BTG: March 2025 Discussion Thread

[Vanguardian53]

In what some accused me of a long long long time ago of fanfic, this was one of my proposals and creations. A non-rich ordinary working black family as counterparts.

[Planet Soap]

Came here to say the same. Model minority representation might've been more critical in the days of the Cosby Show (which I loved) when we had less black programs on TV. But today where there are a whole swath, I think we have the space and freedom to show imperfect black characters.

If everyone on the show was a great human being, as to positively represent black people, it wouldn't be compelling television.

In soaps we have so few black characters and leads I get why positive representation matters.

Moreover I get that flawed white characters don't have the same representation pressures because they're a part of the majority/ in-power group. But again, I refer to my point above.

Edited 11 hours ago by Planet Soap

[ranger1rg]

I'm going to disagree. Creating a poor family to balance the Duprees would have been the typical soap cliche. When it's done, it ends up with the families mixing and everyone has money anyway.

Look at the other soaps. Even if we don't see the wealth on screen because of budget cuts (lack of and small sets, no maids and servants and assistants, etc.), we're still supposed to believe they're worth a ton of money and are wealthy.That's true on Y&R, on GH, on BOLD, and on DAYS. The only question is who's wealthier.

So why can't BTG be about messy and wealthy Black people? You have people who don't make a lot of money, but why do they have to be from one core family? I don't think they do. I don't need to see an entire family that struggles to buy groceries.

I want BTG to do its thing. So far, I'm liking it.

[Liberty City]

I agree; it's very clear what this soap is meant to be about, so it shouldn't be surprising we're seeing just that.

[Vee]

I actually think they've taken pains to show working-class people (Mona, Dana/Eva, Vanessa's mother, the somnambulant Ashley and Derek). I just don't think that's enough, and I would bring in a real poor family at some point. I wouldn't mind it being tied in to Dana or Mona. I like Mona a lot.

Edited 11 hours ago by Vee

[Planet Soap]

I was going to say It would be cool to see some income diversity which is a-typical of soaps today, but you make a good point.

The family is very large and we could do with certain characters split off or eliminated.

[Toups]

I said "poorer" and not "poor."  LOL I just think having 4-5 member middle or upper-middle class family would've been better.  We'll see in the long run (hopefully it will be a long run) if this becomes a bigger issue. 

[janea4old]

The character "Mona" (pics here if anyone needs reference) 
https://wornontv.net/beyond-the-gates/mona-wilson/ 
Mona is friends with Ashley's mother Jan, and with Leslie, and we've seen them at the Orphey Gene's as the "non-wealthy" friends having coffee and chatting. (Edit, I see this was just mentioned in above posts while I was typing this).

Mona works for Nicole.  Now today, we learned that Eva had to run the Nicole award event by herself, because Mona is sick.  We saw no indication that Mona was sick, just that it was mentioned.

I wonder now if Leslie arranged for Mona to be temporarily ill, so that Mona would not be at the Nicole award event, so that Leslie could go there and not be caught by Mona?

Edited 10 hours ago by janea4old

[Chris B]

This was one of my favorite episodes so far. I understand the criticism of another event so soon but I think that's very realistic when you compare it to the actual DMV area. On Real Housewives of Potomac there is always an event with a made up award as an excuse to throw a party. It helps remind me of the importance of the Dupree family in the area.

I went from not liking Martin and Smitty to really falling for them lately. The kids were actually the sweet spot that helped win me over. Those kids are great and the family unit as a whole gels really well. I also loved Martin's introduction to Eva. I love the quiet joy she expresses when interacting with what she thinks is her family. 

Everybody looked wonderful and I thought having Silk Press as a caterer was classic soap. Today's episode was mellow but important. I forsee another dynamic cliffhanger friday. I'm curious for next week if they planned for only 3 episodes or if it will throw off the episode rotation. We shall see.

[Maxim]

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I can't think of poor or rich when I see this. It's perfection.

[All My Shadows]

No offense to anyone, but the fact that my “lower middle class” family became a poor family that struggles to buy groceries is exactly my point. Not being rich does not make you poor. I obviously love Leslie, but idk I’m just not a fan of the part of the story that makes her jealous of the Dupree/Richardson wealth.

I think what I want to see is a haves/have-nots situation where the have-nots are not destructively desperate to become haves.

IMO, the one rich family/one not-rich family thing is a typical soap cliche because it works. Everyone being rich and wearing the latest fashions is the cliche to avoid, but that’s just me. Even if you take the socioeconomic angle out of it, show me one successful hour-long daytime soap that focused almost exclusively on one family. When the half-hours expanded in the 70s, they all added new families to fill their canvases. Some did a better job than others, but no soap went to an hour and ended up with 15 characters all belonging to the same family.

The show just lacks dimension for me, a dimension I thought we’d see. Even if it’s another wealthy family, show us another side of life beyond the gates. The Duprees don’t have a rival family? Everyone is at once in love with them and afraid of them?

Edited 10 hours ago by All My Shadows

[GLATWT88]

How old is Nicole supposed to be? 

Watching today's episode confused me a bit. So it seems like Martin is gathering funds to potentially run for President which would make him at least 35. I could have sworn he was in his late 20s based on something that was said in an earlier episode, but I may have misunderstood or perhaps I'm just confused. Then, in the award video Nicole mentioned that she and Ted met at an AMA conference, which would mean that both were already in med school at least. So the earliest Nicole could have met Ted was at 22. Then, have a child. Even if this happened right away or by accident, if Martin is 35, that would make Nicole at minimum 57. 

This is something that has been throwing me off from the beginning with this soap. The "older" cast seem too young to all have the grown children that they do. I know it's a soap and you have to let some things slide, but it would be different if it was one child's age that seemed off, but I feel the age difference between some cast that are parent and child is so jarring. Martin makes more sense as Nicole and Dani's baby brother. I feel like Kat and Chelsea should be Nicole and Dani's eldest children not their youngest and even still I'm not completely sure how old they're supposed to be. 

[Vee]

I think it's a little soon to say the Duprees will not have any rival families. I think they just didn't start with the classical 'two families' setup.

[Maxim]

Yeah... I think this is something a lot of us share with you. Nicole can become a great-grandmother in the coming years with the way everyone is aged. 

[janea4old]

 

It wasn't mentioned in any episode how old Martin is. 

Earlier in this thread, I posted that..  since the law is you have to be 35 when you take office as President, then Martin would have to be at least 32 now, to be able to run for president in 2028. Or he'd have to be at least 28 now to run for president in 2032.

Then I *speculated* that he's 28 now and that he and Smitty adopted their teenaged children when they were in elementary school and Martin was around 21.  All speculation on my part. This theory might keep Nicole's age four years lower than if Martin were 32 now.

But all of that was me just thinking aloud (speculating/pondering) on this thread.  We really don't know how old Martin is yet. 

We heard today that he's put out feelers for funding for a presidential run ...  but don't know if that's for 2028 or 2032.  I guess it's more likely 2028 based on the dialogue, but I don't know.

Edited 10 hours ago by janea4old