GLATWT88

The theme is okay, but I'm going to wait until Monday to really see how I feel. In some ways I wish they'd gone the Days route which has been timeless and had a quote about gates read by powerful voice and some dramatic Orchestra in the background. I think I saw on someone's home the other day something like "Love is the master key that opens the gates." I'm sure they could have come up with something.

Lindstorm saying he's the minority on this soap made me chuckle. I totally get what he was trying to say, but I felt he could have worded it differently.

You saying "a fifth soap" really made me pause. I know many of us would never have imagined we would ever get a brand new soap opera again, especially in daily form and on network TV. Yet, tomorrow we get our first preview episode. I'm excited to be home tomorrow to watch it and discuss with you all here.

That's exactly what it was.

Do we know it will be a success out the gates? I'm actually cautiously optimistic, because outside of this forum I've not heard anyone talk about it. I feel there was more buzz around Sunset Beach than BTG. Granted that was nearly 30 years ago and the soap landscape was very different. There was still a larger interest in soaps and a greater younger demo watching them. I'm not sure what would be considered a success. I don't think just matching GH's numbers will be enough. It seems like they're putting a lot of money and effort into this and that means they're hoping that it actually works - which can be good and bad. I definitely love the effort and care being taken with this project, but it might mean that the expectations are so high that anything less than will be disappointing. I know a few people said they don't care how the sets look, but to me that's one of the most off putting parts of soaps today. They just look cheap. If we're finally going to get a brand new soap, I don't want it to go the budget route of the ones still on. Considering the irregular airtime for GL, the clearance on CBS stations remained really strong, so I'm hoping it won't be an issue for BTG. As for GH, in the NYC area it's on at 3pm. I haven't followed regularly but it was moved to 2pm at one point only to be back on at 3. So it won't be direct competition with BTG in one of the country's largest markets.

I'm surprised that someone who has such experience with soap operas didn't realize that an hour long soap has a runtime of about 36 minutes without commercials (not 45). The exclusion being Days now that it's exclusively for streaming which has a more varied runtime. In fact, I don't remember the last time a soap had a runtime near the 45 minutes. By the late 90s, most soaps were clocking under 40 minutes to squeeze in more ads.

I'm curious as to what metrics will be used to determine if BTG is a success. We are obviously in a new era of television, one in which no soap opera has ever had to premiere and find an audience. How will BTG be measured? How much will live figures matter? Will streams matter?

Sorry if this has been posted or asked already, but do we know anything as far as availability to streaming platforms and release time/schedules. From the commercials, I know that BTG will be made available to stream on Paramount+. Will new episodes be available to stream the day of or next day? Since this is the first time a soap opera is available to stream from the very beginning, will they try to promote/push for streaming viewership over live viewers. Similarly, will they try to innovate in some ways? I think weekly/monthly summary episodes with the highlights would be great for new viewers trying to get into watching that may not want to start from the very beginning or feel like they don't have the time to always watch all 5 episodes each week.

Hmmm...why have that gap between the final episode of The Talk and the prmeire of BTG. Not that the shows cater to the exact same audience, but you're going to lose people who typically tune in at that time slot to stop and possible not give BTG a shot. JMO

I know originally BTG was slated for a January 2025 premiere, but it seems like that may not be the case based on the title of the thread. What do we know so far? Also, when do you think they'll start promoting. It's obvious most of us soap fans are in the know, but I don't think much of the general public has even heard rumblings that there may be a new soap coming.

Yes, I was referring to just the title. For me personally, I think The Gates worked better, but again, opinions... I'm super excited for this project otherwise.

I might be in the minority, but I'm not loving Beyond the Gates. Seems a bit on the nose, and it's giving Tyler Perry's The Haves and Have Nots energy. The classic rich vs working class family. Echoing what's already been said, but Tamera Tunie is such a great inclusion to the cast and I mentioned her as someone I would love to see on this project when this was first announced. As for BET/MTV, not sure if a daily evening airing would work, but maybe they could air an omnibus like the British soaps on weekends and air the 5 episodes back to back. Although with streaming, this may not be necessary altogether.

Ha! I love this 😀

I personally prefer an hour long soap. The runtime of soaps are condensed as it is, so to truly develop story and rich dialogue, I think an hour works best. However considering the state of network TV, soaps, and budgets, I think 30 minutes would be favorable. If they're going to do this, I want it done right and I don't want to see cheap-looking sets that are empty with just the main scene actors. Maybe a week long premeire of hour long epsidoes to set the stage before reverting to 30 minute episodes would be nice...but honestly, I'm just excited to see what comes out of this.

I know that soaps generally focus around families, but I think having a core friend group or colleagues in some sort of business/profession can open up storylines and steer things away from the incestuous.

Definitely don't see a reboot of any of the daytime soaps as a possibility...at least not in the standard soap opera format. Maybe a prime time version ala Pine Valley could happen, although that unfortunately never took off. Yet, even that is pushing it. As we further remove ourselves from their cancelations, we are losing any steam these soaps had. We could be nice is some "crossovers" or even the return of some soap greats to participate in this new soap in some way. There are a few names I would love to see acting again even for a short arc.

Oh hey, Alexis and Dominque, love the catfight but this is the Dallas thread ladies...

If you asked me back when Passions, GL, and ATWT were canceled, shortly followed by the end of AMC and OLTL, whether soaps would still be on the air in 2024, I would have told you no. I didn't see any of the soaps surviving another decade. To hear that there is a tradional format soap being put forth in 2024 is amazing news for us soap fans albeit very shocking and kind of scary.

I know it's early, but where would this be filmed? As much as I would love a NYC soap, I think financially west coast or Atlanta would make the most sense. Back when GL and ATWT were canceled, I mentioned scaling down to a half hour and relocating both soaps to Atlanta which was beginning to boom in film and TV production at the time and giving companies great incentives would save both soaps a lot of money. May have been a challenge to convince casts to move out there though.

Did CBS aquire that 10am timeslot again for the Let's Make a Deal reboot or is LMAD just in GL's timeslot according to market. I ask because GL was on at 10am in NYC and that's the timeslot LMAD took over. Would make it sense to be paired back to back with TPIR.

So is Falcon Crest being pulled or just added to Prime? I see it as leaving soon on my end, but there no similar designation for Dallas. I would like to rewatch FC from the beginning, but not if I will lose access to it soon.

I agree and like @Khanhan think 94 is still decent. @Gray Bunny Beth's last week also scored a 5.7, although that was only good enough to get GL a 6th place finish instead of Top 5 a few weeks earlier. So I guess, Beth's claim that GL was scoring a 5.7 when she left wasn't wrong.

Pretty sure Beth's last airdate is at the end of the month. From what I gathered on YouTube, this is the week Bridget crashes Dylan and Julie's wedding.

I think this is the last time GL gets a top 5 finish in the 90s until the clone storyline in 1998.

I'm not sure when Jean left. But by the time she arrived LOL was already a sinking ship, it had been for most of the decade. It makes sense. I'm sure the network was interested in replacing it by then either way. GH and ABC were heating up and LOL was showing its age and definitely felt outdated.