Eeewwww no we're not gonna turn Dani into nasty Brooke, gag

So do they have to pay for the rights to this since since Clifton Davis wrote it?

date: Wednesday, December 24, 2025 | Sara A. Bibel, Lynn Martin | Steven Williford

Thoughts:

• Anita distracting herself by making this the perfect Christmas to remember. It is very, very realistic, and the home is decorated as warmly as ever.

• Not a plaque for the 'shouse'. Whew. I cannot wait to see it on what I am sure will be the tackiest front door in Fairmont Crest in 2026.

• I appreciate these moments between Dana and Eva. The humanisation of Dana in these moments is what we should be seeing more of.

• Okay, those Vegas-themed ornaments that Andre and Dani got each other were cute and very personalised. Love that.

• Chelsea and Naomi talking about the 'ho ho ho' is hilarious.

• "Go bake some cookies for him. Hell, be the cookie." Ooo-wee, Dana, I can agree on that one. That is the sound advice you should be giving.

• Nicole is a bit... frosty towards Sharon... and I get why, but it is the holidays, so she should temper herself.

• The gang-up on Anita in such a playful way by her family is hilarious and very heartwarming. I love it. So, so much. And Vernon's gift to Anita is precious and shows their history together.

• There is a Christmas version of Shanice? Okay, then.

• So, there we have it (as I have suspected since day one): Sharon was giving Vernon private singing lessons for this Christmas miracle for Anita! So beautiful!

Notes:

• Bibel and Martin provided the perfect holiday episode! Love their work together.

• I love the introduction of history and traditions by way of telling them via modern happenings (i.e., the worst gift/the best gift, etc.).

• Seeing everyone gather within the Dupree set singing Christmas songs is beautiful and shows the true meaning of family that this soap represents, and that is long missing from American daytime soaps. So blessed to have it back.

• The final scene of Clifton Davis singing a song he wrote, a genuine classic, is amazing. And the looks from Tamara Tunie (Anita)? Yeah. I'm choked up.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Liberty City

Well im full on crying. What a wonderful surprise that was.

This was a great first christmas episode for the show.

11 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Seeing everyone gather within the Dupree set singing Christmas songs is beautiful and shows the true meaning of family that this soap represents, and that is long missing from American daytime soaps. So blessed to have it back.

Now this is truly a P&G soap Christmas. I love that entire family was at the house for this Christmas episode.  🎄🎁🎄

2 minutes ago, watson71 said:

Now this is truly a P&G soap Christmas. I love that entire family was at the house for this Christmas episode.  🎄🎁🎄

I agree; reminded me of Christmases on the Snyder farm from my childhood. Miss those times.

3 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

You, in particular, act like the gatekeeper of this thread. But as you say, it's not that serious.

I had some good exchanges with other posters in this thread who may not agree with my POV, but respected it. So maybe one of my resolutions will be to give BTG another chance, so you can be spared any more "grand pronouncements." Up until yesterday, I kept my thoughts to myself because I don't want to bring down the thread. But now, I'll let you know in real time just what I think.

Happy Holidays, Vee.

And I'm sorry you feel that way, because I wasn't actually referring to you. I have no problem with you at all. But realistically, how exactly can I be 'gatekeeper of these threads'? Look at the Top Posters in the right hand corner at the top of the page. You won't see my name there for these last two months. And tbqh most of what I have to talk about regularly gets picked over by others while I am dealing with pressing life stuff before I can watch, so I contribute much, much less here than I do the GH thread. I'm not censoring anyone's speech, setting the topic or acting like I run this shít. If I did the fanfic guy would've been banned before the show even aired for calling MVJ an anti-Black bootlicker, lol.

I am not a consistent enough poster in these threads daily or weekly to control the flow of anything, nor does that interest me. What I have been consistent in posting about, all year long, is saying that these constant rotating meta-discussions about how no one can supposedly criticize the show are silly. Yeah, I think some folks overreacted to criticism of the show from the jump. But BTG has been getting ragged on daily like any other soap we watch from the first week! You'll see it in here all week and you'll see it here next week too, and straight through into 2026. Do I agree with every critique, definitely no. Do I agree with a lot of 'em, yep. There's stuff on the show I find earnest, new and potentially brilliant, and a lot of stuff on this show I find cringe or just amateur night. I get that kind of heat in my phone texts from a close friend every day! And hotter stuff is said on here or Twitter seven days a week. So nobody is being silenced as far as I can see.

What is different about BTG and these discussion threads is this: SON is, for once, not generally unified in its thinking about the state of a soap opera.

A lot of the forum thinking about GH, or B&B or DAYS or Y&R follows along the same lines around here - we may differ on specific characters, couples, stories or plot points, but the majority of posters have generally the same feelings about the overall state of their longtime shows. BTG is new. People aren't set in their ways. The show is a cooking pot that hasn't settled into anything. And a lot of people feel a lot of different ways.

That is why I think these recurring discussions of how BTG can and can't be talked about keep coming up. Not because anyone is being silenced, but because a lot of folks (positive or negative) just aren't used to not being generally on the same page around here. It freaks folks out.

And again, for me, it's not that serious. Feel how you want! Talk about it everyday! I support it! I'm still repping for some of the Marlene McPherson/Darrell Thomas era of DAYS. 95% of posters here hated that! Again: Happy holidays, y'all.

Edited 59 minutes ago59 min by Vee

9 minutes ago, Vee said:

I'm still repping for some of the Marlene McPherson/Darrell Thomas era of DAYS. 95% of posters here hated that! Again: Happy holidays, y'all.

An underappreciated era.

31 minutes ago, Vee said:

And I'm sorry you feel that way, because I wasn't actually referring to you. I have no problem with you at all. But realistically, how exactly can I be 'gatekeeper of these threads'? Look at the Top Posters in the right hand corner at the top of the page. You won't see my name there for these last two months. And tbqh most of what I have to talk about regularly gets picked over by others while I am dealing with pressing life stuff before I can watch, so I contribute much, much less here than I do the GH thread. I'm not censoring anyone's speech, setting the topic or acting like I run this shít. If I did the fanfic guy would've been banned before the show even aired for calling MVJ an anti-Black bootlicker, lol.

I am not a consistent enough poster in these threads daily or weekly to control the flow of anything, nor does that interest me. What I have been consistent in posting about, all year long, is saying that these constant rotating meta-discussions about how no one can supposedly criticize the show are silly. Yeah, I think some folks overreacted to criticism of the show from the jump. But BTG has been getting ragged on daily like any other soap we watch from the first week! You'll see it in here all week and you'll see it here next week too, and straight through into 2026. Do I agree with every critique, definitely no. Do I agree with a lot of 'em, yep. There's stuff on the show I find earnest, new and potentially brilliant, and a lot of stuff on this show I find cringe or just amateur night. I I get that kind of heat in my phone texts from a close friend every day! And hotter stuff is said on here or Twitter seven days a week. So nobody is being silenced as far as I can see.

What is different about BTG and these discussion threads is this: SON is, for once, not generally unified in its thinking about the state of a soap opera.

A lot of the forum thinking about GH, or B&B or DAYS or Y&R follows along the same lines around here - we may differ on specific characters, couples, stories or plot points, but the majority of posters have generally the same feelings about the overall state of their longtime shows. BTG is new. People aren't set in their ways. The show is a cooking pot that hasn't settled into anything. And a lot of people feel a lot of different ways.

That is why I think these recurring discussions of how BTG can and can't be talked about keep coming up. Not because anyone is being silenced, but because a lot of folks (positive or negative) just aren't used to not being generally on the same page around here. It freaks folks out.

And again, for me, it's not that serious. Feel how you want! Talk about it everyday! I support it! I'm still repping for some of the Marlene McPherson/Darrell Thomas era of DAYS. 95% of posters here hated that! Again: Happy holidays, y'all.

Um.....no. Referring to MVJ as a "bootlicker" were the words and the opinions of someone else's opinionated video of the show itself. The man was more than entitled to state HIS beliefs. What he said certainly didn't hurt my feelings, and the show made it's debut despite what he had to say.

-- Excellent holiday show. Haven't seen the other soaps yet, but I highly doubt any of them will come close to this for warmth and family feeling.

-- Not to say "I told you so," but I told you so -- that the best thing for Vernon to do was to sing Clifton Davis' own "Never Can Say Goodbye." It was perfect not only because it's Davis' song, but for every storyline reason.

-- Clifton's singing and delivery was perfection. Bravo. That was the emotional high point of the show.

-- Leslie was written properly today. She had her win by having dinner at the country club -- very materialistic -- and then was rebuffed on her Ted visit. Pretty sad if you ask me, but deserved. On Y&R, we'd see Phyllis interrupting everyone else's good time, so I'm glad for this writing.

-- The diamond earrings Leslie bought Eva looked like glass to me and not even nice cubic zirconia. Was that intentional?

-- Pretty telling that Ashley, Derek, and Tomas have all been sidelined for these holiday gatherings.

-- For me, the only negative in the episode was the dialogue between Eva and Izaiah. It's just one cliche after another. I actually rewatched their scenes because I thought I might be wrong, but I don't think I am. All of it was absolutely cliche to me and devoid of any real personality.

7 hours ago, Maxim said:

I think it's time she googles (publicly while someone is standing over her of course) - "rat poison on sale".

HA!!!

3 hours ago, Aback said:

• God, are the writers obsessed with Dani & Andre or what? I feel they're on non-stop. And all they do is have mind-blowing sex.

Bring it! Andre/Dani are the hottest couple on BtG ❤️‍🔥

2 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

Andre and his twin

Sean Freeman over Jibre Hordges all day every day.

2 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

I just realized mother and daughter married men that look alike. If this was B&B and Dani was Brooke, she'd "accidentally" have sex with Jacob

Eww. Do not give the BtG writers ideas from Bradley's playbook.