BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos

[Taoboi]

hehe. But you get it.

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 Not trying to derail the thread.  

[Bright Eyes]

It'll be so interesting to see what the layout of characters will end up being. How big will the main family be? A classic grandfather/mother, parents in the late 40's/early 50's, with 3,4,5 children. Maybe one or two off canvas at the beginning? It'd be smart to have a character/actor waiting in the wings to come in and stir things up at about the one year mark, ala Pat Wicks. Either way, if this comes to fruition later this fall or sometime in 2025, it's exciting to think how we'll all be glued to our seats watching that premiere episode.

[Vee]

It's too soon to hope for it, but I would be pleased if classic P&G characters (from ATWT) began crossing over to the show in guest spots a la how that show let people pop up from other CBS soaps or vice versa. That would be a security blanket for a longtime CBS audience.

Edited March 19, 2024 by Vee

[1974mdp]

 I don't see ATWT or GL ever returning in any shape or form at this point. BUT, if this show were to be successful, I could see ABC possibly rebooting AMC (and a lesser extent OLTL) since the network owns the rights to those shows. The shows could also stream on Hulu with all of ABC's titles. The twin cancellation of those shows remains to be a head scratcher. ABC still had to be making money off of both of them, and they had just paid all that cash to relocate AMC to Los Angeles. And, God knows, none of the stuff they replaced those two shows with ever took off.

[Contessa Donatella]

Disney owns Santa Barbara, AMC, OLTL, RH, PC, LOV, GH:NS, The City , GH of course, ... 

[GLATWT88]

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. 

[Adamski]

Ooh, I like the sound of Reynaldo Rivera, haha! Some great ideas here, enjoyed reading them. 

[Khan]

Frankly, I would rather watch a brand-new soap (such as TG) than watch a reboot or revival of a defunct one.  Mostly because, anyone who dared to take on such a venture would face an uphill battle trying to please both fans of any previous incarnations and potential, new viewers who have never seen the show(s) before now.

It would be, but on the other hand, I got enough of that kind of "synergy" from the Angela Shapiro years at ABCD.  At this point, aside from Y&R and B&B, I'd rather see each current and prospective soap be a universe unto itself.

[brockreynolds]

I'd love to see the new soap have BOTH wealthy and poor families, the interplay between that is always so compelling, however... they may not have a poor black family, because of the criticism it would attract. Jimmy Walker said that Good Times got so much flack for the portrayals on their show, that he is 100% certain we will never see a poor black family on television ever again. I think that would be sad, because as Downton Abbey proved, it's a great combination. 

[Contessa Donatella]

I don't believe reboots of the classic, vintage, defunct soaps will or even should happen.You point out one big reason. Another is that it has been far too long! 

[Broderick]

That's about right.  Since 1980 or so, daytime television in American has served up the same thing -- the "trials & tribulations of well-to-do families in gated communities."  And unfortunately with today's budgets, the concept seems silly.    

We already know what we'll get -- a daily budget of $2.35, and numerous references to the off-screen wealth of characters who supposedly have a private jet parked just outside, but their clothes will come from Dollar Tree.  

Glad this show is happening but can't get too enthusiastic about it based on what I've read so far.  

 

[DramatistDreamer]

I think a show needs that balance. The problem with Good Times was not because of having a low-income Black family on screen. The problem was that the one Black writer on the show left over disagreements with upper management about the content and the direction of the characters and storylines. I think with good writing, you can have a balanced depiction of a low-income but striving Black family and Michele Val Jean being an accomplished Black woman writer makes the difference.  Frankly with the story of a wealthy Black family and a low-income white family, the criticisms of an unrealistic or unbalanced portrayal is just as likely because we know that statistically, this is more of an anomaly, an exception to the rule. Let’s not dive headlong into a “Talented Tenth” type of scenario, that is a potential minefield too.

[Khan]

As John Amos puts it, "You wouldn't catch ME running around with a chicken on my head, screaming 'DYN-O-MITE!!'."

[DramatistDreamer]

Giving this post a bump because I think you posed some interesting question here.

On a previous page, I asked about whether we might be privy to the story bible once it’s been completed because this will give us a clearer idea of how these issues will play out, at least initially, knowing that there needs to be room for flexibility in storytelling. I know that it’s common for scripts for award nominated screenplays to be available for download (whether through above-board platforms or underground vendors, in the very early ‘00s when I was in grad school.

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) With the current technology, it would be quite easy to read and would be great if we all don’t have to wait 20 years to read it. I realize some people might now want to take a look behind the curtain but for me, it would be instructive to see how the process itself plays out. 
For me personally, it’s not interesting enough to have a bunch of rich people cloistered behind a gated community. Maybe for 6 weeks but then I would need something more than that.

 

And because he refused, he had a career! Coming To America alone solidified his place in movie and pop culture history.

[ReddFoxx]

Let's remember that not all gated communities are wealthy and some have a mixture of incomes. There is also the angle that the community could be gentrified and that this gated community has changed the character of the neighborhood to the chagrin of the working class that are still there. I live in an area with a lot of wealthy people and the Target stays full so if you portray wealth from a regular people standpoint it can work.