BTG: March 2025 Discussion Thread

[All My Shadows]

Quick thoughts while watching. Today’s ep started with wonky dialogue right out of the gate. Andre shows Ashley the pictures he took of her and gives her a sweet compliment, and the first thing on her mind is…Dani? Dani is not. that. girl. and I need them to stop trying to make her happen.

Then Martin accuses Smittyyyy of still trying to go back to work as a FREELANCEINVESTIGATIVEREPORTERRRR!!!

Samantha and Tyrell were a hit for me right out of the gate.

It cannot be overstated - Trisha Mann-Grant is a natural. I want them to just turn the camera on and let her improv as Leslie telling her life story.

Smitty offering to “thank” Martin was kinda cringe when dropped in with the Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet vibe of their scenes with the kids. And Smitty had cheek-clapping on his mind yet went to bed in those puritan PJs?

Ashley/Derek and the gambling storyline are complete and total duds, especially the gambling. Who gives a damn?

Edited March 13 by All My Shadows

[Antoyne]

Maybe Vanessa’s hubby will be the first death on the show. 

[Alan]

Today Ashley and Derek were really not bad at all. Dare I say...good!? The scene where Derek forgets Ashley's name and she offers to write it down was touching.

Ashley is much more tolerable when BTG is showing us her caring nature rather than having other characters tell us how fantastic she is.

[kalbir]

On what planet?

I think she's the breakout star.

[Liberty City]

The one they're on?

[kalbir]

I'm not seeing it.

I'm team Andre/Dani. Now they are off the charts heat generating.

[Liberty City]

And that's fine.

[ReddFoxx]

Trisha Mann-Grant is definitely will be a contender for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy nomination. Maybe even Lead Actress depending on how this story progresses.

[Soaplovers]

Ashley has barely had any scenes with Eva, Jan (her mom), nor Silk Press Sheila yet.  And Derek is very isolated, and I think a scene with just him and Jacob is needed since the two are good friends (or so it's been mentioned).

And the gambling storyline has barely had any focus nor has Vanessa/Doug so when they get their once a week focus, it's hard to be invested in it.

The shows obsession with showing every single second of the Dani/Bill/Hayley story has prevented the show from fully developing a strong C-story.   They've hardly focused and developed the B-story involving Nicole/Ted/Silk Press Sheila/Eva, but due to the acting of all the performers in that story.. it's more successful in my eyes.

Logically the Martin cover up story would be the C-story with Ashley/Andre/Derek & Vanessa/Doug being the simmering stories waiting to take one of the top three story slots once the simmer develops into a boil... but the show's obsession with Dani has made all those stories underdeveloped.

The only thing I notice in the scripts are that scenes are barely more then a minute long before cutting to a new scene.  I understand the attention span is shorter then what it used to be, but there are times I start to get into a scene and then it flashes to the next scene suddenly.  

Also.. I kind of wonder if maybe a 30 minute soap format would have worked better.. and then expanded to an hour down the line.   It's hard to launch a new soap, but any hour long soap that has launched has struggled and not really succeeded long term.

[Cheap21]

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Leslie when she gets her test results and interrupts the Gala exposing Ted as a liar 

Chelsea to Kat:

Vanessa to Dani:

 

 

[Rmodelboy]

I'll glady sit on that bus of one for my Martin lol. 

 

 

[wonderwoman1951]

i know this year’s daytime emmys aren’t happening until the fall — and there’s been a lot of talk about potential daytime emmy nods — but ‘beyond the gates’ won’t be eligible for this year’s awards.

just saying… 

[Taoboi]

Yay! Someone that sees it.

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  Complete with good camera angles.

 

But speaking of...I love the cameramen on this show.  

I see what you did there.  And I agree.  The last thing this show needs to do is fall into the other soaps' trap of propping a character. 

[EricMontreal22]

So the dynamic they seem obviously to be playing up is the most typically male chauvinistic (in terms of how they're spouse should behave) character on the show isn't any of the straight men, but is Martin who seems to want a 1950s housewife in Smitty?  I get it...  It's actually an interesting take on gay marriages, though annoying at the same time lol.  I did actually like the kids, and their complete siding with Smitty on the subject...  I still am not 100% sold on the relationship as played out (I laughed when all of the other husbands/boyfriends have had much more... revealing sleepwear than Smitty's 1950s, again, pajamas...) but actually did enjoy their storyline beats today.

As for Eva and "Leslie" I'm actually enjoying the over the top soapiness of it BUT it does have me wondering how she raised Eva (and successfully, it seems) for all of these years until now (and we've heard her husband/partner wasn't very paternal so we can't chalk it up to him.)

Still, I gotta say, I took today off and was nursing a cold in bed, so did check out all the remaining soaps for the first time in a while, and Gates, for all the things I'm not completely sold on, was far more compelling than anything on the three other shows, and had better dialogue.  I know it's only in its third week so is hard to judge, but...  (I also didn't mind a break from Dani.)

AND despite my praise, I 100% agree with absolutely everything in this post.,  We definitely have to start having Derek and Ashley interacting more with the others as, despite what we've been told, they still don't seem to have any connection to the others (Nicole talking to Ashley didn't seem very personal--more like co-workers at the same hospital, which they are, but not someone who presumably grew up knowing Nicole as her best friend's aunt, or whatever...)

The gambling storyline also is completely islanded/isolated from the main focus stories as well (and I guess we can see what's gonna happen to Vanessa's storyline but I'm not sure why she went from apparently randomly hooking up with men in roleplay situations--stupidly at the bar her friends all hang out at--to sleeping with a key staff member of the country club they all practically live in...) 

I actually thought for a long time they would do this as a 30 minute soap (if anything to pair with B&B) and I agree that probably would have been the best way to launch the show.

[janea4old]

The straight character Bill Hamilton also did/does this with exwife Dani Dupree and new wife Hayley Lawson Hamilton.

Edit.  I misread your post. At first I thought it said the *only* spouse behaving that way, so I added Bill.
But I just re-read your post. You said the person *most* that way.
Yes indeed that's Martin.

Edited March 13 by janea4old