We were invited to Los Angeles to celebrate 30years of the international soap, The Bold and The Beautiful. I am sure we know this soapie has been BOLD since those days when we were told we were ‘too young’ for soapies. Those that were legal to watch it were hooked and they made sure that they had on a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on their foreheads whenever it was on air, *side eyes my aunt Ottie*. The truth is, a lot of us know Eric Forrester, Amber, Ridge, Stephanie, Sally Spectra, Taylor, Hope, Deacon and of course Brook Logan. We even nicknamed Generations’ Karabo Moroka, Brook Logan at some point because of all those men she was committing to every chance she got.
Anyway, let me carry on. Our first stop was CBS studios which happens to be the home of The Bold. This is where all the magic happens and has been happening since 1987. We were welcomed by the B&B’s amazing Publicity team David Gregg and Christine Waage who gave us a tour of the studios.
I spotted this before we went in…..andimthandi tu mna la Tyrese wenu. His ignorance about Africa is on another level.
Stage 31 is the studio at CBS Television City in which the Bold has filmed all interior scenes since its first day of production in 1987. In 2015, on the occasion of their 7000th episode, CBS renamed it The Bradley P. Bell Stage. Bradley is the Executive Producer and Head Writer of the show. Unfortunately he was not there so we never got a chance to meet him – however, we had an opportunity to hook up with the cast members and boy oh boy!! I managed to interview some of them and I will be sharing those chats with you.
The first cast member we sat down with was Don Diamont who plays Bill Spencer. Sadly, Don lost his mother in law a few days after our meeting. Wishing him and his wife strength.
Then there was the crazy Spencer brothers Liam (Scott Clifton) and Wyatt (Darin Brooks)
Pierson Fode is one lovable someone. He is so tall it’s shocking.
Look at this. OMG!! He is THIS close to the ceiling.
Ridge Forrester is now played by Thorsten Kaye. He was such a pleasure to talk to.
We watched behind the scenes – the cast in action
We also visited the wardrobe team.
Yeah, Glenda and those ladies WORK shem!!
I was so happy to see Aaron D Spears who by the way happens to be close friends with my crush Omari Hardwick. *coughs* If you are a fan of the TV Series, Being Mary Jane then you definitely should know Aaron.
And my WOW moment was meeting Anna Maria Horsford. To me this woman is a legend. We had a long BOLD and BEAUTIFUL chat mixed with everything from the Caribbean to Zambia to Script writing to her becoming my God Mother. Yeah, it went that far! Lol
Also met this young lady who joined the B&B cast when she was only 18years old. Reign Edwards who plays Nicole Avant.
Jacob Young plays Rick Forrester. Another cool person right here.
It’s not Bold if Brook is missing in action right? Here she is, Katherine Kelly Lang. She hasn’t aged one bit.
Up in here looking way younger than yours truly. Yhuuuuuu!
The next day we were taken to Malibu to have lunch at Liam and Steffy’s Beach House. John McCook (Eric Forrester) was our Tour Guide on the day and he showed up at our hotel lobby with the Producer Casey Kasprzyk to pick us up in a luxury shuttle. John is such a fun person. He is definitely not as stuck up and scary as that evil Eric.
On our way to the beach house we saw some of the exterior locations that the soap has filmed at. We also watched video clips of the scenes that were shot at the particular locations we saw. There was an emotional clip of the only two remaining original cast members John McCook (Eric) and Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke). The two went down memory lane and we felt all the emotion from just watching their clip.
We stopped at the beach in Malibu to catch that breeze.
John McCook
We arrived at the beach house and BOOM – SURPRISE!!!! Mzansi’s Terry Pheto (Dr Maponya), opens the door with Ashleigh Brewer (Ivy Forrester) and Pierson Fode (Thomas Forrester). It was such a cool surprise. I was so happy to see Terry because the night she had asked me to join her for dinner in LA I couldn’t make it so seeing her at this lunch kinda made me feel like I hadn’t lost out on a moment.
Look at our Terry bathong. I heard she is working on something big in LA. On top of that, it looks like Dr Maponya might return to The Bold if the talks go well. Shine my Terry Shine!!
This beach house is amazing and HUUUUGE!! The view is just beyond words. We took pics there and had a bit of fun.
Ashleigh Brewer and Pierson Fode.
Told y’all he’s tall. His sense of humour is also all the way up.
I love him!
There was a Chef at the house that prepared our lunch. Talk about being spoiled.
Set up
Aaaaaaaw John
Heyyyyyyy Terry
After lunch it was time to have some more fun. That’s Terry and Casey at the Santa Monica Pier amusement park where others agreed to ride the roller coaster that Stephanie and Brooke once rode in one of the episodes. I didn’t even try mna shem. There was no way I was gonna risk losing all that good food I had just had before it even digested. My past experiences at Steel Pier Amusement Park and Gold Reef City were enough. Hehehehe!
The next evening after another day in studio with the cast, they had an intimate 30th Anniversary for us. Some of the cast came to join. We ate, drank, socialized, posed for pics and just had fun with them till late.
(The Avants) Obba Babatunde and Anna Maria Horsford.
When Obba walked in, I felt his presence to the moon and back. I was tongue tied for minutes because I couldn’t believe I was under the same roof as him let alone standing next to him. I backed off a bit and for some reason I think he saw that disbelief in me hence he kept on trying to make conversation to ‘wake me up’ from my dream. Guys, you don’t understand. This man is on another level. He is everything and well respected in the film industry. The work he has done, the awards he has won…Lawd have mercy!! I couldn’t even interview him because I was shaking half the time so I will send him a Q & A, I do need to hear what he has to say, I know for a fact that I will learn a lot.
Thorsten Kaye also came through
Katherine Kelly Lang hugging Jacob Young
Jacob posing with Obba
Karla Mosley is another beautiful soul. We had a deeeeep convo.
My bwoy, Aaron D Spears.
Look out for the interviews I did with Jacob Young, Reign Edwards, Pierson Fode, Katherine Kelly Lang, Don Diamont, Karla Mosley, John McCook, Thorsten Kaye, Scott Clifton, Darin Brooks, Aaron D Spears and of course my mama – Anna Maria Horsford.
Here are some Facts about The Bold And The Beautiful
– 2016 B&B received its 11th consecutive TV Audience Award Golden Nymph.
– 2016 recipient of the GLAAD Award in the Soap Opera category
– 13 Daytime Emmy Awards for Bradley Bell
– 2016’s Best Soap according to America’s TV Guide and Soap Opera Digest
– 233 Daytime Emmy Nominations
– 77 Daytime Emmy Awards
– B&B has produced over 3,750 hours of television
– B&B tapes approximately 8 episodes a week
– Brook Logan has taken 19 trips down the aisle, 10 of them were with Ridge.
– B&B has filmed episodes in Italy, France, Mexico, Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Monte Carlo, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
– The cast will travel to South Africa at the end of 2017 for location shoots.
– The B&B is watched by approximately 35 million viewers every day in over 100 countries
– The B&B is in the Guinness Book of Records as ‘The Most Popular Soap Opera-Current’
Thank you to the SABC and to the Bold and Beautiful team for this experience. David & Christine, I bow. To the cast of the B&B, thank you for being so welcoming, hanging out with us and making time to chat.
Here is wishing The Bold and The Beautiful the best going forward. Let’s toast to another 30 more years!!
#BoldAndBeautiful30th
#SABC3TheStageIsYours
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By @KikiMarli
The post The Bold and The Beautiful 30th Anniversary In Los Angeles! appeared first on Just Curious.