BTG: History, Behind the Scenes Articles & Photos

[Taoboi]

Speak on it! 

 

PS. Will let you know when she pops up again.

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But perhaps that's the thing. Soaps have definitely proven they can go on and on. And the world completely still loves them all over. What if the production actually put promotions into it though? Ratings might still decline due to how we as people view shows now (streaming, tv systems, live), but if it is good...people will come and be grabbed hold. 

[Errol]

Not sure if this has already been brought up elsewhere, but The Hollywood Reporter recently did a story on Paramount cutting costs across films and shows. Not sure if this has anything to do with CBS' thinking when it came to The Gates, or anything else, but here you go:

 

Paramount, Citing Experiment During Strikes, to Cut Costs Per Title For Films, Series

Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and CFO Naveen Chopra explained their plan to reduce content costs on the company's earnings call.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-content-spending-cuts-2024-1235838881/

 

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[Vee]

This is going to hit Star Trek first at Paramount (and probably already has, given recent moves). But I was expecting that. It's a shame, as that resurgent franchise is responsible for a great deal of what's barely kept Paramount afloat in recent years. I'm just waiting for the service to collapse or merge. Trek will survive one way or another.

[Taoboi]

@Errol finally had time to read your article. Cannot wait.

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As for Paramount, I feel...and I'm sure it has been mostly discussed here as well...that since the strikes was efficient enough to cause a pause, that all companies are getting their lickback through these cancelling of shows and movies to save cost and/or AI. So many good shows are just getting cut right and left right now. Which of course, makes the news of a new soap that must more surprising.

 

However, now that Paramount has merged with my tv system, that just makes me side-eye that must more seeing that header for the article. Also why I cannot get into any Netflix shows knowing that they are more than likely to be cancelled after one season.

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

Paramount has been looking to merge with another studio and sell off their assets for at least 3 years now. WB was considered a possible merger candidate recently, but they backed down likely because of their own issues with being in debt. Universal is considered another candidate.

If they’re looking to cut a lot of costs, I can’t imagine how much worse the licensing fees for Y&R will be now with the 4 year renewal. The show already operates like it has nothing left. If B&B gets renewed after their current 1 year extension, it will be the same. 

The barometer of success could very well look quite differently for The Gates. First off, they’ve been very direct in saying the core demographic they’re going after is black women, which incidentally is the same core demo Y&R significantly over-indexes viewership with. This is something that’s never often said publicly by networks. This show needs to succeed with this demographic first and foremost it would appear. Of course CBS would like stronger overall viewership, but if it doesn’t resonate with this targeted demo, it won’t last.

I sincerely hope CBS forces some type of behind the scenes change and shakeup at Y&R in time for The Gates to debut. Y&R needs to be as strong as ever to pull some of that audience down to this new show.

 

[Vee]

And yet, as I mentioned upthread but was far from the first over the years, Y&R has been ambivalent at best about its Black audience and looking to marginalize it/shift away from it for a couple decades. It wanted to be a bad ABC soap, still often does. I don't believe they will ever rehire Victoria Rowell bc of cast issues and probably Sony, but I think she could turn up on The Gates. But will Y&R ever re-embrace its non-white audience?

[DramatistDreamer]

Paramount+ recently sent me an email offering me a free month after I terminated my subscription, after a promotion that I had received ended. I don’t know if it’s worth it just for a month. For years, power struggles between the Shari Redstone contingent and the Leslie Moonves contingent dominated the corporation and its sense of itself. After one side “won”, it seemed like there wasn’t much of a plan to figure out what came next. Speaking of which, 

This announcement about The Gates had me wondering just how much of an impact Les Moonves might have had in the mindset and programming choices of every show before his ouster. Everyone knows by now that the CBS under Moonves featured many shows that would be regarded as masculine-centric, if not utterly hypermasculine-The NCIS, CSI, 48 Hours type of shows, lots of crime and detective fare. Anything that seemed to cater to women and minorities, seemed to be outside the purview of his worldview. I know he wasn’t responsible for daytime programming directly but never underestimate the power of company culture-what starts at the top will trickle down to the rest of the departments. I don’t know if Y&R will ever step forward, away from its ambivalence toward its nonwhite viewers @Vee. It feels ingrained in the culture and short of sweeping changes with different people with different creative approaches, I don’t see it changing. If “The Gates” takes off and sees success (whatever that looks like these days), it could force Y&R to adopt some changes, but honestly, it seems like a “we’ll just have to wait and see “ type of scenario #1 in a diminished landscape is still #1 and a #1 show may not see a need to “fix” apparatus that, to them, isn’t broken.

[Liberty City]

Highly doubt it; just be thankful Sean Dominic, Bryton E. James, Christel Khalil & Brytni Sarpy are on the cast as they are, because that's likely all we're getting.

[dragonflies]

I think so too 

[Vee]

A wild statement considering where we were 10+ years ago, but I agree today.

[BetterForgotten]

Yeah, I mean, I think if they really want this show to see success from the onset with the priority demo they’re calling out (black women, I know they just said “African American” but women are the other demographic that still over-index for daytime viewership), they’re really going to have to lean into Y&R’s audience and the (often undeserved) brand equity and loyalty that show has with black viewers. Like it or not, black women have remained loyal to that show and CBS Daytime for some reason. 

They need a resurgent Y&R to get viewers of this demographic interested in sampling something new or something that directly speaks to them. But with those people likely only watching Y&R out of loyalty/habit, are they going to give this new show a chance? That’s why I think they need to reevaluate Y&R’s creative state and authentically start to write better for the black canvas again in advance of this show getting on the air. Josh Griffith is not the right person to do that job…

Edited March 9, 2024 by BetterForgotten

[DaytimeFan]

Despite the decades of free fall in daytime ratings beginning in 1994 with the OJ Simpson trial, then massive erosion in the mid 2000s, there has been something of a levelling off with daytime ratings to the point that the 5 day a week volume of production has got to look attractive to programming executives.

Plenty of primetime shows the are considered hits, whether they're on network or on cable, have comparable ratings, if not inferior ratings, to all of the daytime soaps. 

I'm not convinced that B&B is in the danger zone with CBS. They want a strong lineup if The Gates has any hope of success and less than 400,000 viewers separates B&B and Y&R. 

The Talk, on the other hand, is a ratings dud, without any replay or further monetization hopes.

A soap can be sold overseas, shown on multiple platforms etc. This just makes good business sense. I wonder if they'll look to Atlanta for potential production.  

[Contessa Donatella]

This is the one thing I'm hearing over & over from different people at different places. After people get beyond the first giddy excitement & think slowly, carefully, with intent, the echo is "Atlanta". 

[Khan]

IKR?  And it's only March!  God only knows what else is in store this year for us soap fans, lol.

[vanguard]

The article states that this show will have multidimensional characters and juicy storylines. How juicy, I wonder? Is this going to be some super racy daytime soap? I can see it, especially if they decide to choose Atlanta as the show's setting.