Faulkner

I just find her obnoxious and I need somebody to start checking her (other than Bill) without couching it in you’re so strong and wonderful and Bill did you so wrong. Even Anita pulls punches with her. Her personality would definitely rub some people the wrong way and I hope once the canvas evolves beyond Dupreeland, she gets some adversaries who aren’t villains or 90-lb. weaklings like Haley.

Agreed, pretty much with everything. The dialogue bugs the hell out of me. I don’t think a lot of it even works written out on a page, much less spoken. Even a veteran like TT can’t help but sound stagey with such purple prose. Re: the Duprees. I’m guessing that they’re holding their cards close to their vest on them for the various mysteries that will unfold, but I wish they weren’t so opaque and tonally weird as characters, especially in these make-or-break early days. (One reason why I wish they’d give up on keeping secrets from the audience and just allow them to speak freely, allowing the tension to come from what other characters don’t know.) Dani is giving Carly Corinthos realness, which isn’t a compliment. Oh, don’t get me started on the Black male characters and the tropes they’ve employed thus far. I had hoped a Black-created, NAACP-co-produced soap would be more cognizant of these traps, but nope. At least it seems like they’re playing the long game with Andre and Dani after all this feening over basic Ashley.

Isn’t it thrilling to get that kind of buzz from a performance again? If this show had nothing else going for it (and it has other real strengths, including the actress opposite her), that would be enough to keep me invested.

This would’ve been a sure-thing Emmy-winning reel even back in the day when those trophies had some real value. So many layers and shades.

She’s riveting. And how she transitioned from utter devastation after the confrontation with Leslie to hopeful in the Ted scene—so seamless. She’s easily the most exciting actress I’ve seen in daytime in a looooooooong time. If she’s not the face of this show in a few months, they’re leaving money on the table.

She’s like a silent film actress but restrained. She conveys so much emotion in a look. She’s so exciting to watch, like it must have felt to have seen, I dunno, a young Bette Davis.

Ambyr. There’s a reason why she’s my new profile pic. She’s extraordinary. And TMG brought it too.

At least they’re ramping up the marketing to try and offset this, but still. I hope they are able to maintain a healthy budget to hire and keep strong talent as well as keep up the production value. Network interference—whether direct interventions in story/hiring or contractual b.s. like this—was always my main concern.

That’s been my main issue with his response. It didn’t feel that earned by what came before. Definitely needed to see more of the Richardsons as a full family unit prior to all of this.

Daphnée and TMG are on Instagram live (as we speak) and are saying they don’t know why Maurice left.

Ambyr Michelle continues to be *that girl.* She’s just a star, period. Elevates every scene she’s in on the sheer strength of her emotional realism and charisma. Can sell any dialogue. I wish the show veered away from the B&B-style scripting. TMG/Leslie’s tirade stood out, I suppose, but she’s getting a bit mustache-twirly. And I wish DD had more to do in that episode than stand and sob.

Link to the official announcement on her Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/100052018909496/posts/pfbid031y2oHoqXMuMCSZg1RToxEVH37UZCvGmrp6JhGBQXoGCv3X6mwouwxATxHF5PtvTJl/?app=fbl

She died due to cardiac arrest a few months ago. 😪

How devastating. Jiggly Caliente from Drag Race has passed away. So many sad losses in the franchise, especially in the past five years:

I certainly don’t want this show to fail. I’ve been waiting 25 years for something like this. But there’s a lot of adjustments to be made, and I feel like people have the right to not pull punches on what they’re seeing. Opinions are not facts. We all know that new soaps take time to gel. That doesn’t mean we have to stay mum when we don’t like something. I get why people are very protective of the show (the “bad guys” are trashing it, and we’re in an environment where people on the right knee-jerk dismiss a predominantly Black show as “DEI” when those same people watched The Jeffersons and The Cosby Show every week back in the day. I know some of those very people). And if you’re legitimately enjoying everything, that’s awesome. Are some people scared that someone from CBS is gonna come on this board and cancel BTG based on someone’s negative comments? It’s not gonna happen. They have too much at stake here. Surely this article from a couple years ago embarrassed them, and they’re going to hold firm on nurturing their baby. And I’m willing to give them the time they need while still being honest about what I feel. I love MVJ, but I do think there’s a learning curve on being a first-time HW (her short stint at GH aside) even for someone who’s an industry veteran like she is and even with the benefit of a longtime HW like Guza at her side. We saw that with Patrick Mulcahey. And we have no idea what restrictions CBS, P&G, and NAACP are imposing, even if folks are playing nice and claiming creative freedom in interviews.

Agreed. Ambyr in particular is this show’s Michael J. Fox. You can’t take your eyes off them when they’re on. Hopefully they’re pivoting a bit and looking to build around them.

The lack of Tamara Tunie was disappointing, to be sure. We can talk about her offscreen availability and all the inside-baseball stuff, but none of that would matter to casuals: She was a major reason why there was initial excitement around the premiere. She’s not a household name, but she’s high-profile enough to land a seat next to Stephen Colbert. You’d want Anita front and center and mixing it up all over town, and that just wasn’t happening. I wish the men were more compelling too. And a predominantly white soap would never give the Black equivalent of an Ashley that sort of fawning platform (only Evangeline from OLTL has ever had something similar and we see how eventually that turned out—one of the most ho-hum, insulting departures ever). But if they were going to foist Ashley upon us to appease white Middle America, at least make the girl interesting (and worth the attention of the show’s most charismatic Black leading man). Not this walking, talking corn muffin. I could go on, but there’s a lot of potential, though, and I think they’ll have plenty of time to make some adjustments.

For people who watch live, what’s the transition between B&B and BTG like? Do they roll the abbreviated credits for B&B after an ad break and segue into BTG (as they once did for The Talk), or are they segueing from the final B&B scene/cliffhanger, followed by shortened credits (no ad break) right into BTG?

Ambyr should be really be the star. She’s radiant.

This show has a lot of room to grow with its Black male characters, which I’m cautiously optimistic about. That’s the bee in my bonnet about daytime in general, that Black male portrayals on soaps are usually as interesting as cardboard. Yes, this is a female-oriented genre, but it’s nothing without fascinating, sexy, complicated men. Martin, Bill, Vernon, and Andre all have potential. Andre’s the only one whose POV feels on the same level (or greater) as his female counterparts right now. We see his longing for Ashley, etc. Jacob had a quick moment, but I’m not sold on that character other than his body, and he feels disposable. Even though it’s early days still, the fact that Martin hasn’t had a single meaningful interaction with his own father thus far has been concerning. Martin on paper is potentially an incredible character. Everyone feels like they’re hermetically sealed in their plot-driven silos for the moment, which I sorta get from a “let’s get this show on the road” standpoint. They’re also setting up for big reveals around Martin’s dreams and Bill and Vernon’s role in a potential cover-up, the plane crash that claimed Andre’s parents, et al, so they are playing their cards close to their vest. Dani is definitely becoming Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. Would love to see who is the Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong to Anita’s Diana Ross. (Maybe there was a Flo Ballard counterpart too who suffered an ill fate.)

That’s lightning in a bottle. You can’t plan what they have. And, yes, I hope the writers know what a rare treasure they have here with these two actresses.