Planet Soap

I would agree that OLTL isn't what comes to mind immediately when non soap buffs think of daytime dramas. That would be more GH, AMC, DAYS and somewhat Y&R. No one really talks about GL, ATWT, or even OLTL anymore. If soaps were to come back I'd want them in daytime not primetime. Honestly speaking, there seems to be no capable writers anymore, nor are there decent production values any longer so that golden era nostalgic magic may never come back. That is unless major changes occur.

I'd resurrect OLTL. The dark concept would more work on OLTL. Granted it was certainly past it's prime with in 2012, but the writers attempted to make the show interesting by having things happen (compared to ATWT, GL, and AMC). OLTL already had the dark Riverdale vibe that Kelly and Mark are trying to turn AMC into. Latter day One Life had stories like Hannah forcing James & Starr at gunpoint to dig their own graves, psycho cult leader Mitch, and the prison break finalie. Even the older show like Viki's Alters, the music box killer,Todd, and Colin/Norah/Lindsay would definately fit that dark style.

I couldn't see Brenda Epperson's Ashley playing some of Eileen Davidson's messier stories like feuding with Victoria over Cole or having an affair with Victor behind Nikki's back. Brenda Epperson's character seemed more well put together and nice than the original Ashley. All that being said she was a great recast (dare I say the better Ashley).

I think Amelia could stand as her own character but certainly not as Victoria Newman. Heater Tom's Victoria was a diva. She conveyed attitude, strength, pettiness and childishness, all in one. Amelia is more of a quiet strength character. The recast was equivalent to Emma Samms replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon on the OG Dynasty. Going from big personality to demur. As for the Coleen and her professor story, if it were another show the complications of that dynamic might be explored more deeply. However on soaps where you have things like Brooke Logan sleeping with her daughter's husband, Rick posing as his twin brother Blade and sleeping with Ashley, or even Sheila raping Scott (which I'm not even sure they fully addressed the weight of that), a professor student relationship would seem light to the writers. On the topic of modern soaps avoidance of pressing social issues I agree. The amount of clueless Facebookers that were offended when Y&R put up a BLM post in 2020 was astounding. It's the same old who slept with who, business deal, baby switch wash rinse repeat stories. ABC was always better at social issues plots. On the other hand, I feel like soap writers see that a large segment of T.V. is already tackling social issues so they want to preserve soaps as the over the top plotted escapist comfort food that one can turn to to unwind from current events. Overall, I don't want soaps to get too political but they need to give POC layered and leading stories.

IDK if this qualifies but it seems as if Y&R is trying to pretend that Victor Newman is American when he very clearly has a German accent. Why not just say Victor was left in a German orphanage lol!

Jerry's show still airs reruns in syndication however. At least there was scenario variety compared to Maury with the same old DNA testing every episode. Lynn Toler left Divorce Court, plus Judge Judy is in her last season, and Steve Harvey got the boot a few tears years back 😪 Daytime tv will definitely be even crappier if soaps get the boot.

In terms of what would replace them, most definitely another cheap talk show. The genre (as it always has been) is so saturated. But instead of the '90s when it was Sally Jesse, Motel etc... doing tabloid topical issues a day, it's celebrity interviews and games or opinion blabbing and speculation on current events. At least you had a good variety of talks shows, game shows and soaps back then.

If any soap goes first I too think its probably DAYS. In terms of which soap DESERVES to be cancelled, definitely B&B and their repetitive cyclical storylines. But at least they've got more going on than Y&R which is a sad statement to make.

Thats definitely how I feel about Y&R. When couples break up on Y&R it doesn't feel as impactful. It just feels like they'll be on to the next marriage in 2 seconds. When Sonny and Brenda broke up or Todd and Blair has a falling out if felt powerful. (I suppose because GH and OLTL went the supercouple route). Definitely agreed about All My Children in the 90s. There was ethnic and class diversity which made for a mix of more realistic characters. OLTL definitely had that youthful urban appeal with characters like Antonio, Natalie, RJ, Kerry.... that made Llanview seem like a place where you can hang out, compared to Genoa City.

Why would they even tell Chase about the affiar without the results of the paternity test??? Chase wouldn't even need to know all that should the test come out negative. How come Jason gave up Jake because his life was too dangerous but had a kid with Sam? Can they move forward with either puting Jason with either Britt or Carly, or a volatile triangle of some sort.

Agreed, Brenda, Robin, Jason Karen etc were more interesting than the current teens. I guess when adult actors play teenagers the storylines tend to be better (outside GH: as was the case with Nick Sharon Matt Amy etc on Y&R). When it was early Billy Mac and Ralph the storylines were still interesting but a lot more tame. I second that. The teen scene on OLTL, among its flaws, did indeed drive plot

I like them together, that's a nice paring. In terms of how much drama can be squeezed from that , IDK. Someone said Michael Easton is in the wrong role, I agree. It's hard to think this guy used to be cool and tough Mc Bain on OLTL. As for Elizabeth, they need something else for the character to do other than chase men. Perhaps if they trimmed the bloated cast they could figure out what that something is. Overall, Frank needs to go. Maybe he and Ron C can make Y&R interesting but, Frank has overstayed his effectiveness on this show. This OLTL lite version of GH isn't working anymore.

Amen to that!!!! Peter needs to go next!!!!!

To me, 1998 was the last gold standard year for the show, but as I've said before I'd go with 2001 as the last solid quality year. To briefly rehash the verdict on MAB, that was the era of Y&R I grew up on. She wasn't great, neither was Lynn Marie Latham, but they were better than what followed post 2013. what killed her tenure were endless canonical rewrites, and too many doppelganger and surgically altered faced story lines! At the very least things happened on a daily basis, plus sets and classic musical cues were retained. However, I don't know how Y&R remained number one at the time. I found GH and OLTL (both on the quality sliding scale as well) to have a lot more action happening at the time.

Damn! 91 was strong but Im gonna have to say 1998! Sandra Nelson as Phyliss, Cassie's custody battle, Crazy Sarah/Veronica, plus Victor and Diane's divorce. They just kept making it worse with the added complication of Cane, and making Jill Lauren's sister, then saying Tucker McCall was Kay's son and making Devon his son. One big cannon mess!! Speaking of all that I recently got into 2009 (a year no one cares about😂😂) on the YR channel. There was a lot going on between Nick/Sharon/Phyliss/Jack, Nikki and Paul almost getting married, Phillip's return Adam gas lighting Ashley, and the build up to Colleen's death. There was alot of crap, and it wasn't prime quality y&r but it was waaay easier to sit through than today show.

I was thinking that myself. AMC --outside of B&B-- is the closest soap to Y&R. Mostly down to earth stories and glamorous back in its day, only AMC is better at exploring social issues and casual dialogue. I'm trying to get in to Marland era As the World turns but there's just so many characters. I love ATWT but can never quite get all the way in with because I don't know who's, and what connection they have half the time.

All this Peter stuff is too convoluted and frankly boring. Now this twist with Alex devane possibly being his mother is just another confusion. Kill him off already. As for giving Maxie a significant other I was thinking that they might as well have made the guy who plays Chase a recast for Nathan, instead of sticking Maxi with this guy.

Thought that was a gang sign. Unrelated, a major issue im noticing is that too many new characters have complex backstories that did not play out on screen. Example being Nina, Madeline, and her coma or Peter's origins. Likewise, there are way too many random family conections and rewriting of History to make characters related to each other. Ex. Franco, Heather and Scott, Nelle, Nina and Frank Benson. Peter, Ana, Britt, and Faison.

I cant get into Days of Our Lives. The storylines from what I've seen are too wacky like Susan Banks, Marlena's possessions and New Salem. To this day I still can't. It's also hard because clips on YouTube aren't broken down by storylines (like the ABC soaps) which would have made things easier to follow instead of watching entire episodes. I couldn't get into AMC or Guiding Light becuase I remember them being sub par growing up in the 2000s. But once I had access to 90s clips I really enjoyed AMC and Guiding Light. The 80s and 2000s though I still can't get into where GL is concerned.

Great uploads!!! Bold Restless, Antonia chapstick, YR, and Y&R Fans 23, 93 etc.... have really been on fire these past few months!!! (amongst others who I may not have mentioned) Thank u guys!!!!! Speaking of the yr channel I see they've uploaded some yearly episode playlists from the 90s forward. Excited about 2002 and 03 which are usually hard to find: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCuJkTOrjRs3ygJNMk1dfm_A Probably uploaded already but lost in the shuffle: (5/21/03) Kay finds out Jill is her "daughter": https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_dA7KVkpZe0&list=PLoeEe7VyF-9lQNEdrstrxzlekMfMpnz2z&index=23 (5/21/03)Aftermath: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWbOde6j98&list=PLoeEe7VyF-9lQNEdrstrxzlekMfMpnz2z&index=22

Seeing Bill (who I cant stop calling Brad) and Lauren was cool. As someone said it felt natural and energetic. I could stomach that pairing. Bill is an a***h**** annoying villain, but I'd like to see him give Victor and Jack hell! Characters getting married so willy-nilly becomes tiresome and repetitive. It dulls the impact of the relationship and or eventual breakup. Nothing wrong with just having them date. As for Brighton James, it feels like they just have black actors there for affirmative action purposes. They get no interesting story lines, and haven't really had any interesting cast hires since Drusilla got killed off. I was never really into Hillary but I feel like she could have done well as an antagonist to Dru and Olivia. I miss the days lf Malcom, Dru, Neil, Olivia, Alex, Callie, Keesha, Nathan etc...

If only they had imagined the possibility of youtube, streaming or soapnet, etc... They could have perhaps profited off releasing --for example--a playlist of critical episodes from a particular storyline. Anyway, it is what it is☹️

I agree that soaps shouldn't be five days a week, and should be kept to a 1/2 hour. 22 minutes though, not 18 watered down with commercials. For example, if it were CBS, (keeping soaps at 60 mins), I'd do: Mon-Wed Thu-Fri Y&R 1-2pm GL 1-2pm B&B 2-3pm ATWT 2-3pm (OR) Ideal Scenario (30 min soaps) Mon-Wed Thu-Fri Y&R 1-1:30pm GL 1-1:30p B&B 1:30-2pm ATWT 1:30-2p Less extra characters, less fluff and more matter. Fewer episodes, so more reason to tune in for every episode, every week. I'd opt for a Mon-Wed; Thu-Fri split. I think a Mon/Wed/Fri; Tue/Thu split might be too confusing to the layman audience. Y&R and B&B would get 3 days as they've had the higher ratings. As for the most realistic soaps, I'd say B&B and Y&R. Riche era GH in the 90s (minus the Cassedines) was a good realist period. I like a balance, some realistic and some over the top soaps. Just not DAYS and PASSIONS over the top.

Yikes! I've been waiting for years to see Phillip Chancellor's death on Y&R as well as Victor Lord's death on OLTL. One day they might surface, if such video exists anymore. I always found it strange that it's so hard to locate newscasts and soaps from that era but primetime like Mary Tyler Moore or Sanford & Son (and movies) were so well preserved.

Exactly what are the blank years for old soaps, the late 60s to the late 70s? At least those are the years I find toughest to locate online. And why is that? I suppose it has something to do with tape erasure?