BTG: May 2025 Discussion Thread

[Liberty City]

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date: Monday, May 19 | Ron Carlivati, Danielle Paige | Shelley Curtis

• Dani and Pamela are a hoot together at the casino; they're really giving me "go girl, get yours" vibes!
• Katherine is totally on the warpath and is pushing every single male away.
• Dana is single-handedly selling her daughter out, with the unknown help of Katherine's secret recording.
• I like seeing both Andre and Ted giving Eva the kind of family she never had with Dana.
• Oh, is Dani catching onto things where Douglas is concerned? Interesting.
• Derek is a moron, and Ashley continues to give me a "type A" personality, with a lot of anal retentiveness/OCD. And ew, he's a trash eater. So gross.
• Oh, Diego, go get it! Why do I feel like Pamela vs. Vanessa is about to become a thing! But get IT, Pamela! Get IT!
• Not Dana thinking she knows the law when Jacob checked her immediately.
• Tomas is a smooth talker, and I love it. Hell, even I would fall for him easily.
• So, Tomas went into the Navy to put himself through law school. Quite interesting. What a nice backstory.
• The sexual innuendo between Joey and Vanessa while Douglas is listening on is hilarious.
• It's very obvious Pamela and Vanessa are not friends at all, and that's something I'd love to see play out at some point.
• Yes, Derek, she wants your ass out. I want your ass out. I'd be throwing you, your ugly-ass named chair and everything else OUT of MY apartment!
• So, Vanessa let the cat out of the bag. That's interesting timing, but Douglas is still lying to her.

Notes:

• Again, both Jon Lindstrom (Joey) and Cady McClain (Pamela) are in scenes together yet did not directly interact. Kudos to them for showing up and putting the professional work in.

[Soaplovers]

Her voice reminds me somewhat of the late Carrie Donovan (best known for Old Navy commercials).. but she was big in the fashion world I believe.

 

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[janea4old]

Actually I think Ashley has OCPD, not OCD. 

OCPD: Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
OCD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Different diagnoses which unfortunately have similar names.

OCPD defined (and the difference between it and OCD)
https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/OCPD-Fact-Sheet.pdf

OCPD and OCD are often confused in general conversation, which is totally understandable, even though they are different.

And it doesn't really matter here, since this is a fictional character...
and the show is highlighting Ashley's obsession with controlling every aspect of things.

Edited 6 hours ago by janea4old

[Maxim]

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[John]

Ashley and Derek are boring but Derek can do so much better than Ashley

[Soaplovers]

I don't mind Dani in this mode, she fits best in a supporting role vs the main attraction.

Dani being thrown into the Doug story just reeks of Reva Shayne in the late 90s/early 00s where she was involved in every storyline.  Nothing makes me hate a character more then when a writer/producer shoves a character down the viewers throats.

There was a brief scene between Pamela/Doug/Vanessa where Vanessa was being Vanessa.. and Pamela was giving her a look that wasn't too friendly (not a look of dislike, more a look of someone that is looking down on someone else).

I think the divorce/split between Jon and Cady was friendly/ not messy.

[Maxim]

Vanessa is such a bad bad cliche.

[BetterForgotten]

She’s such a caricature - which is a shame because I think the actress is capable of so much more.

 

I don’t know why Cady often feels like she has overcompensated in her performances.

She already proved she can play much more than just Dixie Cooley during her first stint at ATWT (her best acting era). Her performances in various roles since then have been quite strange at times.

[Vanguardian53]

Lucy Coe wasn't even this big of a whore. 

[janea4old]

Regarding the mobster storyline:
The scripts, the cardroom set, and the writing for Joey -- are all terrible.

They seem to be writing a realistic depiction of compulsive gambling as an addiction, showing that it pops into his head all the time -- it has become hardwired into his brain.  The APA (American Psychological Association) describes compulsive gambling as having a similar effect on the physical brain as drug and alcohol addiction.
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/07/how-gambling-affects-the-brain

I think Jason Graham (Doug) is doing an adequate job playing Doug as a compulsive gambler, with the thoughts/urges coming into his head all the time, and being unable to stop.
However, the cardroom set is awful and the mobster storyline is a bad cliché, so it's all so uninteresting to watch.
I think Mr. Graham is doing the best he can with the crap they gave him to work with.

If anyone reading or watching has a gambling issue, check out Gamblers Anonymous.  They have many types of meetings -- in-person, online, video, audio, etc.  They also have resources for friends/family of compulsive gamblers.

Edited 6 hours ago by janea4old

[dragonflies]

TBH the only soap I remotely liked Cady on was ATWT

 

I dunno WTH she's doing with Pamela on this show but it's cringe beyond words

[Alan]

Do we think Shelley Curtis is the director KM said was brought out of retirement to help them set up the production side of BTG?

[ReddFoxx]

Ashley just wants to schtup Andre. She needed to create a big meltdown in order to get rid of Derek and feel no guilt.

Doug needed to lay Joey out on the floor. He needs to get some courage and beat Joey down to the ground.

Kat turning down a date with Tomas to see if Eva was locked up is a sign she's going to lose him. Even without Eva in the picture she was going to have problems. The way she talked to him when he bumped into her and she didn't know it was him seemed to be a red flag too.

Leslie has revealed a whole lot of the truth on her own. Without her making all those comments to Kat she wouldn't have ended up at the police station. 

[GLATWT88]

It's quite confusing what she's doing with her character. I'm not from the DMV, but what is that accent? Is she pulling a Dorit?

Also, why are Dani and Pamela acting like they're broke. They don't have any money aside to start up a business? With their background in the modeling world, why would they even need a physical studio? They have connections (and Dani wasn't afraid to mention it when she was tasked to replace Chelsea in the fashion show when Chels pulled out). They can literally use Dani's small catwalk in her house to test potential models. They can easily scout online using social media. It's 2025! Dani is supposedly a recognized model from her day, then have her act like it. I know some people are saying it's a stretch, but in the 90s there were plenty of models that graced covers and runways with the likes of Naomi and Christie that were never as big, but they still rubbed elbows had successful careers. Dani could easily fall into that category. Also, it's not like a lot of the big name 80s and 90s models didn't go on to live very typical lives after their moment faded...why couldn't Dani be that. 

Edited 4 hours ago by GLATWT88

[janea4old]

All of this.