-- The Anita health scare can be an interesting story, but I do wish they had avoided the soap cliche of keeping it a secret from everyone. I hope that ends shortly.

-- Speaking of cliches, some of the dialogue was really clunky today, and giving Tomas a ton of dialogue is a choice.

-- Chelsea went to Dani's to look for hidden Christmas presents? Really? Couldn't they come up with a better reason to get her there?

-- Hayley has made some dumb moves (like all these open meetings at Uptown), but would she really make a joke with Bill and intimate she was fleecing him?

-- I don't understand why Bill needs to investigate Tomas. Feels like soap ridiculousness.

-- The stuff with Vanessa and Joey is horrendous. I do not want to watch months of her slobbering over him and saying "I'll crawl" to be with him while having sex all over the filthy casino gaming table.

-- Any surprise that Vanessa wanted to take down Joey will not make up for the way she's behaved and for the things she's said.

Edited December 17, 2025Dec 17 by ranger1rg

2 hours ago, MontyB said:

I really hope her endgame is to take him down because watching her beg is way too much.

I truly and fully believe that is her intent: to take Joey down. That's why she is so intent on being part of the business to take him down from the inside. By refusing, she had to change her point of attack by insisting their relationship is public.

I am confused by Vanessa. Why does Joey need to publicly claim her? How does that help take him down?

Finally done with last week...

I was about to write off the whole week. I think the only week that I disliked more than this one was the week right before the two weeks of Chelsea's kidnapping. But that ending with the woman who KNOWS HAYLEY...AND RANDY, TOO!!! Oooo....THANK YOU FOR THAT CURVEBALL!!!

I didn't like the week. Or maybe I should say that I liked the moments within the week. I already mentioned my thoughts on Winterfest. And we know I'm hot to trot for GV. But as for the rest of what I liked...

MARTIN ABOUT TOWN. Thank you! I liked Martin got a scene with his dad. Then Martin got a scene with his sister and they made up. It was just really nice to see the Richardson family in play. Now if only Martin had gotten a scene with his mother, too. hehe. Brandon Clayborn has come such a long way and I was enjoying his presence that week.

TEAM KAT OVER HERE. I know we discuss how she has been a classist...at least with Eva cuz she just comes across as a little diva princess with other 'commoners' like Laura and Mona...but I don't see how you can watch this week and have her talk about her feelings all week and then she's not worth caring about when she's not at all (or at least not completely) the problem. She was dead on about Eva. And she's dead on about Silk Press Sheila. But everyone wants her to work it out with Eva. Meanwhile, Eva is telling everyone who will listen that her Mama has changed when that is not at all the case and SPS isn't even really trying to change. Nor is Eva coming across remorseful to me. Sidenote...love we got another Kat/Dani scene. But...it's sad that since Guza left the building, I feel a lot of the shades/grayness to the characters have kinda walked out of the building with him and the Kat/Eva rivalry for me is a case for that. What happened with Joey and Vanessa...which felts like a complete 180...was another.

DEREK. I see what you meant @Soaplovers . But honestly I don't need Derek to backpedal. He had a firm ending when he read Ashley down last week. And that should be that. So this talk with Jacob and he getting defensive is highly worrying. But I felt even with the tongue-lashing he gave Ashley, they were far from being over just due to the abruptness of Ashley finding out about his lying...it seems under Thomson, they want them together. We'll see.

TOMAS. I continue to feel this whole thing to get Kat to marry him will lead to his exit storyline. And ha at mentioning Carl Vati outside of a non-RC episode.

SILK PRESS SHEILA. You know what? I can't fault her for not waiting around for Ted. And I like her with Marcel. I would think Eva wouldn't have run to her so quickly to warn her. But let's see how this growing cat-and-mouse game goes. Speaking of...

THE MYSTERY WOMAN. It's been a moment since we got the Hayley reveal. And outside of Bill's recent almost death, it has been overdue the next story beat. So that has me excited. Though it again for me gives me late 90s DAYS...which is a compliment. How is Hayley and Randy going to get out of this one? hehe. Stay tuned.

What I did not like...and it's been my main complaint. It's been a series of scenes. BTG has been at its best so far when it builds up to events. It also is at its best when it is focused on one of its A stories or one of its B stories. And outside of Dani...there is no longer any of that. And I found it telling that just as Dani's story was heating up again, it abruptly fell to the backburner and has been on a simmer for too long for me. I am happy that we do get moments of teasing. In fact, I would say the writers are aware. Otherwise, there would be no teasing.

Other things...

JACOB/NAOMI. While I'm happy to see them connecting again...Naomi was coming across as a shrew too many times. And that gave me more whiplash than the discussion I glanced about Naomi and Jacob's issues abruptly vanishing during the Winterfest episode. I just felt it was a 'good day' for them, but that it didn't just vanish. Friday though...even with Naomi spelling it out...I just felt those scenes were off. Though I love me sum Jacob for being so sweet.

EVA. Just ugh. Shut up. Laura is the victim. Your mother is not. This is the woman who kicked you out of the apartment after the anniversary party and you are STILL traumatized yourself. I can't with her. I know I hoped that once they mended fences, they would still be a ki-ki, but I was expecting a ki-ki with some growth to it. This ain't it.

ASHLEY LE SIGH. Not again. And by again, I mean I know they are not trying to already put Ashley and Derek back together. Please no.

48 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

TEAM KAT OVER HERE. I know we discuss how she has been a classist...at least with Eva cuz she just comes across as a little diva princess with other 'commoners' like Laura and Mona...but I don't see how you can watch this week and have her talk about her feelings all week and then she's not worth caring about when she's not at all (or at least not completely) the problem. She was dead on about Eva. And she's dead on about Silk Press Sheila. But everyone wants her to work it out with Eva. Meanwhile, Eva is telling everyone who will listen that her Mama has changed when that is not at all the case and SPS isn't even really trying to change. Nor is Eva coming across remorseful to me. Sidenote...love we got another Kat/Dani scene. But...it's sad that since Guza left the building, I feel a lot of the shades/grayness to the characters have kinda walked out of the building with him and the Kat/Eva rivalry for me is a case for that. What happened with Joey and Vanessa...which felts like a complete 180...was another.

What I did not like...and it's been my main complaint. It's been a series of scenes. BTG has been at its best so far when it builds up to events. It also is at its best when it is focused on one of its A stories or one of its B stories. And outside of Dani...there is no longer any of that. And I found it telling that just as Dani's story was heating up again, it abruptly fell to the backburner and has been on a simmer for too long for me. I am happy that we do get moments of teasing. In fact, I would say the writers are aware. Otherwise, there would be no teasing.

I'm going to get some push back for saying this, but I truly think there needs to be a male head-writer to balance things out.

If we go by how men write stories/books vs how women tend to write stories/books.. it's as different as night and day. Women tend to be more about character development and the day to day details while men tend to be more interested in world building as well as writing action.

I think Guza leaving has diluted whatever action/momentum the show had going on and it feels like I'm watching some great scenes and a promise of a good story without any sort of clear thread and/or direction... more now than at the start of the soap where there seemed to be clear main plot lines (Dani/Bill/Hayley, Nicole/Ted's house of cards marriage, Joey's slowly developing character being almost like a puppet master with his hand in a lot of plots, SPS using Eva as a way to get into Ted/Nicole's life, Joey slowly working his way into Doug and Vanessa's lives through their addictions).

I just think that Guza and MVJ made a decent head-writing team.. and I'm noticing something is missing with him gone and the new head-writer joining in the last two months or so.

Not a big Tomas fan, but he was right about not giving up his position at the firm to struggle trying to make it from the ground up. It is easy for Kat to tell him to do that because she has had every advantage.

3 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I truly think there needs to be a male head-writer to balance things out.

No pushback from me. When there are TOO many female writers, the Lifetime movie effect generally begins creeping in. Needs more male input. A balance is always good.

This show should have been called The Secrets And The Reveals.

4 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Women tend to be more about character development and the day to day details while men tend to be more interested in world building as well as writing action.

Broad generalization-probably many exceptions. Bill Bell, Doug Marland etc for starters.

Currently Brad Bell wouldn't fall into either of those categories!

7 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I'm going to get some push back for saying this, but I truly think there needs to be a male head-writer to balance things out.

If we go by how men write stories/books vs how women tend to write stories/books.. it's as different as night and day. Women tend to be more about character development and the day to day details while men tend to be more interested in world building as well as writing action.

I think Guza leaving has diluted whatever action/momentum the show had going on and it feels like I'm watching some great scenes and a promise of a good story without any sort of clear thread and/or direction... more now than at the start of the soap where there seemed to be clear main plot lines (Dani/Bill/Hayley, Nicole/Ted's house of cards marriage, Joey's slowly developing character being almost like a puppet master with his hand in a lot of plots, SPS using Eva as a way to get into Ted/Nicole's life, Joey slowly working his way into Doug and Vanessa's lives through their addictions).

I just think that Guza and MVJ made a decent head-writing team.. and I'm noticing something is missing with him gone and the new head-writer joining in the last two months or so.

Or it could lead to lively discussion. ;)

I feel your POV might be echoing how I feel. When you lay out how the show started...yeah, all of those stories had builds and were oh so layered for me. And with him gone, it does seem clear that for all the flaws, MVJ and Guza balanced out each other really well. Good for Guza since it's nice to see he still has it in him after all these years and has redeem himself a little bit in my eyes from years of stuff I didn't like on GH.

Now...while I'm still enjoying...like you, I have started to have a growing feeling something is missing. Like for example, the complexity for a lot of the characters appear to be...gone? Paint-by-numbers in a way that it wasn't before? And no reveal at Winterfest...which would be a first real test for new HW...does worry me...though I enjoyed the episode overall.

59 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Now...while I'm still enjoying...like you, I have started to have a growing feeling something is missing. Like for example, the complexity for a lot of the characters appear to be...gone? Paint-by-numbers in a way that it wasn't before? And no reveal at Winterfest...which would be a first real test for new HW...does worry me...though I enjoyed the episode overall.

Couldn’t agree more! This is totally how I feel.

I think the show’s main problem, aside from living from reveal to reveal and flatlining in between and the dialogue, are the villains. Someone clearly doesn’t know how to write a complex villain. I’m not quick to point fingers at MVJ, since she’s not the only one involved. But honestly, the villains are super cartoonish. And this is coming from Hayley's number 1 fan. I don’t feel any real threat from Dana or the widow. I don't feel threat from any of the bad guys in the show.

And when everything is so over the top all the time... you just don’t get that suspense you’d feel if these troublemakers had more depth and dimension. I almost wish the show had an Iris Cory type of character (yes, I'm a bit inspired by the newest 1979 clip leak in the AW topic) - a clever schemer who isn’t so obvious to everyone all the time. Everything in BTG is WAY too obvious and no, these twists every now and then... don’t change a thing. A twist doesn’t fix months of mediocre writing. I believe that if you need a twist to save your ass all the time, then something is amiss.

Still, I continue to enjoy the show a lot, while I also hope things get better. It’s not the quality I dreamed of, but it’s not as terrible as it could’ve been. Sorry if this sounds cynical.

Writers:
Sara A. Bibel
Lynn Martin

Director:
Michael V. Pomarico

My only issue with yesterday's episode was that it felt like everyone was sitting the whole episode. It is something that I noticed happens quite a bit and I'm not sure if it's a matter of available sets that lend themselves to characters being sat (Orpheys and Uptown) or if having characters sitting facilitates filming.

I was randomly watching an episode of Guiding Light from 2004 and Olivia and Bill were talking while doing the elliptical. Two other characters were at a punching bag and then moved while in the same scene. Michelle and Reva were talking at a dinner table and Michelle stood, then Reva moved around. It felt way more dynamic.

Yesterday, I felt like a character would walk in and then everyone was sitting. While conversations over coffee work for a 15 or 30 minute soap episode, having an episode of pure exposition where every character is barely moving felt a little visually drab.

Edited December 17, 2025Dec 17 by GLATWT88

date: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 | Sara A. Bibel, Lynn Martin | Michael V. Pomarico

Thoughts:

• The tension between Elon and Izaiah feels like it is deeply rooted in something deeper for the former that he does not want to openly confront.

• Why does it feel like Dana is stealing Samantha's idea for her own? That is the vibe I am getting from this?

• Oop... Naomin is calling out that Dana's trust fund is not an endless well of money. Foreshadowing as frick!

• Nicole is really playing the field between Carlton and Kial.

• Ted, it is a bit late to be feeling a certain way about Nicole's decision to move on with someone else. You are no longer married.

• I kind of hate Jacob and Naomi for ganging up on Izaiah concerning Eva; if he likes her, then that should be enough. Get off of his back.

• Samantha, do not back down to Dana. Work twice as hard and twice as fast to beat Dana to the finish line. Do not give up without a valiant fight.

• Nicole just dousing her damn living room in Febreze. I would be choking if that much was sprayed. One or two quick spurts is enough.

• Carlton and Nicole have their own wine now? He is definitely trying to make up for missing WinterFest. And it is a bit... over the top, truthfully.

• Okay, I will not lie: the sentiment of the bird feeder is very, very cute. But I would not want birds unnecessarily chirping outside of my window daily while at that feeder. No, thank you.

• Okay, okay... I am into Carlton and Nicole so much. They have that undeniable chemistry. They really do.

Notes:

• Bibel's breakdowns are surprisingly good, considering I have never been a fan of her work at other soaps. But here? She has done some solid work.

• I think it is cute that people help their loved ones at their jobs... but how is Samantha constantly helping out June at Orphey Gene's? She should either be hired, or one of the one-off day players should be given a bit more to do in the character development department.

• David Lami Friebe (Izaiah) continues to bobblehead himself through scenes, especially when his hair is not pulled all the way back. It is unwatchable and mades me beyond sick.

If they're not setting up Lynette to scam Leslie out of this money I'm gonna be sad lol.

Cant wait to see what Nicole 2.0 is gonna look like.

Ted and Shanice are really cute. I continue to like their interactions.

Samantha baby you don't think you have other options.

I wanna hug June 24/7