Manny

13 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Matt & Tricia pulling a Thelma & Louise and driving their Jeep off a cliff was shocking enough I had almost the story had ended there as that was VERY stark already for a soap.

Oh yes! That too! I actually enjoyed that whole storyline quite a lot because I adored the performances of Sabyn Genet and Rick Hearst  as Tricia and Matt. 

12 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

They’ve had characters commit suicide to frame others for murder (Keri, OLTL; Vanessa, Y&R).

Matt Clark did it to frame Nick on Y&R by unplugging his breathing cord and putting it in Nick's hand to make it seem that Nick did it. 

I loved that scene. I was spoilerfree and it was so shocking to me back then.

Oh wow, amazing! Thank you so much!!

Fyi, do you know the US date for the first episode available from 1982?

OMG, thank you so much @will81!!

Oh awesome! Thanks @will81 I love collecting soap aircounts, so this is fun! Thanks!!

Ok, thank you both! I know AW has been there since the beginning, that is why I was surprised to hear he might be killed off.

Ian is getting killed off?

1 hour ago, Huntress said:

 

Ca. 500 episodes from the late 80s were shown from 1993-1994 on Sat.1. Then some now defunct pay tv station showed another 500 episodes from 1996/1997 between 2000 and 2002.
In spring 2008, ZDF started airing episodes from 2005/2006 right after B&B, but almost nobody wanted to watch Y&R, so the remaining episodes were burned off during the night.
As far as I know, there was a different set of voice actors each time.

Interesting. 

I am surprised that YR never grabbed Germany attention while BB did. I understand why 2005/2006 episodes didnt catch anyone, but the 80/90s stuff was good. I guess since BB aired from the 1st episode, people got into it more easily..

Oh cool! Thanks @will81 ! I had no idea it aired in Germany.

8 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

Thanks. Hopefully that tumblr will continue to post weekly summaries at least through 1986 when the Y&R German episode guide starts up.

Oh there is a German Y&R site? I never knew YR was in Germany. I know B&B (Reich und Schon) was huge in Germany and that GL (Springfield Story) at one point was popular..

Chicago Fire (season 4), Chicago PD (season 3), Superstore (season 3), Black-ish (season 2), Umbrella Academy (season 2), The Boys (season 2).

Just finished season 1 of Greenleaf and season 1 of Ozark.

I just dropped Big Brother All Stars from my list. Could not anymore....

On 9/18/2020 at 9:03 AM, te. said:

 

Yes, I mean, the initial plot of the show was Meg running around looking for her internet buddy, so of course they had one.

Yeah, she was Dorothy and Ben was S.B. Initially she thought it was Casey, before realizing it was Ben. 

Oh I loved Max, Tanya, Lauren and Abi.. this whole family was one of my favorites! I am glad they will not kill him off.

Well in the beginning of the show, I think they tried to intermingle the cast more. Vanessa, Gabi and Meg were shown as friends. I remember them even singing "Stop in the name of love" together at the bar, like karaoke fun night together.

And yes, I believe there was a cyber cafe.. Java cafe? 

I always thought that Sunset Beach took those big storylines from the movies... Terror Island was like Scream and Shockwave was like Poseidon Adventure.

So I was wondering what does everyone watch today (not a lot of choices left) or what have you watched through the years?

Me personally, I do not watch any soaps anymore. I broke the habit once and even though I returned for some special events (like DAYS' 50th anniversary) I never really stuck around.

But here is what I used to watch:

• Santa Barbara - was the first soap I watched, I have seen it almost in its entirety. I missed the first year, but other than that I watched pretty much everything else, even though the last 1-2 years was hard to watch.
• Loving - watched only 1 year that aired here. It appears it was the 1987/1988/1989 (during the year when Steve got killed, in a bank robbery, Ned discovered that his girlfriend April was a prostitute and "Clay" came back from the dead)
• Guiding Light - I only watched 1 year that it aired here (it was the late 80s, I only remember Johnny Bauer having cancer). With the development of the internet, I started to follow GL through the reading of the recaps and watching video clips online from around 2005 until the end
• The City - I watched in full. Since at that time I knew nothing of how Loving ended, I had no idea who many of the characters were, but I got into it
• Sunset Beach - I watched in full. And loved almost all of it. Was very sad when they cancelled it.
• Passions - I watched first two years. I stopped watching during the Hell in the Closet storyline, just could not handle it anymore. It was ridiculous, it looked really bad and it dragged on forever. Never went back to Passions after that.
• All My Children - I watched 1994-1996 episodes when they aired here. I LOOOOVED it. Finally with the internet, I was able to read recaps and watch videos online, but I never really enjoyed the show as much as I did in those mid-90s. I loved Janet, Tad, Liza, Adam/Stuart, Maria/Edmund, Kendall (Sarah Michelle Gellar !!), the tornado storyline... 
• The Young and the Restless - I started watching in 1999 and got really into it. Became my favorite show. Watched until LML years (so I believe 2006) and then I left. I came back with Maria Bell early time with Katherine's "death" and her meeting Murphy and watched a bit during that time, but then the whole Kevin the Chipmunk happened and so I quit again and never came back again. I still read news of what is happening, just a bit, although it sounds horrible for the most part. The downfall of Y&R hurts me the most, I think.
• Days of Our Lives - I started reading the recaps in March 2000. I was translating all the recaps into my language and sharing it with some friends. Got to watch DAYS later on when it also aired here. Finally I stopped watching it during Sheffer years. I came back to the show for the 50th anniversary (watched before Ben turned psycho and then the serial killer storyline and Bo's return). For whatever reason, I stopped watching again and never came back. I read the news and I am disgusted by the fact that serial killer Ben is now basically the protagonist. Ew!
• Home and Away - Australian soap, I only watched for a short time in the early 2000s, and while I liked I did not stick around
• General Hospital - I started watching just before the Metro Court Hostage Crisis, as it was heavily advertised back then as something unique. I really got into it, I loved all the young characters that they had back then (Maxie, Georgie, Cooper, Logan, Lulu) as well as Lucky/Liz, Nikolas, Tracy, Alexis. I never got into Sonny/Carly/Jason/Sam. Never understood the appeal. And eventually, destroying Liz/Lucky for Jason, killing off Georgie, and turning Cooper and Logan into serial killers really put me off and I stopped watching.
• Emmerdale - I started watching in 2009,  around the same time as EastEnders and was really enjoying it. I remember Shadrach drowning in the lake,  the Wylde family, Viv dying in the fire. I had a break then came back for Aaron/Robert storyline, Katie dying in 2015. I watched for a bit, but then quit.
• EastEnders - I loooved it. Watched during the Syed/Christian gay affair, I looved the Masoods (Zainab! :D), during the Janine/Ryan/Stacey storyline etc. I also loooved the Brannings (Max, Tanya, Lauren and Abby), I loved Roxy/Ronnie. I stopped watching around 2012/2013.. Then came back for EastEnders live show where they revealed who killed Lucy and that was fun! But I did not come back full time.

I have never really watched ATWT, OLTL, B&B or AW.. I know that Edge of Night aired here as well, but I never watched it. ATWT also briefly aired here, but I don't remember ever watching it. I also never watched any of the German soaps, as I was never to find it with any English subtitles and my German was never that good to follow a show properly.  

I think one of the reasons for sure is that today's writers are either not strong enough or are not allowed by the managers to develop the new characters in the same way that classic writers (Nixon, Philips, Bell, Marland) were able to. So a lot of the new characters just fall flat and are not interesting enough.

But there is also the point that someone else brought up that today there is so much more outlets where people can complain, so it might seem like the viewers are more vocal, when in fact today is it is just easier to complain. Before you actually had to sit down, writing your letter and go to the post office to mail it to the studio. While today all you have to do is log into twitter or facebook or whatever and just speak your mind within minutes. 

Oh my, I have not watched Emmerdale in such a long time (I find myself repeating this lately a lot in each different soap opera topic I wonder into hahaha)

I know of Annie, but I have never seen any of the old episodes, so I have no attachment to that character, but I can see why many of you find it disrespecting and baldy handled.

But I am more shocked at the look of Marlon.. Why does he look like a homeless person in that first clip where Victoria finds out about Annie? 

Also, I really think Isabel Hodgins is a pretty girl, but I don't really like her boyish look with this short hair. 

Also also... I have to add that it is really lovely that she decided to stick around for such a long time with the show! It is always nice to have a character grow up with the actor in front of viewers eyes. 

21 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I'm a little self critical myself, which is probably why I haven't started writing my soap again. Back then, if it was bad, I could just blame it on the fact that I was a kid. Nowadays I don't really have an excuse lol

Oh yes. I don't think my writing is amazing or anything, but I do hope I have gotten better at least since my teens year back in the late 90s haha

But to be honest, I find writing as sort of a way to vent. It helps me relax. That's why I continue with it in spite thinking it is no good haha

21 hours ago, beebs said:

No, it's a fair point. I think there's too many cooks in the kitchen right now for anything good to come out. 

 

I just wish there was at least some coherent story as the end result. I don't understand how the execs are so allergic to compelling storytelling. 

I wish we could know which stories really came from the writers and which were mandated by the budget/corporate. But I guess we will never know this. I was hoping some of the writers would delve more into this during the chats at Alan Locher zoom meetings during this covid times, but other than the Reva Clone story, I don't think I have heard much about this.

Ah okay, I understand.

Well that would make sense especially for stories which were not popular. Those should have been just finished off screen and new stories should start. 

4 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

EE hasn't returned yet. It comes back September 7.

Ah okay! Thanks!

Thats what US soaps should have done as well. 

6 minutes ago, Bill Bauer said:

 That is correct. The Bauers were never in Five Points. The move to Selby Flats happened in 1946. The first Bauer, Meta, didn't appear until 1948. The Bauers never knew Rev. Ruthledge. 

Thank you for your insight! I always thought Bauers were there from the start! 

21 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

 

  

Well this is much better than blow-up dolls, right? This looks completely real! Nice job, UK soaps!

17 hours ago, victoria foxton said:

 

  Character confirmed to have had Coronavirus.

So EE will acknowledge the corona virus. Good for them.

On another note, while I haven't watch EE in AGES, I kind of remember reading somewhere that once EE returns from the covid break, they will have sort of a reset with the stories? Did that happen? How did they do it? They just dropped whatever was happening before covid and just started new stories?

5 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I forgot to mention his name...Ryan Brownplayed both Billys

No worries. It was also visible on the Youtube video title that you posted

I completely forgot that he was on GL playing Bill until you reminded me with your post That was a fun fact to see see

2 hours ago, beebs said:

We have a world of talent in this forum, and it frustrates me so much that none of that talent is ever seen onscreen on any of the big shows. We struggle through our own little projects here and there, thankfully. But it really annoys me how insular the TV soap world is. Its basically eating itself. 

 

The ones that seem to get ahead are definitely NOT the ones whose ideas I enjoy seeing actualized. 

While I do agree that there are some great creative people here, I would not only blame today's writers for the state of soaps. I think a lot of them don't get to write what they want. Us here writing our own little projects, we don't have budgets or corporation managers to approve our stories. I think it is not that easy to be a soap writer these days. I would actually blame more the network managers for the state of soaps than writers. Although I am sure some of them at least are useless and stuck in the past. 

49 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

This is such a genius thread. I don’t remember all my ideas—they’re stored away in notebooks at my childhood home—but I was a weird kid, so I created an alternative universe with soaps on nearly every cable network, all themed to the networks’ brands. So I had a slate of black soaps for BET, some melodramas for Lifetime, a sports-oriented soap for ESPN, etc. And I wrote weekly synopses for each as would have appeared in SOD or SOW, and even had fake comings and goings of the fictional actors, interviews with the fictional EPs/HWs, fictional Daytime Emmys, etc. I wish I could find them. But it was a very fleshed-out alternative universe. With all that energy, I could have written my own Game of Thrones.

Sounds fun the way you did your stories I mean, making up actors and interviews, must have been fun. 

I never did that part. I just "cast" already known actors in the roles on my show. In the beginning I was casting almost exclusively actors from soaps. But as they got cancelled one by one, I had to extend my casting pool to other tv shows or movies