Thoughts on "Becoming Bold & Beautiful"

This is my review of "Becoming Bold & Beautiful: 25 Years of Making the World's Most Popular Daytime Soap Opera". The 224 page nonfiction book focuses on the program mainly in pictures of the last few years.

The book is credited to editor David Gregg who per the dust jacket looked through thousands of pictures to pick just 200 and Adrián Avilés, who was the creative director. The book's foreword was written by the core four: Susan Flannery (Stephanie), Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke), John McCook (Eric) & Ronn Moss (Ridge). The introduction was written by co-creator Bradley Bell.

The main section of the book is called "Love Stories for a New Generation." Photos from the many remotes B&B has had in the last five or so years were featured like in Cabo San Lucas and Aspen. These shots weren't ones I've seen in all of the media as they included crew and cast members. Other stories such as Skid Row and Ann's death were shown as well. Holiday photos around the studio were another focus.

The next section called "It's a Beautiful Day", which shows photos of a typical day at the studio. We see more pictures of sets, scripts, wardrobe, the control booth and the like. Again many of these photos are unique as they are insider images.

The last section called "Becoming Beautiful" is the archive part of the book. Some of these photos are new to me, but others I recognize as they are from the first 20 or so years. One spread had some press release material from 1987 included on it. The spelling of the character of Thorne isn't consistent as one sheet has it with the "e" which is correct and the other does not. There is a Sally Spectra (Darlene Conley) tribute section. Photos from some older remotes and pictures of characters with their children were also shared.

At the end of the book, there is an index, which I find very helpful especially since not every picture is captioned. The actors that had three or more lines worth of photos are Susan Flannery, Katherine Kelly Lang, Kim Matula, John McCook, Ron Moss and Jacqueline MacInnes Wood. The core four having the most pictures after 25 years on the series makes sense, and since the book focuses on recent years the two current younger leading ladies who play Hope and Steffy respectively get their due. The book ends like many soap opera episodes do with a cliffhanger, which references how new episodes come quickly without a hiatus.

If you enjoy looking at photos of actors in and out of character along with crew members, you may want to pick up this book. This isn't a book for people who want to learn the history of B&B, but for those who already enjoy the show.