4 hours ago, Vee said:

The budget issues at all soaps are real and I respect them. But for all his faults, if Frank Valentini was running this show (which I do not advocate!) you would not see almost the entire undercover story being done at the Sesame Street-looking D'Angelo Barksdale Memorial Corner. And there would be a courtroom set for Naomi, Bill, etc. That as well as the lack of the clinic (a key new environment) are major gaps that need to be filled.

FV is honestly why the budget issue always annoys me. This man has a random nail salon set up for meet ups when needed. People wouldn’t harp on the sets if the show didn’t write storylines about places we will never see. It’s not the audiences fault we would actually like to see these places they base storylines around.

3 hours ago, Maxim said:

+1 All those sets are much needed at this point.

My issue with Joey is how out of place his whole mobster shtick feels in the overall vibe of the show. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this, I don't know... but every time I see him (I'm not talking about the actor) it's like I've accidentally opened somee old forgotten drawer and I'm hit with this moldy grandma's house smell. Someone needs to close that drawer and take the trash out on the way out. And y'all know who I'm talking about. The one note nymphomaniac perhydrol lying fake bitch. If you are going to keep her, give her more than 3 brain cells PLEASE.

Me neither. I mean... is this an early 2000s sitcom. Who wrote these scenes? LOL.

P.S. I'm finally up to date... with both the soaps I'm watching - Bold and BTG... And I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Bold is more exciting right now... Yes... hell has frozen over... I SAID IT.

You’re right in that this random mobster feels so out of place. I’m regularly annoyed that because MVJ loves Jon Lindstrom we needed a mobster that’s smarter than every black character on the show.

Leaving March finally so getting to start on this past week's episodes...and I think I'll still say what I said before. I continue to feel the writers are doing what they did this time last year before the anniversary party. They took their B plots and just started to develop them in the lead-up to the anniversary party. I feel that's what they are doing this time as the lead-up to the cotillion. The real difference was that last year the stories were just...BETTER. Also we were getting to know the characters so we learned right along with them.

I see what Dramatist Dreamer and I were discussing yesterday. No wonder she was irritated. I was just as annoyed watching Monday's episode and seeing...

1) Ty and Jess are back on the outs and Jessica is back to being anti-cotillion after it seem Anita finally broke through to her. Off-screen.

2) Sam vs Francisca is now off-screen right along with her.

I know they are stalling the cotillion, but if they are going to give detailed dialogue about it, I would rather they SHOW the development of Jessica's shift. And I would love to see more Sam vs Francisca. Or more of the cotillion practice. There were other bits of dialogue that talked about off-screen things in other stories, too, but out of the new stories, the cotillion storyline was the one I was getting invested in so this just irked me.

Since the cotillion storyline was the stronger of the new B plots, that just left...the plasma ring storyline. Hot as Jacob is...I'm over it. After some growing developments, it already has become repetitive. I do continue to like how the story is growing developments that I feel will pan out in the future. Greyson vs Jacob. Naomi's growing worry and her continued storyline of hiding the fact she has the gene. The Greyson/Ashley relationship. How the storyline will impact the Hawthornes now that Mama Hawthornes has arrived. Otherwise...it's a meh storyline.

Not a meh storyline for me...the continued antics of Kristen Dimera...I mean Hayley. It was slow going, but the twist of Hayley and Lynette potential setting up Tomas was a stroke of genius for me. As was adding Kat into the mix with her Veronica Mars self. I know Tomas told her to stay out of it, but her face in her last scene tells me she's going to be like her fictional namesake and need to figure it out to save her man. Also...I loved Lynette vs Kat. But I love Lynette anyway as she continues to shape up into quite the soap villainess.

4 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

FV is honestly why the budget issue always annoys me. This man has a random nail salon set up for meet ups when needed. People wouldn’t harp on the sets if the show didn’t write storylines about places we will never see. It’s not the audiences fault we would actually like to see these places they base storylines around.

Very. Frank has a set for everything. And if he does...he has it on stand-by to be used in his block filming. Like every few weeks, we do get people going to the room they use for a gym...whether it is for hot yoga...that we see, or a gym with equipment...that we see. Same for that ax throwing set. The pool set...which should be back in a couple of months...shows up every summer.

2 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

Very. Frank has a set for everything. And if he does...he has it on stand-by to be used in his block filming. Like every few weeks, we do get people going to the room they use for a gym...whether it is for hot yoga...that we see, or a gym with equipment...that we see. Same for that ax throwing set. The pool set...which should be back in a couple of months...shows up every summer.

They have a set for literally every situation no matter how minute. Like we even randomly get bathrooms for characters when the scene calls for it.

Just now, Antoyne said:

They have a set for literally every situation no matter how minute. Like we even randomly get bathrooms for characters when the scene calls for it.

And steamrooms. ;) And we have all mentioned that they squeeze in a court room for cases.

I feel BTG could get by if they use more redressing when they need it. They have redressed a few times.

10 minutes ago, Taoboi said:

And steamrooms. ;) And we have all mentioned that they squeeze in a court room for cases.

I feel BTG could get by if they use more redressing when they need it. They have redressed a few times.

Redressing is such a simple solution I’m confused why they don’t do it more. It took a year to give Naomi and Jacob a living room.

9 minutes ago, Antoyne said:

Redressing is such a simple solution I’m confused why they don’t do it more. It took a year to give Naomi and Jacob a living room.

And now we see that living room quite a bit. And not once have I felt it was inorganic.

19 hours ago, Khan said:

Personally, I don't think Bill Bell ever concerned himself with sweeps.

Now that I think about it, during the 80s heyday of the CBS Daytime lineup, it doesn't seem as though any of the HW for those particular soaps seemed much concerned with 'Sweeps'. The one time I can remember a 'Sweeps' storyline that was really big was the return of James Stenbeck, after 3 years, when he had been presumed dead after falling out of that plane (which they...GASP...showed onscreen. It aired during early November, and I remember it clearly because the Friday cliffhanger (remember those?) happened on one of my brothers' birthday. But other than that, the storylines that culminated in a cliffhanger during the week leading to Labor Day weekend seemed to pack the most punch. Between NCAA and U.S. Open, etc. preemptions, I think the HW usually just focused on compelling stories.

The set issue is valid and I don't think it's a budget thing as much as it is having a Set Designer who doesn't know how soaps work. Why Julie Curruthers isn't doing more to fix this just shows what a mediocre EP she is (which her resume backs up). There is no way they have two sound stages and have the issues they do.

Another big mistake was trying to have multiple mansion sets which they clearly don't have the budget to sustain. If the Dupree's are your main family, they should've had one big mansion and give it more than just the living room. We should have a study, a dining room and a bedroom that can be re-dressed for the various characters. I also don't think an outdoor set would be unreasonable. That would make it feel luxe. Instead you have four "mansion" living rooms for Bill, Nicole, Dani and Vernita that feel incomplete. I would've put Bill and Hayley in a convo at Fairmont Crest. I also don't feel like Nicole has enough activity to have her own set. At the very least they could've had Kat and Martin living there to give the house more life. As it stands, it's pointless to have that big house for just her. When you consider her closeness to her parents, it only would make sense to have Dani living with Vernita.

Not having these four mansion sets would allow for Vanessa a place to live and more public places. I'm not saying they have to go on location but if you can't, you have to have some sort of outdoor set so the characters aren't constantly indoors. With a country club being a main setting, it would be easy to create something and every other soap with a similar set up has had an outdoor/pool set. Then with this impaler story, the biggest fault is that Jacob is standing up against that damn wall. Instead they should've build a dive bar where people could meet him in.

13 hours ago, Antoyne said:

Of course Joey tricked Donnell into submission. Joey is the smartest wisest person to ever be born. I really hope Deanna never falls for the bull.

I'll never stop complaining about the Joey role on this show. I hate it so much. TEMU Tony Soprano controls everyone and everything. Everyone goes to him for help and everyone is afraid of him. And have I mentioned that he's white? Meanwhile, listen to his dialogue -- it's every bad cliche we've ever heard from a mobster.

8 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Let's start with writing decent Friday cliffhangers for BTG. I haven't seen a decently plotted Friday cliffhanger in a LONG time (Season 1) for this show.

I gave them a pass on this for awhile, thinking that pre-emptions wrecked the Friday cliffhanger. Can't do that any longer. I don't need a Friday cliffhanger to tune in on Monday, but I do enjoy them. I think a bigger problem is that daily episodes end on a scene that are just meh.

8 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

ince I haven't regularly tuned into Y&R in years, I don't see a cross-over with that show luring me to tune in but I guess they can try and see if it brings in a few of their viewers? The characters most likely to generate a lot of interest in a Y&R crossover are sadly, no longer on this show (KSJ, VR, TLW, NP).

Can't disagree about the crossover. I don't trust it'll do much. I do know Devon is one of the crossover characters, and if we're just going to get him talking to Anita about an Articulettes recording session....again, meh.

8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

You would be saddened to see how far Y&R has fallen. BTG , while far from perfect, is head and shoulders above Y&R .

Big agreement here. Y&R is an unmitigated disaster, to the point where it's impossible to get a discussion going on that thread. There's tons of talk here about BTG (and GH) because those are the soaps we care about most right now. B&B has picked up steam, but I don't trust Brad Bell to keep it up. I have NO faith -- none -- in a Y&RR led by Josh Griffith.

4 hours ago, Antoyne said:

We are far too deep into the show now for it to be this unheard of thing to criticize what isn’t working.

Yep.

4 hours ago, skiman12082004 said:

There are constant complaints about the lack of sets but TPTB are always a step ahead and new sets are popping up regularly.

My point for this post is to say, yes, nothing is perfect but why drag the show for filth after 14 months when it doesn't deserve it IMO.

Try to look at our posts differently. If we didn't care about this show, there wouldn't be dozens of pages with comments every month. Everything I and others offer as criticism is open for discussion, so if you disagree, go for it. And sorry, but as others have pointed out, sets are a problem -- one that I think has grown bigger.

3 hours ago, Taoboi said:

Bill Bell stories always came together naturally. And there were B plots going building. And C plots starting.

I think that's why so many here are saying Bill Bell didn't care about sweeps. It's because he was ALWAYS building story while something was supercharged. We didn't get weeks and months of lulls masquerading as "This is going to be something good when they get to it."

And I'm just not a fan of story and characters that build and then disappear -- not for days, but for those weeks and months. BTG relies on this pacing far too often. Chelsea and Madison? Who are they? (I could do this for a half dozen stories).

They need to give us something substantial with the Hayley/Bill/Lynette story. I don't want it to disappear again. Get somewhere with this plasma storyline.

The cotillion? I'm worried about that one. We've had this buildup for MONTHS, and I think it's created this feeling that we're going to get a spectacular event. I think it's a mistake to feed the audience those expectations, and I blame the show for that. What's crazy is that they've built this expectation while giving us very few real details about the cotillion or scenes that cover it.

Since I learned that the show would be pursuing the cotillion thread, I had been wondering which dad will Samantha be dancing with in the daddy/daughter dance? I never really mentioned it since I realized we wouldn't be seeing any of the lead-up to the cotillion (which is really as important as the ball itself tbh) but will Samantha be dancing with Martin, since she is technically representing the Dupree family line? Will Smitty feel left out? I guess tptb may not deem this worth consideration. 🤷🏾‍♀️It would've been a nice breadcrumb to see a few non-speaking extras as teenage participants practicing so that we could see two-left-feet Tyrell accidentally stepping on Jessica's feet repeatedly, so that if Jessica is irritated with Tyrell and down on cotillions yet again, we understand why she has an attitude. I like getting to see storyline breadcrumbs that clue the viewer in, instead of just hearing Samantha tell us about Tyrell's two-left-feet. That way, if we see Tyrell actually do the dance successfully, there will be a little payoff. 🙂I would settle for that one scene mixed with Samantha pondering whether she should choose one dad over the other for the dance. It seems that she wants June there and June may not feel comfortable going (which angers Samantha?) but the daddy/daughter dance is very important and it's a bit odd that it's not a consideration.

19 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Instead they should've build a dive bar where people could meet him in.

Or they could redress a set and then have two bars.

14 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

I think that's why so many here are saying Bill Bell didn't care about sweeps. It's because he was ALWAYS building story while something was supercharged. We didn't get weeks and months of lulls masquerading as "This is going to be something good when they get to it."

And I'm just not a fan of story and characters that build and then disappear -- not for days, but for those weeks and months. BTG relies on this pacing far too often. Chelsea and Madison? Who are they? (I could do this for a half dozen stories).

They need to give us something substantial with the Hayley/Bill/Lynette story. I don't want it to disappear again. Get somewhere with this plasma storyline.

The cotillion? I'm worried about that one. We've had this buildup for MONTHS, and I think it's created this feeling that we're going to get a spectacular event. I think it's a mistake to feed the audience those expectations, and I blame the show for that. What's crazy is that they've built this expectation while giving us very few real details about the cotillion or scenes that cover it.

Even Bill Bell's lulls always felt like something was building to me growing up. He knew how to give the audience what they wanted regardless in small bits.

Nor am I. It gives me flashes to RC/FV soaps where good stories would vanish for weeks and months after building momentum over a long period of time. And we the audience are just supposed to roll with it? So I'm sad that after BTG found their writing rhythm and a great start to their second year, they appear to be doing that similar technique. Heck, no one has answered me if Bill called off his investigation on Andre for example. I was very happy that the Hayley storyline got its momentum back...but vanished abruptly. Same with the cotillion which did get stuff going on on screen originally, but also vanished abruptly the week before the Year One anniversary of the show and now just gets mentions on off-screen stuff. And as you know, the off-screen stuff is reminding me of JG on Y&R and you know I currently no longer watch.

Let me say this...for all my complaining about the plasma ring storyline, I admit is this because they have the Doctor lady on a limited contract? If so, they could have kept this a mini-arc that lasted a month. It's meh either way.

I still have hope for the cotillion, but I completely understand your worry.

15 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Since I learned that the show would be pursuing the cotillion thread, I had been wondering which dad will Samantha be dancing with in the daddy/daughter dance? I never really mentioned it since I realized we wouldn't be seeing any of the lead-up to the cotillion (which is really as important as the ball itself tbh) but will Samantha be dancing with Martin, since she is technically representing the Dupree family line? Will Smitty feel left out? I guess tptb may not deem this worth consideration. 🤷🏾‍♀️It would've been a nice breadcrumb to see a few non-speaking extras as teenage participants practicing so that we could see two-left-feet Tyrell accidentally stepping on Jessica's feet repeatedly, so that if Jessica is irritated with Tyrell and down on cotillions yet again, we understand why she has an attitude. I like getting to see storyline breadcrumbs that clue the viewer in, instead of just hearing Samantha tell us about Tyrell's two-left-feet. That way, if we see Tyrell actually do the dance successfully, there will be a little payoff. 🙂I would settle for that one scene mixed with Samantha pondering whether she should choose one dad over the other for the dance. It seems that she wants June there and June may not feel comfortable going (which angers Samantha?) but the daddy/daughter dance is very important and it's a bit odd that it's not a consideration.

One of those sound like you might be getting your wish per...this week's synopsis. ;)

That said...all of this. We already got one scene of how bad Ty is at dancing. Like I said earlier...I would love to see another scene of his bad dancing and how it led to Jessica going back to being anti-cotillion.

See? Samantha having to choose between her two dads is another nice angle I would love to see. Understandable about Martin, but she does seem closer to Smitty.