Absent from “The Young and the Restless” since the show’s Thursday, January 2, 2025 episode, Lauralee Bell (Christine Blair) is set to return to Genoa City later this spring when she begins taping all-new episodes of the daytime drama series in late April, set to air in early June.
In an interview with Deadline, Bell revealed that in the interim, she’ll be making a three-episode return appearance on sister soap “The Bold and the Beautiful,” airing Thursday, April 24; Friday, April 25 and Monday, April 28.
“You never know when Brad Bell [executive producer/head writer of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’] calls, if I’m going to be asked a question or if I can come to ‘B&B’ for a couple of days,” Bell said to the outlet about her return, and speaking of her brother. “He established this collaboration. Years ago I represented Ridge [then played by Ronn Moss] on a court case, and then several months ago, Danny [Michael Damian] and Christine stopped in during the summer because we’re on tour and he’s the rock star. And then they used Danny’s music for a Brooke’s [Katherine Kelly Lang] bedroom lingerie line. So the tie-in continues!”
CBS
“We’ve been super lucky because so many of our ‘Y&R’ fans who have rooting for Danny and Christine to be back together after 30 years came to watch ‘B&B’ for those couple of days,” Bell continued, speaking on her second visit to “The Bold and the Beautiful.” She added, “We assume everyone who watches ‘Y&R’ watches ‘B&B,’ but for the few that didn’t, we got ‘Y&R’ people to come to watch ‘B&B.’ Our audience really showed up.”
In the episodes Bell referenced, aired during the week of August 12-16, 2024, “The Bold and the Beautiful” tied “The Young and the Restless” in both the Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 key women sales demographics, each with a 0.3 rating in the former (rounded) and a 0.4 rating in the latter (rounded).
At the time, in unrounded Women 18-49, the half-hour soap topped its sister series with a 0.28 rating, +0.03 ahead of “The Young and the Restless” and its 0.25 rating. Meanwhile, among Women 25-54, the two soaps were in a virtual tie with the hour-long drama averaging a 0.44 rating that particular week to the 0.42 rating for “The Bold and the Beautiful.” The two soaps also saw a bump among Total Viewers compared to the week prior.
For her third appearance on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” fans can expect Bell’s character to take part in the show’s next big fashion show storyline, which will likely also include an appearance by reality TV star Spencer Pratt (see story).
As for “The Young and the Restless,” Bell will be joined by Damian back in Genoa City now that Danny Romalotti’s world tour is winding down.
“We are together. We are happily touring the world. I dropped everything legal to join him on this worldwide tour, and we’ll come back to Genoa City in April to start taping again,” Bell noted in her conversation with Deadline. “There’s still so much more to say and there’s still so much more story to go.”