GLATWT88

I need your help! I talk so much about soaps that I have convinced a friend of mine to come over and watch two episodes. I am tasked with picking two episodes that really showcase what soap operas are all about. Now, I will obviously fill him in about storylines and events that led up to said episode, but I'm having trouble picking an episode that would be great on its own. I really don't mind which soap. I have a fondness for most. My faves are ATWT and GL, but I have watched all soaps on air on or off since 2003. I also love watching old clips that are posted on here. 

Thanks for your help! 

9 minutes ago, ChickenNuggetz92 said:

 

Ahh, I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers haha. But I guess my thoughts come from mainly personal anecdotes rather than factual evidence as someone from a third-world country background where we have soaps that are very similar akin to telenovelas where the most popular and successful ones have writing that is generally formulaic and misogynistic (i.e. the good girl vs the bad girl and they're fighting over a man). I hope that makes sense? Haha

You definitely didn't ruffle feathers. Middle America can definitely be very conservative and conservative America has a large influence on how far American tv shows on broadcast networks go.

I totally get the telenovela concept, but even telenovelas have evolved. There are more empowered and powerful female characters in untraditional or non-sterotypical ways.

I was expecting worse, but still pretty funny that people were concerned and it was just a lack of glam due to Covid that made MTS wear the wig. Victoria Rowell is probably laughing her ass off and feeling vindicated that those at YR now understand the power of good and qualified glam. 

38 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

 

Ok, I gotta see this wig now. Anyone have pics?

On 8/21/2020 at 9:29 PM, Markjeh said:

 

 

I don't think that's it. Most countries it airs in are just as progressive as/more progressive than the USA. I think it's because Brad Bell is just not very progressive himself and he doesn't really care about pushing the boundaries.

8 minutes ago, FrenchFan said:

Which countries are you talking about ? The show airs in Europe and soaps here are way more progressive than anything the US soaps have been in years. 

Yes, I was just going to make the same comment. The US is definitely less progressive than most of Western, Central and Northern Europe. It also doesn't help that US soaps are less progressive than the majority of primetime, cable and streaming offerings from the US. These poor soaps must seem so bland and generic to most international viewers as they do to most American viewers.  

23 hours ago, GLATWT88 said:

Ha! Just saw this - should have gone further back. Aren't there a few alleged Trumpsters on the show? That's why I was surprised as there were several who would have come to mind had you told me someone on GH was refusing to wear a mask before I would have guessed KM, but it was made clear it was a woman so I guess that makes sense.

Oh that's strange. I did remember reading on here that her mom had made some tweets, but I had no idea it was regarding the use of a mask. I thought she was actually ill. 

1 hour ago, Soapsuds said:

She must be a Trumpster.

Ha! Just saw this - should have gone further back. Aren't there a few alleged Trumpsters on the show? That's why I was surprised as there were several who would have come to mind had you told me someone on GH was refusing to wear a mask before I would have guessed KM, but it was made clear it was a woman so I guess that makes sense.

Sorry if this has already been answered, but why did LH have to sub for KM? Is KM a Trump-y or is there some other motivation for not wearing a mask? I would have expected some others on the show to refuse wearing a mask. 

1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

Okay- constant testing.  Has anyone here heard of instantaneous results for a COVID test?  I haven’t. Also- how much strain is that putting on testing labs in California?  Are we going to see people released from the show because their budget is taking this hit?
 

There is a time lag during which any of these people within 6 feet without a mask are at great risk between tests results, even if they are being daily.

 

I agree that this seems incredibly dangerous.

I traveled out of the country because I was moving and part of the check in requirements was having covid test within 72 hours of departure and you needed to present a negative test result. There are several places in the state offering testing and I had my results in 15 minutes. 

However, you are right about those who are asymptomatic. The current tests being used are actually quite unreliable at detecting the virus in people who are asymptomatic and even those showing symptoms don't always present a positive test result. Last I read, those with Covid who have symptoms presented a positive results only 70 percent of the time. Also, there is a period between transmission and detection, so someone may have Covid but it's too soon for a test to pick up on it. 

My own journey with soaps started in 2003. I watched soaps with my sister a few times before then, but 2003 is when I started to watch on my own. Watching as a kid with my sister, I remember being so fascinated by soaps and that interest always stuck with me. Unfortunately, I was dissuaded from watching because of the perception that soap operas were girly. I randomly caught a bit of a soap one day and that pretty much convinced me to watch. I was so intrigued by the kind of storytelling in daytime, the way you invest in characters almost every day for the entire year. It was exciting and fun and it brought about emotions on both extremes. I remember being enthralled and shocked - it felt so exciting to go through all the twists and turns with a character. Eventually, life happened and it was hard to continue watching. Unfortunately, my end with GL was when the new filming and budget cuts made the show completely unwatchable for me. I still get upset that I didn't stick it out until the end, but part of me felt that somehow GL would always be there. I could come back and catch up with characters I have known so long, see what they were doing and how life was going for them. Sadly, GL is gone and I do miss those characters very much. A few years later I tried to get into soaps again and decided to watch BB and it was great for a while. The feeling wasn't the same as when I watched soaps around 2003 and 2007/8ish but it did the trick. I stopped watching again after a while. Now during this quarantine, I picked up watching soaps again. The classics were great and even Days had its moments. However, watching the last few episodes of GH, YR and BB before they went into repeats, it just didn't feel the same. Sure, I saw many familiar faces, but something was really off. Soaps had lost themselves in the midst of budget cuts, chasing ratings, changing to become what they believe younger audiences want to see, and uninteresting and uninspired writing.

I hadn't watch soaps in years by this point, but part of me wanted to invest again. To maybe get that feeling I once had while watching soaps or maybe from a fear that one day they will all be gone and I'll regret that I didn't take the time to watch. I have most recently moved out of the country, but I do come on here and read about the soaps. I don't have a way to watch the soaps from here, but I'm not sure I want to. Maybe it's for the best to just keep up with them on here for now. 

Sorry to this man. 

Wonder why they're being so risky. What are the guidelines for filming during this pandemic in LA anyway. They're obviously able to do what they're doing, I don't think TPTB would be foolish enough to break any laws, but it does seem odd that they're taking these chances.

23 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

GH had extras today at the restaurant...yikes and as you said I saw very little distancing.

Were these scenes possibly filmed before quarantine? 

On 8/1/2020 at 8:19 AM, katie_9918 said:

How was TP not a generic pretty boy who just basically growled or screamed his first year?

I never thought of TP as a pretty boy. In fact, his look paired with the character he played and acting style always made me think of him as gross and creepy. 

On 8/1/2020 at 11:04 PM, chrisml said:

I managed to make it through Conboy's tenure and I even liked the Danny/Michelle/Tony triangle everyone hated. Tom Pelphrey was the last straw for me. I never understood his appeal and the hateful storylines. I don't think I ever watched another episode of GL shortly after he arrived. 

I also liked the Danny/Michelle/Tony stuff at the time, but this is when I first started watching so I feel like there was a forced fondness but looking back I'm not sure I feel as positively about it.

Thank you!

What a disaster! A very rare time where GH could have shown true classics and this is what we got. All episodes from the past 2 decades, none early than 2003. 40 of the 58 episodes were from the last 5 years of which 27 were from the past two years. 15 of those from a few months ago. 

I was actually surprised to read there were 58 episodes. I haven't bothered to tune in besides for a handful of episodes. 

21 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

I wonder if GH will continue padding episodes with flashbacks, given the uncertainty.

I really hope not. Sure, it may have been helpful for someone like me who wasn't watching and was out of the loop once lockdown started, but soaps are very repetitive as it is that you don't need all those flashbacks anyway. It was actually quite annoying trying to watch an episode with so many unnecessary flashbacks used to pad out each episode to stretch out new footage. 

I don't know what numbers I was expecting for BB, but this makes me worry. We are in the middle of summer and people want to get out more than ever, so I'm not sure why the rush to get episodes out.  

6 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

The ''school''. is the small park bench. Right next an always empty HTS. 

 That's probably very accurate as to how they would do a school scene. 

5 hours ago, prefab1 said:

If you do tune in again, today's episode would be a pretty good place to start. No Lucas, but some quality feuding between Sami and Nicole, plus shirtless Brandon Barash, and a cliffhanger that genuinely took me by surprise. 

I haven't watched today yet but this made me curious.

5 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

I don't have a problem with young Ari looking like her father. In my family my grand mother looked mestiza. While her sister looked Nordic. That happens in mixed families. What gets me is we hardly ever see her. With any of her 3 parents. And when we do it's an awkward mess. I would love to see Ari be a mix of Sami/Gabi/Kate. With some of Marlene's class and brains. Sadly one of the things we will never see is Ari dealing with is her identity of being Hispanic and White. 

Ari gon bring some tamales to school and the white kids are gonna be like ew what is that and she's gonna be embarrassed to bring in her ethnic lunch and make her momma buy her lunchables 

Watched today after missing a few days and I have to agree, Sami and Lucas are great. They add so much to the show. I also want to take back what I said about the actress playing Ally, she's growing on me. 

I feel like there are so much potential with some of the stories and just so many directions things could go if they focused on "real" stories for a while and get rid of that Orpheus nonsense. Although, I'm not even sure what Orpheus is and that's why I'm completely uninterested. 

1 hour ago, Soap-princess said:

Technically most latinos are caucasians who speak Spanish but geographically located in Latin America.

False. Look up the demographics of Latin America and you will easily discover you're statement is wrong. 

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

Caucasians are predominantly Eastern Europeans from the Caucasus area--Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Georgia, etc. so what you're saying technically makes no sense.

Spain is western Europe and even before the Spanish conquest of the New World, there was mixing in Spain due to the Moors from North Africa having occupied Spain for over a century.

 

These days, especially, speaking Spanish has no more to do with how closely Latinos identify with Spanish culture or identity than how a closely an English speaking Nigerian identifies to England.  Please explain your reasoning because it makes very little sense to me at the moment and I have traveled and stayed in Spain as well as parts of Latin America.

Yes. The Iberian Peninsula were dominated by Moors and Moorish culture for century. You'll definitely witness some with darker complexion who claim to be full Spaniard and Portuguese lineage but may have Moorish roots. Not to be confused with the many African people who hail from former Portuguse colonies now residing in Portugal. 

One factor may be that longtime fans know soaps in general are coming to an end and they rather they go out holding onto some nostalgia and familiarity with characters they know and love well and with actors that have been a part of the canvas for decades in some cases. 

Will and Ally's relationship is cute. Sad that they're getting rid of Will not that Ally is part of the canvas. 

Really loving Lucas and Sami as well. It feel likes Days. 

5 hours ago, Soap-princess said:

 

I haven’t watched B&B in 10 years. I’ve seen better acting on my screen, but maybe this is the norm for current viewers. 

I think it's the new normal on soaps. I also started tuning in after a very long lapse (years) and I will say I was shocked by how bad things have gotten for the remaining soaps. From the aesthetic, acting, the stories and just general interest or feel just don't seem the same at all. Even Y&R which was never my soap, I could always appreciate for how great it was visually has started to look cheap and even other production areas are lacking. 

As for BB, I haven't watched since the recap episode on Monday, but I will try to catch up out of curiosity to see the new filming protocols in place. 

6 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

I for one loved the 1973 episodes. A few people on other message boards and facebook were pissing and moaning about wanting the current show back on instead of sitting through reruns and characters they don't know or care about. I wish there was a streaming channel to watch Y&R from the beginning. 

I loved it too. I wish we could get a few more 70s episodes.