BTG: April 2025 Discussion Thread

[Taoboi]

With no gimmicks at that. If it was any other show, it would be silly or a quick cut-off that does not have a vibe. Or a near-miss with some stupid character in an attempt to put the focus on a writer's (not necessarily the audience's) favorite to give them something to do. It...just is. And most definitely show, not tell. Letting it cook. And with an actor and actress with chemistry is a bonus. And sexy, too? YES. 

 

I know it won't last forever, but yep...time being...very nice.

[AbcNbc247]

And y’all jumped on me every time I voiced my concerns about Ron and Jamey

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I agree, this week wasn’t the best but it wasn’t terrible. A lot of the B and C storylines were allowed to build this week, which is a good thing. Even though I do agree that the hospital documentary isn’t a good idea

Don’t abandon BTG yet

[Paul Raven]

The Richardson living room set is too monotone.

I know Nicole's style is restrained and elegant but all the furniture -sofa, chairs, barstools, footstools are plain and either cream or beige tones. The cushions are plain, walls and rugs are neutral etc

They need some patterns and pops of color to create visual interest.

And there are similar bookcases in the Richardson, Dupree and Hamilton homes.

[1974mdp]

The past couple of weeks I've started to get a bit...and I hate to say it...bored with the show. It feels like NOTHING is happening just repeating, repeating, repeating dialogue. I've found myself FF'ing through scenes, and that's bad this early into the show. We're not getting cliffhangers...even on Fridays! The whole week should be building to a big moment on Fridays, but we get Vanessa and Joey to end the week???  That's it? 

When it looked like Bill might have a heart attack on Thursday, I was like..FINALLY...something is happening that would cause drama for many, many characters!!! Then, the next day, "My hand feel asleep." Really? Sure, he might have a heart attack later, but it needs to happen NOW.  We need movement in the plot.

The nurse documentary...I don't even know what that's about nor do I care. Ashley and Derek take boring to new heights, and I have no idea why Andre would be attracted to her.

The one story I find interesting...Bill and Naomi pitted against each other isn't enough to sustain my interest.

I would really like to see Vernon and Anita have their own storyline, something about their past. Something. Anything. DRAMA PLEASE!

Ted has never interacted with Martin. I think Nicole did once. And, they both have never interacted with their grandchildren.  It feels odd this far into the show.

The first two weeks were so good, but then it was as if there was a mandate for nothing to happen after that.

I REALLLLLY want this show to succeed, but it needs to be firing on all cylinders right now if it wants to retain an audience and get them hooked. It doesn't have the luxury of time, like Y&R and B&B, to have nothing really happening for weeks at a time.

[Contessa Donatella]

I don't see it the same as you. To me, sure, the show has settled down & I was very glad that it did. The first weeks I don't think that could or should be sustained. No, sensory overload just tires you out, wears you down & we don't need that. The pace is still very fast. What is being done or said is done so with a great deal of spirit. I have not yet even once been bored, nor have I ff'd. What is it that we say? This is not a sprint, this is a marathon. It suits me.

[Chris B]

I do wonder if March Madness threw off the episodes which could explain the lack of Friday cliffhangers. Overall though, I do agree the show has slowed down but I'm going to trust Sheila Ducksworth when she said the story picks up at the end of April. In addition to her words, we know Gregori Martin is no longer with the show and they recast Ted. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed this is when we will start to see substantial changes based on what they saw in the early months of filming.

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I've said it before but I think making Martin Ted and Nicole's son was a huge mistake. I'd come up with a way to make him Anita and/or Vernon's child which would explain why they have basically acted like his parents the entire time. Just say one of them had an affair and due to Vernon's political career they gave Martin to Nicole who was struggling to have kids, to prevent a political scandal. 

[1974mdp]

I think Martin would have worked much better as Vernon and Anita's son, too. The ages for Martin and his children would have worked much, much better.

Didn't Ted and Nicole talk about difficulty having their daughter and her being their "miracle child" or something of the sorts. Then, Martin could have been adopted, too. Although with Bill and Ted both cheating on their wives, I don't know if I want Vernon to have cheated on Antia as well. I think a good twist would be to find out that Anita had another child while she was pursuing her singing career.

[Liberty City]

I swear, some of y'all expect too much and genuinely do want this soap to bomb.

[Vee]

We all know who does!

[janea4old]

I'm guessing the same, that March Madness through off the timing of cliffhangers. MVJ wrote for B&B for 14 years, so she's aware of the annual March Madness 2-day preemption.

However, I remember that the show was originally announced to begin airing in "early 2025" with no specific date -- and some of us who were reading the early announcements had assumed/guessed back then that it would debut in perhaps January or early February.  Much later on it was clarified that the debut would be February 24.

Speculation: I wonder if MVJ had planned for the show to debut a few of weeks earlier than it did, which would have meant for episodes #20 and #25 to air on Fridays instead of on Tuesdays.  

This is episode #20:
https://soapsspoilers.com/beyond-the-gates/recaps/march-25-2025-bill-shocked-naomi-suing  

This is episode #25:
https://soapsspoilers.com/beyond-the-gates/recaps/april-1-2025-dani-kisses-bill

The real test of this *speculation* will be... if... in a few weeks, the cliffhangers start airing Fridays again... which mark the time of whenever MVJ had originally planned for March Madness to be over with.

Related but less provable speculation:
Speculation: I wonder if the March Madness preemption caused the Ashley/Derek stuff to be omitted one week and oversaturating the following week?  Just speculating. (But don't have the patience to sort through all the Ashley/Derek stuff, to see what aired when, to verify that speculation).

If March Madness threw things off, then episode #28 which aired Friday April 4th, would have originally been planned as a Wednesday episode.
https://soapsspoilers.com/beyond-the-gates/recaps/btg-vanessa-confronts-joey-about-his-dead-mom

Edited April 5 by janea4old

[Contessa Donatella]

I am of the opinion that they had it in place to debut the show in January but then someone had the idea, which was a great one, to tie in with Black History Month which meant pushing off a month, or 3 weeks, to do that. Compare to the 2 days which comprise March Madness as it relates to this. 

Edited April 5 by Contessa Donatella

[Chris B]

I love the show and have been enjoying it, even in the slower weeks but I do see room for improvement and I know that no soap is complete in it's initial state. I'm excited for the journey and seeing what the show looks like 3, 6 and 9 months in. 

We're about to go into the era where they had time to review footage and make changes which should be around May. Now they've had time to see fan feedback and I'm sure we'll see changes from that which wouldn't air until late summer or fall. One thing that seems clear from all the interviews with the cast and crew is that they're committed to doing great things and I don't think they'll give up until they get it right.

 

[Soaplovers]

I think the problem was that the show was too focused in the first week or two with the Dani/Bill/Hayley story.. and everything else was pushed to the side.  So what we're getting in week 4 and 5 were things that should have been covered/discussed in the first week or two of the show (i.e. Vanessa/Doug gambling story, etc).

With that said, I am a little bummed that Gregori Martin isn't on the writing staff since I tended to l like his breakdowns... and I dread Jamey G joining since I've read up on that individual and while he turns up the crazy.. it doesn't seem to be good crazy.

The other thing that we have to remember is that no new soaps have been developed since 1999 with several soaps being canceled the late 00s/early 10s.  So any sort of writing training programs were stopped and there was little to no chance of new writers being mentored in soap opera writing 101.

And I heard this all the time from Victoria Rowell when she was on Y & R with the need of a black writer and she was correct in her assessment.  I echo that, but instead of another black writer.. there needs to be a Gen Z/young millennial white writer as a script-writer.   I know many a twenty something white male/female couplings.. and none of them act nor talk like Derek or Ashley

[Contessa Donatella]

Ya know bingers are not going to care if a cliffhanger is on Friday or maybe on Wednesday. How important is it for a cliffhanger to be on Friday? This thought is new to me but having 'thunk it I thought to mention it here.

[Vee]

I think there's plenty to critique, starting with how much of the B&B house style of heavy exposition, formal pronouncements, etc. that I think MVJ internalized after working there for years. I'll get to that when I finish this week's shows. Part of that is part and parcel of starting any new soap and part of it is just unnecessary and very artificial, and bears little resemblance to human speech. But B&B had trucked along and made money overseas for many years and kept a loyal audience, so I can understand why some of that model was adopted. B&B is just not a show I can watch regularly, on any level. There's also a number of actors or characters who have to be put out to pasture immediately.

I will say the dialogue is absolutely geared towards Gen Z and millennials. I don't hear people talking like that on GH or Y&R, and I assume they still don't on DAYS. Some of it flows well, other stuff is very awkward or cringe and How Do You Do Fellow Kids. (And Derek and Ashley don't use nearly as much of it as the young people in the Dupree family.) But that may be my older ears wincing at how others could be taking it - the TikTok, etc. viewer crowd don't seem to have any issue with it. That use of slang as well as the edgier, racier overt sexual discussion surprised me from CBS/P&G and reminded me a lot of the AMC/OLTL revivals on Hulu. I was surprised they got that long a leash from CBS Daytime. It's fresh in that way even if not every actor or writer on staff can make it work. It is also clear something went down early in production given the way some of the act breaks or full episodes end, as others have noted.

I feel about the same as Chris - they are in a fallow period between the rush of the launch period and May sweeps, and it's in sweeps and at that 13-week mark we should start seeing key cuts and changes. There's a lot I think has good bones, and there's a fair amount I think is rough and has got to go. But that still falls under the category of standard new soap mess, unlike after the first month of Passions where I wanted to shoot myself in the face. My first and primary concern is more naturalistic dialogue and less B&B-style Wikipedia stuff or sermons on the mount. I'm most encouraged by the audience it's grown, which seems new and fresh (and so far loyal). And it seems obvious it's not getting pulled in 6-12 or presumably 18 months, so it's got time to keep working it all out.

I'll get to the rest when I finish the last of these shows.

Edited April 5 by Vee