BTG: April 2025 Discussion Thread

[Taoboi]

Very.

[ReddFoxx]

It could have been creepier, but I think part of the schtick of the character is that she isn't all crazy, but is also nasty and condescending. She was making fun of them more than anything else. Where she was kind of a little scary was when she got in Eva's face last week.

But I do understand your point about the storytelling. Not all of the stories are developed equally and some balance still has yet to be achieved.

[Paul Raven]

I'm surprised that any of Derek/Ashley made it to air.Their'story' seems to be designed for a white quota as there is no investment, development or characterization. Jen Jacobs is doing what she can but it's not enough, especially when her scene partner is so lacking.

Now posters are saying that there will be adjustments now that the shows taped prior are airing, but from Day 1 in the studio they should have seen Derek/Ashley was a bomb.

Who knows, maybe stuff was scrapped and that's why we're only seeing them sporadically as filler. 

I still think they could do a coercive control story , especially with Derek's meatheaded invasion of Ashley's space.

[Vee]

There's a lot of things they could do, but I am far from convinced the dude playing Derek could sell that kind of story.

[Taoboi]

In time. Fingers crossed.

tbf, hasn't that been say for a while, no? Heck, did most of us not point out that there has been a clear decrease in airtime for Derek and Ashley versus when the show premiered. And when we do see them as of late, it more definitely feels like filler. Personally it makes me think about my comments in Week 1 about how meta Ashley/Derek seem because for years black characters on other soaps have been treated how Ashley/Derek were being treated as the talk-tos/barely any story development even though the potential is there. Heck, these scenes lately feel like to me the writers are getting lick backs for all the times black characters had to deal with subpar story material on other soaps. Funny to laugh at in good and bad ways for the characters. I just feel sorry for the actors. Because like you and @ReddFoxx said, there's potential in story for them still. And I like both of your ideas for where to take Ash and Derek.

[Chris B]

I do agree with you 100% here but for whatever reason, they seem committed to these characters. The fact that we're getting a Ted recast and not Derek is shocking to me. The only thing that makes sense to me is if they have something major planned for later on that depends on these two characters, otherwise I don't understand why they haven't at least dropped Derek.

[AbcNbc247]

Damn… what high strung douches Derek and Ashley are. Their conflict felt so forced and contrived. 

But I did appreciate Chelsea and Martin’s conversation about threesomes at the beginning. It seemed a lot more sophisticated and mature (and unbiased) then the last time a soap handled the subject of a threesome

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And, agreed that Chelsea and Allison do have some chemistry. Including the two of them in the friendship scenes with Derek/Ashley and Jacob/Naomi was a good idea as well.

I’m also really liking the build up to Ted and Nicole’s anniversary party. Hopefully, other storylines besides Ted/Nicole/Leslie reach their climax too 

[Vanguardian53]

Fanfic sounds better than anything this show is serving up right now.

[janea4old]

I'm very much enjoying BTG right now.  I'm entertained enough to watch live and then again a couple of hours later on paramountplus.  I haven't felt that way about the soaps ever.

Maybe in the 1980s before VCRs were commonplace, I could only watch  soaps live, and I wished I could watch a second time, but there wasn't any way.

Edited 2 hours ago by janea4old

[wonderwoman1951]

you’re not the only one who thought ‘white quota’ 

as for the derek/ashley bomb: not sure that would have been clear on day 1, but even if it was, it would have meant a fair amount of rewriting to deal with it and i expect they had more pressing issues to deal with. 

of course, back in the day when they were taping a couple of weeks ahead of air instead of a few months, they could have fixed it. but, that’s the downside of taping so far in advance. 

[Aback]

Big agree. 

Mondays show was BRILLIANT from start to finish. If this is the realization of MJV’s vision, I’m all for it. 

I even enjoyed Ashley and Derek’s asinine conflict. BTW they both come across as insufferable people. 

Also- is it me or they have fixed the abrupt ‘fade to black’ issue?