Leading Ladies, Meddling Mothers

HOLLYWOOD—Mothers were in protective mode this week on the daytime soaps. Actresses Hunter Tylo, Taylor Hayes Forrester on “The Bold and the Beautiful”; Katherine Kelly Lang, Brooke Logan Forrester on “The Bold and the Beautiful”; and Julie Pinson, Janet Snyder on “As The World Turns,” all showcased maternal instincts when it came to protecting their daughters, Steffy, Hope and Liberty respectively. Each one shares an almost dysfunctional bond with their beautiful offspring, and their daughters are on their way to continuing the dysfunction that makes soaps great drama and turmoil for the viewers. Each actress showed fans why they root for their favorites and there is no getting between a mama bear and her cub, or one of these characters and their offspring.

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Julie Pinson, Janet

Hunter Tylo and Katherine Kelly Lang are beautiful actresses who have portrayed arch enemies on “B&B” for close to two decades. Hunter Tylo’s Taylor who is the epitome of grace and dignity has lost more than one husband to the sexiest woman in the world, Brooke Logan played by Katherine Kelly Lang. This week a teenage Hope Logan returned home only to find her mother, Brooke and stepfather Ridge embroiled in a heated battle with the man who owns their company Forrester Creations. The fact that the man is Hope’s uncle is only part of the problem. Steffy Forrester who is Ridge and Taylor’s daughter is also embroiled in a battle, but hers mainly with her boss’s wife Katie Logan Spencer. Hope’s Aunt Katie, that is.

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Hunter Tylo, Taylor

 

It’s almost sad to watch Hope look up to her older step-sister and admire her, knowing that Steffy does not feel the same way about her younger step-sibling. Steffy is determined to get her father’s company back and if it means seducing Bill Spencer to do it, so be it. The problem however isn’t only between the two young girls, their mothers are protective of them both and have been enemies for decades. Brooke and Taylor had a heated exchange this week and all of the old feelings Taylor has of being second fiddle to Brooke as a woman all bubbled up on the surface. Though it’s certainly no one-sided insecurity. Brooke feels that she’ll never be respected like Taylor and will always be competing with her when it comes to the man they both love, Ridge. In the middle of their furious fighting in came Ridge, the man who started the feud between the ladies decades ago and both women demanded he defend their daughter. Ridge is left in a serious dilemma, does he defend his stepdaughter Hope or his biological child Steffy? Bradley Bell pits these two women at odds every chance he gets and we all devour it.

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Ronn Moss, Ridge and Katherine Kelly Lang, Brooke

Julie Pinson’s Janet, on the other hand, has a much more serious problem to deal with than step-sibling rivalry. Janet is hiding from her husband Jack that she had an affair with her boss, Dusty, and he’s hiding feelings of his own from Janet. When Janet’s daughter who is the center of her universe, Liberty was out in the woods lost with her boyfriend Parker, also her step-brother, Parker was injured. Dusty sent his private helicopter to find the young teens and was able to track them down. Once the kids were admitted to the hospital for observation, Janet thought her problems were over. Insert “ATWT’s” dramatic music here. Yes, Liberty’s blood test detected a very serious blood disorder and Janet’s emotional tailspin has begun.

Julie Pinson is sublime as Janet Snyder and the soulful eyes the beautiful star has makes you want to cry along with Janet in her fears for her daughter”˜s health and life. While Taylor and Brooke fighting yet again is what makes “B&B” an international hit with viewers on every continent except Antarctica. Fans look out, the next few months of “B&B” and “ATWT” will be filled with some shockers. Both shows air weekdays on CBS.

Photographs Courtesy: Hunter Tylo [Taylor] by Gilles Toucas, Bell Phillip TV Productions, Ronn Moss and Katherine Kelly Lang [Ridge and Brooke] by CBS Television and Julie Pinson [Janet] by TeleNext TV Productions.