Bold and the Beautiful’s recent rating report show the daytime drama could be in serious jeopardy of being canceled after December. Soap Opera Network shared the weekly ratings for February 29-March 4 and B&B was down in all key demographics. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a red flag for a possible cancelation; however, the CBS daytime drama has had over a year (possibly more) of bad ranking weeks.
The recent storylines on the soap series have affected how many tune in to watch Bold and the Beautiful. For example, After Maya Avant (Carla Mosely) revealed herself as a transgender woman, the show took a nose dive. Of course, it doesn’t help the daytime drama that many of the storylines are repeated and are downright stale at the moment.
One year ago today #BoldAndBeautiful change the Soap game with a shocker and of course @karlamosley nailed it pic.twitter.com/UvO23BuvJG
— SoapParty411 (Soap Party Podcast Page) (@soapparty411) March 18, 2016
Most recently, Bold and the Beautiful attempted a storyline that fell flat. Quinn Fuller (Rena Sofer) kidnapped Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) and fell in love with him. There’s a catch, as there usually is with soap operas — Liam doesn’t know who he is and believes he is married to Quinn. If that’s not enough to push the B&B audience away, the writers have cooked up a murder plot.
On Wednesday’s episode of Bold and the Beautiful, Quinn told her ex-husband, Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) that she must kill Liam in order to not face jail time for kidnapping him. Instead of shoving Liam off the cliff, she faked an asthma attack, forcing Liam to get her inhaler in the car, and pushed Deacon off the cliff. It was one of those moments where you wonder what the writers are thinking, and if the show can be saved from the off-the-wall writing. At this point, CBS has not revealed if Deacon will exit B&B permanently or not. Let’s face it; the fans are hoping he survives the fall because he is one of the most interesting characters in the often (dull) soap opera.
The last rating report showed that Bold and the Beautiful lost an astonishing 300,000 viewers during the week of February 29 through March 4 alone. In the key demo of women 18-34, the CBS soap opera lost 55,000 viewers. While it is possible that B&B can bounce back eventually, is it possible that CBS will pull the plug on the series for habitually low ratings over the past year?
Enstarz reported that CBS could very well decide to pull the plug on the series if the ratings don’t improve over the next few weeks. The network’s financial strain from the low-ranking daytime dramas are apparent — The Young and the Restless actors Sofia Pernas and Lachlan Buchanan have reportedly either lost their job or been demoted to recurring status. Social media exploded when Sofia was taken off contract status earlier in the week, and allegedly more changes are coming from contract actors on B&B and Y&R as CBS tries to recover some of the money that the series has lost over bad ratings.
Today on #BoldandBeautiful – Quinn’s anxiety about Liam pushes her to the edge. It starts now! pic.twitter.com/0RjwWAcs6q
— BoldInsider (@boldinsider) March 16, 2016
Head writer and executive producer Bradley Bell stated that even if CBS canceled Bold and the Beautiful , the series would live on as a web series — citing that it is the most watched soap opera on air globally. At the moment, no official statement has been released by CBS about B&B’s future; it’s only speculation, based on the terrible ratings over the past year. Don’t forget to come back later to The Inquisitr for more Bold and the Beautiful spoilers, news, and updates.
[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for ATI]