DramatistDreamer

Carlton gives me the creeps. What's his backstory? Is he divorced or has he just been lying in wait for Nicole all these years?

This looks rough now but I wonder what A.I. soaps will look, sound like in a few years. Should the soap industry worry about this?

Who said I was talking about money? I'm talking about the Black card that gave her entree into the community. Her friendship with Nicole and Dani wouldn't be enough to do that with the wider community in Fairmont Crest.

My brother died from pancreatic cancer three years ago (next month), so I know how deeply triggering Anita's storyline can be. Therefore, I made the decision that I would only watch sporadically for now, especially since this show has decided to focus narrowly on a few set of characters. In the very beginning I was discussing this with another group of folks who were watching the show (some have stayed, some dropped the show) that I thought that they should either connect Mona and Laura as relatives or give at least one of them some sort of family. I would love to see Loren Lott be family to either Mona or Laura and Loren could hit the ground running due to her previous experience on a soap. But this show desperately needs another Black family that is not directly related to the Duprees, either by blood or marriage, because the scenarios on this show do feel claustrophobic. And there ought to be some other storylines besides illness (Anita, Peaches), gangsters and the world of sex work and Leslie who is obsessed with the Duprees and their world. There is plenty more that they could be giving us and I really hope that we will see this very soon. This show needs to go on ahead and have Vanessa admit that she never loved Doug and that she used him to get a foothold into a community that it is unlikely she would ever gain access to without him. Instead of trying to have her straddle two sides of the fence, which is not working anyway, have her go full villain. Also, we know she doesn't care about those kids.

A lot of people will claim that hey, with the likes of David Canary and Erika Slezak there just wasn't a lot of room for other actors to grab awards but it still doesn't make sense to have a world in which Kathryn Hays never even got nominated once, Elizabeth Hubbard never won for her portrayal of Lucinda Walsh (especially when she specialized in the kind of OTT performances the Daytime Emmy voters often loved to reward), Colleen Zenk didn't get a single nomination until the '00s and Hillary Bailey Smith was virtually ignored until she went over to One Life To Live. The men had slightly better luck but it was somewhat laughable (or merely coincidence?) that Gregg Marx, Julianne Moore, Brian Bloom and Ellen Parker all held their Emmy statuettes in their hands when their presence on their respective shows were in the rearview. All that I could've overlooked if Kathryn Hays had gotten even one nomination in damn near 40 years of solidly strong work. I mean, Kim Sullivan Hughes was the last character ever created by Irna Phillips. If Hays' performance as Kim isn't a metaphor about the lack of regard for daytime soaps, I don't know what is. Yes, it's probably also P&G's fault as well, which is why I still don't trust them when it comes to any soap opera.

I am hoping that the N.A.T.A.S. voters no longer have that bias that they once seemed to have against actors on P&G, especially since P&G is only a "partner" and not actually producing BTG. It would be great to see Tamara Tunie be acknowledged for the work she has put in.

Agreed. Doug was a flawed but basically decent human being. Joey is a flawed and amoral individual.

Who is the heck is writing Joey Armstrong as some sort of sexy lothario? Nothing against Jon Lindstrom but it is unbelievable that Joey is as magnetic as the writing would try to convince us as being. It's also diabolical that we are going to see more of this character who uses Black men as brainless muscle to be ordered around. Not to mention, how Armstrong is portrayed as some sort of omniscient, omnipotent force who has all the agency in every situation, except with his new bleach blonde kitten Vanessa (they're both trash, at this point). Someone needs to challenge Armstrong's dominance and it ought to be the Feds (how is the actor who played Doug McBride doing these days? Wouldn't mind if Doug has been working with the Feds this entire time).

I have decided to catch up with this show (on the last few episodes). The show has improved but I hope it will improve some more going forward. Tamara Tunie is getting an opportunity to flex her thespian skills, even though the storyline is making people wonder if Tunie will be on the show down the road. This a public service storyline but it will also be a storyline that provides an Emmy nomination. There are still a lot of characters with no stakes storylines, who are just there. Dropping Ben Gavin's status was a good move, they need to do the same with Jen Jacobs. There is nothing for her really to do, and she and Sean Freeman have no chemistry that I can see. Carlton is dull. When I first saw the character, I thought he might have some connection to Leslie and Eva because of that odd encounter between he and Eva on the night of Ted and Nicole's disastrous anniversary party. There was something about the tone he had towards Eva that seemed "paternal". It got me wondering if there is some twist to Eva's paternity, like Carlton is her actual biological dad and Carlton and Leslie have been "low-key" keeping it under wraps to pursue the people they have been after for decades (Nicole and Leslie). Leslie has been known to play the long game where Ted is concerned and Carlton has practically been lying in wait for an opportunity with Nicole (did Carlton ever get married or have kids?). It would zhuzh up this quadrangle, or whatever it's supposed to be. Also, this thing with Vanessa and Joey is spinning its wheels right now, with no real stakes. Vanessa is openly trying to play a pimp at her friend's family's (Black-owned) country club, there are no stakes at this point because neither she nor Joey much care about anything. Time to bring in the Feds to apply some pressure to their money laundering operation. I hope this is what we will see. If we are to believe these two are living dangerously, show us the danger. Months ago, I complained/suggested something in a past BTG thread and I am seeing traces of it onscreen. I won't mention what it is 🤭🤐but I am somewhat interested in seeing where it eventually lands. There is still too much awkward exposition in scenes, rather than allowing for flow with the dialogue that sounds distinct and more natural to the character.

You've never been to the New York Sports Club in Harlem, have you?🙃 That place had scenes Beyond The Gates wished they could write!

I have been in the Classic Soaps thread a few times but I am not on nearly as often as I used to be. I'm not sure how often I will be posting going forward but perhaps I will post every now and then?

This is my first time visiting and posting on the board since the major update and I am sincerely liking the look. I especially appreciate the native dark mode on the site, as this will be so much easier on my eyes and I just prefer the look overall. Great job @Errol Congratulations! EDT: Also, I appreciate the use of the "white space" on my screen. No wasted screen real estate on my 16" laptop, the layout makes great use of my screen resolution/dimensions.

I am shocked that no one has mentioned Courtney Simon https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0792404/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_Courtney%2520Simon And Douglas Marland (who was often referred to as an "actor's writer") did a bit of acting work, including a stint on The Doctors before becoming a headwriter for daytime soaps such as As The World Turns.

Speaking of AMC, this interview with Debi Morgan was recently posted with WPIX (Channel 11 to those of use who grew up in the NYC Metro area) .

I enjoy reaction videos and have always wanted there to be a daytime soap edition. I wish more soaps would do these types of video reactions by the actors. Now that P&G has dipped their toes back into the world of daytime drama, I wish they would allow that with some of their clips from their classic shows. Hm.🤔