'Bold And The Beautiful' Airs First New Episodes Monday Since Coronavirus Pandemic Began
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – For the first time in nearly three months, the long-running CBS daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful" aired new episodes Monday.
On June 17, B&B became the first scripted network television show to resume production since the coronavirus pandemic forced Hollywood to shut down in mid-March.
The show resumed with significant safeguards in place. Canadian actress Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who had played Steffy Forrester on the show since 2008, spoke to CBS2 This Morning Monday about the new guidelines.
"We are getting tested frequently...getting our temperature, we are obviously social distancing, which sounds crazy when you're filming, but we are making it work," Wood said. "Directors are doing a phenomenal job...Obviously, wearing a mask, and when we are filming we don't have the mask on, but we are social distanced."
Executive producer Bradley Bell told The Hollywood Reporter last month that protocols included separating the crew using plexiglass and keeping actors eight feet apart during their scenes, requiring directors to use tricks to make them look closer together.
In scenes that require more intimacy or a closer proximity, the show was going to try and bring in the actor's real-life significant other to serve as a stand-in, he added at the time.
A COVID-19 supervisor is on set at all times to make sure government and union protocols are followed, according to producers. Fewer people are allowed on set.
Prior to Monday, the most recent original episode of B&B had aired April 23.
Earlier this month, FilmLA, the nonprofit group which serves as the official film office for both the city and county of Los Angeles, reported that film, television and commercial production in L.A. County plunged nearly 98% in the three months after the coronavirus stay-at-home orders took effect.
B&B, which premiered on March 23, 1987, is the most-watched U.S.-produced daytime drama in the world. It airs weekdays at 12:30 p.m. on CBS2.
