Chris B

Deadline gave us a rare glimpse into the ratings that CBS is going by which I assume includes Live+3/7 since these numbers differ from the live ratings @Errolprovides. Link: https://deadline.com/2025/04/beyond-the-gates-tide-febreze-product-placement-1236378311/ "While Beyond the Gates has posted impressive gains in The Talk’s old timeslot — the Michele Val Jean drama is up 70% and averages 2.1 million viewers."

I'm curious if it'll change with the recast but I don't find Ted and Bill to be similar at all. Bill reminds me more of a JR Ewing type of sleeps around and views his wife more as a prop (at least with Dani) whereas Ted just had an affair that led to a child. I believe that Ted genuinely messed up and loves Nicole which I don't see with Bill and Dani. Valarie is still there but not Telma. If they end up bringing her band mates on, maybe this could be an opportunity to finally get Victoria Rowell on board. I do think her joining would give them another big jolt of publicity which could be nice for the second half of the year.

I feel like the show is all in on her (and probably Derek too). The actress who plays Ashley did post sadness over some of the things she's read about herself online but she's still filming as recent as this week. I feel like the show is going to stick with both characters until it works. I do enjoy Ashley but I feel like the writing and her main scene partner let her down.

I don't find the slang to be overdone or unrealistic, I just feel like the actors struggle to sell it which makes it stand out. I feel like it works if it's Chelsea, Kat or Eva but Samantha and Tyrell struggle with it. I feel like with the exception of Derek, all of the white actors are good but the way they're set up makes little sense (with the exception of Joey). Like you said, Ashley has a mother on the show who is connected to multiple characters but instead of using her to tell us who Ashley is, we have these Mary Sue situations to tell us how great she is. Why not utilize her mother? Why not show what her mother thinks of Andre or Derek? Another area of opportunity would've been giving Smitty a family member. Could he not be a sibling of Vanessa or Pamela's son? He feels so isolated since he's surrounded by Martin's family with no friends and a distant husband. Where is his outlet to express his feelings? And Derek of course is just all wrong. Like you said, he should be a cop, not a fireman and he's too isolated. The scenes with Jacob are helping but he still can't act.

It's too soon to truly judge but I did feel like Thursday and Friday were easier to watch than the show had been. The new writers haven't introduced their own stories yet but you can tell they're interpreting the material in a more relationship/character driven way. You also don't have that comedic undertone all of Ron's stuff tended to have. Comedy is fine but could be overused by Ron. I also am sure this won't be popular to say but I do think the show looks great from a production standpoint. When you consider the budget they have, the sets looked nice and the lighting was decent.

I saw on Twitter someone day that Keith doesn't start as Ted until May 15th. With the 4 preemptions we can expect the next two weeks, that should push his debut to around May 21st. If true, it'll be nice to see Turtleneck Ted get a strong send off before the new actor slots in for the next chapter of his life.

In the recent Kim Lankford interview she mentioned not really seeing the cast since she left the show. We do know Kevin Dobson, Ted Shackelford, Donna Mills, Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark seem to be the cloest. Dobson of course has passed away and we never see or hear about Ted which makes me worry about how he may be doing. Joan and Constance remained close with Julie Harris until her death. I know Constance is close with Michele, William Devane and John Pleshette. Claudia Lonow and Michele Lee have remained close and I remember Lonow included Lee on her ABC sitcom How To Live With Your Parents. The Knots and Dallas casts feel like they've done a lot to stay in touch compared to some of the primetime soaps. You definitely didn't have that on Dynasty or Falcon Crest.

I haven't watched this weeks episodes yet beyond some clips but I did want to go back to the conversation about criticism for the show. I think part of why everybody is on a different page is because it's been so long since we had a new soap and everybody has didn't expectations and time-tables in mind. I know for myself there are many things I'd change but overall I am still enjoying the day-to-day. The changes I want are more based around the production model and casting. I am still enjoying the writing and the pacing. But I also keep in mind we're still watching stuff from before the show aired. We know they're continuously making tweaks behind the scenes and we know we have something significant coming in May, in addition to a major recast. Even then, we'll only be looking at changes they made based on what they saw while still in a bubble without the show airing. It could be another 2-3 months before we see any changes based on the public reaction to the show. For me, that's why I've chosen not to focus so much on the negatives. It's very rare a soap launches perfectly and as long as I can enjoy the show on a day-to-day basis, that's all I need right now. I guess for me the point I'd start to really be critical would probably be August-September. I feel like that's enough time to work out kinks and make changes based on feedback. But I will say, reading all of the different opinions in here is part of my joy watching the show. I don't expect everybody to think the same as me and I enjoy seeing everybodys thoughts, even if they aren't enjoying the show.

I chuckled at their conversation about plastic surgery in episode 4 of the podcast. Donna admitted to a facelift in her 40s, Michele mentioned an eye lift during Knots and Joan said she can't speak on the subject because she doesn't know about plastic surgery lol.

It was lovely seeing Anita perform with her girls! I actually loved the new Jack Swing track and that they actually referenced a specific genre that was recognizable to Black viewers. That was clever and another unique element this show can bring. Looking at her age, it 100% makes sense that this is the type of music Anita would've sung in the 90s. I thought it was more interesting than just jumping to the obvious Supremes reference and doing a 60s number.

Since the show has attracted a younger audience, I wouldn't be surprised if their ratings are higher with Live+3/7 factored in and streaming.

I can't wait to inject Miami into my veins! It feels like it's been so long since we've had a really solid season. Maybe since SLC.

I thought for sure he'd be a Derek recast when I saw the picture lol. I'm glad they're about to start amping up the Martin story. I love the way they keep rotating the main stories so there is always something big to look forward to. I also think it was smart to hold off on the Martin story and give us a chance to get to know him and Smitty. I feel like I'll be more receptive to this in May that I would have while they figured out their chemistry and how to make their characters work.

I still am hoping they make Martin the son of Vernon and Anita so I don't necessarily want a newly created son but they could always say they have a son who is estranged from the family. Today's episode was great. Danielle Paige is one of my favorite script writers. Her scripts remind me of a P&G soap at it's best which might be due to her background on Guiding Light. She seems to really handle family dynamics well. Everything felt warm and unique to each relationship. I've been saying since early on that I felt like Eva was Nicole's daughter and as they continue to drop hints I'm feeling like that could be a real possibility. The birthday thing I feel can't just be a coincidence. Eva's birthday being a few weeks apart from Kat could've just been Dana trying to hide the fact that she was a stolen baby. If Nicole found out her baby was alive she'd most likely look for a baby born that day, not a few weeks later. Love, love, loved the scenes with Vernon and Dani. I felt like this was one of Karla Mosley's strongest episodes. Clifton Davis brings the best out of anybody who has the luxury of a one-on-one scene with him. Hayley potentially being pregnant is a smart development. Bill and Hayley need something to keep them in the mix and that would be a good way to do it. I do think long term they need to build out something more for them. A sibling or friend for Hayley is going to be needed to deepen her character and make her motivations more clear. Bill at least has his daughters but since they don't like him, a friend wouldn't hurt.

This is amazing when you think of the impact all three writers had on the show. Bill Bell's time on the show was pretty universally loved and JER while controversial, was an important part of turning the show around in the 90s. It's amazing to think Ron had roughly the same amount of time and didn't have nearly the impact either of those writers had.

That is so stupid. Ivy is one thing but I don't understand the continued erasure of Maggie and Jessica when it comes to that side of the family.

Wait, I assumed Jessica was Electra's mom, I had no idea they retconned a new brother to be her father. That is even more insane than what I initially thought.

I'm excited about this only because it's something new. It's also nice to see B&B revisiting a past character. I don't understand why they don't rotate past characters in for story arcs. Right now you have Electra but no Jessica. They could easily recast Jessica if they don't want to deal with Maitland Ward. Laura Leighton or Gina Tognoni would work in a pinch. Amber is another good example of someone who could come back for an arc. Of course we know Brad won't do anything earth shattering with Nick but I look forward to seeing him and at least getting a summer break from the Taylor/Ridge/Brooke story.

This was the last straw but he did the same thing to the actress who played Juliet. I don't know what his obsession was with the Lane pairing, but that Juliet story was the first true lead story he'd had in years and he had a higher episode count than he'd ever had that year so I struggled to understand why he was so upset. Of course, after he put an end to that story, he did the same thing to the pairing of Cane and Traci which was even more shocking because it repaired the character from the complaints he had of Cane turning dark and he still had great screentime. I don't think he's a bad actor but any soap that hires him needs to make sure to keep him in his place. If he starts pulling these stunts at GH they need to get rid of him before he develops a strong enough following to pull that same Lane nonsense.

For a recurring character and a non-name actor I think this is normal for a soap. Except for the bigger names I feel like this is more of an upper middle class type of gig.

I think it'll start with Maurice and transition into Keith since it's said Keith debuts in May. Maybe the actual event will have old Ted and then Keith will take over the week of May 5th and handle the fallout. Interesting time to make the switch since this is one of the most difficult circumstances for a recast, jumping into a major story. I know many have stated they feel Samantha is too old but before I learned her age, I didn't feel this way at all. I think she feels like a contemporary of Tyrell and I do believe she's younger than Kat and Chelsea. This could just be a me problem though. I've grown to love that family and a big part of it was introducing the kids so I might just be blinded by enjoying their chemistry. I've only watched Monday-Wednesday but one thing I loved about this week is finally getting to see different characters interacting. We got Kat and Chelsea with Samantha, Martin FINALLY with his alleged father and I know it was last week but we got Vernon/Anita with their great grandkids and Derek with Haley. One thing that is irritating me is that Chelsea is wanting to manage Samantha's modelling career when she knows how devastated her mother was when she said she was quitting modelling. I feel like although the family makes excuses for Dani, nobody is realizing just how lonely and isolated she is. This is a recipe for disaster for Dani.

I feel like from a writing stand point that is a miss. In real life she likely would just call her Aunt Dani. Soaps tend to be very literal with the whole "step" sibling or "half" sibling but I've never seen people talk like that in real life.

I have to say, with Shanice back from PTO, I really hope they sit down and think through what's next to her. Fan reaction has been strong and the actress is one of their very best. I don't want them to just throw her into a story, I feel like they need to add her to contract and plan a full expansion for her character. I'd use it as an opportunity to bring in a family member or two for her and I'd get her out of the hospital and chemistry test her with every man on canvas.

Since the soaps are now on a primetime schedule, I wonder if we will hear anything about a BTG renewal within the next couple months. Technically their season would end in August but with the unique ownership I guess it's possible it could be like GH and not have official renewals. It's also possible when it was initially picked up that it was for more than one season. @Erroldo you have any insight on this?

I'm glad they highlighted the ratings. Everybody tends to focus too much on live ratings these days when that isn't the only thing they look at. I wish they'd report more on the Live+7 and the streaming numbers so we had a better idea of how these shows are really doing, especially BTG since it is new. Although the show is awful, I'm glad that they are sticking with 3 soaps for now. I won't fault a network that is trying to build a soap lineup in this day and age. And as awful as the show is, people do watch it for whatever reason.