Since they're pimping Liason to the fullest, they better keep Sarah out of scenes with Steve Burton. Steve and Sarah have chemistry like no other, there's just so much sexual chemistry between those two actors...

If TPTB want to fix soaps, they need to follow Marland's rules IMO. Of course there's more, but Marland's rules should be the groundwork soaps plant their foundations on.

How Not To Wreck A Show

By Douglas Marland

Watch the show.

Learn the history of the show. You would be surprised at the ideas that you can get from the back story of your characters.

Read the fan mail. The very characters that are not thrilling to you may be the audience's favorites.

Be objective. When I came in to ATWT, the first thing I said was, what is pleasing the audience? You have to put your own personal likes and dislikes aside and develop the characters that the audience wants to see.

Talk to everyone; writers and actors especially. There may be something in a character's history that will work beautifully for you, and who would know better than the actor who has been playing the role?

Don't change a core character. You can certainly give them edges they didn't have before, or give them a logical reason to change their behavior. But when the audience says, "He would never do that," then you have failed.

Build new characters slowly. Everyone knows that it takes six months to a year for an audience to care about a new character. Tie them in to existing characters. Don't shove them down the viewers' throats.

If you feel staff changes are in order, look within the organization first. P&G [Procter & Gamble] does a lot of promoting from within. Almost all of our producers worked their way up from staff positions, and that means they know the show.

Don't fire anyone for six months. I feel very deeply that you should look at the show's canvas before you do anything.

Good soap opera is good storytelling. It's very simple.

Douglas Marland is considered by many as one of the greatest head writers ever. Marland was a former head writer of As The World Turns, Guiding Light, and General Hospital. He worked as a writer on Another World and co-created Loving. He won multiple Emmy awards and Soap Opera Digest awards. Marland, a former actor, loved daytime. He passed away on March 6, 1993. This article was published in the April 27, 1993 issue of Soap Opera Digest. Thanks to SEW for providing a copy of the article.

I also think soaps need to stop trying to shock their audience, because face it, we've seen it all already. No more outrageous plots! We need more meat and potatoes drama that connects to a wider audience. Soaps are escapism yes, but until the audience sees something they can identify with, they won't consistently tune in.

You know, even though DAYS is considered really good right now (well, until the news that broke this weekend), it's still a bit of an outrageous show. How many other shows have a main storyline where some big cartoon-like figure (Stefano) is behind all the misdeeds in town and had a man's entire memory erased? That crap wouldn't work on other shows, it works for DAYS because that show has had a very outrageous history. However, it's also what stops the show from being respected by the masses and critics in general. What I'm saying is, each show has their own identity, and these identifies need to be respected.

Edited January 24, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I think they may do Julia and Frankie.

When people thought Robin was going to be pregnant with Jax's baby a few weeks ago, people went BSC.

Edited January 24, 200817 yr by dawn9476

If I could keep Y&RWorldTurner in a box for soap knowledge I would. Teehee. I <3 Him

If I could keep Y&RWorldTurner in a box for soap knowledge I would. Teehee. I <3 Him

Hehe, aww Ry-Ry!

btw, the Claudia banner and avatar are SMOKING HOT!

Topics for the January 25, 2008 Edition of ITZ:

- Host Chat

- Announcement Regarding Upcoming Interviews

- ATWT Fan Campaign Plug

- Save Our Stars Campaign Creator drops by to talk about the success of the campaign

- GH Casting News!

- DAYS: More cuts on the way?

- Open Discussion

UPCOMING GUESTS: TO BE ANNOUNCED

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This blows....the live link isn't showing up

I blame Corday!

I blame Corday!

When in doubt, blame Corday. LOL

He is trying to deter us. It will never work.

He is trying to deter us. It will never work.

Corday "dry cleaned " the live link!

There is something wrong with the show sever. It's not registering my call, and it seems as if the server has moved a day ahead