GLATWT88

Just finished this season and during these scenes with Afton, I remember saying to myself wow, I really love this character. I was a bit unsure of the character in earlier seasons but have begun to really love her so far.

I would like to point out that GL was truly a pioneer in awful, cheap openings. That 2003 opening still shocks me to this day. I remember thinking how terrible it looked in comparison to the others at the time. Like some kid in a graphic design class put it together for their dad. However, when I saw GH's a during the lockdown after not tuning in for a while, I was equally shocked. It's so cheap looking. Here's hoping they do something simple but powerful for the 60th anniversary. Maybe a recreation of the original opening which wouldn't require cast photos or many changes. Exactly what I was thinking!

He's 27, avid reader, enjoys sports. Soap operas are not really up his alley. I know he likes Friends but may be due to nostalgia and connection with his mom. He likes A Fish Called Wanda. The TV show Boys. Big Mouth. These are just things from random conversations we've had. I don't know much of his taste in TV or movies as he does spend a lot of time reading. We have become really close friends and he just knows my fascination with soaps so gave me the opportunity to show him two episodes so see what it's all about.

Considering today's viewing habits, I definitely think a major push towards streaming platforms alongside regular airing on networks. For streamers, it would be nice to have a omnibus type feature but a condensed version of the weeks episodes with the major plot points and key moments so that viewers can easily catch up. And writing! There needs to be a freshness injected into the stories on soaps. A major overhaul in storytelling to make it appealing to audiences today BUT maintain the key features that make soaps. Soaps! I feel that's where many soaps went wrong in the naughties, by keeping the same tired stories but removing all those fun soap elements that make a soap a soap.

The Days one is a good one. My sister used to watch Days back then and I would watch with her. That would be a fun one. This has been very helpful.

Thanks for the recommendations. I believe most of 1997 AMC is uploaded somewhere as I remember finding a channel on YouTube a few years ago with all of the 1997 season. Hopefully, it's still up. I would still be interested in what you shared.

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!

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.

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. 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.

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

They seem to be spiraling. I don't know what's going on but the drinking is excessive and the behavior is just so outrageously bad it's not fun anymore. I would like it if they limited their drinking while filming or allowed to drink more excessively only in certain occasions. It seems every event or dinner is a mess and I'm not even watching regularly. Maybe Brandi made the whole thing up and Denise's lawyers were suing for defamation. It seems odd that they would re-edit an entire season otherwise, but I don't know. Maybe Denise was able to get them to drop the storyline just because she didn't want that information revealed if it did in fact happen. I just thought Bravo's contracts were pretty thorough with preventing these types of situations.

I still stand by my opinion that Brandi made up the whole Denise Richards affair just to get on the show. It wouldn't be beneath Brandi to fabricate a story just to get on the show. It may have been my impression, but it seemed like Eileen was not having it with Denise sitting next to her. I wouldn't be surprised if Lisa falsely informed Eileen that Denise was against all the women and called them bad moms. It was refreshing to have Camille back. I always enjoyed her on the show. And I agree with whoever mentioned it, but for a BH housewife, Kyle's home does come across as less than in comparison to some of the other ladies.

Sorry about your experience @mikelyons but I can't say I'm surprised. I always imagined working for a soap would be like going to a new school in the middle of the school year. Since these shows film pretty much all year, go on indefinitely with cast, crew and teams that are in place for very long time ago - you're going in with a bunch of cliques, mean girls (divas), and other nonsense that may be less likely to thrive ( although it still does) in other settings. Then this just leads to other issues like nepotism and favoritism and allows very little room for change. Hence, why racism continues to thrive in daytime which is clearly seen just from a lack of representation.

Right. I'm not worried about missing out on BB classics as the majority of their choices weren't classics at all. I'm just surprised that have a weeks worth of episodes ready to air next week especially under the new restraints. Besides, if we do go into another lockdown are they going back to classics again? I thought BB was going to get some episodes in the bank and delay their return until at least sometime in August in case another lockdown were to occur they'd have more episodes like what happened with Days.

Wow, they're ready to start airing episodes again? I wasn't expecting them to start so soon.

I guess they told the writers not to be too specific.

"Sassy, street smart, unafraid of confrontation" aka a little hood Wears her emotions on her sleeve = angry black woman Knows she is "all that" just made me roll my eyes. So they couldn't just say confident?

I'm already over RHOBH and that break did not help at all. I feel like most of these franchises lack stories so they take one and stretch it beyond what's necessary or even enjoyable. ATL had the same issue this past season.

Is that 1973 episode available online? Nvm. I think that's Papa Bauer's funeral service episode.

Thank you for the details. I figured it had to do with a switch in producer and wanting to change the image. Now that you mentioned the Knots opening, I see how it may have been going that route, but the Knots opening from two decades earlier was much more visually appealing. I always felt the early 90s opening was a hybrid of the Dallas and Knots Landing opening with the lighthouse lens thrown in the mix. Ha! Lifesavers. That's probably the best way to describe it 🤣 I agree that the best part of the opening was that it would slide right into that first scene and unlike the other soaps GL started straight with the opening sequence. How do you feel about the 2005 opening?

Here's a question I've had for a long time and perhaps one of you soapstorians might be able to answer. Why did GL replace the 2002 opening with an even worse one in Spring 2003? When I started watching GL in 2003, they had just switched over to the new opening (the sliding images with Guiding Light running across) and I only became aware of the previous one on some website at the time. I mean the flying Bingo chips wasn't amazing, but the one that followed was pretty sad. I remember thinking that anyone in my HS graphic design class at the time could probably manage to create that opening. Why was Bingo chips opening replaced when it was in use for such a short time? I'm not sure how soap openings are changed or how that decision is made as they are such long running shows, whether it's arbitrary or when new producers come on or something else. Days has essentially maintained the same opening it started with, others maintained the same theme over the course of their run, and then GL the lighthouse or variations of it and them others did not.

May have been posted here already since it's a few years old, but since Hamilton is out on Disney+ and Elise Goldsberry is so fantastic on it, I'll post it. She mentions her role on OLTL twice

Days had a few weeks at #1 in 1995 and did well in the demos most of that year, but in 1996 it was pretty much #1 every week.

That's sweet. It's nice that it meant so much and was so special for you. Did the perception of soaps in your country become seen as a girly thing over time or do you think your age may have been the issue? Like your dad was fine with you watching when you were younger, because he saw it as no big deal then but as you got older he saw it as threatening to your masculinity? Or maybe a bit of both.

I don't understand how it isn't common knowledge by now that things like this aren't okay and you can't use ignorance as an excuse anymore. It was bold that he said it, but it just takes it a step further that it didn't even cross their minds to edit that out in the first place.