Faulkner

I know the character is very connected but I’ve never enjoyed Michael for any extended period of time, no matter who is playing him.

Whoa. Andy Murray will be Novak’s coach:

Abby has such a bizarre origin story, but on paper she had potential. Even if she simply added a different dynamic to the played-out Nick/Victoria/Adam/Victor snoozefest, it would have been useful. Abby and Adam as the two outsiders (reminding Nikki of Victor’s other great loves) up against Nick and Victoria writes itself. Her antagonistic chemistry with Amelia Heinle was the best thing about her. She could have played more of a role in the Abbott/Newman war for sure. But the writing was on the wall when Abby didn’t even play a part in her own mother’s mental illness story. It’s crazy how dominant she was with story with Danny Boaz’s Chance—they were pushing MO as Y&R’s young leading lady. DB’s firing and the idiotic baby story derailed all of that. Devon doesn’t seem long for this world either. Marrying him off to a story black hole and bringing on another Black male in his age range (billed as a mover and shaker and more connected to Nate) doesn’t bode well. Devon Hamilton is one of the most ill-conceived long-running characters I’ve ever seen, so it’s a shocker he lasted this long.

Part of me wishes they’d found a splashy star for a short-term guest role to premiere the show, just to garner attention from normies and cut through the noise—perhaps as a villainous character who simply wreaks havoc to launch the series and gets killed off shortly thereafter. (Money is, of course, going to factor in there.) Not that Morgan Fairchild as the original face of The City did much to help that show, but these days, any recognizable face helps.

Just asking a question—not trying to be a downer: I wonder about those demos and what role they play here. Five million total viewers is impressive but if they’re mostly 70-75, not sure how much major value they bring these networks other than simply delaying the inevitable. I’m glad the genre is not DEAD—but I’m also not impressed with the product ABC and CBS have been putting out for years. Good for them for maintaining a loyal audience even as more fickle viewers chase the hot new thing and fragment across platforms. But quality doesn’t always align with viewership, as we know, and it’s subjective. Delayed viewing should lower the median age a bit for soaps, as I’m assuming a lot of folks who watch delayed do it because they work during the day, an audience that skews younger. I’d be interested in seeing the makeup of the late-night vs. daytime audiences. Late-night is in a lot of trouble—people aren’t watching Colbert/Kimmel/Fallon live as much anymore. Four shows a week and a Friday repeat is now the standard for them (instead of pre-taping a Friday original on Thursday). Late-night TV has prestige soaps have traditionally lacked but it’s looking like those shows are becoming an expensive albatross as the industry adjusts to the reality of linear’s decline and cord cutting. A new soap will be a test. Y&R/B&B/GH are decades-old habits for millions. It’s smart that CBS has gone after a traditionally underserved audience that still consumes a lot of traditional TV, but I’d also like to know how the behaviors for younger Black viewers track against other younger viewers. There’s so much interesting stuff about the behaviors and characteristics of daytime viewers—I’m such a nerd for that stuff—but, unfortunately, the industry podcasts rarely cover this daypart. They seem to share the same old biases. There’s a lot of classism, misogyny, and racism at play still. And the soap-focused podcasts rarely delve into the numbers with any depth. Perhaps the data isn’t readily available: We see how limited and often incomplete the soap ratings are. The launch of a new soap for the first time in a quarter-century should have launched analysis and think pieces, but there’s no appetite for it.

I also feel that Esther was played as a light comic character much of the time. Mamie wasn’t. So Jill’s treatment of Mamie landed more harshly for me. Plus, VR’s Mamie was more of a threat to Jill on multiple fronts throughout their history and an “equal” from an intellectual standpoint, so the undermining and disrespect hit differently.

With how siloed markets are, BTG can employ multiple strategies to different audiences—celebrating the milestone of “the first predominantly Black soap by a Black creator” on platforms where Black audiences congregate and having broader messaging elsewhere.