wonderwoman1951

agreed — someone up thread wondered where they could take her after the sh*t hits the fan. re kat: possible the actor wasn’t available.

a couple if things: political campaigns on soaps have never had anything to do with reality. if the show is floating this presidential nonsense now, no way they’re going to wait three years to move forward. so, yeah, martin has to be at least 34. as for nicole, i suppose she could have gotten pregnant in medical school — 23-24 — which would make her late 50s. of course, as the ‘sensible’ sister, i would have expected her to get pregnant after she began her residency — at least 26 — 26+35=61. as new viewers come on, they will continue to raise the question. it a problem that could have been so easily avoided, but i just don’t see any way for mvj to square this circle.

Disagree completely. not a problem. i suspect some of these differences of opinion are generational for the record: i was in kindergarten when ‘world turns came on the air in 1956 — you can do the math:) — but those early soaps (often dismissed as “your grandmother’s soap opera” were a very different animal from what the genre’s become over the decades.

What about a Roger Thorpe? Or Stefano DiMera? i’ve never watched days…, so i can’t speak to stefano. nor have i watched much of the bell shows, however, i really don’t like villains like shelia. but, i can tell you about roger thorpe. as played by michael zaslow — one of the best soap actors ever — viewers could see all of roger’s internal conflicts and emotional layers when roger came on guiding light in 1971, it was not as a villain. he was a user, a manipulator, and had a troubled relationship with father. he wan’t running someone off the road, potentially killing someone, his first week on the show. he grew into his dark side i know i’ve said this about these first weeks of btg: too much happening too fast — no buildup, no chance for viewers to anticipate! — to too many characters we’ve only just met.

i know this year’s daytime emmys aren’t happening until the fall — and there’s been a lot of talk about potential daytime emmy nods — but ‘beyond the gates’ won’t be eligible for this year’s awards. just saying…

amnesia — really? ! well, that’s original!

They just drain the energy out of the show whenever they’re on. It’s a combination of the characters being so damn generic, actors lacking charisma (Jen Jacob), and just being plain wooden as hell (Ben Gavin). add to that, the writing hasn’t given them much to work with.

“dani and the duprees”: sounds like a 60s girl group:)

i feel that way about so much that’s happened in the first two weeks. the first friday: a shotgun wedding and deliberate car crash. this week: a hostage situation; a character we’ve barely met targeted by a likely mobbed-up casino owner (whose name i’d have to look up) — oh yes, how could i forget — a three-way! i’m exhausted just typing this:) i know they think that they have to come fast out of the gate and maintain the momentum. but, maybe not… it’s possible this might prove counter-productive for some viewers. i’ve already see a few comments — not a lot, but still — from people who are out: too much happening too fast to too many characters. wondering if they maintained this pace for everything already recorded. and, i’m really curious whether they have done (or will do) any market research i’m painfully aware of the damage of what eileen fulton called ‘f*ckus groups,’ inflected in soaps. but, in this situation, viewer feedback could be useful.

I get the "cross paths" aspect. But I also have a photographer, a firefighter, and two daughters traipsing there. Meanwhile, there's like ONE nurse (regular, one dayplayer nosy Nellie type) a cardiologist (who I don't think's bothered to be there yet) and a plastic surgeon. Granted, it's only week two, but so far, it seems like there's more concern about been seen kissing the SO other than any kind of work there’s not always a logical way for the writers to get characters in the same place at the same time, so this is one soap opera trope i’ve always been willing to handwave.

physicians do have their own offices. hospital and restaurants provide public spaces where it makes sense for various characters to cross paths.

i’d expect so.

as i recall, guarantees are averaged over 13 weeks. so there may be weeks when an actor appears in fewer episodes than their guarantee, so when they can do more weekly episodes when the story demands.

thank you! watching drama requires the suspension if disbelief — even more so for soap fans — but, there are limits. exceed those limits risk insulting their intelligence. fans will walk away! for me, it’s all moving too quickly. these first two weeks have left me exhausted — too much happening too quickly to too many characters we’ve barely met — for more than a few, i still have to check a cheat sheet to figure out their name and who they are i’m hoping that things settle down sooner rather than later. but, after the breakneck pace of this week — a three-way!? already? — i’m not holding my breath.

posted this on another board: ‘what did smitty ever see in martin?’ that is the question! unless smitty is some kind of masochist who needs to be dominated and humiliated (and, who knows — there’s already been a three-way:), i cannot believe that martin has always treated him with such contempt and abuse. so, what i want to know (well, what i would like to see and not be told) is how, and why, their relationship has deteriorated to this point. unfortunately, saddling them with college-aged teenagers, means that the only way viewers will find out with be is a lot of exposition, and maybe some flashbacks (generally not a fan of flashbacks, though the one with dani and bill after naomi’s wedding was well done, and contextualized dani’s behavior). now, had they introduced martin and smitty at an earlier point in the relationship, we could have seen how two educated, intelligent, ambitious gay men navigate the challenges and trade-off starting a family entails — who agreed to do what — and then watch has the inevitable conflicts unfold. and — the age questions go away — a win-win!

that — and a wooden actor — not a good combination!

We should let go of what? Of our own opinions? Something that is personally mine and I'm not demanding anyone else share it...? Why? If someone is annoyed with my observation about the age-thing... then that's their problem. Not mine. Also... it's just an observation. NO BIG freaking DEAL. Nobody is saying this is going to bury the show. Give us a break. IT'S absurd and FUNNY. I am now even wanting Anita to become a great-great-grandmother in the future. Why not. 🤣 i agree! we’re all entitled to express our opinions. i was merely mentioning that there were a few posters suggesting we let the age thing go.

that was my initial thought. but, i realized that far more interesting possibility would have been to to bring in martin and smitty a year or two after they had married, with martin recently elected to congress, and the two of them discussing starting a family. that way, we could see the conflict unfold rather that being told. yeah, the timeline is all over the place. mlk’s ‘i have a dream’ speech’ was delivered at the 1963 march on washington — more than 60 years ago — so, unlikely anita and vernon were there. rather than trying to connect vernon with mlk, who died in 1968, makes more sense to make him a contemporary of john lewis. i’m ok with the dupree sisters having grown children. as for martin and smitty, i know there are people who think some of us are making too much of the age issue and that we should just let it go. but having established martin and smitty as the parents of kids in their late teens, locks them into a chronology that can’t be changed and will always be confusing — and distracting.

leslie/dani keeps talking about how ted choose nicole over her, which makes it sound link more than a one night stand, of course, she may not be the most reliable narrator:)

exactly! and remember, anita and vernon already are great grandparents

look, i get that watching drama requires the suspension of disbelief, and as i mentioned upthread, i don’t object to the inevitable handwaving that comes as characters are sorased. but there are limits — it is possible to insult the intelligence of viewers — to have this happening as a new show opens is really pushing the envelope, at least for this viewer.

but martin is anita and vernon’s GRANDSON! and martin’s parents met when they were at a medical convention — so even if they met while they were still in medical school, no way they would have had martin until they were in their late 20s. supposedly, nicole is 53, so if martin is 35 she would have had had him when she was 18 — MAKES NO SENSE! in tennis, they call this an unforced error — really surprised that no one noticed this lapse in logic — or, maybe they were hoping we would notice.

what i remember most was that she began the ‘abcification’ of ‘as the world turns’ when she immediately replaced allison rice taylor (think she’s going by allison rice now) with susan batten as connor. among the worst recasts in soap opera history.

while i’ve certainly done my share of handwaving when it comes to soap ages that’s not to say that age doesn’t exist — or matter. as someone up thread noted, the show’s barely a week old. if they’re serious, i can’t see them waiting three years. i find the whole idea insulting to my intelligence and hoping that someone (perhaps his grandfather) cautions patience. i also think they missed a real opportunity with martin’s character (actor aside). the conflict between him and smitty would have a lot more depth if martin had just been elected and was feeling overwhelmed by his his new responsibilities, which was taking its toll on his marriage. the way this story is unfolding, martin just seems like a selfish, self-absorbed dick — a 25-year old whose self-absorption would have context.

so, how old is eva supposed to be? leslie/dana keeps saying that ted left her for nicole, which sounds like leslie/dana were together before ted and nicole married and would make eva older than martin, who, has to be at least 25 to be a congressman. and, it doesn’t seem as though he was just elected, which puts him closer to 30. finding it hard to believe that that anita and vernon are that old. as i’m typing, martin just told nicole that he wants to run for president — minimum age 35! — this is the kind of silliness that is so easily avoided.