BTG: February 2025 Discussion Thread

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March 3, 20251 yr

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What a week. I got behind later in the week, after taking off work for the premiere, but I'm all caught up and eager for Week 2. I don't know about the Dani shooting at the wedding, mainly because it makes me think of how AW wrote out Iris, but I very much doubt that is happening with this character so I am happy to see how it plays out. The gothic/thriller story they're setting up with Leslie/Eva could be really good - after the past 2-3 decades of soap rewrites by committee, I just hope it gets to play out as planned over what I presume would be many months.

On 2/27/2025 at 12:37 PM, detroitpiston said:

I want to like Martin but the actor is definitely going in the weakest link pot alongside the white people who aren’t Vanessa 💀

I'm starting to be afraid this is true, but it's still early. I'd like to think the actor will settle into the role.

On 2/28/2025 at 5:32 PM, dragonflies said:

Karla said they didn't have their lighting the first week, it had to be shipped from Germany, they had to have a lady come out of retirement to show them how to do it

Wow...

On 2/28/2025 at 11:43 PM, Antoyne said:

It absolutely does. Especially with what’s going on in this country. I think I don’t even sweat the small stuff some people are pointing out because I’m just so happy this show exists at all and is actually entertaining as hell. This show is so so important.

I love this.

On 3/1/2025 at 2:36 AM, te. said:

LOL, that just made me think about how people use "narcissist" as the latest buzzword. Maybe Bill is, but Hayley clearly isn't being written as one.

I can understands she's biased because she's hurt by what her friend and father did. I appreciated that what she said could apply to Bill and Dani.

On 3/1/2025 at 5:05 AM, Chris B said:

In Michael Fairman's interview posted a few pages back, Karla Mosley dropped a few interesting tidbits. Their lighting hadn't arrived when filming started which explains why the first episode was so brightly lit. She also mentioned that something happened where they had to film 17 episodes in a week. My guess is that this was reshoots due to technical issues and possibly allowing the cast time to adjust to a soap production model. That explains why starting with episode two we started seeing improved lighting and some of the performances as the week went on. I think it's nice they took care to make sure they got this first week right.

I don't think it's unreasonable to say this was an incredible week. A soap hasn't been launched in 25 years. There is no model for how to launch a soap in 2025. There have been complaints that too much happened this week but in today's tv landscape, you have to draw in the viewers instantly or you're not going to get them. I'm sure post launch there will be time to slow down and breathe but had they done that for launch week that could've tanked the show. Everyday this week a clip is viral on TikTok and Twitter, the show is also trending which is proof they did something right.

Of course it wasn't perfect but I definitely think the foundation they built is stronger than some of the first weeks I've seen. Particularly I'd say Texas, Port Charles and Sunset Beach. All needed extensive retooling for the shows to work. The one thing that makes BTG stand out for me is that I do think the writing is strong. The ideas feel familiar but fresh and despite all of the action and exposition to set things up, I feel like they've done a good job of quickly developing these characters and their relationships so the world feels real and so we actually care about them.

There is definitely room to grow but I feel like they absolutely got it right and any changes will just be improving upon a good product. I don't see them having to drastically change the show in order to make it work. Launching a soap is daunting and they definitely should be proud of what they delivered.

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