ALL: Soap opera MUST be a credible artform

[MarlandRulez]

That means we need

The best writing talent that the world has to offer

[!@#$%^&*] magnificent and QUIRKY actors as opposed to beautiful mannequins who want to sink their teeth into intriguing, exciting roles ... we need the new Tony Gearys, Jane Eliots, Robin Christophers, Marcy Walkers, Susan Flannerys, Kimberlins... you get the picture!

Shows with an Ensemble structure so the viewer gets a thrill watching their fave intermingling through the entire canvas and never stuck with the same 3 faces for years on a tired old set.

A soap where you just know the actor is EUPHORIC to be there and is constantly wanting to take the audience on a journey with them. The character becomes a friend, a family member... an extension of ourselves as we are or how we wish to be.

We need reality, but also glamour in the sense of beautifully visualised sets and character ideas.... a contrast. When the audience knows a character is in a real situation, the audience will understand that the character is more vulnerable. Look at Maureen's final episodes on GL... the drama was so intense that the threat of death and tragedy was just everywhere... in the air... somehow, it made the scenes harrowing to watch and even the look of the scenes was bleak. This is a masterful idea, using visual motif...

PUSH THE CHARACTERS TO LIMITS... PUSH THE ACTORS... work the actors... suprise them. They will come to work desperate for the challenge!!!

Bring back MAJOR LEAGUE CHARACTERS.... with complete inner conflict. We want to find dramatic serials COMPELLING AGAIN.

WE, THE AUDIENCE, ARE NOT [!@#$%^&*] IDIOTS. We want to watch the GLORIFICATION of LIFE!!!! wE WANT to feel a catharsis....

[SteveFrame]

I agree with a lot of what you are saying but until the budgets get better or bigger alot of what you want isn't possible.

And for budgets to get bigger the ratings have to go up.

It is like they are fighting a losing battle.

GL can't afford to get name actors and have to depend on no names - sometimes they hit it lucky and find someone with a good bit of talent like Marcy Rylan or Nicole Forester.

Location shoots are pretty much out for most shows these days.

Days is suffering from their budgets. In another year or time they would have paid or given Joe Mascolo what he wanted to come back, but they just couldn't do it.

So I think some of them could bring back big characters but they would probably have to recast.

It is sad. And I don't know what the answers are, but the budgets are a big influence on things right now.

[bellcurve]

Soaps, to me, are already a credible artform. You should see how I fight for soaps when I talk to my friends and strangers who hate soaps. Soaps are a big deal to me.

I don't necessarily think we need a bigger budget...we just need better writing and acting on all fronts. Give a good actor and writer some shitty sets and they could make me believe they were in the Grand Canyon!

SPYDER GAMES is a decent idea of what a low-budget soap should be. SPYDER was cleverly written and(on some fronts) well acted, especially from Shawn Batten(Natalia).

Once the networks(especially ABC) realize that we don't need crap like LAGUNA BEACH redone in daytime, that is the only way we can stop the bleeding.