Soap Cliches That Have Worn Out Their Welcome

[DaysForever]

The never-ending "misunderstandings" when someone mentions something.

I remember on DAYS during the SSK, Marlena was talking to herself, saying something like , "I'm the killer," with Belle right behind her, and the next scene had Marlena saying something completely different. That REALLY bugged me. It doesn't happen often on DAYS anymore, but I'm sure it does on other shows.

[Faulkner]

Yes, I agree that the problem is that they've a) been done to death and so far-fetched. Soaps should reflect a "heightened" reality, unless they are explicitly "spoof." But soaps have truly become Looney Tunes cartoons in recent years, with the dead Road Runner always springing back to life. People don't usually come back from the dead or return with amnesia in real life. Yeah, it CAN happen, i.e. a kid long thought dead discovered to have been kidnapped for years and years, but certainly it doesn't happen with the mind-numbing frequency it does on soaps. And we wonder why young fans are unwilling to sample the shows...

If every soap writer agreed to avoiding these 90 percent of these cliches, we'd have much tighter, more surprising, more compelling soap storytelling. Some wise teacher told me that "Creativity comes from having limits." Writers these days have too many "outs": hey, that character we want to use in a storyline is dead? No problem! Let's just bring him back! Or let's just have an evil twin! The writers may think they upped the stakes, but they've, in fact, placed the bar so low that no ones cares anymore.

[bellcurve]

As usual, a brilliant post by Faulkner!

Totally agree with this! Not to mention the fact that nowadays, fans have come to expect the convoluted and the campy from soaps instead of the old fashioned "stay tuned" drama fans that have studied their history books and online pages know we can get back, especially in a day and age when budget is that of a Cable Access channel(i.e. GL and soon to be PASSIONS).

I know I don't care! I've even stopped taping B&B and have started watching clips on YouTube when I think about it or feel like it.

[Quent]

One soap cliche that should be retired is when a character has an accident and is paralyzed and/or blind. Has there ever been a major character who became unable to walk or see who actually stayed that way forever?

[stenbeck212]

Yep, it's the "outs" that have truly ruined things. It would be nice if once a year, all writers had to pick one or two gimmicks from a hat, choosing from love triangles, resurrections, surprise relatives, unknown paternity and murder. Whatever they didn't pick couldn't be written about all year.

If I'm not mistaken, Paul on Loving became paralyzed and stayed that way. It's so backward that soaps haven't gotten into the reality of disabilities.

[applcin]

^^Not just disabilitities. How many characters do you see (that aren't used as comic relief or stereotypes) that are overweight, wear glasses, bald, have big noses, etc.

Even though he didn't stay that way permanently, I was impressed (for lack of a better word) by how long AW kept John Hudson's limp from his injury in Vietnam and they used him prominently, without the limp being a focus.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

I thought is was multiple people at the center of GH Let us pray for Robert Guza Jr.

I think the biggest one are multiple relationships. How many boy/girlfriends/sex buddy/affairs/fiancees/spouses does one person have in an average life span? Case in point: Erica Kane, Adam Chandler, Barbara Ryan.

[applcin]

Well, how many characters are driven in no small part by Jason and Sonny or constantly involved with them (and this is just recent or still ongoing characters)...there's Carly, Jax, Jerry, Alexis, Sam, Elizabeth, Lucky, Rick, Mayor Floyd, Kate, Mike, Coop, Logan, Spinelli, Frick and Frack the bodyguards, Lorenzo til he died who will now be replaced by another mobster. Each time they get rid of a rival mobster they bring a new one in to take his place. Do the cops have any non-mob related cases?

What can I say... at this point I only tune back in when I hear the Scorpios or Laura pop back in. I know I can't be the only one who grew bored of Mobsville long ago.

[Khan]

Number one for me? "I'm pregnant, and I don't know who the daddy is!"

On soaps? An agonizing moral dilemma. IRL? Irrefutable proof you're a lazy, trifling slut.

I could forgive all the amnesia plots and long-lost/evil twins and buried-alives you throw at me, but THAT one is disgusting.

[Khan]

And that's just the "previously on..."'s.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

What stories would you like to see on GH? Do you want The Scorpios to be the central clan? How about The Spencers (Laura & Lesley included)? Or should the all stories link to General Hospital? What do you think GH is all about (theme, identity)?

[JackPeyton]

i coudltn call these soap cliches...

because 1. i know a lot of people who do look wayyy to young to have grown childern. and this isnt only done a soap - its done in movies, primetime, everywhere. 2. i work in a hotel - right now we currently have about 6 diff guests living there. yes living there. until when no one knows and 3. is it just me or but in real life wouldnt someone trying to get ur love away from u be come conflict?

these are soap cliches im sick of-

being stuck on an island.

comming back from the dead.

look-a-like cousin

having the same damn convo 20 times for 20 ppl to overhear

i actually like the whos the daddy storylines, and the longlost brother/child/whatever

[stenbeck212]

Just because other mediums do something, does that make it more believable on a soap? What you see in your work is unusual at best, and at this point it's a copycat convention of budget cuts for soaps to have disproportionate action in hotels because otherwise characters won't get their own residences or other places to go. Nobody said these things don't occur in life. The point of the thread is that they're cliches in soap operas. If you can think of a couple breaking up because of something other than a 3rd party in their relationship, please let me know what show they're on.