Broderick

In their defense, I think someone on the staff is a reader, although it's not necessarily reflected in the complexity of the characters. Where it often IS evident is in the show's almost excessive use of the literary devise of foreshadowing. There was so much foreshadowing in early 2025 that it zapped much of the suspense out of the season, particularly in regards to Martin's secret, Chelsea's kidnapping, and Hayley's post-wedding plans for Bill. Yes, it was still fun to follow the path from the foreshadowing to the fruition, but I often found myself wishing they'd previewed LESS of their material upfront. They did the same in early 2026, regarding the BRCA gene and the plasma thieves. Hopefully with the recently announced two-year renewal, we'll see a bit less flagrant "spillage" of each season's upcoming storylines at the beginning of the year.

Although I found myself hoping Greyson would slowly bleed to death in the stairwell, and dimwitted Ashley would come RACING down the steps, slip in his blood, lose her footing, fall flat on her ass, crack her head wide open, and croak on the landing, I thought it was mighty clever of the writers to have Vernon reference Shawn Andre Cosby's Southern crime novels -- such as All the Sinners Bleed -- while Greyson was bleeding all over Ashley's apartment. It's little moments like that which really make me appreciate BTG's breakdown writers and dialogue writers.

I was a little confused by his potential Senate campaign, too -- but he specified Wednesday, in his conversation with Miss Beautiful, that it would be the 2028 Senate race. I've always presumed Martin is a fairly moderate Democrat, based on his grandfather's civil rights background and the (few) issues Martin has discussed on the show. IRONICALLY, I watched Brandon Clabon's interview with Kevin Fisher from Y&R the other day, and Kevin Fisher flat-out asked Brandon which party he believed Martin represented. Clabon said, "I play him as a moderate Democrat." lol.

Couldn't agree more. It's almost as though someone launched into the initial design of "27 spectacular sets" without much foresight into where the show would be in six months (or even in six weeks). Did Ashley Morgan really need an apartment more than Vanessa McBride needed a living room? Ashley quickly evolved into a fairly minor character, and Vanessa's role has steadily grown. She's a Realtor for pete's sake, who started out in a fairly complex marriage with a physician husband and now has a (slimy) beau and two college-aged children but still has no house. To me, that was poor planning from the get-go. And when a new living room finally DID arrive, it mysteriously went to Joey instead of Vanessa, and it has a bizarrely situated fireplace that will look ludicrous in warm weather and is noticeably difficult to shoot around. Anita and Vernon received a massive vestibule and foyer, but no dining room. Another bad choice from the start, especially considering they're matriarch and patriarch of a very large family that often gathers at their house for mandatory family meetings. The police station is unnecessarily spacious -- complete with soda machines, office equipment, and numerous extras milling about in the background -- when a small detective's office for Jacob would have made better budget sense. This ain't a "police show" -- it merely features a character who's a detective and who sometimes meets with Elon, or Marcel, or an arrested person, all of which could be accomplished in Jacob's (small) office. Joey was given a (hideous and) distinctive backroom for his casino, when a simple office (with casino sound effects in the background) would have been much cheaper and much easier to look at it. His office, with a few alterations, could have also doubled as Naomi's office, and as Martin's office in the Capitol. They didn't ask for my input, but I would've been happy to give it 😅

"Edge of Night" (ultra-low budget in the 1980s) had an office set for Dr. Miles Cavanaugh. There was a little "waiting room" with a reception desk, and a small office for Miles where he treated an occasional patient. I believe they spent $1.86 on the set. That's about all "Beyond the Gates" would need for their Invisible Free Clinic. They could keep their plasma in a cooler in the office. (With inflation since 1980, it would probably cost them $8.50 now. But they blew their budget putting graffiti on Rashad & Smitty's brick wall.)

Same here. It's occurred to me that the ONLY reason in moving Derek from the Unseen Fire Station to the Unseen Free Clinic is so he can be bumped in the head by a Plasma Thief. Then our dull & dimwitted heroine Ashley can blame herself and cry "woe is me" for his untimely demise. Does anyone else think Grayson doesn't even have a mama who's in the nursing home with Parkinsons? He always seems completely disinterested when Ashley starts babbling about all the advances in Parkinsons research. I've often thought every aspect of Grayson's "tragic life" is a fabrication. I thought RACHEL LEWIS was just a random name that Smitty saw in Beautiful's computer when he hacked into the list of lab employees. He'd learned Greyson answers to a "her", and Smitty seemed to be under the impression "she" would be a co-worker of Greyson in the lab. So Smitty scrolled through the list of lab employees and zeroed-in on Rachel Lewis, completely oblivious of the fact the famous "she" who gives the orders might be Chief Lia.

OH! Also enjoyed the all-too-brief "reconciliation" between Kat & Eva on "Kat Day", and then Kat's immediate "flirting" with Izaiah, which turned Eva as "green as the tomatoes they fry-up at Orphey Gene's", as Kat described it. There's no question that's where they're heading with Lami suddenly having a contract and Alex Alegria suddenly NOT having a contract. Hopefully they'll work on it slowly and add some stakes to it, but it was mighty nice to see it teased for us the other day.

What really struck me this week was the STRANGE "resolution" to Lynette's Reign of Terror. Whatever happened, I'm glad it happened off-screen so we can wonder about it. Lynette seems FAR too important (and dangerous) to jettison so quickly, with Big Bill, Tomas, Kat, Naomi, and Joey Armstrong all starting to question exactly what's going on with Hayley, Randy/Sammy, and Lynette. I'm hoping Lynette's death/disappearance is just a temporary pause before she returns with a vengeance. (Kinda like Hayley's start/stop/restart poisoning of Bill.) I think they've got a potentially GOOD storyline going here with the three criminals, but if you prematurely ejaculate Lynette off to the great beyond, you've probably shot yourself in the foot.

I tend to agree with @Paul Raven that it's being handled poorly. And I agree with @Vee that Kial has been done a disservice. He's played by a capable actor, and he fits onto the canvas seamlessly. But with his hit-or-miss appearances so far, and his (bizarre) neurotic move of giving Beautiful a key to his condo after one (?) date with her shows us that there's zero investment in writing for his character. What man DOES that?! lol. I can't decide if this is just Hallmark 101 writing from female writers who don't REMOTELY understand men & how men operate, or if Kial is just an afterthought. I'm afraid it's the latter.

For me, that highlights EXACTLY why crossovers (and references to other daytime shows) typically don't work. I know a LOT of viewers look forward to things like that, but such machinations always strike me as awkward, clumsy, and intrusive. So young Hayley pressed her face against Fenmore's windows, hoping for a Barbara Ryan original, from a show June had already assured us last year was pure fiction. Y&R was always TERRIBLE about doing stuff like that; on some episodes, they'd act like the Forrester family from "Bold & Beautiful" were real people who existed in their own orbit, and then suddenly Marge Controke would sit down to watch "her favorite daytime show", and we'd hear the B&B theme, as though B&B was fiction and had no bearing on Y&R. Stuff like that completely takes me OUT of the show and reminds me of how amateurish daytime writing often is.

Ha! When Ted told Andre that Miss Beautiful had been "the perfect wife", and then he popped-up with flowers for Nicole on KatDay, I thought of y'all on the board immediately. It's happening even QUICKER than I'd visualized. Seriously, though, we know the show isn't going to isolate a vital character like Nicole in some triangle with two unimportant recurring characters (who are apt to be Plasma Thieves), and they're not going to sideline Ted indefinitely in a low-stakes/no-stakes romance with a gossipy nurse who's even less important on the canvas than Ashley Morgan. That's all just a temporary diversion before the reconciliation. And I don't believe Keith D. Robinson would've built that elaborate video production of "Forever Bae" around Daphnee Duplaix if the two actors hadn't received a little preview of something that's lying ahead for them.

If Vernon and Anita's little Sweet Baby decides to run for the senate --- and all indications are pointing in that direction --- hopefully, we'll see more & more of Senator Dupree's point of view. Anita has certainly had her day in the sun (and she's done an excellent job with the material!), but I'd like to see more emphasis on Vernon, and not just as Anita's support dawg.

Surely not! Gosh, that would be a disaster if 10 or 12 Duprees bolted at the same time, three years into the show. I'd hope an entertainment attorney advised the show not to make such a naive mistake as to sign twenty contract characters to contracts that all expired at the same time 🤣

Since the "revision & shuffling", I've only noticed TWO openings (like before the shuffling) -- Anita, Vernon, Beautiful, Dani, Bill, Andre, Ashley, Izaiah, Smitty, Chelsea, Naomi, and Theodore Anita, Vernon, Beautiful, Dani, Vanessa, Martin, Hayley, Jacob, Joey Armstrong, Leslie, Eva, and Kat

Tomas is GONE from the opening. The show went to great lengths to disguise that he's gone, by moving everyone else around except Anita, Vernon, Beautiful, and Dani -- but Tomas is nowhere to be found.

They're very clear & pretty in HD.

I think IMD simply made a mistake if they referred to him as a Barnes. Pam always introduced him as "my cousin Jimmy Monihan" or as "my Aunt Maggie's son, Jimmy Monihan". In Lee Raintree's novel Dallas, which coincided with the release of the miniseries in 1978 and which was taken from the first five rough-draft scripts, he's Jimmy Monihan from beginning to end.

That girl never caught on as Patty. The previous actress (Lilibet Stern) was very pretty, and she was extremely popular in the role. When she left (in the middle of a big story arc), Bill Bell made the decision to recast the part, and Miss Evans got the role. She just wasn't Lilbet Stern by any stretch of the imagination, and once Patty's divorce from Jack Abbott was finalized, the character (and the actress) mercifully got the axe so Bell could concentrate on the characters who were more appealing. Ironically, when you look back at those episodes today, Evans was just fine in the role, IMHO. I think I would've learned to like her. But at the time my friends and I called her "that ole fake Patty".

The Plasma Ring really does seem like a (lumbering) attempt to achieve some specific long-term goal. The way we've seen Ted & Nicole announcing that they're "moving on" (him with Shanice, her with various Plasma Suspects) seems to strongly suggest this arc is designed to bring Ted and Nicole back together at least temporarily. And let's not forget Naomi's LOUD announcement at the Mardi Gras party: "I've got the BABY! Everyone! I got the BABY!" I can't help but believe Jacob is going to disappear temporarily during the Plasma Ring storyline, and Naomi will discover she's pregnant and decide to give birth despite having the BRCA gene. Otherwise, they likely wouldn't have had Miss Anita's cancer be an inherited trait that just happens to fall on Naomi, who's conveniently keeping it a secret.

There are so many things I don't understand about the plasma plot, too. (When I was in college in the 1980s, my friends and I were routinely selling our plasma to buy compact discs, lol. If I remember the prices correctly, we could sell a supply of plasma and generate enough cash to buy two CDs) I have no idea what the clinic did with the plasma they collected, nor did it cross my mind to wonder.

I don't know much about the "sweeps periods" but if I were planning to write a Cotillion storyline, I'd probably want it to air in May when some of the schools are beginning to let out for the summer, so maybe a few young folks will catch it when it airs. I'd mention it several times from Christmas to Easter, so it wouldn't look as though I just made it up out of thin air when it's time for it to start. Not sure what mindset MVJ has about it, but that's how I would've handled it if I were the writer. (In my part of the South, Cotillion season generally starts in the fall and wraps up with the final spring ball in March.)

I think the "stakes" could be an interesting story if Tomas suddenly stumbled onto the full truth about Hayley, Lynette, and Randy/Sammy --- and then ended up dead. There's no honor among thieves, and each of the three would blame the other two for killing him, while the audience remained in the dark about which of them (if any!) actually offed him. This would bring Kat deeper into their orbit as she attempts to figure out who the three people really are and what Tomas learned about them prior to his death.

If the Hayley/Lynette/Randy story concludes without Tomas getting knocked in the head, the writers have missed a wonderful opportunity to get rid of the show's most irritatingly bad actor in a memorable manner. Likewise, if the Plasma Thieves Storyline ends without Derek in a body bag, they've missed a golden opportunity to get rid of another dud.

At one point today, while declining to take Kat's money to purchase a partnership interest in the Baltimore law firm, Alex Alegria demonstrated his "acting skills" by clenching his fists tightly without ever changing his facial expression. I honestly can't recall ever seeing such an awkward actor on television before. Vanessa really seemed whorish and desperate today when she sat there like a blonde gargoyle watching her "date" disparage Beautiful Nicole (who's supposedly her best friend) at the dinner table, then followed him back to the Golden Corral Casino and basically told him, "I love my children and my friends, but I love you even more even though I know you're a criminal."

I'm not holding out much hope that he ever will. He doesn't do anything with his lines except recite them like a poem he memorized to recite to the class, and he lacks the capability of adding any subtext at all.