BTG: April 2025 Discussion Thread

[Antoyne]

This is going to be so jarring. I really hope I’m surprised and this guy just slots right in and is good. I’m quite fond of the current Ted and his chemistry with all of his costars.

[ranger1rg]

-- The teen slang is SOOOOOO overdone and overplayed. Do they need to write it in every line of dialogue??? They're trying way too hard.

-- Samantha seemed like a different character today. I would expect that kind of teasing towards Tyrell from a sister who didn't get along all that well with her brother. That's not the relationship we've been given, and don't get me started on her terrible idea for Tyrell to be everything he isn't.

-- Samantha telling Tyrell to hit SparkNotes was laughable. Wouldn't young people just use AI?

-- The actor playing Doug has been decent, but those couple scenes where he was near tears were bad. That was a yikes.

-- Vanessa continues to treat Diego like crap. Every time I think I might appreciate her, she reminds me that she looks down on the little people. Oh, and that she's a ho. We're getting to nymphomaniac levels with her.

-- Good scenes today with Bill -- with Chelsea, with Martin, with Tomas. The actor is good at this. But telling Tomas he's partner material? LOL

-- Derek and Basic Ashley. I don't even know what to say except that I blame the bible and the writers for this more than I blame the actors. They've been given cringe story and cringe dialogue.

[Tisy-Lish]

Plus we've had next to no exposition about either Derek or Ashley.  What are their backgrounds?  What makes each of them tick?  What past experiences inform their decisions now?  

The writers have been so good about giving most of the characters a past to provide subtext. But they have clearly forgotten a few -- Derek and Ashley for example.  When the audience knows almost nothing about a character, that makes the character seem boring and difficult to empathize with.  And it makes it hard for the actors to play, if there is no subtext (history) behind their performance.  

[Maxim]

She's a saint. And he's a firefighter.  

[Tisy-Lish]

Yep, that's about all we know.  And that's not the fault of the actors.  

[Cheap21]

They like to makeout

[Antoyne]

This cracked me up.

[MontyB]

Well, I have a boatload of teens in my family and I don't hear them using slang at all when I'm around them.  Maybe they code switch around adults, but you're right it's cringy and overdone. It's worse because I'm thinking why is this 30 year old talking like that.

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Just wow! 

[ranger1rg]

I hear you. I'm around teens and they do not drop slang into every damn sentence. Does a slang word happen on occasion? Of course, but not like on this show. I'm embarrassed for those young actors and for the old woman playing a teenager.

[Paul Raven]

Ashley has her mother on the show and they have no scenes together. Having convos about their relationship and stuff that happened in the past would add some dimension.

And why Derek wasn't a policeman working with Jacob...

[Cheap21]

Bc then we’d see him more and quite frankly  glad we aren’t 

[Paul Raven]

True.

[Chris B]

I don't find the slang to be overdone or unrealistic, I just feel like the actors struggle to sell it which makes it stand out. I feel like it works if it's Chelsea, Kat or Eva but Samantha and Tyrell struggle with it.

I feel like with the exception of Derek, all of the white actors are good but the way they're set up makes little sense (with the exception of Joey).

Like you said, Ashley has a mother on the show who is connected to multiple characters but instead of using her to tell us who Ashley is, we have these Mary Sue situations to tell us how great she is. Why not utilize her mother? Why not show what her mother thinks of Andre or Derek?

Another area of opportunity would've been giving Smitty a family member. Could he not be a sibling of Vanessa or Pamela's son? He feels so isolated since he's surrounded by Martin's family with no friends and a distant husband. Where is his outlet to express his feelings?

And Derek of course is just all wrong. Like you said, he should be a cop, not a fireman and he's too isolated. The scenes with Jacob are helping but he still can't act.

[Paul Raven]

Well right now she is cheating on her husband with her PT . And encouraging the attention of Joey who is obviously shifty /shady. And with Diego, there could be a perceived power imbalance.

And as a successful businesswoman she seems pretty strong and independent already. Not sure what she has to be triumphant about.

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Paul Raven

[MontyB]

This is true, but I like Ashley. She's not popular at all on line. Curious how the show is going to handle it.