Chris B

Wow! Natalie Minardi Slater is a huge get! That is who Kay Aldenw as grooming as her successor had things not gone the way they did. Happy to see her at BTG!

The Susan/Liza thing is incredibly odd because as @Khan said, they did have a relationship. Two parts of the interview made me think of it: first was the chapter about being a working mother but only mentioning Andreas and then when she mentioned a friend who didn't go to Helmut's funeral, knowing Liza wasn't invited. It must be something huge to have caused such a huge rift.

I just started watching again and one of the few highlights are Carson and Raven! Wow!

Today's episode was excellent and you could really see the growth in the production overall. I don't want to hear any nonsense about who wrote the breakdown, this entire episode was a success and I give credit to everybody involved! We got a good variety of scenes starting with Dani/Nicole bonding which is always going to be a highlight. I also enjoyed Kat, Chelsea and Naomi. Naomi's unraveling did wonders to helping us understand why she sometimes reacts to things the way she does. I also am enjoying Kat taking accountability and trying to be there for her family. The Ted/Andre scenes were great and I loved seeing Andre encourage him to repair his relationship with Carlton. The Ashley/Naomi scenes were fantastic! These two have great chemistry and Ashley works so well outside of Derek. I hope they get it right with this new love interest they were teasing. I thought we were in for standard office scenes at Bill's office but I loved the shock of Tomas overhearing Hayley's scheming. I wonder where this is going to go: Is he going to investigate Hayley? Confront her? The highlight of the episode were the Bill/Dani/Andre scenes towards the end. Karla Mosley has insane chemistry with both actors and they seem to have fallen into a very nice triangle. I hope they play this for all it's worth this year! I still don't know which couple I want. The slight changes they made to the writing staff definitely have improved things. The pacing is great and the show feels so settled in. I'm getting excited to see what's to come! This was an excellent start to the week.

This is how I felt. I also hope they're misleading us when it comes to Max. I don't want another year of him being the same mess he was before. I hope that we get to see him actively trying to be a better person before getting drawn into whatever they were teasing. This is exactly how I feel. I stick around for those individual scenes and the relationships. I just need one story I can latch on to.

I don't know any spoilers or have insider knowledge but I don't think Derek is going to disappear. It's so hard to say since the show has so many heavily recurring actors. Based on that my assumption is that he'll probably linger in the background but I do think we'll still see him here and there. I noticed the show posted an interview with him on Instagram talking about his favorite moments of season one. That and the fact they seem so hesitant to write anybody off.

I wasn't impressed with the New Years fast-forward either. I'm not going to drop the show but definitely they need to win me back. I'm hoping the next couple month see some improvement.

It was so beneath her. It really disappointed me. They could've had anyone play that role and they gave it to her? Now that I think about it, I think she could've been a better Claudia. I feel like she could've provided the kind of balance that Donna Mills brought to Abby. I never bought Kathleen Noone when she tried to show the softer sides of Claudia. She felt very one-dimensional and evil.

I enjoyed Robin Strasser and Jane Elliot the most. I feel like the worst used daytime actors were Jamie Lyn Bauer and Rosemary Prinz just because I know how good both are and think it's a shame they got such throwaway roles.

I've enjoyed the Anita storyline but I do wonder how it'll play long term. If this were another soap with multiple families it would be a different story, but here we only have the Duprees so it makes me wonder how they will develop other major storylines when realistically Anita should be the family's main focus. I feel like the only options are really Ashley or Vanessa for counter-programming that isn't centered on the Duprees. Bringing on Deanna/Donnell in a regular capacity could allow them to build something there. With Ashley, we've all speculated about the Joey/Dad angle and that could be something that could really tie them all together. I'm just hopeful they're mindful of how heavy this can get and can balance it out.

They tried to get her to appear in the 1997 miniseries in a lead role but she turned them down. Ultimately, they were able to negotiate for her to film one scene once production had wrapped.

I'm so thankful she turned down the reunion movie. Was it perfect? No but can you imagine had she been there?

Thank you! I do looooove Xander and Sarah. I did tune in for their most recent breakup and I thought those scenes were really powerful. Johnny/Chanel are cute. I forgot about them but definitely will keep my eye on them. Hopefully Dimitri's return can bring some spark to Leo and Javi.

I wanted to pick up another soap since Neighbours was cancelled and decided to try Days since the Bell soaps are just not an option in their current state. I stopped watching like a year into it's Peacock run but I've kept up on what's been going on. After a full week I feel like I can stick with it although I can't say anything popped at me. I was hoping to come in here and see it was just a slow week but it sounds like the new regime isn't great. I'm still going to try to keep going in hopes things improve. My biggest struggles were how sluggish the pacing was and none of the stories popped for me. Most of my enjoyment came from seeing certain characters I enjoy like Susan, EJ, Philip and I know it's unpopular here, but Leo. Disappointed to see Gwen again. That character has been dead to me since she killed Laura. For those who have been watching, are there are storylines/couples/highlights I should keep my eye on?

One thing I've longed hope for is that they drop season one on Netflix. So many shows have found a new audience that way and I could see the same happening for BTG.