On 4/23/2026 at 11:16 PM, MontyB said:

For me, different expectations aren’t about lowering the bar—they’re about recognizing different production realities. Soaps tell a marathon‑length story under constraints most other formats don’t, and acknowledging that is context, not an excuse.

I will agree to disagree.

On 4/24/2026 at 9:51 AM, Paul Raven said:

Bottom line - why give a character an occupation if you are not going to explore it in some way?

Martin could have been in another occupation in the sense that him as a politician hasn't really affected the story. The 'secret' was something anyone with some prominence could have not wanted exposed.

Like Derek the fireman-why? As it turns out they dropped that anyway and he's now at the phantom free clinic.

Vanessa the realtor now is more interested in Joey's businesses. Maybe she should have just been a bored, frustrated housewife. That would have given her more motivation to get involved with Joey than being super successful already in a legit business.

I agree with both of these points.

I absolutely appreciate the show's production schedule/script volume do not allow for getting into the weeds of current political events. And I certainly don't expect TPTB to give the new CBS regime any more reason to focus on BTG. That said, the solution is not for Martin to go back to speechifying in meaningless platitudes that are completely divorced from our political reality. I can only imagine the show was so far ahead in scripts/bible that those first months (aside from that one line from Vernon in the first week that was probably added later) were meant to take place in a "normal" second Biden term. Or they expected to be on the air by 2024.

I thought we'd finally caught up, and they even teased a really good story idea late last year, then just dropped the ball: Bill being the one to primary Martin. That wouldn't have had to rely on the 24-hour news cycle for the heart of the drama: the family dynamics, and Bill having veto power over the use of opposition research, which would be a credible workaround. I could understand if Bill had to drop out of the race because he was near death from poisoning or something, for example, but of course that story has also stagnated. Sorry, I think Bill is an incredible antagonist and am frustrated that he's not doing more, but I digress.

Back to Martin, his empty rhetoric is just hard to take right now when I don't feel my real-life elected officials are doing nearly enough. And Martin thinks the way to do more is to run the Senate? That's like going from the frying pan into the fire...or from the fridge to the freezer, as it were. I really thought the show had course-corrected and was downplaying Martin's career to avoid these pitfalls, and honestly if my real-life Congressional delegation were dealing with family drama akin to the Duprees, I might be more sympathetic.

If they were actually doing anything interesting with the sibling rivalry between Kat & Eva, I would say to keep it but we see the same conversations and bickering between the two. It's gotten to the point where it's become almost as boring as hearing Vanessa meow on about how Joey makes her feel alive. I stand alone on this and I'm fine with that but I think there is far more drama to be mined from going back to that scene between Eva and Carlton in season one and building on that. As for a Kat/Eva rivalry, you don't need to be biologically related to have enmity or rivalry. There's already enough to build on from Season one that doesn't even have to do with them being biologically related- Kat's classism toward Eva, Eva sleeping with Tomás, whatever friendship Kat has had in the past with Izaiah, the Leslie factor. Some of the best peer to peer soap rivalries involved people who were nowhere near being related.🤷🏾‍♀️

The last thing we need on the show is another parents/family switch. Especially because it wouldn’t change anything long term. The writers have shown they can create the foundations for a show but their problem is they can’t handle the ensuing drama.

Kat and Eva certainly don't have to be related for a good grand rivalry to occur between them. Y&R's Katharine and Jill. B&B's Stephanie and Brooke. As well as many others prove that. I think them being half sisters would've at least looked a little better if it wasn't made to look stupid and unreal on Ted's part. I guess it was just too much of a burden for the show to at least mention (because they're not very good at showing) that Ted conducted his own DNA test and got the results. Just accepted the word of a bitter and unhinged mistress on a vengeful mission to torpedo his marriage. OK then.

16 hours ago, Antoyne said:

Him finding her attractive to makes sense to me but literally sitting around for their break up for decades is where I draw the line. It’s also why I have zero time for Ted and Carlton just moving on from this man now dating his super recent ex wife. That’s not a let bygones be bygones type situation. Especially now that we finally see how much the nuTed clearly still wants Nicole.

And they shouldn’t. This is a perfect Sami/Carrie esque sibling rivalry that should never go away even if there’s moments of peace.

Yep to all of that. The Ted/Carlton stuff makes no sense. He's been pinning for her for decades? Huh? And watching those two have bro conversations is laughable. They should be arguing like Kat and Eva.

Speaking of those two, add me to the list of those who don't want the sister relationship/parenting changed. I almost always hate those stories on soaps, and it would be a total cliche on BTG.

I know there's been a call for that from some of the random, but again, I think that's because we've seen it before.

There's also been this constant call that Vanessa is playing Joey in some long game. I'm going to put my faith in MVJ and say she's not doing that.

That works be beyond stupid and would force us to ignore over a year or what this woman has said and done. She is no heroine waiting to take down the bag guy.

25 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Yep to all of that. The Ted/Carlton stuff makes no sense. He's been pinning for her for decades? Huh? And watching those two have bro conversations is laughable. They should be arguing like Kat and Eva.

Speaking of those two, add me to the list of those who don't want the sister relationship/parenting changed. I almost always hate those stories on soaps, and it would be a total cliche on BTG.

I know there's been a call for that from some of the random, but again, I think that's because we've seen it before.

There's also been this constant call that Vanessa is playing Joey in some long game. I'm going to put my faith in MVJ and say she's not doing that.

That works be beyond stupid and would force us to ignore over a year or what this woman has said and done. She is no heroine waiting to take down the bag guy.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I highly doubt at this point Vanessa will even care when she finds out Joey murdered Doug. She can’t even be honest with her kids about when she started banging the love of her life.

Writers:
Anthony Lucente
Cheryl L. Davis

Director:
Michael V. Pomarico

Hayley:

LOL..I love Hayley's commentary when no one is looking