I suspect the spec about the NAACP having a hand in representation issues, with how the Duprees always default to "Duprees strong!" and only outside parties (Joey, the Belleclaires, Hayley, etc.) are the baddies/puppet masters, may have a kernel of truth. And I do think it is an problem for the show. That being said they're all still keeping the secret about what Martin did and what happened to his last attacker, and that is going to come back.

They toned Dani down a lot after some very broad first weeks and months. I don't have a problem with that. She's not meant to be a villain and very clearly isn't.

The Hayley story was tired almost six months ago and needs to end. She's become almost as annoying and tedious to me as she was last summer. How many pointless conversations about 'your client Lynette' can one have?

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by Vee

The beginning of the episode felt very authentic in how grieving occurs. It reminded me of the day after my grandmother passed away and how it felt to have to carry on.

Lia is trying to find a way to escape with all these complaints of having a concussion and heart palpitations. Shanice telling her to rot in hell was a strong line because you would never expect Shanice to talk that way.

Donnell going back to not trusting Joey seemed like there was a step or two in between missed because he was still almost on Team Joey yesterday. But I guess the warehouse incident can be a believeable reason for him to go back to be suspicious.

-- Today was less interesting, but I guess that was inevitable after two episodes filled with action and plot movement.

-- I know we had to get Ashley's sadness and grief, but I can do without this many scenes in one episode in the future.

-- Grayson and Ashley need something to do from this point on, because they're pretty boring together.

-- I'm side-eyeing SO much of the plasma operation aftermath. Too much is "We're clearing the table and moving on. For example, Grayson stole plasma for a year. He not only gets full immunity, but no one at the hospital hears of his crimes and he gets to keep his job in healthcare? Really??

-- Grayson gives a recorded interview in the middle of the police station and it's all wrapped in a minute?

-- Lia gets informal visits from the police department? No formal questioning for someone so high up. Yeah, I know she's still in the hospital, but she doesn't even look ill enough to be there, and I don't think we're going to get any formal questions.

-- Lia doesn't know who the Impaler is and it's unclear if Joey knows. How convenient, and not believable. And why would Bill even consider taking on Lia as a client?

-- I was happy to see Shanice dragging Lia for filth. I agree that Donnell turning on Joey as he did seems like we missed a few scenes.

-- We had a "VIP meeting" at the warehouse and none of those VIPs had shown up? But yeah, Ren knows the Impaler's identity and Lia doesn't.

-- And let's throw Lynette into this plasma mess to make it all muddier and hide how badly the plasma story's been written. "The entire plasma operation is out of the DMV." Isn't that convenient.

1 hour ago, ranger1rg said:

-- Lia doesn't know who the Impaler is and it's unclear if Joey knows. How convenient, and not believable.

I kinda doubt Lia knows who the Impaler is. I'm figuring Lia answers to someone else, who answers to the Impaler. (They kept saying "VIPs" (plural) at the warehouse, as though there are several different layers of folks involved in the Plasma Thief Hierarchy. lol.

And I REALLY doubt Joey knows who the Impaler is. It's always been my belief that Joey is running some kind of outfit (that we know nothing about yet) which is "indirectly" related to the Plasma Thieves. I suspect Joey was keeping an eye on the Plasma Thieves because he's afraid the Plasma Thieves were encroaching on his "territory". I believe he sent Sammy/Randy out to the warehouse to figure out who the Impaler is. (Just my two cents.)

Smitty didn't get much of a journalistic article out of this mess, did he?

I know Ashley is grief-stricken, but I don't wanna see it. She bores me to TEARS no matter what she's doing.

19 minutes ago, Broderick said:

I kinda doubt Lia knows who the Impaler is. I'm figuring Lia answers to someone else, who answers to the Impaler. (They kept saying "VIPs" (plural) at the warehouse, as though there are several different layers of folks involved in the Plasma Thief Hierarchy. lol.

You may be right. I won't be happy if Lia gets some sweetheart immunity deal, especially since Grayson got one and Ren is in line for one. Derek dies and these people all get away with crimes?

22 minutes ago, Broderick said:

And I REALLY doubt Joey knows who the Impaler is. It's always been my belief that Joey is running some kind of outfit (that we know nothing about yet) which is "indirectly" related to the Plasma Thieves.

Again, you're probably right because this enables the show to keep the Golden Corral Casino Mobster around.

24 minutes ago, Broderick said:

I suspect Joey was keeping an eye on the Plasma Thieves because he's afraid the Plasma Thieves were encroaching on his "territory".

And how lame is that? I just want this plasma stuff scrubbed from the show completely.

24 minutes ago, Broderick said:

Smitty didn't get much of a journalistic article out of this mess, did he?

LMAOOOOOOO True. It's actually laughable. Has he written even one piece?

25 minutes ago, Broderick said:

I know Ashley is grief-stricken, but I don't wanna see it. She bores me to TEARS no matter what she's doing.

Agreed. We're already in "She's making Derek's death all about her" territory. And the truth is that she's a mediocre actress. None of these grief scenes are anything special.

-- If Doug is back, putting Jason Graham in the credits is a colossal unforced error on production. If that happens and Nicole is part of the secret, I can't wait to hear the tortured explanation of why a psychiatrist is the medical contact.

10 hours ago, 1974mdp said:

We need Deanna full-time. She brings an energy the show really needs!

Yes we do. And I want Deanna to ask Joey questions about the plasma stuff too.

I wanted to take the time to post something about two villains. First of all I know it's an unpopular opinion but the fact that Mike is back as a villain is very interesting. He's such a piece of s__t but a sleazy type of lawyer like him is necessary. Mike vs Bill could legit be one of the biggest feuds of the show.

As for Joey, the reason why he's white is because of political correctness. I truly believe that if Joey was a black man instead there would be a lot of complaints. I think the show wants to establish Joey as the big gangster and then bring in a black gangster later to be his rival.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by melanatedbtgfan

16 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Derek dies and these people all get away with crimes?

My own guess -- which is likely completely wrong! -- is that Grayson gets the immunity deal he was promised.

Lia -- probably not. She instructed someone to knife one man & to beat the daylights out of another man. She created a situation in which an employee of a highly-touted free clinic was murdered in cold blood. I would imagine any immunity she's offered will be "reduced jail time" and not a free walk.

Ren -- he can probably just give it up entirely. He could (theoretically) provide some valuable state's evidence, if he actually knows who the Impaler is, and he claims he DOES have that knowledge. But I betcha Joey Armstrong and Randy/Sammy figure out who the Impaler is before Ren has a chance to talk, reducing Ren's contribution to zero.

As for Doug McBride and Nicole -- I've got no guesses. But they sure made a big plot point of hustling her beautiful ass out of that ballroom mid-photograph with her family, and whatever led her to brush aside her debutante granddaughter's biggest moment (especially considering Nicole herself holds the emeritus title of Platinum Deb With the Nicest Booty in Barrington County) must be something she deemed AWFULLY important.

Ben Gavin's last day on the set as Derek.

8 hours ago, Romalotti said:

What ideas do you think were seeded in the first season? Asking because I have a LOT of storyline ideas for this show haha. I agree with your thoughts — I love the show but it’s not going to be great unless SOMETHING changes. The storylines don’t seem to have many twists and turns like on classic soaps. Where’s the big storyline that encapsulates over two years of the show that keeps us glued to the screens? Leslie COULD have been a big bad villain like Sheila on Y&R/B&B but she’s gotten too cartoonish as she’s backed away from causing any real trouble (booking a bunch of wedding venues to spoil Chelsea’s wedding day is NOT what I call a “supervillain” move).

Maybe "seeded" isn't the right word, because seeding requires intent and I'm not sure that they intended to do this but that sequence on the evening of the anniversary party, where there is an awkward scene between Carlton and Eva where I wondered if there was some familiarity between the two of them. Carlton's concern toward Eva seemed strangely paternal. This was way before Eva started working in Ted and Carlton's office. Up until the anniversary party debacle, Eva had worked as a temp for Laura in Nicole's office. Ted would've known Eva through Nicole but Carlton had no previous interaction with Eva. Was it just basic concern for a young woman who appeared conflicted? Possibly. Did it come off as having some deeper subtext? I thought so.🤷🏾‍♀️ Piggyback on that, the paternity/DNA aspect with Eva's results was implied that it was made explicit but then there was that strange phone call between Leslie and some unseen person, along with Leslie's very quick handling of the DNA testing. Do we trust someone who put on a leather suit and helmet to go run someone off the road to be telling the truth? I don't remember Ted doing his own DNA test, I think he just trusted Leslie's word regarding the results. But that entire story thread still has me scratching my head, including why on earth Leslie waited two decades to tell Ted. It's not like she couldn't find him or wanted to protect Nicole, or Ted or their children...why. wait. so. long?? The only thing that makes sense is if there were another possibility for Eva's biological dad.

7 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I'm curious on what the function of co-headwriter is on BTG. I ask because someone had posted an interview with Kay Alden in the Y&R board with Alden stating she and the other writers worked to implement the ideas of Bill Bell. I also know when Nancy Curlee was co headwriter on GL with Pam Long..they did a 50/50 split and would collab on ideas for one anothers 50/50 split.

To me, it seems as though the co-headwriter is responsible for pacing..but that's just a theory. It could explain partly the holding pattern some of us have mentioned. Since we've had the co-headwriter change over the last 6 to 7 months..and some of the stories have stalled.

I also wonder if the Hayley plot line has stalled because that had been run by the previous headwriter?

Lastly, I wonder if MVJ is hindered somewhat by all the hands in the pot? When looking at the first five episodes that were written by her, we saw tensions between Dani/Nicole, saw Vernon infantizing Dani, saw Anita look with a mix of jealousy/concern when Vernon coddled Dani, and the whole Dupree family mantra had a detrimental effect on Dani in week #1 because instead of her going to Paris to clear her head and not be around Bill/Hayley...Vernon had an edict that ALL Duprees had to be at the wedding.

Since then, the family has become all 'Dupree strong ' with little to no conflict. I want that 1st week element back for the Duprees.

There is that idiom that says "too many cooks spoil the broth", and I have read (and heard anecdotally) of many a screenplay that ultimately became unrecognizable from its original pitch and concept because the screenplay changed hands and authorship one too many times. In an ideal world, you'd want one writer per story, from beginning to end but that's just not possible for a 37 page script (they used to have a longer running time!) for each episode, 5 days a week. Honestly, some writers did this in the early days of soaps and even some head writers like Douglas Marland did a year's worth of story projections and wrote what appeared to be the bulk of the stories during his tenure. And he wrote some brilliant stories. I am also convinced that doing so much of the writing on his own created enormous strain and might just have likely ruined his health. In some ways, the best writing tends to be done in solitude but television and movies tend to be highly collaborative enterprises, but it's easy to see why so many movies and television shows can flop because the more people involved in the creative process, the more things can go off-target. Miscommunication of ideas, especially if they are not carefully plotted out in advance, can happen. Also, depending on the production process, there can be script changes, right up to filming, which can make for a chaotic process.

Harding Lemay tried to do it all at AW because he disdained most of his "sub-writers." The not exactly subtle running thread in his memoir, of course, is the complete psychological breakdown of his entire family and his own health in the process, though he keeps mentioning it all very casually. There is no way for a human being to work that way. And they were trying to do it at 90 minutes.

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Vee

Life has been forever present with all it's twist and turns and I haven't been able to watch BTG everyday. I do marathons on the weekends and I love the show more now than ever.

I read all the spoilers and it doesn't ruin anything for me. I love seeing it has it happens.

I know Derek died and I'm sad about that. I grew to really like him and his run ins with Leslie.

I still have this week to catch up on and I can't wait to see it.

Each entity having it's own producer might be problematic for the show. CBS likely wants to keep the anti-Black crowd away by keeping White characters on the front burner, P&G probably wants a soap worthy of it's classic heritage and the NAACP wants Black culture and history to be on display. I will say that the show is more cohesive than it was last year when it was obvious that the training wheels were on.

I haven't been able to post because I've been so busy with work but I had to jump in to give them props on a stellar week! I have complained about the pacing but they finally gave us some major story movement and they executed it very well. This felt elevated and like a soap that has been on the air for a long time. I hope they carry this momentum through the end of the year.

I'll start with the cotillion. The set was lovely, the styling was great and it was packed full of extras! I love when soaps go all out and give us a big event. I feel like this is the first time BTG has fully pulled this off. It didn't feel rushed and we had lots of nice small moments between the big stuff. I particularly enjoyed Anita and June connecting.

The kids can be annoying at times but they nailed it. I still feel like Deanna and Donnell are such good finds and I hope they continue to develop those two characters. I loved Tyrell sleeping with Jessica and the potential complications that come with that.

Moving on to Derek...This is a man who 100% should've been replaced during his first 13 week contract. For whatever reason they kept him and to Ben Gavin's credit, he clearly took the feedback seriously and he completely turned Derek around. In season two I thought they finally cracked the code on Derek. His acting was more natural and the chemistry he had with Leslie and Eva was perfection. I think I've said it before but I could've seen Leslie and Derek being similar to Carjack on ATWT.

It was sad to see him go but I do understand it. They needed to kill off someone we loved and it definitely landed. I've seen some talk about Ashley and although she is insufferable, I do think Jen Jacob did a decent job with the fallout. From a story perspective though, I am not a fan of Grayson. I hated that they just hand waved his actions and he won't have to pay for anything. I get that his mom is sick, but Lia had her reasons as well and she's being punished. I can't see how I can root for him with Ashley, knowing he caused Derek's death.

I think BG did improve a bit but he also had a lot less to do. I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit for more Derek on my screen, ever again. So in terms of a casualty he only makes sense. Though I still might've wasted Tomas first.

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

I think BG did improve a bit but he also had a lot less to do. I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit for more Derek on my screen, ever again. So in terms of a casualty he only makes sense. Though I still might've wasted Tomas first.

If the writers don’t kill off Tomas as part of the “Hayley is a con artist” storyline, they are gonna regret the hell out of it later. Kat and Tomas are a cute couple but hardly soulmates. The show wouldn’t miss a step if Kat started dating someone else.