The Bold and The Beautiful has gotten “bold” and brave as it resumes production. At 33-years-old, the veteran sudser stunned more than a few with its plan to return after the coronavirus shutdown that had led the CBS soap and many others to halt production. The Bold and The Beautiful’s solution to coming back safely? The cast is kissing latex thanks to its mannequin love scenes.
Last month, The Bold and The Beautiful took many by surprise as it became the first network show to start filming again amid the coronavirus pandemic. Its solution to coming back has involved a startling detail. The show is using dolls or “latex mannequins” for love scenes because it would not be The Bold and The Beautiful without sizzling love scenes between its stars.
Well, there will be sizzling love scenes – just not between the cast. The Bold and The Beautiful is getting physically friendly with a latex "costar" that one would usually only expect to encounter with a stunt. Well, not anymore.
If Ridge and Brooke find themselves in love scene mode again, Thorsten Kaye and Katherine Kelly Lang will have to fake it with a latex mannequin. On how the cast is handling the transition from skin-to-skin to skin-to-latex love scenes, The Bold and The Beautiful’s executive producer Bradley Bell told The New York Times:
We’ve had a lot of strange looks and questions like, 'Do you really want to do this?' But everyone is game. They are getting their first latex kiss.
The cast is ready to get back to work, even if it means getting intimate with a mannequin. The Bold and The Beautiful cast is certainly being professional that they are willing to go the extra mile in these tough times. Will fans notice the latest romantic quadrangle taking on a more latex feel? Bradley Bell revealed that the scenes are being shot "from a great distance" or in a way that viewers can't tell that one of the participants in the love scene in inanimate.
Whether or not viewers will be able to tell is the million-dollar question that has me ready to set my DVR to record next week’s episodes filmed after the return from the coronavirus shutdown. You have to imagine that The Bold and The Beautiful knew it would pique curiosity with its bold latex solution. Could the soap opera set a new ratings record because of it? I hope so.
Daytime needs everything that it can get. The past few years have been tough with cancellations, and a shutdown for a show that airs new episodes five times a week is a huge bummer. Thankfully, The Bold and The Beautiful is getting creative to come back, and it will not be alone.
After a lot of drama, NBC’s lone remaining soap opera Days of Our Lives got renewed for Season 56. Sadly, the coronavirus has been a terrible reality for the tight-knit daytime TV community. Days of Our Lives veteran Judi Evans contracted COVID-19 and almost had her legs amputated during her fight for survival. Hence, the precautions taken by The Bold and The Beautiful are a necessity.
The latex mannequin method of filming love scenes does not make a machine that zaps COVID-19, but The Bold and The Beautiful is working to give fans their dose of love scenes amid the coronavirus turmoil. I am curious if the show has had to account for what I imagine to be the squeaking made by interacting so intimately with a latex mannequin. Thank goodness for musical overlays!
New episodes of the latex mannequin-starring The Bold and The Beautiful will begin airing on Monday, July 20, at 1:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The sudser is not the only new show to anticipate returning. There are also this fall’s premieres.
