soapfave06

I know what it was always low rated but what year did Santa Barbara get into its groove? Was that closer to 1988 with their claiming the Emmy’s?

B&B: I completely lost interest and haven’t returned for more than a week or two in years after they wrote out the Avants and killed off Aly. I was hoping to get back into the show when Sheila returned in 2017 but there is clearly no vision to invest my time in. AMC: Chuck Pratt completely drove me away in 2009, I watched on and off until the cancellation and watched through the end. Didn’t really enjoy the snow again until the reboot actually. Y&R: When JFP changed the background scores and look of the show, idk it became tremendously boring. I liked the reboot if you will where several younger talent were introduced (Ana, Fen, Mariah, Hillary) to the forefront but once they wiped the slate clean, I haven’t been back. I’ll have to think on OLTL, DAYS and GH but I can’t invest in a cardboard stage, bad dialogue, no vision and no diversity.

Awesome-amazing comeback for OLTL! Glad they hit #2 around this time.

It does require more curating but I don’t think it would take long to do a previously on. Looking at Days of Our Lives for example, you still have the 80s leads in stories today and they had a ton of adventures: the plane crash in ‘84, the ice skating prism climax and Miami in ‘85, the KGB/Roman climax and Stockholm in ‘86, Cruise of Deception, Maison Blanche, Possession, Aremid, Lady in a Cage in the ‘90s that would be very easy to market. I would definitely pay to see that in high quality. And the unfortunate truth is we have lost many stars over the last year and it would be great to see them in their prime and the production values of then sure beats what we have now.

I’m unaware of the logistics of residuals and music rights but I don’t see how they could lose money if they did some sort of premium channel. There is almost too much content on some of these streaming apps, I’m sure that has to cost more to produce. I could see them not doing every episode but perhaps uploading episodes within arcs, like for lack of a better example, Marty’s gang rape trial on One Life to Live or all of the Masquerade Ball on Young and Restless where David Kimble was exposed with a previously on edit at the beginning. Passions, Edge of Night, classic Days is often asked for.

AW was never my soap but some of the time periods fascinate me, as well as its rise and fall. Would the exits of George and Jacquie long-term have caused them to fall off in the late-70s or would that more so be the 90 minute experiment? Perhaps the show was in a good place once they were recast but the thrill wore off on top of the 90 minute experience? That’s one thing I don’t understand is how they squandered Courtney’s return in 1984, if they positioned that well with some good marketing, it could have set them up well for years to come.

Andrea Evans returned to One Life to Live in January, I think Roscoe Born as Mitch Laurence arrived in May so now you have the Mitch/Tina/Clint/Viki fully going.

Thanks for the feedback everyone - this makes sense. Overall, it’s quite fascinating and one of the things I love about soaps, how their story progressed over years and years. Looking back, the only thing that I would deem silly would be the retcon that Stefano took Marlena from Orpheus. I can accept Queen of the Night and Lady in a Cage but that’s too far. I think the psychology of Marlena actually living on the island with the children of Orpheus would have more dramatic aftermath than Marlena in a coma. Stefano’s introduction seems all over the place, going from Doug and Julie, the Horton’s to primarily the Brady’s and seeking revenge on Roman for destroying his operation, this coupled with Megan’s death drives him to Marlena and for some reason wanting to raise the twins. I didn’t realize how well JER laid out the groundwork for Stefano/Marlena-from her seduction to the possession to his paralysis to Maison Blanche and Lady in a Cage. That’s an unrivaled era!

I love the early 2000s era of B&B and was checking the ratings wondering how they did after Brad did that overhaul in ‘03 and it does look like he ranked the show. I’m aware a lot of soaps had steep losses that year but the show was pulling consistently above a 3.5 in the ratings and by the end of the year and especially into 2004, barely a 3.0. I really wonder if something happened behind the scenes that led to this as it is absolutely bonkers, the show was on a such a high and then giving nothing but the most random casting and plots. Two big misses later on were Y&R botching Deacon’s return in concern to Amber and Daniel, they could have been great, but I loved Deacon and Nikki down the line and wasting Amber’s return in 2010. Amber/Rick/Maya should have been frontburner, especially once Maya was exposed as transgender. That could and should have been years of story.

I’ve watched DAYS for years, until a few years ago at least, and I’ve never really understood the origins and reasoning behind Stefano being obsessed with Marlena. I’ve watched YouTube edits with various Phoenix climaxes: the theater being set to explode, the plane crash and now the ice rink and it seems it stemmed from Roman’s death and Marlena standing up to him? Or is there more to it? I understand he wanted to essentially make Marlena his and raise her children in 1985 by kidnapping the twins or was the obsession more full force in the ‘90s since they retconned her death to being abducted by Stefano? (I never understood why they didn’t just leave Marlena with Orpheus raising his kids on the island instead of killing off Orpheus and Marlena in ‘87?)

Yikes, is it just me or did the ratings seem either stagnant and much lower than usual for Spring? OLTL went down four weeks in a row, hopefully they increase once Mitch arrives.

I haven’t seen the story myself but when I was looking into it several characters ended up in Miami searching for treasure and after Victor Kiriakis, I hope to see it one day!

I was just going through some big DAYS adventure stories and February was the Stefano DiMera ice skating climax where Marlena shoots him, they did really well for that!

That’s such a sweet video!!! I wish they would have brought Jamie back at least once before the end, he despised the Buchanans, Viki, Tina and Dorian. I found a little bit of gossip where Laura Carrington’s husband, a photographer named Anthony Barboza was remembering the past. He explains he and Laura met and married in 1985, then she got the part on OLTL, after which they hired his ex-wife Tery Ferman. I believe this actress played Stella, but couldn’t confirm from google. Tery and Laura did not get along well, so this may explain Stella not sticking around. Later, he said Laura went to GH but they kept their NY apartment and did long-distance, so I’ll assume that she didn’t exactly choose to leave OLTL and once she had a baby in real life, it seems she left GH to return to NY.

I was hoping to see more of Tiny but since October-December wasn’t available, I’m not sure where things stand, the scenes where she speaks for the first time were wonderful. Wade also hasn’t appeared since I picked back up over these three weeks beginning in ‘87. I like the idea of the Sanders family and the casting was phenomenal but outside of Jamie being a fantastic villain, they don’t add much and I didn’t see the worth in dumping other characters to put them at the forefront and they are certainly eating airtime. Louise Sorel is one of my favorite soap actresses but there isn’t anything truly meaty for her to showcase talent, at least not yet, and I’ve grown bored with them. I would disagree with Ava Haddad’s Cassie was a damsel in distress, from what I’ve seen she is a true heroine not afraid of anything and I like that the younger characters tend to make a mess of things-she happily put herself in jeopardy to aid David and Jenny in Vienna and to rescue Joy from Mitch and when she left in September 1986 she chose herself over Rob. I can’t explain why I don’t care for Holly’s Cassie, never have, but certainly the romance with Jon never helped. Longterm fans may disagree but I would have liked Brad Vernon to be a partner in crime to Tina from 1985-86, and maybe Tina engaged to Brad instead of Richard Abbott at the time she met Cord. Steve Fletcher is extremely attractive and I know Brad did mingle with Tina a bit in scheming but it never was sexual. I don’t mind he and Connie but not sure what was there to offer story wise for them. The show was very crime oriented in the mid to late-80s so Brad and Marco should have fit right in. So many things worked long-term and story-wise in 1986-1991 or so but so much of it just moves at an insane pace with a lot of characters coming and going outside of the core characters.

I believe Connor and Mark in one of the episodes released on SoapClassics DVDs, that was my first time seeing them and they were in a barn maybe “making love” as well as another episode and there was definitely something about them that turned me off and brought the whole episode down. I couldn’t imagine watching them day in and day out during their actual era.

I’ve made it through December 29th, 1986-January 16th, 1987. The umbrella arc for the Allison kidnapping Jessica, with Maria’s scheming and Viki’s having amnesia after a fight between Tom and Clint is definitely the saving grace for this period as they have completely dropped every character and almost retooled the show into the Buchanans and the Sanders, who are about eating the show. They cast well for the Sanders family, but they aren’t interesting enough to be eating up this much airtime. I’ve started to fast forward through their scenes so it’s not taking as long to move through the episodes/edits. I had no idea Maria ever framed Tina for being the accomplice of Allison and this moves the story forward dramatically well, Maria and Tina clashing is definitely addictive. And seeing Andrea Evans on an episode by episode basis (before the plot driven Schnessel period, which I also love) is a delight-I can really see the comedic angles she added to Tina even in the smaller scenes and find myself laughing out loud often. The drama between Viki and Clint is great, though her amnesia is sometimes confusing for what she remembers and doesn’t. They have money to splurge on the budget too, building an elaborate winter set in the middle of a snowstorm for Kevin, whose run away, and using actual footage of a volcano exploding and lava engulfing an island for Pete and Pamela on Malekeva Island, in a fun mini-story where they do not heed warnings of the volcano set to erupt thinking Asa is up to his tricks, with Asa using the rescue to play hero and declare that a volcano is no match for Asa Buchanan! They once again erupt with even more newbies as Rick the skier is introduced, a recast Cassie arrives (never liked this Cassie) and Dorian’s ward Diane is causing problems. I really can’t believe they dumped half the ‘86 cast and the show is being eaten alive by new faces, but they remained in the top 3 from the fall of ‘86 to ‘87 and that has to be due to Viki in constant crises and Tina’s antics.

B&B: I sampled the show between 2006-2010 but didn’t get hooked until the Brooke/Oliver camptastic sex scandal. Then Steffy/Liam/Hope drew me in and I was hooked on the show until Ally was killed, the final straw being the Avants leaving. PASSIONS: I watched with my cousin, brother and aunt in the summer of 2001 with Julian trying to poison the ring leading up to the double wedding and Tabitha/Timmy antics, such fun! AMC: The Mardi Gras Ball, this was the first one I got hooked on my own when I got a tv in my room as a pre-teen and the ball followed by Janet kidnapping Babe then the Dixie mystery drew me in. Maybe not the best time for the show, but I lost interest once Babe hit the back burner in 2007 and got hooked again when Jesse/Angie came on, even though I knew nothing about them. GH: I sampled the show throughout 2006 but never got hooked until the Luke and Laura 25th Anniversary special, Laura waking up then relapsing broke my heart and the Metro Court Hostage Crises sealed the deal for me as a fan. OLTL: The tornado drew me in, I remember loving Evangeline, Jessica/Tess, Natalie and Adriana but almost tuned out when Evangeline was written out. OLTL is a show I didn’t necessarily love from the beginning of watching but once I discovered it’s rich history (Carla, Tina, Billy Douglas, Marty) it is now my number one show. Y&R: I sampled the show from 2006-2008, but I was mainly interested in Dru/Sharon so if they weren’t on I didn’t really stay invested, I could beat myself up for not enjoying Dru in her final year. But what hooked me was the Kay/Marge redux. Y&R had an old school quality I loved. Unfortunately, Kay didn’t stay on the frontburner, Kevin played chipmunk and Y&R did more and more not so great things. DAYS: I got hooked in early 2006, with Mimi/Belle, Marlena/Hope and especially Carrie and Lexie vs Sami hooking me. I actually loved the show when they scaled back on the cast and did character-driven drama, well with the baby switch, but Marlena never should have left. Lost interest from 2011-January 2013 when they launched the Gabi vs Sami story and Kristin’s return, I think outside of Daniel Jonas the show was on fire until Nick’s death. It’s been downhill since outside of brief periods of fun like Shoot the Bride, so I come and go.

I remember saynotoursoap posting that, I miss their posts and YouTube videos! I wish more was available of early SEARCH, it seems so gothic and crime oriented, a little shocking compared to the tales of other 50s soaps and the Hazel story is one I want to see the most.

I can’t believe Y&R gave this music up, it would add so much.

I’m surprised to see GL outdoing AMC so often. When did Luke and Laura return at the end of ‘84 exactly? Thanks for all you do Jason, 1985 is going to be a fun year to see unfold with OLTL turning around.

I appreciate that and I had no idea they posted those, I just found the playlist and can’t wait to get started, I’ll have to look into October-November soon though, I can’t wait to see the fallout to the baby Jessica kidnapping and over the top Devil’s Claw adventure.

I meant more so in relation to if they managed to increase the affiliate percentage, the ratings would easily outdo Loving, Ryan’s Hope and other floundering soaps, but I’m sure that’s not as easy as we think, so I agree from a business standpoint, Edge, Loving, Ryan’s Hope, all needed to go.

I hope I’m not boring anyone by posting all of this. But I finished what was available on YouTube of 1986, it seemed the poster was going to post more but stopped abruptly, I’ll have to find the rest on DVD. Lisa Baron appeared one more time in an almost flirtation with Brad, giving him rights to her father’s company over a nice lunch. Then Jeannie Johnson is released from prison and sets her sights on Brad, with Connie up in arms over Brad taking the company. Lisa is actually there as Jessie is born and part of the set up with Allison posing as Niki Smith, Tina seeing Allison in the wig from behind and alerting. Allison officially kidnapping Jessica and the hysterics that Viki goes in, screaming how this could happen twice in a lifetime are bone-chilling, Erika Slezak put the work in. I was surprised by the climax to the crack ring’s ties to Statesville: we actually see the inmates producing the crack before Dorian, who traded places with another inmate, is caught and defeats the Warden and Matron with Jon’s help. The unraveling of the Maria/Clint/Tom/Viki quad with Maria hysterically confessing to Viki that Cord is Clint’s son, the truth coming out, it’s connection to Viki’s state of mind as she is accused of being Niki Smith and Tina rushing to cover her tracks as Cord intends to refund his inheritance is great and knowing it leads to Devils Claw island is even better. Cassie, Rob, Joy, Richard Abbott all exit in September with Diane, Jamie, Mari-Lynn, Allison and Daniel all taking over the younger set, but of course only Mari-Lynn lasted. I would have liked to have seen a long-term story with Allison/Daniel/Mari-Lynn and maybe Wade later on. I really enjoy Allison. I know I’ve said it a million times but there was no investment beyond Viki/Clint/Tina/ Cord/Max/Gabrielle besides Viki and Megan and the show would lose Tina, Megan, Sarah and Max. Had they invested in these other characters long-term, those casting blows in 1990 wouldn’t have hurt as bad. I read a SOD Best and Worst of 1986 and they named Asa as a bigamist with Pam as a wasted plot point and it’s very obvious they had no long-term story, I wish Pamela had her nose in BE and giving Asa a run for his money. One thing I really like is how natural and warm everyone is, Viki was played so cold and uppity by the ‘90s, perhaps due to the more dark drama they were playing, but the family scenes with the kids and their ties to Llanview just play so good here. I know Clint and Erika had some issues but watching Viki and Clint in 1996 is like night and day.

RH seemed to be doing very well, but wasn’t there a lot of interference from the network with recasts and plot? Between that and the time slot change it just seemed it was ranked on purpose to be kept on so much longer than it needed to. Loving seemed pointless in general. The biggest shame to me is EDGE being canceled when it had equal ratings on a thirty percent less clearance rate, that’s a tragedy. What years did ABC really trust in Agnes? If she contributed to recommending on how to save GH, and ABC was at the top of its game, what happened in the mid-80s and how did ABC end up in such a mess by the late-80s and early-90s (OLTL and GH were dreadful and RH officially canceled, AMC had a rough patch but was better than ever by ‘91)