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Yes, new soaps (like any new enterprise) hire a large number of people all at once. It stands to reason that a few of the new hires will not last, for whatever reason.
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Yup, it'll be interesting if there's further exits at the six and nine month mark. This is fairly typical growing pains of a new soap, especially considering they have it in their contract for most of the cast to live in Atlanta so a lot of newbies.
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I know that there are many examples of early recasts but my experience of the above is Cole on Sunset Beach. I have no recollection whatsoever of Ashley Hamilton’s (albeit brief) time on the show, despite watching it from the beginning.
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He was on like 8 episodes or something. A very quick recast.
I am also thinking about Beth Logan on B&B. The first one was on maybe 3-4 months before they recast.
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The actor who played Jim Matthews in the premiere episode of Another World was replaced the next day because showrunner Irna Phillips "didn't like the way he looked on TV" or something like that. So his first day was also his last.
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Wow! I thought he lasted a couple of months but this is clearly why I have no recollection of him.
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I'm now in BTG's week 3. After having to struggle through the first two weeks, not wanting to watch the next episode, I'm slowly getting into the soap. I'm surprised that the week I first started liking the soap a bit is the one in which the ratings dropped to the level BTG is at now.
I like the characters' names; some of them are original, but there's one thing I don't understand: Why Bill? BTG's lead-in show, B&B, already has a Bill with similar character traits, so I'm wondering why BTG has to have a Bill as well. Couldn't it have been another name?
Unfortunately, I can't get into Cady McClain on BTG yet. Jon Lindstrom, on the other hand, is doing a fine job, but I still hope he'll appear again on GH.
I like the characters' names; some of them are original, but there's one thing I don't understand: Why Bill? BTG's lead-in show, B&B, already has a Bill with similar character traits, so I'm wondering why BTG has to have a Bill as well. Couldn't it have been another name?
Unfortunately, I can't get into Cady McClain on BTG yet. Jon Lindstrom, on the other hand, is doing a fine job, but I still hope he'll appear again on GH.
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Daytime fans are already complaining about the product placements on BTG, and now the mainstream media is also taking up the issue.
deadline.com
‘Beyond The Gates’ Casts Tide & Febreze In Recurring Roles “To Set The Vibe”
Febreze and Tide seem to have recurring roles on CBS' drama 'Beyond The Gates' about a wealthy family in Washington, D.C.
deadline.com
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Wealthy Baltimore family, you knuckleheads. 
It's a P&G soap (BTG) plugging a P&G soap (Tide). There is this concept of having to "pay the piper" even in 2025, so I think fans of the show ought to just embrace the silliness of product placements in the same way we embrace evil twins, baby switches, and SORAS'ed children.
GH famously had a plotline where "Colonel Sanders" got Maxie and Lulu to hide the 11 herbs-and-spices secret recipe for his fried chicken. Let's see BTG beat THAT!
Harland Sanders (George Hamilton) | General Hospital Wiki | Fandom
It's a P&G soap (BTG) plugging a P&G soap (Tide). There is this concept of having to "pay the piper" even in 2025, so I think fans of the show ought to just embrace the silliness of product placements in the same way we embrace evil twins, baby switches, and SORAS'ed children.
GH famously had a plotline where "Colonel Sanders" got Maxie and Lulu to hide the 11 herbs-and-spices secret recipe for his fried chicken. Let's see BTG beat THAT!
Harland Sanders (George Hamilton) | General Hospital Wiki | Fandom
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CBS has renewed Beyond The Gates for a second season.
BTG was up 48 percent in broadcast viewership from the numbers that were being delivered this time last year by The Talk. Beyond the Gates averages 1.82 million viewers — less than Young & Restless (3.29 million) and Bold & Beautiful (2.79 million).
BTG was up 48 percent in broadcast viewership from the numbers that were being delivered this time last year by The Talk. Beyond the Gates averages 1.82 million viewers — less than Young & Restless (3.29 million) and Bold & Beautiful (2.79 million).
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They had a great May.
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I like the show so it's good to know it will be on for at least 2 years. They've done a lot with certain characters, but not all Duprees. I want to know more about Chelsea. The girl had a "relationship" with a married couple, and she is a c-plot character?? Come on!
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I feel like I'm the only regular BTG watcher who isn't enthusiastic about the soap. Either people don't watch it at all because they don't like it, or they're enthusiastic. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground, which may be because the four established soaps already have enough viewers who now watch more out of habit than out of enthusiasm (like in the good old days), and therefore don't need a new soap that's just okay.
I'm surprised that I don't find the signature of creatives whose work I liked on other soaps on BTG, like Ron Carlivati, Robert Guza Jr., and Phideaux Xavier, who was my favorite director on GH, but on BTG, it makes no difference whether he directs or someone else.
At first, I thought BTG wasn't a good fit for CBS at all, but now I see things differently. The Duprees are constantly praised just like Y&R's Newmans, except that viewers have seen the entire Newman history happening and know what's true and what isn't, whereas on BTG, everything is simply claimed and not shown. So far, none of the Duprees have accomplished anything since the premiere; everything they've accomplished happened before the show started; you just hear about it constantly. It's the typical "show, don't-tell" problem in soaps. B&B is also somewhat similar to BTG in its episode structure. Some conversations on BTG seem to be the same as in the previous episode, they are actually just a summary. Moreover, characters talk a lot about what others have just done or should be doing, similar to what has happened on B&B for decades.
I'm curious to see how BTG will fare at the Daytime Emmys. Will the love that fans have for BTG be just as great among Emmy voters, and will BTG dominate all categories?
I'm surprised that I don't find the signature of creatives whose work I liked on other soaps on BTG, like Ron Carlivati, Robert Guza Jr., and Phideaux Xavier, who was my favorite director on GH, but on BTG, it makes no difference whether he directs or someone else.
At first, I thought BTG wasn't a good fit for CBS at all, but now I see things differently. The Duprees are constantly praised just like Y&R's Newmans, except that viewers have seen the entire Newman history happening and know what's true and what isn't, whereas on BTG, everything is simply claimed and not shown. So far, none of the Duprees have accomplished anything since the premiere; everything they've accomplished happened before the show started; you just hear about it constantly. It's the typical "show, don't-tell" problem in soaps. B&B is also somewhat similar to BTG in its episode structure. Some conversations on BTG seem to be the same as in the previous episode, they are actually just a summary. Moreover, characters talk a lot about what others have just done or should be doing, similar to what has happened on B&B for decades.
I'm curious to see how BTG will fare at the Daytime Emmys. Will the love that fans have for BTG be just as great among Emmy voters, and will BTG dominate all categories?
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Robert Guza has left the show, although it sounds like he may have only been onboard on a fixed term contract to get the show up and running.
www.soapoperanetwork.com
Robert Guza Jr. Exits 'Beyond The Gates'; 'Secrets of Sulphur Springs' Creator Tracey Thomson Joins As Executive Producer - EXCLUSIVE
Robert Guza Jr. has exited "Beyond the Gates" as executive producer and co-head writer. Tracey Thomson ("Secrets of Sulphur Springs") has joined the soap as EP.
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I think a lot of people get a bit OTT about BTG because it's the first new soap launched in 25 years after everyone proclaimed it was a dying genre. I've seen more people starting to see flaws in some of the things the show does (beyond Derek & Ashley) and that's a relief. I think there's a lot of things to like - Leslie/Dana is a star, but I fear they're going down the Sheila route with her and it's going to become ridiculous to keep her on the canvas. If they go too far with her, I really hope they dare to write her off (and hopefully Trisha Mann-Grant will just be snatched up somewhere else).
To be honest, they just have too many Duprees on the canvas at the moment - I don't mind a big family, but I'd assume in the long run some of them might get written off. It also feels a bit of a stretch that all of them are also fabulously successful at what they do - even Dani, who we've been told is a mess, was a successful model and then clearly a well-liked socialite who ran a lot of charities around Fairmount Crest. I think they really missed a beat with not having at least one of the grandchildren being a trustfund coked-out brat.
I also think there's way too many professions on the show at the moment - they could do with some characters switching careers to have more people interact (Derek should've been a police man instead of a firefighter). Right now it looks like they took every soap opera profession they could think of, but never thought about how it would be represented on screen.
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I'm one of those who is enthusiastic about it and feel it keeps improving but I do think the overall reason for this is how new the show is. I've seen many soaps start and I haven't seen one start as strong as this. Most need big cast changes and retooling before it gets somewhere. I feel like they've established a good foundation and I'm waiting to see how they incorporate viewer feedback into it.
Because they film so far ahead, the episodes we're watching come from the first month the show was airing. We haven't been able to see what they'll do with viewer feedback. They've also had some changes to the writing staff so my hope is that things will continue to improve in the fall once they can incorporate some of that. But overall I do enjoy the show. I like the rotating stories and the speed of storytelling. I also think they've done a good job of developing most of the characters.
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I wasn't aware of that. Just recently, I thought that BTG's DNA hasn't changed yet, and I thought that was a good thing. Is it known how many months a year they film? Only eight or nine months? I'm not so sure if BTG should try to "improve" its writing. The ratings (total viewers and demos) are still tolerable, but even 100,000 fewer viewers could plunge BTG into crisis, and "improved" writing is usually never to everyone's liking.
I'm very surprised that next week will air repeats only. Hopefully, BTG won't lose viewers because of this. During Covid, there was no choice but to air repeats, but has a daytime soap ever aired repeats for an entire week under normal circumstances?
I still think BTG fits better with Y&R and B&B than one might think at first glance. The other two CBS shows are better at being really dramatic (especially in acting), but at the same time, they can frustrate me more. I'm actually never frustrated with BTG; instead, if I'm not happy with it I'm bored.
What I like best about BTG are the stories I don't see anywhere else, like Anita and the Articulettes. I'm not even sure if it's a good plot, but since I can't imagine it in any other soap, I'm interested to see what happens. Otherwise, Dani's love for Bill is exactly what a newly launched soap, in which all women are presented as modern and strong (at least at first glance), doesn't need. I hope she really gets over him soon and doesn't just pretend, because he was obviously always cheating on her with younger women, and I suppose Hayley is so good in bed that she was worth leaving Dani for.
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Based on the below article, the preemption seems to have been a network decision rather than anything production related.
‘Beyond the Gates’ Unnerves Fans With Week Of Reruns; Originals To Return July 7
'Beyond the Gates' Unnerves Fans With Week Of Reruns; Originals To Return July 7
deadline.com
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I know NBC has traditionally aired Wimbledon tennis coverage during the week of the 4th. No idea if they still do this, but if they do maybe that, along with a general decline in soap viewing on a holiday inspired them to give BTG a week-long break as an experiment. If it noticeably hurts their ratings CBS would likely not do it again, but if the ratings don't take a big hit it would incite them to do this more often on holidays or instances where timeslot competitors are airing other things.
A decade or so ago, ABC cut the purchases of GH episodes down by about two weeks. At the time people wondered if this meant a lot more repeats would creep in, but it turned out that between news pre-emptions and holidays, there wasn't much change. None of the soaps do 250 episodes per year any more, and in the current penny-pinching environment they're probably glad to have occasional pre-emptions.
A decade or so ago, ABC cut the purchases of GH episodes down by about two weeks. At the time people wondered if this meant a lot more repeats would creep in, but it turned out that between news pre-emptions and holidays, there wasn't much change. None of the soaps do 250 episodes per year any more, and in the current penny-pinching environment they're probably glad to have occasional pre-emptions.