcasing everything about how abusers manipulate their victims into staying with them through false promises of love and moments of affection, convincing their victims to stay with them no matter just how many horrific things they're willing to do. The show is very careful to make it clear that Hope is not to blame for feeling the ways she does at all.
55	* DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale: Averted. In the early '90s, the show launched a groundbreaking storyline when Jake, Felicia's boyfriend, came to grips with the fact that he'd been sexually abused by his uncle as a child.
56	* EasilyForgiven:
57	** A lot of men and women in the show are forgiven in a short period of time for affairs, most particularly Brooke. Bridget swore she would never forgive Brooke for sleeping with her then-husband Deacon, but they were back on speaking terms within a short period of time. Also, Stephanie is quick to forgive Eric for his affairs when they end and he begs her back.
58	** Taylor really nails this trope with Thorne though [[spoiler: after she accidentally killed his wife Darla]]. Thorne forgave her enough to the point that he entered into a relationship with Taylor and almost married her, but his daughter Aly's outrage over the relationship stopped him from going through with it.
59	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Justin is willing to let Bill and Liam rot in prison for a crime he knows they didn't commit, even kidnapping and imprisoning Thomas to do it, but when Ridge confronts him as a scared father looking for his son, his conscience gets the better of him. Unfortunately, it's just a moment too late, since Thomas already escaped on his own]].
60	* EveryoneHasStandards: As much as Thomas hates Liam, he's still not willing to [[spoiler:let him stay in prison for a crime he knows he didn't commit]].
61	* EveryoneIsASuspect:
62	** When Stephanie was shot, ''everyone'' literally was a suspect because they all had reason to be angry at her. [[spoiler: Storm did it.]]
63	** Similarly, when Bill was shot. Tends to happen when you screw over ''everyone'' you come into contact with. [[spoiler: Taylor did it.]]
64	* {{Expy}}: "Dollar" Bill Spencer, Jr. could easily be seen as this of Creator/DonaldTrump; the two both are extremely wealthy self-made businessmen who have high opinions of themselves (even acknowledging they think they're good-looking with shameless confidence), have little if any filter when it comes to their actions (an example in Bill's case being his decision to [[spoiler: out Maya as transgender in his magazine]]) and can be very obnoxious.
65	* FlipPersonality: In recent years, ''The Bold and the Beautiful'''s writers have had characters change personalities as the storyline dictates. In some cases where a FaceHeelTurn or HeelFaceRevolvingDoor is used, the character usually reverts back to their old personality later on:
66	** Maya Avant came to the canvas out of prison and ready to turn her life around. Then came Caroline Spencer, who conspired to keep them apart and eventually snagged Rick. In addition to becoming a rival to Caroline, she flips between a woman who wants to redeem herself and a ManipulativeBitch. She then is shifted towards more of a heroine role [[spoiler: when she is revealed to be transgender]].
67	** Quinn Fuller's personality change is explainable through a plot point in separate storylines in 2014 and 2015. When her son Wyatt (who is revealed to have tried to deal with his mother's erratic behavior for years) begins dating Hope, whom his half-brother had been in an on-again/off-again relationship with, Quinn tries by any means to keep Liam from interfering, leading her to threaten to murder him and actually try to chop him with a machete! When Quinn returns after allegedly admitting herself in a mental health institution, she threatens Brooke to stay away from Deacon (whom Quinn had started seeing at the time), but doesn't go farther than dreaming of stabbing her in the stomach. After that storyline, Quinn has been depicted as still mischievous but quirky, rather than mentally deranged.
68	** When Aly Forrester was [=SORASed=] in 2014, she started as Manga/TheWallflower type. However, she seemingly had a SplitPersonality as she went from being a nice girl to mentally troubled and back, twice (the latter was due to her hatred of Taylor for running over Darla when Aly was a kid). Upon her second flip, she grew into TheResenter towards Steffy, channeling her hatred of Taylor towards her daughter, and descended into a [[InsaneEqualsViolent violent behavior]] by attempting to murder Steffy with a tire iron and a rock, the former of which led to her death by Steffy. Again, this is explainable by way of her mental issues serving as a plot point.
69	** Ivy Forrester started out as the NiceGirl when introduced in 2014; however, tied into she flipped to a ManipulativeBitch [[TheResenter Resenter]] and persecutorial blackmailer as part of a BreakTheCutie incident caused by Steffy "stealing" then-boyfriend Liam from her (although Liam later states that he chose to leave Ivy – whom he broke up with at Aly's funeral! – for Steffy on his own terms) and then killing their cousin/her best friend Aly in self-defense (though Ivy, who held a cell phone video she took of the killing over Steffy's head and used Aly's death as a means to get ahead in the company, saw it as murder). Ironically, of those who noticed something wrong with her, Quinn's OutOfCharacterAlert toward her is the most telling, as she was surprised that Ivy started acting like a jerk (and not in a good way).
70	** In the running for the show's most egregious example of the trope, Thomas Forrester. As an adult (as played by Adam Gregory and Pierson Fodé), Thomas was a standard Bad Boy Lothario, but the version played by Matthew Atkinson saw the character devolve into a full-blown sociopath for a time, fueled by an obsessive infatuation with Hope that developed amid his grief over the off-screen sudden death of Caroline from a blood clot hemorrhage in the Spring of 2019, causing him to rack up a large amount of amoral actions rivaling those any other soap baddie has committed in such a relatively short timespan. Over the last eight months of 2019 alone, he found out and hid the true identity of Liam and Steffy's adopted daughter Phoebe, who was really Hope and Liam's thought-to-have-been-stillborn daughter Beth, and manipulated multiple people involved in Dr. Reese's cover-up of the faked miscarriage (including Flo and Zoe) in order to prevent Hope from getting back together with Liam; manipulated and basically mentally abused his young son, Douglas, to get closer to Hope and to keep him from revealing the Beth secret; used Brooke accidentally pushing him off a cliff (an incident he survived) after she catches him manhandling Hope, during a failed effort to convince Hope to forgive him for keeping Beth's identity a secret, to drive a marriage-ending wedge between Brooke and Ridge, whom he manipulated into believing he's changed; faked death into a vat of acidic chemicals during an incident with Hope, leading her to briefly believe that she accidentally killed him; tries to coerce Hope into having sex with him in exchange for receiving custody of Douglas; drugged Liam and planned to drug Hope; and... oh yeah... caused a '''''vehicular homicide''''' by running Emma off the Pacific Coast Highway to keep her from revealing the truth about Beth. Along with the mental health issues related to Caroline’s death, it is later revealed that his behavior and hallucinations were also caused by bleeding in his brain that necessitated surgery.
71	* FrameUp: In an effort to drive Thomas and Hope together, [[spoiler:Vinny ends up framing Liam for his own suicide by jumping in front of his car]].
72	* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Brooke tends to justify her flings as being part of her 'destiny', though Ridge seems to be the one she considers her soulmate. Also, ''all'' of the women Eric has affairs with (and ends up leaving Stephanie for) throw this excuse in Stephanie's face, citing her neurotic control smothers Eric and that she needs to let him go. [[spoiler: Yet, once these relationships end, Eric will go crawling back to Stephanie and beg her forgiveness. Lather, rinse, repeat.]]
73	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: ''Three'' of Brooke's pregnancies were under circumstances where an abortion would have been the most logical choice (conceived during an extramarital affair and her pregnancy would have destroyed the couple's chances at reconciliation. The third one was also complicated by her advanced age). But in all three cases, she chose to have the baby, and in all cases (even with her miscarrying the third time), the inevitable damage was done.
74	* GoodIsDumb: Enforced under Bradley's direction, given that it's pretty much the only thing that allows Sheila to stay on the show and move any plot involving her along.
75	* GenerationXerox: The Brooke, Ridge, and Taylor LoveTriangle has pretty much been transposed to Hope, Liam, and Steffy, with Brooke being the best analog for Stephanie. {{Irony}}!
76	** Not only that, ''Hope'' is the "Good Girl", the opposite of her mother Brooke, while ''Steffy'' is the "Bad Girl", the opposite of her mother Taylor.
77	* HappilyAdopted: Finn was adopted at birth, and while he would like to know who his biological parents are, he loves his adoptive parents very dearly and makes it clear he had a great childhood thanks to them. Things get messy when he finds out his biological parents are [[spoiler:the ever-crazy Shelia Carter and his "adoptive" father, who had an affair with Sheila and hid it from his wife]]. However, even when he tries in earnest to get to know his biological mom and have a relationship with her, Finn still adores his adoptive mother Li. [[spoiler:When he finally realizes just how unhinged and evil Sheila is, he cuts her out of his life and definitively chooses Li over her, asserting that Li is his true mother.]]
78	* HelicopterParents: This trope ''is'' Stephanie. She frequently butts in on the personal lives of her children, and if Brooke is in a relationship with any of them she'll do everything in her power to convince whichever son it is to give up on her. This has also extended to other Logan women, like Donna.
79	** In recent years, both Brooke and Ridge have become like this with their own children. And when Taylor thought [[spoiler: Thomas and Brooke had slept together]] she entered Stephanie-territory with her rage at Brooke, screaming at her to stay away from Thomas.
80	* HeteronormativeCrusader: Aly Forrester grew into this, the result of her inability to cope with losing her mother Darla in a drunk driving accident when she was a little girl and her being mentally unhinged as a result (she actually sees and hears a floating image of her mother's head, for crying out loud!). It results in some serious SlutShaming against Steffy (Aly's grudge is really against Steffy's mother Taylor) and some not-as-overt judgemental behavior towards Maya, who, like Rick, treated her more like a servant after Rick took over at Forrester (though the fact that [[spoiler: Maya's transgender]] also has something to do with it).
81	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: This relates to Stephanie's plan with Andy Johnson. At the time, Ridge was engaged to Ashley Abbott, but Brooke was trying to win him back. Stephanie liked Ashley and wanted Brooke to back off, so she hired Andy to seduce Brooke and show Ridge [[spoiler: once again]] what a slut she was. Well, the plan completely backfired on Stephanie. Andy ''raped'' Brooke when seducing her didn't work, and Ridge was there to pick up the pieces and help her through it. Tending to her and helping her deal with her rape reawakened Ridge's feelings for Brooke and he dumped Ashley to be with her. Most of all, ''everyone'' turned on Stephanie when it was made known she had hired Andy.
82	* {{Hypocrite}}:
83	** When Katie had an affair with Nick, her niece Bridget's husband, Brooke went into full MamaBear mode and completely railroaded Katie for hurting Bridget. However, Brooke had also betrayed Bridget this same way. ''Twice''. One of these times with Nick!
84	** Taylor is a pro at this as well. She constantly bashes Brooke for her many romantic entanglements, especially for dating more than one man from the same family and for getting romantically involved with her daughter's love interests. Taylor herself has been engaged to Storm Logan, has had a relationship with Stephen Logan, and has been romantically involved with Eric Forrester, Ridge Forrester, Thorne Forrester, and Rick Forrester (the last of whom was her daughter Phoebe's great love and Phoebe's distress over this led to the car accident which Phoebe died). It coming to incredible degrees in which she fully blamed Bill for the affair that imploded Liam and Steffy's marriage, even after Steffy accepted and took the blame for her part with grace and maturity, even fostering a familial relationship between her and Hope, that [[spoiler: Taylor attempted to gun down Bill in cold blood, almost even letting Ridge be persecuted of the crime.]] Once again she evaded jail after Steffy begged Bill to not implicate Taylor for the crime, once again she got back on her high horse condemning and calling Brooke, Hope, and Bill horrible people, even as she made thinly veiled threats against the three.
85	** Ridge also, who spent decades flip-flopping between Taylor and Brooke, yet went ballistic if either of them even looked at another man--he kicked Brooke to the curb over her kissing Grant and publicly humiliated her by publicly proposing to Taylor, and kicked Taylor to the curb over a one-night stand that happened over a decade ago and under duress.
86	** The entire family is this when they refuse to attend Quinn and Eric's wedding, citing the many terrible things that Quinn has done--and conveniently forgetting the terrible things that ''all of them'' have done. Eric gives them an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech regarding this.
87	** Brooke always hated it when Stephanie meddled in her relationship with Ridge, and she has hated Taylor for years for stealing Ridge (more than once). The fact that Stephanie blatantly favored Taylor did ''not'' help matters. But Brooke meddling in Steffy's relationship with Liam, trying to push him towards her own daughter Hope, and at some points just straight-up refusing to give Steffy the benefit of the doubt in any given situation? ''Totally'' different.
88	** Brooke is also quick to [[SlutShaming condemn]] Steffy for sleeping with Bill, her husband's father, seeing it as a reason why her own daughter Hope should be with Liam instead. This is a bit rich when you remember that the only reason Hope ''exists'' is that Brooke had an affair with her ''daughter's'' husband.
89	** Brooke again, when she shames Quinn for cheating on Eric. Once again, Brooke has cheated on multiple partners, ''including Eric''. With his own son, no less! She really has no place to judge anyone for infidelity.
90	* IncestSubtext: Stephanie was so obsessed with Ridge that several people outright suggested that she's in love with her own son. Even favorite daughter-in-law Taylor got fed up with it when she finally realized that the real reason Stephanie had always supported her over Brooke in the battle over Ridge is that [[LikeParentLikeSpouse Taylor reminded Stephanie so much of herself]] that she figured that since she herself couldn't sleep with Ridge, she'd settle for him being with someone just like her.
91	* ItsAllMyFault: Thomas ends up blaming himself for [[spoiler:Finn's death]], as the events that led to it were kicked off by him keeping a secret regarding Brooke's New Year's Eve kiss with Deacon in an attempt to get his parents back together. Notably, Ridge and Taylor, while furious with him, attempt to dissuade him of this notion to no avail.
92	* KinkyRolePlaying: When they were together, Katie and Wyatt discovered they both had a taste for this, and frequently used costumes and characters for their romantic shenanigans. Which eventually led to a ''very'' awkward moment when Thorne showed up at Katie's house unannounced, and, assuming he was Wyatt, she answered the door in-character wearing a skimpy nightgown.
93	* KinslayingIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler:Sheila shooting her son Finn in an attempt to kill Steffy is portrayed as especially heinous even by the standards of the show, with everyone, even the likes of Deacon, shocked and appalled by the act. If not for Li, Finn would have been KilledOffForReal]].
94	* LargeHam: Sally Spectra. Big, bold, and larger than life, Sally was never afraid to [[ChewingTheScenery chew some scenery]]. Her niece and namesake are proving to be this too.
95	* [[LastOfHisKind Last of Its Kind]]: ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' became the last remaining half-hour daytime soap on American television in 2003, when ABC cancelled the ''Series/GeneralHospital'' spin-off ''Series/PortCharles''.
96	* LaserGuidedKarma: Mike Gutherie receives this in the form of Sheila essentially leaving him to be her fall guy for the cops when he knocks Li out and frees Sheila from the bindings she was put in.
97	* LastWords: Caroline's final words to Ridge have been a driving force of the relationships on the show. Initially, she told him to marry Brooke because that was who she felt he belonged with, but her words keep getting retconned for storyline convenience. They can be either the former, or that she tells him to be with the woman who will make him happy.
98	* LighterAndSofter: While not without drama or some genuinely sad or even scary moments, this show is, on the whole, ''noticeably'' more lighthearted than [[Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless its sister show]], with less serious storylines, more comedic moments, and its characters falling more on the [[GreyAndGrayMorality lighter end of the morality spectrum]]. It's generally campier and more {{melodrama}}tic, sometimes giving the impression that the writers and actors aren't taking this at ''all'' seriously, or have just decided to have as much fun as humanly possible with what they've been given.
99	* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Played for drama in a 2021 storyline, in which Eric’s issues with erectile dysfunction spur an affair between Quinn and Carter. After initially filing for divorce, Eric changes his mind and asks Quinn to come home, later confessing that he can’t perform his husbandly duties. Although Quinn chose to stand by him and get him the medical help he needed, Eric insists that Quinn have her sexual needs met by Carter, while keeping Quinn around because of his fear of loneliness. Eric later asks Quinn to end the sex surrogacy arrangement with Carter, and discovers that Quinn may be the source of his issues (which she admits may be the case due to discord between them for her past misdeeds), when his issues don’t occur while around Donna but not Quinn; [[spoiler:several months later, it’s revealed that Eric and Donna have been carrying on an affair behind Quinn’s back.]]
100	* {{Malaproper}}: In reflection of their rivalry, Caroline Spencer intentionally mispronounced Maya's name on various occasions.
101	* TheMasochismTango: Stephanie and Eric, in spades. Stephanie does something to make Eric angry or otherwise make his life hell. He leaves her, finding comfort in the arms of a pretty young woman. Age difference aside, he seems genuinely happy with said woman as opposed to the constant bickering with Stephanie. Despite this, sooner or later, he is inevitably drawn back to Stephanie and they eventually reconcile, only for the whole thing to start all over again in just a matter of time.
102	* MayDecemberRomance: Quite a few. Eric and Brooke, Eric and Donna, Eric and ''any'' woman who isn't Stephanie or Jackie, Ridge and Bridget, Nick and Bridget, Jackie and Owen, Rick and Taylor, and more recently Ridge and Caroline (Spencer).
103	* MinorFlawMajorBreakup: In 1994, Taylor had a one-night stand with a man named James both while she was separated from Ridge and while they were trapped together after an earthquake, believing that they would die any moment. This remains a secret until 2006, a year after Taylor comes back from the dead. Brooke finds out about the fling and after repeatedly throwing it in Taylor's face and almost blackmailing her with it, the truth is made known to Ridge. Ridge reacts to a fling Taylor had twelve years prior ''while they weren't even together and occurring under extreme duress'' as though she were committing adultery in the present and immediately dumps her with the intention of hooking back up with Brooke. His treatment of her becomes even more despicable when you recall that he cheated on her with Morgan – in addition to ''years'' of ignoring Taylor's complaints about Brooke's constant interference. DoubleStandard, much?
104	* MonochromeCasting: One of the most shameful examples ever, as the show is set in Los Angeles, yet in the first 25 years of its run, the amount of minority characters could be counted on one hand. The show got better about this in 2015, with the expansions of existing African-American character Maya Avant's family (with younger sister Nicole as a regular, and parents Julius and Vivienne as recurrings) plus the return of Zende Forrester Dominguez, an orphan adopted from Africa by Kristen Forrester and her husband Tony Dominguez 13 years earlier, all of whom are joined by fellow existing black character Carter Walton.
105	* MurderInTheFamily: In a 2022 storyline, Sheila fatally shot Finn, her biological son and Steffy’s husband, while intending to kill Steffy for trying to keep Sheila from forging a mother-son relationship with Finn due to her history of duplicity toward Steffy’s family. (This, after Steffy overhears Thomas talking to Sheila about her plan to break up Brooke and Ridge and drive the latter towards Taylor by sending a bottle of champagne — purposely mislabelled as non-alcoholic — to recovering alcoholic Brooke, a revelation that spurs their confrontation in the alley of Il Giardino, where Finn arrives after finding out about Sheila’s deed and Steffy going to confront his mother about it.) Sheila subsequently shoots Steffy and leaves her for dead to keep her from calling 911 about the shooting, though Steffy survives and is left with short-term memory loss, while Sheila is nearly DrivenToSuicide out of both guilt for accidentally killing her son and fear of being caught. Steffy later pieces together the events of that night, and convinces Ridge and Taylor to set up a sting operation with police to get Sheila to confess her role in the shooting (which also leads to Steffy remembering Sheila’s role in the champagne incident that led to Brooke kissing Deacon while inebriated on New Year’s Eve), leading to her arrest.
106	* NeverMyFault: Sheila Carter's ''modus operandi'' is her absolute refusal to ever accept blame for any of the heinous acts she's committed. The prime example is when she [[spoiler:shoots Finn while trying to kill Steffy, as she insists to the end that it's truly Steffy's fault he's dead even though Sheila pulled the trigger]].
107	* TheNicknamer: Sally Spectra. She would usually give other characters at least one nickname, sometimes more. Clarke became Bucky, Darla became Einstein (and her daughter Alexandria later inherited that nickname), Massimo Marone became Mojo and Stephanie Forrester was usually called some variation of a royal title like The Queen Bee, Queen Stephanie, Highness, Queenie, and so on.
108	* NeverMyFault: Plenty of characters, but Sheila in particular. No matter what horrible things she did, she always blamed someone else--namely Stephanie--either for her actions or for whatever punishment she received.
109	* NotBloodSiblings:
110	** The show entered ''squicky'' territory when it decided to pair Ridge and Bridget up together, shortly after it was discovered that they weren't half-brother and-sister, never mind that for years they had believed themselves to be, and that before that he had thought he was her ''father''. Thankfully the storyline fizzled out before they went too far.
111	** Similar reactions came from trying to pair half-siblings (kinda) Hope and Thomas up. Though Hope isn't related to Ridge by ancestry, she still calls him father and the whole thing raised the eye-brows of fans.
112	** Also, the brief attempt to pair CJ, Macy's brother (they shared a mother), with Kimberley, Macy's sister (they shared a father). Even ''CJ'' had to keep reminding Kimberley that despite sharing a sister, they were not related.
113	* OnlyMostlyDead: In a 2022 storyline sometime between Spring and Summer, [[spoiler:it is revealed that Li somehow saved Finn from Sheila's assassination attempt on Steffy, and that Sheila had attempted to stop [[SheKnowsTooMuch Li from revealing the truth]] and kept him hostage in her home while keeping the entire world in the dark about the fact that he was alive]].
114	* OnlySaneMan: Wyatt and Justin both qualify, though both are mostly loyal to Bill. Wyatt tries to stay out of the feuds that pop up around him and is hilariously annoyed by everyone's constant drama, but he will jump in and take a stand if something ''really'' matters to him. Justin, meanwhile, is similarly annoyed by his boss's shenanigans but tends to take a "[[PunchClockVillain Whatever, as long as I get paid]]" approach.
115	* OutOfFocus: Given that it's a half-hour soap, and therefore is less able to fit as many storylines in one episode as the hour-longs, this happens from time to time. Particularly notable is the show's two remaining original characters Eric (John [=McCook=]) and Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang), whose appearances began to decline in 2015, in favor of the younger characters.
116	* PlatonicCoParenting: One storyline has Hope proposing this to Thomas, so she can help raise his son Douglas. Thomas, having gone full {{yandere}} at this point and being fully willing to exploit Douglas to get what he wants, doesn't go for it.
117	* PlotTumor: The Hope/Liam/Steffy triangle. Liam started out as a minor character and has grown to the point where his love life has become the sole focus of every other character on the show for an entire year and counting (September 2012).
118	* {{Polyamory}}: Discussed by Liam and Wyatt in a 2018 episode, when discussing Liam's eternal LoveTriangle with Hope and Steffy. Wyatt asks Liam, if it were a feasible option, would he [[TakeAThirdOption choose both of them]]? Liam denies wanting a "harem," but Wyatt makes a pretty good case for it, pointing out that he loves them both, so [[MarryThemAll something more non-conventional]] maybe wouldn't be such a bad idea.
119	* PrisonRape: While in a mental hospital for her various crimes, Sheila gets beaten up by two other prisoners. Their [[ButchLesbian unpleasant appearance]] and [[PsychoLesbian demeanor]], plus the way Sheila acts afterward--taking a ShowerOfAngst--are clearly meant to imply that they sexually assaulted her as well. Even if not, the whole sequence still gives off a DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything vibe.
120	* PunchClockVillain: PlayedWith with Bill's right-hand man, Justin. Justin does pretty awful things, but only because Bill pays him, and he even serves as a voice of reason from time to time. (Not that Bill ''listens'' to him, ever, but still.) That said, Justin ''does'' clearly care about Bill, and seems to genuinely regard him as a friend. [[spoiler:When he eventually ''does'' betray Bill to try to take the throne, it ends up devastating both of them]].
121	* RapeAsBackstory: Recent years have revealed this about [[spoiler: Stephanie]], which serves to more or less explain her neurotic behavior. [[spoiler: complete with a very emotional scene where Eric and Stephanie confront her mother about the abuse she suffered.]]
122	* RapeAsDrama: Brooke is an unfortunate victim of this trope frequently. In the pilot episode, she's assaulted by a group of men and rushes home with her clothes in tatters. She's raped by Andy Johnson after the latter was hired by Stephanie to seduce her. Ridge also unintentionally raped her when he had sex with her while she was drugged. To his credit, he had no idea she was drugged and was horrified when he realized what he did.
123	*** Whether or not he knew she was drugged, it doesn't change the fact that she made it clear that she wanted him to leave her house – and he didn't.
124	** There are fans who also believe Nick raped Brooke when everyone believed Ridge was dead and had sex with her while she was in a vulnerable state.
125	** Cousin Jessica is assaulted by a masked man. It is revealed later that her assailant was her ex-boyfriend Sly, enraged that she turned down his marriage proposal and deprived him of the chance to get his hands on her money.
126	** Taylor is also attacked several times by a man who appears to have this intent towards her. She's able to fend him off in one instance and Ridge rescues her the second time.
127	** Ridge's first wife Caroline was also raped.
128	* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
129	** The 1994 Los Angeles earthquake was written into the show's storyline.
130	** The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak caused a several-month filming break while the cast quarantined, leading to a brief HandWave when the show came back to air: Katie claims that they had to close up shop to build and organize a new warehouse.
131	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Storm pretty much dug his own grave when he shot Stephanie and didn't show any remorse for it. When he accidentally shot Katie – his little sister who had a heart condition – he was so overcome with grief that he committed suicide in order to donate his heart to her and save her life. His sacrifice paid off because the heart took in Katie.]]
132	* RightHandHottie: Darla to Sally. Darla was ''fiercely'' loyal to both Sally and Macy to the extend that though she was generally a quiet woman she would stand up for them no matter what.
133	* SadisticChoice: Steffy is blackmailed into letting Sheila go free by Bill, with the threat of throwing Taylor in jail for shooting him if she keeps Sheila locked up.
134	* SecondLove: It's a tossup as to whether Brooke or Taylor is this to Ridge following the death of first love Caroline.
135	* SecretKeeper: Brooke is the only one who knows that [[spoiler: Taylor shot and almost killed Bill Spencer - she willingly keeps the secret because she got to watch Taylor [[AintTooProudToBeg getting on her knees and begging her to keep the secret]], and seeing her ArchEnemy willingly debasing herself like that was enough for her]].
136	* SeriesContinuityError: This frequently happens when characters are SORAS'd, but a glaring example of this is the Logan sisters' childhood angst. In recent years they've claimed ParentalAbandonment and that oldest brother Storm practically raised them. But earlier episodes clearly show the Logan family to be a happy and stable family unit.
137	** This also included Steffy and Phoebe. For many years these two were known as identical twin sisters and were even played by identical twins during different SORAS periods. When [=MacKenzie=] Mauzy was cast as Phoebe though, the show didn't bring Steffy on until much later, with Jacqueline [=MacInnes=] Wood playing her. Neither actress looks alike.
138	* SoapOperaDisease: Caroline developed leukemia, and in a rare Soap instance her ''character stays dead''. Recently, Stephanie was diagnosed with ''stage four lung cancer'', and made a complete recovery (at least for a little while; the cancer returns to kill her in 2012).
139	* SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome: All of the children at one point or another. In fact, the show has had very few high school-aged characters over the course of its run (unusual for a modern-day soap), as even many of those that have been aged rapidly have been pushed to at least 18 to advance the Forrester Creations-centered storylines.
140	* TheStarscream: Of all things, {{deconstructed\|Trope}} - [[spoiler:Justin makes moves to leave Bill and Liam in prison for a crime he knows they didn't commit, but his conscience gets the better of him just a minute too late. When Bill finds out, their friendship permanently breaks, and it clearly hurts both of them dearly]].
141	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
142	** The first time Eric pursued Taylor, she listed a ''lot'' of reasons it was a bad idea. . .and stuck with it, rather than a typical soap storyline of her throwing caution to the wind and embarking on a relationship with him anyway.
143	** The 2019-2020 storylines have repeated many of the adultery/LoveTriangle storylines the show has used before (a fact that many soap operas are guilty of, not just this one). Until this point, each repeat storyline was like the previous ones had never happened. Recently, characters are starting to call each other out for having this predictable behavior, specifically calling out the fact that they constantly show regret over their actions and then willingly repeat it over and over again, which is what would happen if people willingly put each other through a MasochismTango for 15-odd years straight.
144	* ThisIsUnforgivable: Stephanie is on the receiving end of this, including: when she sabotaged Donna's debut at Forrester Creations, when she exposed Jackie's prostitute past in front of the media, and most prominently when she inadvertently caused Brooke's rape at Andy's hands.
145	** Taylor is also on the receiving end of this. Ridge gave her this treatment over her fling with James, and even Nick treated her this way when she spoke honestly at Brooke's custody trial, after she begged the other woman to not be called as a character witness on her behalf. Then again, anything Taylor remotely does that's similar to what a Logan woman does is treated with long-term contempt, while the Logan women usually get off scot-free.
146	* TickleTorture: During a [[https://youtu.be/DHJ_aKoUltE Black and White]] DreamSequence in one episode, Quinn imagined that she has Hope tied down to a chair in her loft, surrounded by large pictures of herself. The [[{{Dominatrix}} leather-clad]] Quinn tells Hope that she loved her and her baby and wants to hear her say it in return. To get her to say it, Quinn tickled Hope’s arms and neck with a feather wand as Hope twitched and protested. "I love you, Mama Quinn, and I want you to be a part of my family", Quinn instructed Hope to repeat. Hope, agonizing beneath the tickling wand until she could take no more, repeated the phrase back to Quinn.
147	* TokenGoodTeammate: The second generation of Spectras aren't ''evil'', but Coco is the only one who's 100% committed to keeping things on the level. Though Sally is now trying to change that and is trying her hand at being good, too.
148	* TookALevelInKindness: Steffy notably became ''much'' kinder and more morally conscience when she had her first son with Finn. Since almost losing him, she's essentially become one of the more upstanding characters on the show.
149	* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Rick Forrester during his relatively short tenure as CEO of Forrester Creations. He treated many of his employees – particularly Ridge, Ivy and Aly[[note]]who's mistreatment and placation by Rick, who waited on him hand and foot on a false promise that he'd greenlight her shoe line, plays a limited role in the mental downfall that led to her trying to murder Steffy, as Rick later blames himself for exacerbating[[/note]] – like worthless peons; Ridge actually quit briefly, unable to take the mistreatment, and makes a failed attempt to get Eric to oust Rick and appoint him CEO as his stepfather was willing to overlook Rick's jackassery on account of him helping increase Forrester's revenue with his ideas. It leads to a successful takeover by Ridge, Liam and Steffy (the latter of whom originally wouldn't go forth with the plan unless getting back together with Liam, who was dating Ivy at that time and wanted to take over the company to save her from Rick's tyranny, was part of the deal) to get rid of Rick.
150	* TraumaCongaLine: This is a soap, after all. Multiple characters have been put through this.
151	* UncannyValley: [[spoiler:Hope's mannequin that Thomas keeps in his possession]]. As he notes, it's incredibly lifelike, but it's just ''off'' enough that it's still incredibly creepy.
152	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt:
153	** Amber and Raymond, though theirs was more of a FriendsWithBenefits situation.
154	** Also Justin and Donna, as we learn when her long-lost son Marcus comes to town.
155	* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Well, who ''attempted'' to murder the asshole. At one point, [[spoiler: someone shoots and almost kills Bill Spencer - while he does survive, he never saw the attacker, meaning no one knew who did it. It also didn't help that by the time he was shot, Liam, Wyatt, Justin, Steffy, Ridge, and all of Sally Spectra's team had motive to attempt to kill him. The evidence originally suggested Ridge, but it turns out to have been Taylor, who had previously been out of town and thus had been unsuspected]].
156	* WhosYourDaddy: Brooke was so sure that Bridget was Ridge's child that she named the baby Bridget – which is a combination of Brooke and Ridge's names. However in actuality she wasn't sure ''who'' Bridget's father was but wanted Ridge to be her father. [[spoiler: It turned out that Eric, Ridge's father, and Brooke's former husband, was Bridget's father.]]
157	* {{Yandere}}: Bill Spencer evolved into one for Steffy. He just couldn't listen to her when she told him that their relationship was ''over'', and did a lot of ''awful'' things to try and gain her love. And, in true Yandere fashion, it didn't occur to him that if he wants to win Steffy's heart, repeatedly showing up at her house even after she told him to get lost, trying to break up Steffy and Liam, and blackmailing her ''maybe'' wasn't the way to go about it.
158	* YoureNotMyMother: [[spoiler:Finn adopts this stance against Sheila after she shoots him, confines him to a bed and holds him hostage, and leaves everyone to think he's dead]].

Context Series / TheBoldAndTheBeautiful