BTG: February 2025 Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh, ok! That makes sense, too. 

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But if they were to come out and say they were nods to ATWT & GL, I wouldn't fault them b/c I totally thought those little touches in the logo were. 

[Vee]

This I have to know about but it's totally the wrong thread, lol.

[Joseph]

MAYBE it's foreshadowing to something! Who knows! 

[Paul Raven]

After a second watch.

Standouts for me were Daphnee and Timon. They came across natural and gave us a good sense of their characters.

Tamara is fine but was stuck with a lot of unnatural dialogue.

Karla needs to reign it in. A character like that needs finesse. Not a fan of Dani resorting to violence. I think a better choice would have been for her to slay her rival with some well chosen words.

I didn't think Clifton showed the gravitas needed for the patriarch role. He seemed way too meek and gentle and a little hesitant.

It was too soon to really judge the others but yes,the Derek character and Dani's daughter and her cousin seemed very raw.

There was too much expository dialogue .Plenty of time for backstories and history to be revealed w/o overloading the first ep.

The white couple seemed out of place but I guess they felt they needed to be included in Ep #1 so viewers would know it was not a totally black cast.

Edited February 25 by Paul Raven

[Joseph]

Beautifully said!

[detroitpiston]

Its so crazy that this is a real show lol, my goodness how lucky it feels to get this at this time. I watched live and then rewatched on CBS app and plan on doing another rewatch later this morning but wanted to wait to share my thoughts. The show did not disappoint at all and gave me everything I look for in a soap, high drama, good production, good characters and (mostly) good acting

The opening scene with Nicole driving a Mercedes into the gates with Best of my Love playing and Anita and Nicole being greeted and seated just immediately felt RICH as hell and distinctive and I loved the way the camera moved.

Starting basically in medias res was a great choice because even with the early dialogue being exposition heavy it made me feel like I’ve already been watching this family for decades and TT, DD, and KM specifically did a great job just feeling lived in in there characters already.

I can’t at Bill and Hayley sending Dani an invite to the wedding lmao, right out the gate we see how trifling these two are and it made me side with Dani early on even as she displayed some pretty destructive and vicious behavior. I’ve seen a lot of Erica Kane comparisons but she actually reminds me of Tamara Braun to early Laura Wright Guza era Carly with how vicious, controlling and confrontational she is. The way she runs her daughter Chelsea’s career while simultaneously melting down over the end and betrayal of her marriage makes for the kind of characters I LOVE and I can’t wait to see what happens when she finds out Chelsea and Kat are scheming to cut her as manager.

I loved the early confrontation with Dani and Hayley, this mistress got some audacity and I was already cheering for Dani to whoop her ass at this point but I also find her weirdly sympathetic? The actress is sexy and talented too and might have my favorite shot in the opening credits with her little wink to the camera. The “Back UP Hayley” moment was chef’s kiss.

Nicole and Anita trying to calm Dani down and Nicole disarming Dani’s attempts to make digs at her was even better, Nicole might actually end up being my favorite of the Dupree’s I love a calm person who can get you together without breaking a sweat and Daphnee Duplaix is just so natural and at ease in the role already.

I like Vanessa but the fact she made sure to secure her real estate commission with Bill and Hayley before ratting them out to the Dupree’s is hilarious!

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Her warning about the Dupree’s and the kind of woman people in Fairmount Crest fear and give a hard time to was a great way to set up Hayley’s arc on the show.

Bill’s intro scene was great, I love his office set and he feels like a good antagonist already. Right from the jump we see him leveraging favors for favors like a slime ball and Anita, Nicole, and Dani telling us immediately that he’s always been a cheater and likely manipulated Dani to clout chase off the Dupree family name and connections is instantly believable. I think this is going to be a great character to watch and I’m curious if his daughters or scenes alone with Hayley humanize him a bit or have him look even more ain’t sh!t.

I loved the scenes with Vernon and Martin so much. Reminds me of me and my Grandaddy and its so rare to see a black man and his Grandson dynamic properly showcased on Daytime, hell tv period. I buy what they’re selling with Vernon as a celebrity and Martin as a congressman.

Naomi and Jacob hunching all episode was funny, FINALLY a soap with love in the afternoon again! I’m not a big love scene guy but this was actually nice to see compared to the stiff unsexy stuff we see on the other shows. I like both characters already and they have good chemistry.

Now for the only part I disliked of the show—Ashley and boyfriend/husband who’s name I’m not even bothering to lookup. What a waste of airtime lol, yuck. Neither one had much charisma and they took me all the way out of the viewing experience. Who the hell cooks breakfast shirtless in an apron? And why should I even care about these two when the rest of the show is so centered to the Dupree’s? All of their stuff was a chop for me even her little flirtation with playboy at the end who could be a same mama and daddy sibling with Jacob to the point I thought they actually were the same person at first.

I loved the scene of the whole family gathering around Dani and giving her a pep talk. You can already tell who Vernon’s favorite child is and it seemed like it actually bothers Anita a little bit. I felt the devastation for Dani once Vanessa made her announcement and I LOVED the final confrontation with Hayley. WACK HER AGAIN lol and the family shooting Hayley eye daggers ( especially Anita and Chelsea, whew) and Karen Huger with the “Welcome to Fairmont Crest” was amazing, really great first episode. I can’t wait to really live in the world of this man, I still have to pinch myself. Its the soap I always wanted but thought I’d never get

Edited February 25 by detroitpiston

[adrnyc]

With everything else going on in the episode, I totally forgot to mention this. One of my first thoughts about the show was, "OOOOO, bitch didn't even slow down for that stop sign!" I thought it showed that the Dupree family OWNS that place.

[MichaelGL]

Now that I had a chance to watch I LOVED it.

The opening scene of Nicole driving to actual music

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you can tell that us American soap fans are starving when we get excited at actual music being used The outdoor scenes wonderfully shot. 
 

Why do I get a sense of foreshadowing when Anita and Nicole were talking about how lucky they were to find a “good” guy (unlike Bill), that somewhere down the road a man from either one of their past may show up being the complete opposite of their husbands. I have sense that while Nicole may have married the right man, that there’s a bad boy out there that the Duprees may have disapproved of, and may have left behind to go to medical school and etc. It’s just speculation but I definitely get a sense Nicole’s life isn’t all that perfect and neither is her past. 
 

Bill is definitely going to be someone I love to hate, a Roger Thorpe or Victor Newman in the making! The actor has that IT factor!

I need more exploration of the friendship between Bills daughter and Hayley! I definitely get a sense that Hayley will be a character I will like more further down the road as soon as she grows up and wisens up about Bill. It’s going to be glorious to watch! 
 

Dani is an Erica Kane in the making. 

Edited February 25 by MichaelGL

[Maxim]

THAT WAS MY EXACT first reaction yesterday!  

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[1974mdp]

I loved both the Dani and Nicole characters, and their contrast as sisters. Excellent choice on casting these two characters! I mean, you can understand why Dani's pissed, especially with her daughter's friend practically growing up in their house! 

Since this is a soap, I'm curious to see what inevitable secrets we'll find out about Nicole and Anita. There have to be cracks in Nicole's perfect life.

After being tossed aside by B&B, I'm glad Karla Mosley is really getting some material to sink her teeth into.

Ashley and as someone else mentioned "the boyfriend" were a bit snoozeville for me. I understand that they wanted to show them, but they should have been given something more exciting to play. Maybe Ashley could have had a major emergency to deal with on her first day at work, for example. A phone call between her and Naomi would have tied Ashley in better, too. 

Very excited to see how the week develops!

[Joseph]

People Once Referred to Maya Avant Forrester as A Black Erica Kane it's kinda Funny how they're referring to KM's New Character the same way!

[Contessa Donatella]

I made a mental note of that & screenshot it.

I think Dani is going to surpass her daytime equivalent! I'm thinking in the vicinity of Dynasty perhaps. At any rate I picked right when I predicted her as my 2nd favorite after Anita. Karla Mosley in my 3rd time seeing her is da bomb!!

[Cheap21]

Update!

 

 

[Liberty City]

Jen Jacob is a real good actor; her work on primetime is impressive, and I feel like she'll grow on those who dislike her based off of this episode alone. I know she's capable of doing more.

Her 2024 demo reel:

[BetterForgotten]

In all fairness, if Les Moonves was still at CBS, none of this was likely to happen. George Cheeks supported this project from day one and had already told Sheila Ducksworth that they were toying with the idea of a new soap before she brought the idea of a black-led soap to him. The CBS/NAACP joint venture, which Ducksworth oversees and is responsible for leading this, was the result of the horrific George Floyd murder. 

That’s to take nothing away from Rowell’s activism - it did help plant a seed. She was just unlucky dealing with execs who were ignorant or unsupportive. Ducksworth was lucky to be in a position of power with people who supported her.