"Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait."
During the long-gone halcyon years of daytime television, the legendary Agnes Nixon offered up this edict on how to write a successful soap.
In addition, master writer Henry Slesar opined that plots were secondary to plot mechanics; that without well-developed characters in whom the viewers were emotionally invested, soap stories would lack resonance and power, and fail to provoke deep and heartfelt responses from the audience.
For decades I have lamented the flat and shallow blandness of the modern soaps. Tepid writing centering on hackneyed plots and one-dimensional characters leaves daytime dramas devoid of passion and bereft of poignancy and power.
I was pleasantly surprised (actually, astounded) when I started watching Heated Rivalry. Here was a series predicated on recognizable human emotions and experiences. Here was a drama focusing on character development, with nuanced writing and textured scenes, which demanded viewers watch, observe and analyze characters' feelings and motivations.
Imagine: we didn't need end-of-the-world plagues, cannibal zombies, superheroes battling uber villains, mad scientists freezing the world, clones, going to heaven on a space ship, serial killers or devil possessions. All we needed was...multi-dimensional human beings dealing with relationships, family drama and yearning for love.
Viewers everywhere swiftly became passionate about and entranced by these "new friends" whose destinies came to matter to us. A sweet and ultimately wholesome drama captured viewers' hearts without all the violence, ugliness and gore we are usually inundated with.
Who woulda thunk it?🤔
Can we clone Jacob Tierney and hire him for Y&R, please?
By
vetsoapfan ·
