Interview Days: With Carly Back, Bo Has His Hands Full

Daytime Dial: How has been having Crystal Chappell back as Carly Manning?
Peter Reckell: There are two levels: First of all, Bo and Hope have been together for so long and the writers have found it difficult to make our stories interesting. And bringing Carly back makes it a lot more exciting and interesting on a lot of new levels that when Crystal was here before we didn’t have, because Hope wasn’t here. And so there’s a lot, you know, there’s a lot of history with both these women and so it’s pretty intense. And then on the other level of working with two amazing actresses, it makes my life fun.

DD: What kind of response are you getting from your fans about this new story line?
Peter Reckell: I actually was really surprised of the response because the news came out when I went to New York on a publicity tour for the Emmys, and so I got to speak to a lot of fans and people like yourself. And almost everybody I spoke to was really, really excited about Crystal coming back to the show. Mostly because it would bring some interest to the Bo and Hope storyline.

DD: Who would be the one person that Bo would turn to for advice?
Peter Reckell: Right now it’s kind of cool because there’s really nobody. I’m helping Carly so it’s — actually today we’re doing scenes about that where Carly comes into town and she’s kind of a mess, and so I feel good because I can help her. But at the same time I’m frustrated, because I usually go to Hope and we can’t talk anymore. So right now I’m kind of up in the air, kind of in limbo.

DD: Would Bo let himself truly fall back in love with Carly or will that be really hard for him to do because of Hope? Is he going to be all conflicted and not know what to do eventually?
Peter Reckell: Oh yeah, it’s a perfect soap opera story. There’s all that conflict and turmoil and which direction do I go? When Carly was around before Hope wasn’t around, so I let myself totally fall in love with her. He’s between a rock and a hard place. Bo and Hope are having problems and the feelings for Carly just start to come up.

DD: How would you characterize the differences between Bo’s relationship with Carly and Bo’s relationship with Hope?
Peter Reckell: With Bo and Hope, that whole relationship started when we were both pretty young. And it’s kind of a first love — with the depth and weight that that carries. And then the Carly relationship was more of adult relationship. I guess that’s it — there’s the first love, and then there’s the love that comes after that.

DD: How has Bo developed and changed throughout the years?
Peter Reckell: When I came back to the show a couple years ago and Bo was a cop, I was like what the — that’s the furthest thing from my mind. I never thought Bo would be a cop, because his relationship with Roman was Roman was the cop and the white knight, and Bo rebelled against that. And now here I am a cop, and I’m one of the top cops. And it’s like what the heck? How did I get here? But it’s been a natural progression: maturing, having a family and being responsible. But I think that renegade is still in there. And I’m hoping that with this story line with Carly that might come out a little bit more again.