Forbes has shed a spotlight on soap opera’s first family, The Bells. In an new feature out on October 4, the outlet which focuses on wealth, business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership, explained the rise of Bell family dynasty and where it’s at today set against the backdrop of a pared down genre from back in its heyday.

As soap fans know, the iconic Bill Bell Sr. and his wife Lee Phillip Bell created and premiered The Young and the Restless in 1973 and The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987. Bill Sr. who is considered one of the greatest soap writers of all-time, died in 2005 and Lee in 2020.

However, their children: Bill Bell Jr., Brad Bell (executive producer and head writer, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Lauralee Bell (Christine, The Young and the Restless) have continued on and have helped their family amass reportedly the “first-ever billion-dollar fortune, with a combined net worth of around $2 billion.” It should be noted that the Bells declined to comment on their wealth for the article.

Photo: CBS

Much of the credit of the financial fortune belongs to Bill Bell Jr. who handled the business affairs for the family production companies for decades, negotiating massive deals for the Bell entity. In fact, it was Bell Jr., who was able to ensure an exceptional profit share deal with Columbia and Sony through the years, and B&B being family owned with major international distribution deals.

Bell Jr, is reportedly worth 1.1 billion dollars, according to Forbes. In recent years, he has stepped away from the business concentrating on art ventures with his wife, the former head writer and EP of Y&R, Maria Arena Bell.

THE FIGHT FOR WHAT THE BELLS ARE WORTH

One story detailed in Forbes was how Y&R’s licensing and writing deals were up for renewal in the late 1980s. Bill Jr. fought for the Bells to earn a major cut of the show’s profits during a dramatic standoff. Bill Jr., convinced his father and the family to withhold Y&R scripts until Columbia gave them their “fair share.” The report shares they kept the new scripts locked up at home while the studio was eating up its existing ones. The studio threatened to fire Bill Bell Sr.

Brad Bell, who continues to head up The Bold and the Beautiful, recalled, “Bill Jr. was determined to take it down to the wire.” Columbia ended up folding and the Bells came away with 50% of The Young and the Restless‘ profits.

Photo: JPI

As B&B nears its 40th anniversary in March of 2027,  it’s still broadcast in over 50 countries and brings in over 20 million non-American viewers. Its massive foreign earnings  subsidize its domestic operations, according to three people with knowledge of the show’s finances as told to Forbes.

Next week on The Bold and the Beautiful will pick right back up where the Friday, October 2 episode left off, leaving most viewers seething and seeing red. At the end of Cliffhanger Friday, Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) have made their way to Forrester Creations CEO office.

Steffy continued to tell Carter for the umpteenth time why his plan to deceive Daphne (Murielle Hilaire) will not work and how covering this up to her, and to Finn (Tanner Novlan) will pose massive problems down the line, but Carter keeps throwing in her face that they have to act now!

Carter tells Steffy that he and Daphne can give the child all the love it needs. Steffy fires back, “Not mine.” She wants to tell the truth of their one night together, but Carter argues this is the only way out of their deception, by continuing to deceive.

Courtesy/CBS

DONOR BLUES

Just then, Daphne walks in on the conversation, prompting Carter to corner Steffy!  “Go ahead, Steffy,” he begins. “Tell Daphne. Tell her the good news.” Steffy is blindsided, and freeze up, but Carter tells his wife, “We did it. The implantation and fertilization. The day they’ve been dreaming of, it’s happened. It’s finally happened. Steffy is our surrogate.”

Daphne looks stunned. Steffy is in tears. That sets up The Bold and the Beautiful’s look ahead for the action on episodes from October 5-9.  In the video preview, Steffy says, “What Carter and I did was wrong.” Carter wants her to shut up, but Steffy says that Daphne, “deserves to know.”

However, eagle-eyed viewers noticed how the promo was cut together; which may be moments from the same scene or an adjoining scene edited to make this look more questionable, and if Steffy will actually confess the truth to Daphne or go along with Carter’s scheme. Stay tuned!

WILL ZENDE SWITCH TEAMS AND JOIN LOGAN?

Meanwhile, after Zende (Delon de Metz) headed over to Logan following his conversations with Dylan (Sydney Bullock), who prodded him to give Katie (Heather Tom) and Hope (Annika Noelle) a chance to talk to him, he is unsure if he will join the Logan team.

Deke (Harrison Cone) is excited for Zende to come aboard, but Zende tells him he is on the fence. Katie wants to ensure that Zende will say “yes,” and may sweeten the deal as she continues poaching design talent from the rival fashion house.

Will (Crew Morrow) wants his mother to backoff of Dylan, now that she did her bidding for her to lure Zende to Logan. He announces to Katie, “I think it’s time you embraced her into the family.” Is Katie going to give Dylan a chance or continue to just use her for her own business gains?

SPOILERS

Now below, check out the official spoilers for the action next week on B&B.

Monday, October 5
Will confides in Wyatt
Daphne is stunned by Carter’s surprising news.

Tuesday, October 6
Daphne questions why she was left in the dark.
Electra is eager to prove herself.

Wednesday, October 7
Will draws a hard line with Katie.
R.J. and Electra tell Zende that he’s an integral part of their team.

Thursday, October 8
Electra is furious when she overhears Dylan’s private conversation.
Eric and Ridge prepare to fully back the new Electra line.

Friday, October 9
Zende is put on the spot.
Katie and Hope are optimistic about Logan’s next power move.

Check out the final scene from Cliffhanger Friday where Carter breaks the news to Daphne that Steffy is officially their surrogate, much to Steffy’s chagrin, followed by the look ahead to next week’s episodes. Then weigh-in: are you appalled at this surrogacy storyline and the behavior of Carter, and for Steffy to go along with it? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

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The ratings are out for the week of September 7-11, 2026 and while all of the long-running daytime dramas were down in total viewers week-over-week, it was the newest soap opera on the block, Beyond the Gates, that showed gains and much promise. Let’s take a look.

According to Soap Opera Network, not only did Beyond the Gates add +12,000 tuning-in for the week, it is narrowing the gap between itself and current #3 soap, General Hospital in total viewers, and tied with the venerable ABC series for actual household ratings share.

Beyond the Gates averaged 1,689,000 for its audience for the week while General Hospital had 1,769,000, that’s just an 80,000 difference that separates the two shows. While Beyond the Gates had a year-over-year increase for the ratings week, GH showed the biggest loss of all the soaps year-over-year with -231,000 and the biggest loss in viewers week-over-week with -142,000.

Photo: CBS

BEYOND THE GATES

In addition, Beyond the Gates once again bested GH in the key 18-49 women’s rating share and also for the week, the women’s 25-54 ratings share, now putting them firmly in the third place. It should be noted that both Beyond the Gates and General Hospital aired an encore presentation on Labor Day, September 7.

Here’s what had viewers tuning-in on Beyond the Gates: Hayley (Marquita Goings) faced mounting pressure as Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett) grew suspicious of her lies and a major secret came to light. Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman) went through a paranoid spiral noticed by Dani (Karla Mosley), while Heather Armstrong’s (Ashley Jones) behavior became increasingly unhinged, Deanna (Angela Fairley) reached a breaking point under mounting pressure and decided to return to school and Smitty (Mike Manning) was digging deeper into the death of Lia Whitmore.

Courtesy/ABC

GENERAL HOSPITAL

On General Hospital, the week in story was highlighted by: Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) admitting she was the other driver in Jordan Ashford’s (Tanisha Harper) accident, leaving Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) furious and demanding answers and ultimately Chase (Josh Swickard) walking out on Brook Lynn!

In addition, viewers witnessed, Anna (Finola Hughes) nearly killing Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud), but instead firing a shot at a hallucination of Peter August (Wes Ramsey) as Jason (Steve Burton) tried to talk Anna down. Meanwhile, Drew (Cameron Mathison) and Ava (Maura West) dealt with the fallout and complications surrounding the disappearance of Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna).

Courtesy/CBS

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Over at B&B, the soap remained in second place behind sister soap, The Young and the Restless for the top spot in total viewers; although it should be noted they continued to close the gap for the race to #1. For the ratings period, The Bold and the Beautiful average 2,695,000 tuning-in, but was down week-over-week -83,000, but with the biggest soap gains year-over-year at this time with +228,000.

In other good news for the show, it came in at #1 for the key women’s 18-49 rating share defeating Y&R, and came in #2 for the women’s 25-54 rating share behind Y&R.

In story for the ratings week: Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) goes into panic-mode after a positive pregnancy and breaks the news to Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor). Katie (Heather Tom) tries to meddle in Will’s (Crew Morrow) love life with Dylan (Sydney Bullock), thus having Katie visit Electra (Laneya Grace) and telling the young woman to try to win Will back. Finn (Tanner Novlan) tries to give surrogacy advice to Carter and Daphne (Murielle Hilaire) unaware of his wife Steffy’s drunken night with Carter, and the true cause-effect of that moment.

Photo: JPI

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

Once again, Y&R remained as the number one most-viewed broadcast television daytime drama of then all, clocking in with 3,059,000 tuning-in, but down -130,000 week-over-week, but still up + 159,000 year-over-year. Y&R also remained in the top spot for household ratings share and atop the key women’s 25-54 rating share.

In story for the week: Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) escaped custody and tracked down Matt Clark (Roger Howarth). Meanwhile, Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) continue their affair and are almost caught by Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) and Marie (Jade Harlow) shared a heartfelt goodbye before she leaves town to continue her recovery. Jack (Peter Bergman) sets a trap for Patty as he collapses at Society.

Of note: Nielsen ratings are based on the Live+Same Day Big Data+Panel model.

So, what do you think about the latest ratings picture and how Beyond the Gates is gaining on General Hospital in total viewers while already besting them in both key demos? Which soap opera is piquing your interest the most? Which is not doing it for you? Weigh-in via the comment section below.