LATEST RATINGS: April 7-11, 2025

[Toups]

Ratings for the week April 7-11, 2025

[Errol]

What's ironic is that I was hoping for Beyond the Gates to follow The Young and the Restless when it was first announced because, demographically, the latter series was stronger in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54, not to mention Black people. This remains true, but recently, The Bold and the Beautiful has been beating Y&R on certain days, including the previous week in the demos.

Clearly, CBS knew better.

That said, Beyond the Gates needs to figure out a way to attract the B&B viewers to stay and watch the show, specifically older Women, as it's clear the under 54 demos are decent enough. It's the Women 55+ that haven't picked up the show, which explains why BTG loses nearly 1.1 million viewers from B&B.

[bongobong]

Not a woman, nor over 50, but I'm a B&B viewer who stopped watching the show after a few days and stopped sampling all together after a few weeks. I wasn't planning on being a regular viewer unless it wowed me (mostly due to it being 1 hour and being the familiar rich family set-up) but initially planned to watch the week.

There were some structural issues that dampened my interest. First and foremost was the absolute mess of the character ages. None of the generations (outside of Ms. Tunie's & her husband) seemed distinguishable so it was frustrating to figure out who was who and how they related. Yes, soaps get generationally messy over time, but why start it even messier compared to B&B is now? The mistress character being the friend of the daughter of Karla Mossey's character is laughable - if you showed a picture of the 2 women and asked 100 people who was older, 40 would say the mistress. The men all having beards and dressing the same was annoying too.

Two specific events made me not bother finishing the premier week. I didn't even make it all the way through Tuesday to be honest. The first was the slap/weird reaction walkoff from the family at the end of the pilot. It felt like something out of a reality show, and I'm not a big reality show fan at all. The second was the baby in an elevator in the next episode. That felt hacky on Saved By The Bell in the 90s.

A few other things bothered me too. The cut outs between scenes. I expected Tamara Tunie's to be a force but was given a generic diva. And all that political talk took me out of escapism and made me think about politics..which soaps are supposed to be refuge from.

That said, there were things I liked. Even if the acting wasn't perfect, it was better than the start of any other soap I've seen. No Ashley Hamiltons, Dana Sparks or Terri-Ann Linns to be found. Having a primarily Black cast is innovative and overdue.

I'm glad that people on this board are enjoying it. Not every show is for everyone. My opinion is also clearly the minority view as the show has been remarkably stable in viewers under 50. BTG's renewal will surely be announced shortly, and deservedly so based on its performance.

Edited Friday at 06:51 PM by bongobong

[Faulkner]

The lack of Tamara Tunie was disappointing, to be sure. We can talk about her offscreen availability and all the inside-baseball stuff, but none of that would matter to casuals: She was a major reason why there was initial excitement around the premiere. She’s not a household name, but she’s high-profile enough to land a seat next to Stephen Colbert. You’d want Anita front and center and mixing it up all over town, and that just wasn’t happening.

I wish the men were more compelling too. And a predominantly white soap would never give the Black equivalent of an Ashley that sort of fawning platform (only Evangeline from OLTL has ever had something similar and we see how eventually that turned out—one of the most ho-hum, insulting departures ever). But if they were going to foist Ashley upon us to appease white Middle America, at least make the girl interesting (and worth the attention of the show’s most charismatic Black leading man). Not this walking, talking corn muffin.

I could go on, but there’s a lot of potential, though, and I think they’ll have plenty of time to make some adjustments.

 

Edited Friday at 07:45 PM by Faulkner

[DRW50]

Given today's climate and the demos of the soap viewers who are left, I do wonder if a number of them just will not watch a show with a focus on black characters. 

That is not me saying the show should change focus. It's good that we have a soap trying to appeal elsewhere and not doing so in a clunky manner like, say, Doctor Who. I just think many of the soap viewers around now will not want to watch. Hopefully they can find more who have moved away from soaps or are new to soaps. 

That's where I wish they had done a half hour show instead. A half hour show also would have cut down on the character clutter.

[Chris B]

Since the show has attracted a younger audience, I wouldn't be surprised if their ratings are higher with Live+3/7 factored in and streaming.

[Planet Soap]

Go to Facebook soap pages and you will see the barrage of white commenters who will not watch a "racist" "DEI" majority black soap.  I truly applaud CBS for taking the risk and putting a new soap on air in 2025 ---a minority majority soap at that.

I thought Nicole's husband Ted was pretty good. Sucks that he's being recasted.

Same about Tamara Tunie. I expected her to be this Stephanie Forrester level Grand Dame.  Instead she's the equivalent of GH's Lila or ATWT's Nancy.  A wise loving grandmother who doles out advice but has no story---a talk to character. Anita reminds me of Dominique Devereaux on Dynasty, a black grand dame with so much potential, who turned out to be mild and well liked, with not enough story.

I really thought Nicole was going to be her nemesis based on promos, I didn't expect that to be her daughter.

BTG has gotten better and flowed smoother since it's premiere date.

Edited yesterday at 04:20 AM by Planet Soap

[DRW50]

I can imagine. I am sure there's a lot on Twitter too - luckily, I don't see it. I am glad CBS is trying but it's hard to have much hope. At least they did start out decently, but from a number of the comments here the momentum didn't last, as it rarely does with new soaps. 

[Vee]

They are allegedly launching an Anita story at the end of the month, so I doubt Tunie's role will stay as it has. She has been more active in story lately.

BTG has a very strong Twitter/social fan presence, which probably explains the demo numbers. It certainly has flaws and growing pains like any new soap but it also has people engaged, so however those issues work out I don't think it's going anywhere for awhile.

Edited yesterday at 05:05 AM by Vee

[DRW50]

I hope so. We could all use a new positive path forward, in daytime, or anywhere.

[Planet Soap]

It's baffling how Y&R and B&B remain in the top spots. Neither of these soaps have been good since 2013. Young is the most boring soap on television, and Bold is the most repeditive. That must really speak to audience loyalty.

General Hospital is no prize but it's certainly more creative and a lot more happens than on the tatter two soaps. GH and BTG should be in those top two spots based on quality.

Family of mine sguggested CBS shouldn't have announced BTG was an all black soap. They should have put it on the air and let viewers come to that realization themselves.

If anyone complained about a "lack of diversity", just say it "wasn't intentional", then compare it to a cast photo of B&B and Y&R and say their majority white cast "isn't intentional" either, LOL. 

Edited 17 hours ago by Planet Soap

[DRW50]

That's a good idea, although I guess then people would have said the show and CBS were ashamed of having a majority black cast.