Claim: The Bold and the Beautiful has the highest number of viewers for any soap opera.

The Bold and the Beautiful -LRB- often referred to as B&B -RRB- is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS . It premiered on March 23 , 1987 as a sister show to the Bells ' other soap opera The Young and the Restless ; several characters from each of the two shows have crossed over to the other since the early 1990s . Set in Los Angeles , California , the show centers upon the Forrester family and their fashion house business Forrester Creations .   The program features an ensemble cast , headed by its longest-serving actors John McCook as Eric Forrester and Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke Logan . Since its premiere , the show has become the most-watched soap in the world , with an audience of an estimated 26.2 million viewers . As of 2010 , it continues to hold on to the second-placed position in weekly Nielsen Ratings for daytime dramas . The Bold and the Beautiful has also won 31 Daytime Emmy Awards , including one for Outstanding Drama Series in 2009 and again in 2010 , as well as in 2011 .   On September 7 , 2011 , the series switched to high definition , making it the second-to-last American soap to make the switch , at the time . B&B was the last American soap opera to make the transition due to the cancellation of ABC 's One Life to Live before it returned along with All My Children on April 29 , 2013 . It is the youngest airing daytime soap opera in the United States , celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary in March 2012 . Since December 2 , 2013 , The Bold and the Beautiful now airs same day CBS repeats on Pop .