Watching Beyond The Gates: CBS's new soap

[Monzo]

Has anyone here stuck with it? Has it developed into something a bit different over the last 12 months?

I'm a regular viewer, and I think the strongest thing about BTG is the dialogue, although dialogue is definitely a matter of taste. In no other US soap do you see a character comparing another character to Rico Suave like what happened recently. Otherwise, I like that the newest additions to the cast (Greg Vaughan and Jordi Vilasuso), even though they're already well-known in the daytime genre, don't get a lot of screen time like it is common (and often annoying) in other soaps.

I thought BTG was over the top at the beginning, but now it's flying under the radar. Unfortunately, nothing interesting happens these days, or even weeks I should say. They're not taking any risks with plots or twists. It's as if the fear of losing viewers is ruling the writing for the show.

They constantly point out how much the main family has achieved, whether in politics, the music scene, the model business, the influencer business, or as a doctor, but you never actually see anyone accomplish anything remarkable. It's all tell, but never shows, which is getting more and more annoying.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I thought BTG was over the top at the beginning, but now it's flying under the radar. Unfortunately, nothing interesting happens these days, or even weeks I should say. They're not taking any risks with plots or twists. It's as if the fear of losing viewers is ruling the writing for the show.

That’s a shame, as I was hopeful for something different. However, as you said, there is a fear of losing viewers, which I imagine was extra strong in the case of this show because it was such a gamble to launch a new soap after all of these years.

They constantly point out how much the main family has achieved, whether in politics, the music scene, the model business, the influencer business, or as a doctor, but you never actually see anyone accomplish anything remarkable. It's all tell, but never shows, which is getting more and more annoying.

The ill fated British soap Eldorado had the same issue when it launched in the 90’s. Arguably, its biggest character was Marcus Tandy, the show’s central villain. Aside from a bit of exposition at the beginning about him fleeing to Spain, after embezzling people back in the UK, we never knew the ongoing source of his ill gotten gains.

Characters would talk about him being a bad boy, you’d see him take suspicious phone calls and meet dodgy looking men in dark sunglasses but the viewer was never told what his line of business was. This wasn’t some ploy to build up suspense. It was just a sign of the show’s awful writing where they’d decided that they needed a villain but wouldn’t commit to what his villainy was about. Anyway, about six months into the show, with a new producer at the helm, they fleshed him out and revealed that he was involved in prostitution and people trafficking, with a bigger criminal kingpin (played by the recently deceased Derek Martin) giving him his orders.

 

[Daniel Avery]

General Hospital also has had this issue with its Sonny Corinthos character for decades. He's described as running "the largest criminal enterprise on the [US] East Coast," but they use clever writing tricks to keep the viewer from knowing just what illegal activities he is involved in. They stress that he is not involved in prostitution/human trafficking, protection scams/racketeering, or the drug trade. It leads the fans to make joke-y suggestions like he imports counterfeit designer handbags or cut-rate gummi bears from overseas.

Why not just spell it out, like your Eldorado example? Because GH has always wanted to have its cake and eat it too. Sonny was brought on as the town gangster and has always been surrounded by gunfire, crime, and chaos.....but they also chose to make him a sort of "heroic mobster" who kept other, more lethal criminals out of their town and protected everyone in his orbit from them (usually). He is also depicted as a "family man" who has "a code" (of what he will or won't do to his enemies). In short, the show can't say "Sonny kills innocent people (including cops) who get the way of his moneymaking enterprises" because it would mean admitting that he is an evil character and not worthy of the adulation they give him via sympathetic writing.