I really don’t view Dani as a heroine

8 hours ago, melanatedbtgfan said:

Chelsea was supposed to be the hot mess party girl influencer. Basically her mom but young all over again and much more experimental sexually. The problem is the writers forgot that. Her trying to get rid of the party girl lifestyle while trying to be a legit businesswoman and a real fiancé could be something to examine. I would've preferred that over the Alison kidnapping b.s.

On paper, Chelsea is interesting. But the story (or lack thereof) and the acting (at times) leave a lot to be desired. BTG is really handicapped by the NAACP seemingly only wanting respectable negros onscreen. Chelsea should've been a mess from the start, not pivoting from her partying. She's just a parrot of whatever is going on. She could've relapsed after being kidnapped. She and Naomi are the weakest of the younger female leads.

10 hours ago, ReddFoxx said:

I'm not sure if some of the cast utilizes acting coaches, but many of the cast members with few IMDB credits have shown growth. Alegria has indeed shown no growth and I have to wonder if Tomas did have scenes looking for Kat during the tornado, but he bombed bad enough to have them edited out. I think it was a mistake to drop Ben Gavin and not Alegria, because Gavin did find his strong space by acting with Tricia and Ambyr. I never like to see anyone fired especially in a bad economy, but sometimes the acting is just too subpar to keep an actor on.

I want everyone to have a job in this bad economy, but you should be able to do your job. AA is horrific. Recast or send him to an actor's boot camp.

On the other end of the spectrum, Timon Durrett is perfection as the charming but unrepentant Bill. As with Kat, I think his characterization is by accident since most of the men on the show are soft and worship whatever woman they're with. It really is a woman's fever dream in the writer's room but TD injects Bill with some needed alpha male energy, tempers it in a way that only a seasoned actor can. He's not a cartoon like Leslie or raging like Martin, which I appreciate.

Bill is my favorite male character on the show, despite being a jerk, and the dull pattern that he's in with Hayley.

Repeats next week

29 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

Repeats next week

Why do they keep doing this? I get Thursday and Friday, but an entire week? Talk about momentum killing.

Seems like a cost savings measure, that, and the main production company of Paramount has not traditionally produced daytime soaps and likens these pre-planned hiatuses to a primetime-like structure.

38 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

Repeats next week

Yeah, this is ridiculous and all momentum will be lost.

So they're replaying three cotillion episodes, and then Jennifer Holliday singing at Easter, and then the episode when Naomi has memories of her relationship with Jacob.
Next new episode July 6th (unless there are more repeats, which I hope not).

Interesting, no mention of Juneteenth this year. Probably no mention of Fourth of July.

Will there be any summer picnics this year?

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by janea4old

There must be something about the week of the 4th of the July that the show or the network feels the need not to run new episodes. Perhaps there is a noticeable lull in viewership at that time.

1 hour ago, Cheap21 said:

Repeats next week

SMH.

For seemingly no good reason.

Probably not their intention, but they are going to succeed in making just enough people feel like they're just wasting their time.

2 hours ago, CrazySexyQ said:

On paper, Chelsea is interesting. But the story (or lack thereof) and the acting (at times) leave a lot to be desired. BTG is really handicapped by the NAACP seemingly only wanting respectable negros onscreen. Chelsea should've been a mess from the start, not pivoting from her partying. She's just a parrot of whatever is going on. She could've relapsed after being kidnapped. She and Naomi are the weakest of the younger female leads.

I want everyone to have a job in this bad economy, but you should be able to do your job. AA is horrific. Recast or send him to an actor's boot camp.

On the other end of the spectrum, Timon Durrett is perfection as the charming but unrepentant Bill. As with Kat, I think his characterization is by accident since most of the men on the show are soft and worship whatever woman they're with. It really is a woman's fever dream in the writer's room but TD injects Bill with some needed alpha male energy, tempers it in a way that only a seasoned actor can. He's not a cartoon like Leslie or raging like Martin, which I appreciate.

Bill is my favorite male character on the show, despite being a jerk, and the dull pattern that he's in with Hayley.

When the showrunner and creator has daddy issues, it helps explain this odd mix we see on the soap. MVJ holds her mom and aunt in high esteem and says she never measured up to her dad...per her mother's day and father's day posts.

Bill is refreshing on this show because he has a backbone, a human side, and has moments where he's grumpy yet is also funny at the same time.

Naomi has a better character and story arc then Chelsea imho.

We knew repeats were coming, because there aren't enough episodes contracted to fill 52 weeks.

Still, I seriously question taking off an entire week. Repeating next Thursday and Friday? OK, I get that. But the entire week, no.

The cotillion episodes were great, but we just saw them last month. I don't need to see them again so soon, just weeks later. The Jennifer Holliday episode was just meh to me. Regardless, I'm not one to rewatch soap episodes.

I don't know who's making these decisions, but I don't get it.

Writers:
Michael Montgomery
Jazmen Darnell Brown

Director:
Michael V. Pomarico

We knew repeats were coming, because there aren't enough episodes contracted to fill 52 weeks.

41 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

I don't know who's making these decisions, but I don't get it.

Viewership has changed since I was a kid (summer is no longer seen as a time to hook the younger audience with stories about young adults, for instance), but you still need to cultivate the habit of tuning in.

They just had their highest viewership since the premiere. You're pulling the rug out from yourself.

1 hour ago, ReddFoxx said:

Perhaps there is a noticeable lull in viewership at that time.

I watched an interview with one of BTG's directors several months ago. Can't remember his name. He said it's his understanding that they can't burn through expensive new episodes during historically low-rated weeks. Not sure if I agree with that rationale for such a long disruption, but hey that's why TPTB make the big bucks and I don't!

original release date: Friday, June 26, 2026 (#317) | writers: Michael Montgomery, Jazmen Darnell Brown | director: Michael V. Pomarico

Thoughts:

• Oh no... why is Eva's heart rate rapidly increasing? Oh, that cannot be a positive thing! NO!

• Kial taking on Katherine's stay at Garland Memorial to get brownie points with Nicole is very cute.

• Quesadilla day? Damn. Not my usual go-to but that does sound delicious!

• A pop-up concert for Beyoncé? In Miami? Sure, Samantha... that sounds about right. 🤣

• Pizza and game night? Okay. That sounds sweet. I would skip the pizza and go for some boneless wings and mozzarella sticks.

• Bill, stop lying. You are thinking about Dani very much now in the present tense.

• Deanna, you might need to keep your thoughts to yourself. Are you still seeing daddy? Think about that, sweetheart.

• That diet sounds nasty and I know that the smell that Dana was likely emitting was gross. But Eva is right: the Bowman is the right place for Dana. It is where I would want to be.

• I am glad that Deanna and Katherine do have each other to gossip-sesh with and that it actually helps them both see the error in their ways, especially the latter.

• Oop... Dana, do not take that in the wrong way. I do not think Izaiah meant it that way.

• Dominoes? Oh. I never quite mastered the art of that game. I was more of a board game kind of person, or card games like Skip-Bo or Uno.

• Not the reverse psychology Samantha just played on Bradley and Martin. Hilarious. I know she was happy about that.

• Not Hayley wanting to spend all day naked at the office just to one-up Dani. But of course she needs to try and poison him. Again, for someone who claims to be a con artist, she sucks at her so-called profession.

• A full, new wardrobe? Maybe this is who Hayley really should be. have been focusing on!

• Oh, lookie who it is: daddy Douglas! Yup. You still need some help, Deanna. 🤪

• Not Dana eavesdropping on Ted receiving a second "I want to propose to your daughter" talk in the hospital. But here comes Nicole!

• Dana, sweetheart, Izaiah did not say that just yet... whew. Unless you did and we did not hear it.

• Whew... not both Eva and Katherine snapping at everyone shouting at them at the same time. Oh, they are more connected than I am sure either would like to admit.

• Joey's look of "did you just touch me?" to Deanna was everything. He did not like that, and I doubt Deanna even cares. She is doing this for daddy.

• Not Bradley and Martin toasting their children. 🤣 They are the quintessential embarassing parents, and I love it for them.

• The Bahamas?!? What a surprise! A nice family vacation for the four of them!!! And of course Tyrell would want Jessica to join them.

• Not Nicole and Ted bonding while Garland Memorial's staff blocks them from Dana and Izaiah, and for them not necessarily liking the timing of Tomas' decision to propose to Katherine.

• Not Deanna trying to give recommendations to Joey and Vanessa. She comes off very petrifying in this instance. My goodness... she is really gone! Wow!

Notes:

• Much better script today, thanks to the brilliance of Montgomery and Brown. They work exceptionally well together, and this is not the first time they have been paired in recent history. Perfect way to end off the week.

• Angela Fairley continues to do a great job playing the nuances of what I am going to safely assume of Deanna's psychological issues coming to light. She knows the marks to hit.

• Jason Graham's performance as Douglas via Deanna's consciousness is deliciously devious and slightly more edgy than how he portrayed the role during his first tenure.