HOLLYWOOD—This week’s leading ladies gold standard goes to Katherine Kelly Lang and Hunter Tylo, who both star as Brooke and Taylor on CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and also Maura West, who stars as Diane Jenkins on CBS’s number one daytime drama “The Young and the Restless.” These ladies are beautiful and talented actresses who faced unyielding drama this week. They carried the storylines they were in and added a real dimension of strength that only these strong performers can convey to the audience.

Katherine Kelly Lang portrays the ever scandal-ridden Brooke Logan. This week when Thomas Forrester kissed Brooke on the fashion runway at Forrester Creations at the conclusion of the Forrester Men’s line, camera bulbs flashed and questions began. “Why did you kiss your stepson Brooke?” The woman who faces a scandal every few months dared to kiss her husband’s son, who had been with Brooke’s enemy, Taylor. The kiss, which was seen around the world thanks to the Internet, has landed Brooke in jeopardy with her arch-enemy and mother-in-law Stephanie, who is battling cancer, and has also forced her husband to decide if he wants to remain married to her after all this. Brooke, who is the whore of Beverly Hills feels that she’s being misunderstood, and agreed to kiss Thomas as a way to garner attention and headlines for his fashion line.

When Brooke and Thomas’s lips locked, his mother Taylor was in shock and looked on in horror, as she saw the woman who took not only her husband but several men in her past. There she watched as Brooke slobbered over Taylor’s beloved son. Taylor confronted Brooke, then her son, Thomas about the incestuous act. “Didn’t I tell you Brooke, that you would drag my son into the gutter in one of your scandals sooner or later? You are nothing but a tramp,” said Taylor.

Hunter Tylo and Kelly Lang have managed to keep the Brooke/Taylor feud going strong for decades thanks to the brilliant head writer Bradley P. Bell. This is a storyline that takes guts, and Brad is known for that. “B&B” is a guilty pleasure for 40 million viewers worldwide each day.

Meanwhile, Maria Bell has Maura West climbing to new heights as an actress. The head writer and executive producer of daytime’s number one rated drama for over 21 years had one of the most exciting weeks for daytime dramas on her show with “Y&R.” Diane is dealing with the fallout of Phyllis’s tell-all article in “Restless Style” about her past. She had to ask her young son Kyle to forgive her actions, then later she managed to fly in her ex-husband Victor Newman’s private jet from Genoa City to NYC for a job interview. Diane has to look for work outside of the sleepy Midwestern town in Wisconsin thanks to Phyllis’s latest attack on her.

By the end of the week, Ms. Jenkins had landed on her feet, or her back as she always does. Maura West plays Diane in a more exciting way than any of the previous portrayers. The chemistry between West and at least three leading men (Bregman, Braeden and Nichols) on the series is crackling with excitement. So is the series she stars on. These two dramas are neck and neck for Best Show Emmy-nominee in my opinion.

“Y&R” and “B&B” air weekdays on CBS.

Photographs Courtesy: Katherine Kelly Lang and Hunter Tylo by Gilles Toucas, Bell Phillip TV Productions and Maura West by JPI Studios© West Hollywood