Chris B

Thank you for posting this! Now that I've seen it, I wonder if they took the week of just to maintain the 20 episodes per month. Maybe that's the amount they ordered per month?

My Aunt just came over and she was asking me why Beyond the Gates wasn't on. She said she saw the rerun on tv and went to Paramount+ and couldn't find it. She was very upset as well! I can only imagine all of the viewers who aren't online are equally confused.

I don't think CBS viewing would be included in Paramount Plus ratings but both are valuable I'm sure.

I agree. I'm sure whatever the reason would make sense and probably be simple had they said something.

I hope when she returns they give us something to do with this story. I do think it would be nice to have an event where we see them perform. I'd have them do the song we saw Anita do with Dani and Naomi and another song that allows all three to perform. I don't see either of her bandmates becoming regulars but it would be nice to give one of them a tie to the canvas via a child. Maybe that child could move to town and Anita could mentor them as a way to make up for ditching the band. I would just hope the child wouldn't be presented as "bad" since I don't think there were any bad guys in The Articulettes. I've been behind on Neighbours so I'm going to use this time to catch up on that.

I agree. This is the only part of tv and film where it's so damn hard to get the real stories out there. I don't think it's negative or messy but these stories deserve to be told. I feel like the closest we've gotten is The Locher Room but as we all know, he tries to shut down any controversy as soon as it starts. I love when guests push back and get their story out. The most uncomfortable I've ever seen him Signy Coleman spoke about her marriage to David Irrizarry and how he was physically abusive to her. I thought he was going to combust but something like that is *so* serious and I'm sure it was hard for her to speak about it, but you could tell it was important to her. I feel like it humanizes the guests when they can be honest and helps people watching who may have gone through similar situations.

The outdoor shoots on ATWT worked better than GL but even GL managed to nail it a few times. I feel like the biggest issue with GL was the vision, not the production model. The poorly chose locations of scenes, the shaky camera, the generic soft rock soundtrack which took all the drama out of the scenes, etc. I do think US soaps have shown they can do regular location shooting that works. The outdoor park on Y&R is a bit small, but works. I also feel like B&B has always had very seamless outdoor scenes which I hope continue with their new studio. B&B is probably the best example of what I'd want from BTG (in terms of whats practical). For years they had that gym and a restaurant set and of course we knew it was just creative shooting at their studio but they made it work and when they did use those sets, they used them fairly regularly.

It's so hard to say because of all the different time periods but with the exception of Days, I feel you could argue all the current soaps took time before they became hits. Launching a soap post-B&B has been very difficult so BTG not being a breakout hit (as far as we know since we don't know streaming numbers) shouldn't be a surprise if we're being realistic. I'd argue you could consider Passions and Port Charles success stories, especially Passions which had a unique fanbase that still talks about the show. With Port Charles and The City, they were in a timeslot with clearance issues so I don't know that either had a true opportunity for real success and Sunset Beach wasn't a good show.

Of course, as Errol has perfectly outlined, this is all speculation but on the ratings standpoint, lets say CBS is not pleased, I do wonder what they have in mind to change that. It's not uncommon for a soap to start out low in the ratings and gradually build overtime so I could see them increasing their ratings but I'm curious what types of changes they'll make for that to happen. Unlike most new soaps, we've seen very little change to the cast. We've had one recast and of course Madison and Carlton are new characters but I'm not sure how much they'll use either. I do think both would be good to keep long term, especially Carlton. What I think they really need is a splashy new character they can spin a promo campaign around. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Victoria Rowell--in a meaningful, contract role. Attach her to someone and create a secondary family to rival the Duprees. This has saved so many soaps in the past and I'm sure BTG will get there one way or another. I can't wait until we get to the point where we can see what changes they make to improve viewership. Knowing they're filming November sweeps, I hope they have something big planned.

The weather in Atlanta is really not that different from DC where they'd have to do anything like that to make it look more realistic. It's colder in DC but it does snow in Atlanta. I think the exteriors they did in week one fit perfectly and didn't read like it was the wrong location.

I co-sign all the comments about exteriors. That was my one big hope and it didn't end up happening which I find so disappointing, especially with the studio they're in. I think it would be helpful to lure in younger viewers and also it just opens a show up. I hate that we're in the middle of summer and they haven't even given us a studio outdoor set. The is typically the time you get the cast in more casual clothes yet it's business as usual here. You mean to tell me they can't throw together an outdoor set for the country club?

I find the whole season thing to be so confusing. I know they do a primetime schedule where its roughly September-August for a season but we know their initial studio contract was through August 2025 which would've given them episodes through December. So either they always had a two season pickup and it just wasn't announced or they were off schedule. But as you said, this could all be resolved if they said something. Just randomly dropping a week is going to cause a stir since people are invested in the show.

I know it's controversial but I actually didn't hate the Kirkland invasion. I didn't like how when Labine returned she basically disregarded everything to reset the show to where she left it. I think she could've made the Kirkland family (and Rae and Kimberly) work in a more balanced world of Ryan's Hope.

For me personally, much like the other soaps, I'd like them to get better at regularly posting key clips on their social media. I'm not saying they don't do it at all, but it's often just random clips and not the highlights that go viral on social media.

They're currently filming the week of November 16th so I don't think they're retooling. At least, I don't think that's the reason for the break. They have more than enough episodes where if they needed to take a break and retool, they could. Now with that said, I do think we'll see some retooled storylines considering the writing staff has had a shake up. The more I think about this and the more I think it's just a way to keep the episodes in sync due to all of the previous preemptions. Nothing else really makes sense.

He cheated on her and had a baby with another woman.

I feel like the writing has been strong and only gotten better over time. I'm curious how it will feel once Thomson arrives. Hopefully she is a good addition to the team!

Considering its off next week, I wish they hadn't done such a detailed Next On preview. The next week looks AMAZING and I feel it's going to lose momentum being off a week.

I have to say, at least their social media team is definitely lacking. I notice they always fail to clip the highlight scenes which could build momentum for the show online. I first took notice when they didn't post Anita's karaoke performance and I've been noticing that it's a continuous theme with them. As for a week of repeats, they're going to catch hell for this. The show has already been pre-empted so much that people are going to be naturally upset. The story is also hot and it's not common for this to happen with a soap. I'm curious if this is to retool something? But with them filming 3 months ahead I can't see the need for that. Very strange.

What if the announcement is a timeslot shift?

The actress who plays Ashley just had a story on CBS Mornings relating to her schedule at work so I don't see her going anywhere. Derek was also excited in the videos for the season two announcement. I am very curious who will be the first character written out but for now, I just hope they fix the direction for these characters if they have to stick around. I will say, I did enjoy the Ashley/Dani scenes on Wednesday. I wouldn't mind if that became her story, investigating Hayley's pregnancy and meddling in that way. Any romance they need to just revisit in a few months with someone other than Derek or Andre.

I wonder if this could be why Lynn Martin's contract wasn't renewed.

Caroline’s lawsuit is moving along and the more I hear about it, the more this feels like she was embarrassed and just doesn’t want it to air. What we’re learning now is that Caroline returned to film confessionals and the complete 7 episode series was delivered to the network in October 2023. She only got upset and filed this lawsuit when she realized this story would cover multiple episodes (3-6 it seems). I think this is pretty shocking because I just assumed it was unfinished and I never imagined she would’ve gone back to shoot confessionals. Still no idea if this will ever air but Bravo will 100% get this dismissed. Between the detailed footage they’re providing (both raw footage and edited episodes), plus the entire cast siding with Brandi, I just don’t see how Caroline wins this.

There has been a thing with homophobic men luring gay guys to their death using apps. I think that would be a bold move if they went there. I find it so odd that Smitty saw what he did and didn't try to find out what happened. That has me side eyeing him now. I will say though that I love how so many of the characters have a little grey to them instead of being all good or bad. Today's episode was another home run! I cannot wait for each episode to find out this damn secret!

I don't even think it was pride, I feel like Vernon feels betrayed by Bill. He accepted him despite his initial reservations and helped him build himself into the successful man he is. Then he had to watch Bill cheating on his daughter for years only to leave her for his granddaughters friend. Yes Bill can argue the family went to him as counsel/a fixer but Bill is only who he is because of them. He could've divorced Dani the right way and moved on and we wouldn't be having this problem. Bill made his bed and deserves all the scorn he gets from Vernon and the others.