Soap Cliches That Have Worn Out Their Welcome

[stenbeck212]

Here are some things that bug me across the board.

1. Parents who look too young to have grown children

2. People living in hotels

3. Triangles as a source of relationship conflict

Any more?

[brimike]

"teens on the Run"

On any show. It was original in the 80's. Not so much now.

[Toups]

Being stuck on an island.

[brimike]

I'll drink to that!

[leevo64]

Baby switches, "destiny couples," psychopathic killers becoming major protagonists (I'm looking at you, GH!)

[alwaysAMC]

WTD storylines.

Children overcoming their abusive parents.

[jacks]

AMNESIA!!!!!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Who is the daddy?

[billyjill]

Who's the daddy.

[Matt P.]

Brooke Logan being a whore

[Andrew]

Brooke having been married to Ridge nine times...................

[MichaelGL]

Brooke and Ridge.

Alan Spaulding doing anything evil these days to prevent a couple from being together.

Murder mysteries in which someone we don't know or cared about was the culprit.(Y&R)

Characters running around worrying about what to do with the corpse of somebody they killed (Amber Y&R)

Amnesia, kidnapping, fake deaths, and affairs on Y&R.

Brain tumors to redeem villains./The so called "Brain tumor made me do it!" plea.

Buried alive on AMC.

[JamesF]

Interesting thread. These are the things I think need to be banned from daytime to restore some credibility:

STORY

-Back from the dead. It should never, ever be allowed again. It's cheap, lazy storytelling that completely removes any emotional investment in a character.

-Botched social issues. If you can't be bothered to do the research then don't do them at all. AMC's abortion saga is an example.

-Baby switches. A baby's a baby. Who cares really?

-SORASing. It completely destroys history and continuity. Look at Brooke's kids on B&B or the notorious Ellen Stewart on ATWT -- ridiculous.

-Repetition. There's a way to avoid characters having the same conversations over and over again. Include some others and write a balanced show. The UK/Aus soaps rarely ever have a problem with this because they have larger casts and plenty of story.

-Flashbacks. Unless they are literally flashes, they serve no purpose other than padding out a short script.

-Recasts. It should never be routine to simply recast a character as an easy option. My pet hate too is recasting to "take the character in a different direction." It's an admittance of failure. It means you're not writing for characters, merely plot devices so why should the audience give a damn about anyone on the canvas if their personality can change on a dime?

-Slow pace. 1 day should never=10 episodes. Again this is something that foreign soaps very rarely do. On occasion if there is a big story climax with confrontations galore a day might last for 2 episodes. Primetime shows are able to write in a realistic timeframe so soaps should be no different.

TECHNICAL

-Tiny mansions for the rich e.g Brooke's house on B&B being little more than a studio apartment with a fancy front door.

-Outside sets on soundstages. No other genre does it nor do any other countries that have much smaller budgets. And look at what MyNetworkTV achieved. Open the wallet and spring for location shooting or a permanent backlot set. You're not fooling anyone with a potted plant and a park bench. Main Street in GL, I'm looking at you.

-The video look. It's outdated and obsolete. I don't care about the nostalgia value. Again no other genre or foreign soaps are so hesitant to make a technical progression.

-Overdramatic stares and pregnant pauses. It's hammy.

That's all I can think of.

[applcin]

I'll second the triangle one. Triangles, quadrangles, forced or unforced...it seems like the overwhelming majority of conflict between couples involves the interjection of third, sometimes fourth parties. No sooner does a couple get together than the hunt is on for someone to come between them.

Murder stories where it seems the writers have no clue who the killer is going to be at the outset and along the way, take turns with different suspects and then deciding, oh, let's make this one the killer.

The sameness of cast members (i.e., having so many 20-30 year old blondes on the same show that they seem interchangeable).

The redundancy of the dialogue (I ff when I see characters rehashing the same arguments and discussions they've had for weeks, sometimes months, prior).

The use of the phrase "storyline dictated", especially when firing someone, as if the story wrote itself.

Bringing back characters who died onscreen. Bringing back someone as a lookalike of a dead character.

[Paul Raven]

Ignoring veteran characters-having them reduced to glorified extras instead of involving them in stories.

Compounding that issue by forgetting about family members who should be onscreen and provide those veterans with more involvement e.g Andy Dixon,Tom Hardy,Buchanan brothers,Billy Abbott etc.

Multiple marriages - couples are married,often without much build up,and then just as quickly divorced.

Multi-million dollar international companies being run out of small towns by 3 people,who never seem to be at work.The depiction of workplaces in general.