BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos

[skiman12082004]

My excitement for BTG is crazy, but I was devastated ABC canceled Port Charles. With that being said, I have super high hopes for BTG and I have so much faith in MVJ. I think this show is really going to reengergize the genre.

[Contessa Donatella]

From your keyboard to Soap Jesus, or Soap Buddha, or pick your deity. Maybe I'll just round up & say to the Universe. BTG, may the force be with you.

Edited September 22, 2024 by Contessa Donatella
combining posts

[Darn]

I could have lived with the initial plots on Passions, other than Timmy and the angel/hell in a closet stuff, most of them were fairly boilerplate. No, for me it was the dialogue. It was painfully repetitive and spoke down to it's audience. There was no depth or nuance, it was just "Here is thing one. Now thing two. And here is exactly how I feel about both of those things. You will never have to question my motives or intentions because I will tell you exactly what they are."

People would often compare it to the writing for a children's show but Sesame Street never made me feel stupid.

[vanguard]

I've never been hard on Passions. It was actually wonderful for what it was. I even got my mother hooked on it shortly after the introduction of Robin Strasser's HECUBA. She was a fan of Dorian Lord on OLTL so I lured her to Passions where she would find La Strasser once again.

[titan1978]

I watched all Reilly’s first couple of years on DAYS, then skimmed the rest a couple of years ago. I saw most of it before when it was airing. The earlier period is full of characters that had layers, more depth, and  decent dialogue. The period starting around the possession everyone begins talking to themselves and almost being overheard. The twists get more ludicrous. Everyone gets increasingly less intelligent. Characters like Kate, Lucas, Sami, Peter and Kristen have actual motivations that are somewhat grounded. The stories that Deborah Adair’s Kate had and Lauren Koslow had are miles apart. They completely break Marlena down with the affair in a more psychological way over her guilt than the comedy that comes later.

The simplistic, over the top stuff that came later in his run didn’t work for me. I got why it took off- you literally could tune out for a week and come back and the characters might still all be on the same day as when you left. Passions really took that to another level.

Peyton Place meets Twin Peaks is something I would love to watch. That was never Passions. I have hopes for BTG to actually have depth.

Edited September 22, 2024 by titan1978

[BetterForgotten]

Look, I think JER took Passions very seriously in the beginning, but it just never clicked, and that was a hard pill for both JER and NBC to swallow. Very soon after, they started spinning it as a “parody” or a “spoof on soaps” to save face - the problem was, none of it was amusing and treated the audience as if they were stupid most of the time.

The show was not what JER wanted it to be and at some point, he just gave up and tried to double down on making it as stupid as he possibly could, and NBC could do nothing about it because of the deal they had in place with him. 

[SteelCity]

Definitely Loren Lott and Davetta Sherwood!

Edited September 22, 2024 by SteelCity

[Jonathan]

What’s notable about this launch is that it’s the first soap opera debuting in a time when social media is such a central part of our culture. It will be interesting to see how the show uses social media to drive promotion and keep the conversation alive from one week to the next.

[Vee]

Reilly didn't try that hard to make PSSNS serious in the beginning. It was written for nursery school children and there was a Vengaboys dance number with Timmy and Tabitha somewhere in the first few months/year that has remained burned in my mind.

[Contessa Donatella]

About that, specifically I have found that the real true blue Tabitha & Timmy fans & stans ARE the heart of the PSSN fandom. Good god, how they love that witch & her come-to-life doll! It is interesting, of course, that when they realized just how good they had it with the 2-11 demographic, that they suddenly realized HOW in the heck were they gonna monetize this thing? I mean, that young, how much allowance could they even have?

[dc11786]

I think the name change is smart because of the dual meaning. Beyond the Gates and into the gated community and what remains beyond the gated community. It just invokes the idea of secrets and hidden knowledge which I hope will be central to the story since it seems to be trending in that direction. 

I think the casting works better than I expected. I do wish that they had kept the name Rosalind for Tamara Tunie´s character, who I never thought would grace daytime again. I think she has the gravitas to make that character such a powerhouse and the charisma to sell the performances. Hoping that Obba Babatunde is playing her husband now. 

I can´t believe that Karla Mosley and Daphne Duplaix are old enough to play the daughters, but that shows that I have no concept of how much time has passed since Guiding Light ended or One Life to Live whitewashed and heterotized their cast. Mosley received some (lots?) of praise when Maya was more of a manipulative character so my initial reservations based on her tepid performance as Christina in the final year of GL have faded. To be fair to Mosley, Ellen Wheeler´s entire product wasn´t energizing. Duplaix will probably shine on a P&G show in her role.  

I am anticipating the next round of casting news given how solid this is so far.

[LostinHarmony]

I'm excited for Beyond The Gates, it's the first soap I'll be able to watch from the beginning live. As a kid, my parents and grandparents watched Y&R and B&B faithfully but 10-year-old me in a kids mind found them boring. Imagine being bored in the summer as a pre-teen without cable and stumbling across Passions in 2000 during the Prom Boat disaster seeing Tabitha and Timmy in his John Travolta tuxedo, Charity shooting lightening from her fingertips, and a hot shirtless Jesse Metcalfe (when I discovered it wasn't just a faze,) there's a reason Passions was #1 with the 12-17 demo. Generally speaking, I think the success it had with young viewers speaks volumes on why so many long-time soap fans disliked it, look at who was attracted to it. Those teens are now older which is why you're starting to see more adults show love for it IMO, it wasn't just a fever dream, there was really hell in that closet, courtesy Robin Strasser lol.

As a kid, Passions was my thing, and its because of it that years later I continue to support the genre and got into OLTL in its final years under Ron and later DAYS during the time jump. That little kid that was obsessed with PSNS will be tuned into The Gates on day 1 and wishing it success. 

Side note: Happy for Daphnee Duplaix on BTG, I know most people think of OLTL with her but not only did she play Valerie on PSNS but years earlier she was one of Gwen's sorority sisters in the early episodes, happy shes got a leading role to shine in. 

[DeliaIrisFan]

What incredible news about TT.  Am I the only one who liked the name "Betty" for the character, though?  Admittedly, I was probably stuck in a bit of a time loop, forgetting that would have been a more popular nickname a couple of generations before hers.  And don't get me wrong: I like Anita as well, and the implication that MVJ is thinking about the family tree and adjusting names accordingly, as @DramatistDreamer noted.  It makes me think of how the Ryan's Hope bible was rumored to go back generations to Ireland at the turn of the (previous) century.  I also wouldn't have minded the presumably jettisoned "Rosalind" (and possible homage to Cash).

I also thought DD did good work and was a delightful presence on OLTL, even with often (and ultimately) thankless material, so that news makes me really happy as well.

 

I was admittedly picturing Morgan as "Betty" (at least, once I remembered time - see above), but I think you're right.  Specifically, it might have been difficult for some viewers to accept her playing a main character who's not as nice (I hope) as Angie.  I suspect part of what made it possible for Beverlee McKinsey (aside from being BM, and I'd put Morgan in the same very top tier of daytime actresses) to create a second iconic P&G soap character was that she had played the character who was objectively less sympathetic first.  No AW/GL viewers could have been credibly outraged at Alex doing something that would have been beneath Iris.  (At least, not until MD's Alex was revealed as a drug kingpin or whatever, but by then AW had long since moved the Overton window by leaving Iris to rot in prison as a violent felon.)

I'd still like to see DM in a recurring role or short arc - or even as the matriarch of another core family (is there another?).  Maybe she could play the gay son's mother-in-law, who has a complicated history with Anita?

Yes, I hope the show devotes significant attention to the characters on the other side of the Gates as well.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2024 by DeliaIrisFan

[Contessa Donatella]

The thing I fail to understand is why people seem to think that social media, today, is that much different, from online entities, before. To me the real differences all lie in the realm of bad behavior. Never before have there been so many haters, toxicity, plain ornery meanness, ... also bullies. The only other thing that I note is a lack of critical thinking & reading skills 

[ReddFoxx]

CBS and BET have simulcasted the Image Awards so considering that connection I'm wondering if the debut episode will be shown on BET in primetime after it airs on CBS Daytime in order to create more interest. With CBS and BET under the same parent company there is room for cross promotion.