BTG: April 2025 Discussion Thread

[Maxim]

All I know is... I'm focused on the show and how I perceive it... and not other people's reactions to it. Even if everyone loves something, that doesn't mean I'll automatically start agreeing just to be part of the group... or the opposite. If everyone hates it... that doesn't mean I have to be hating it too. It just happens that I agree and share some of the more critical views this week. I've said more than enough positive comments the first month... so I think couple of critical opinions are nothing in comparison to the praise. I will continue to forgive and forget for now... because the show is still in the beginning phase, so all of the problems may be just growing pains... I'm quite sure they are, actually. MVJ has already shown us she can do good drama. Now we'll see how they maintain and evolve with time. I'm optimistic. Even too optimistic. 

 

[Vanguardian53]

Accusing people of wanting the show to bomb is a waste of time and carries no relevance to begin with. The audience are not the official writers, the showrunners are. It's like a supermarket rolling out a new product to consumers asking them to buy it. OK, the product is good and consumers have spent their money on it. If you want us to keep spending our money on it, you must maintain the product's goodness. Every. Step. Of. The. Way.

[Vee]

It does when you're on your third SON account, have been calling it "guaranteed trash" since before it aired, spamming the threads with misogynistic and bigoted hate speech videos and most of us have you on Ignore. I did you the kindness of looking at your blocked post just to reiterate all of that for any lapsed posters just now joining us already in progress who might think you have any legitimate thoughts.

There is plenty to critique about BTG. I am good friends with a guy who has been roasting its flaws in my iMessages all week. But nothing in good faith has ever or will ever come from the guy who's spent a year super pissed that Michele Val Jean isn't taking his fanfiction seriously. Embrace your irrelevance.

Edited April 5 by Vee

[Liberty City]

Mm-hmmm, and yet, despite their POV, is contradictory in so much.

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[MissPhoenixGirl92]

I noticed that Derek really seemed uneasy and uncomfortable with having his picture taken and also when Andre was interviewing him. I don't know if it's a character trait or what but it's something that I keep on noticing. 

No way in hell I'm walking away from this show. I already washed my hands of GH and Days; I am not giving up on this show too. Besides, it's still pretty new so hopefully there will be some improvements down the line. 

Oh yeah; Bill is definitely going to have a major medical crisis at some point. I also won't be surprised if it ends up happening in open court. 

Edited April 5 by MissPhoenixGirl92

[Contessa Donatella]

Anyone else wonder what Bill's blood pressure runs?

[janea4old]

I noticed that, too.  I wasn't sure if it was the untalented acting of the actor (because the character Derek seems uncomfortable with everything)... or if the character has a specific aversion to having his picture taken due to worrying about exposure of a secret past.

[Antoyne]

I can’t really hate on this week when Shanice made her grand return

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. I have loved her since her first episode and she continues to be so fun to me.

[Vanguardian53]

Interesting that you noticed an uneasiness about Derek having his picture taken because Andre showed the same uneasiness in the second week of the show I believe, when his cousin Kat wanted to take a picture of him.

[ranger1rg]

We all know who on this board wants BTG to bomb. I am not one of those people, although I know when I complain about things, I seem to side with the "I want BTG to bomb" group.

I've applauded this show from the first announcement, and I think MVJ is a television legend and icon to get this off the ground. That is a singular, special achievement.

That being said....

I'm just not the guy who overlooks stuff that is bad or really bad. I know all about the first month and even first year kinks, but in the meantime, I'll point out what I think isn't working.

I'm actually surprised that so many people are pointing out elements that aren't working and that could be better. I was worried that we'd be stuck with only comments about how fire Anita is and that Shanice is special behind that nurses' desk.

I hear others mention we're building for a strong May sweeps, but I don't want to wait that long. I can live without a WOW cliffhanger on a Friday, but please spare me from one with Vanessa and Joey.

I am really concerned about some stories, though, and the Andre/Ashley/Derek story is an example. I don't know what the fck is going on there, because it is absolutely terrible. I would mock the hell out of it on ANY soap, so I'm not giving BTG a pass on it.

That triangle has never made sense from day one, and although the actors get some blame, the writing gets more. These three -- and that includes Andre -- never felt real, never seemed genuine.

Instead, the show has done things making them seem even weirder. We have no idea why Andre is interested in Ashley, nor why she's interested in him. Their conversations have never been anything but dry and empty.

 

Those documentary scenes on Friday should have either been reshot or cut entirely. A high school TV production team could have done a better job. Using the area around the nurses' desk for those interviews was the worst of soap opera. IT made no sense, and it's appalling that someone in production didn't stop any of it.

Does anyone there want us to respect Andre as a photographer and as a documentarian? Because his dialogue was downright awful. I was embarrassed for the actor. I was embarrassed for the guy playing Derek, too. Don't we already know he's not in the 160 IQ club? Do we have to paint him as a complete lunkhead who can't answer a question?

Then there's Basic Ashley -- the greatest nurse who ever lived, apparently -- who has NOTHING to do at that hospital except walk around the nurses' desk. They're not even trying.

As I've already said, there wasn't a second of usable footage that Derek shot. You mean no one filming those scenes knew that? I don't expect Hamlet every day, but we all deserve better than that.

I'm still watching every day, and I want it to succeed. I just need them to clean up this really bad stuff, which I don't want to become a regular thing.

[Vee]

Absolutely. Everything with Derek and Ashley is nigh-unwatchable. Doug gambling his life away at Golden Corral is not much better. And they aren't the only major problem actors for me. I just try to keep it in perspective re: the other soap beginnings I've watched. There is a lot I'd like to see change, but I am giving them the time to get there since they're like 30 shows in. In the meantime I am happy to rake the bad over the coals.

Edited April 5 by Vee

[Maxim]

It is really only the beginning. I remember now... even Bill Bell's Bold's first 2 months... had so many dull moments. I would not say bad... but dull... it was still written very well, the dialogue was sublime... but compared to what CAME after that... it's incomparable. I would not even say that Bold started before Brooke stepped inside the Forrester mansion as a caterer... smiled at Stephanie with that conniving fire in her eyes... and said - "You have a beautiful home, Mrs. Forrester!"... in episode 60. 

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And in BTG we are only up to episode... what was it... 25? 

 

Edited April 5 by Maxim

[Vanguardian53]

Again, a waste of time. BTG will or will not bomb because of the showrunners FIRST. No one else.

Edited April 5 by Vanguardian53

[ranger1rg]

I don't know what this means. What's a waste of time?

[Contessa Donatella]

Here, do you  mean that Andre shot?