Soaps:- Cigarettes

[Andrew]

I where just thinking that hardly anyone these days smoke on soaps, should smoking be more allowed?

Bonnie on Days smoked time off and again, Princess Gina smoked all the time, remember her?, Deacon from B&B smoked time off and again, Elizabeth on Gh, also´in the early days when she where on.

We all know that smoking is bad, but if soaps where really naturally some characters should atleast smoke some times, all the actors and the actresses that smoke in real life, i think should absolutely be allowed to smoke, would that really damage the characters?

Kristian Alfonso is a smoker, if she hasn`t given it up, Princess Gina smoked, would it hurt then character of Hope, if Hope Brady wife of Bo Brady would sitt around with a cigarette in her hands?. Would it?

In England they have started the smoking ban on tv, but just think off all the characters you think of smoking, Deirdre, played by actress Anne Kirkbride from Coronation Street, is a classic, same as Dot Branning, June Brown from Eastenders they are known for their fag. Is it really a big problem if characters, or at least the actors and actresses that smoke in real life to let them smoke on the soaps?

When you see a character smoke, it is always a really bad character, a bitch or a really big villain?, but if the town sweetheart where to have a cigarette, would that be a huge problem?

A thing that never has really been discussed, what do you all here think of smoking on soaps, i mean i cant think of a second that people watching should be influenced to start smoking cigarettes, any of you think so?

What do you all here think?...

[Faulkner]

Maybe I roll with a "rough" crowd, but 90 percent of my friends smoke. A lot of people still do, in spite of the well-known health risks. I personally don't smoke, and I don't even like being around it (the irony), but I think it would add realism for soap characters to smoke. I just know Gloria on Y&R or even Kay Chancellor would light up every now and then.

I mean, do people expect viewers to just emulate what they see on soaps? Soap producers don't seem to have a problem, in the HIV era, depicting unprotected, often anonymous sex that results in unplanned pregnancies.

[Cheap21]

I dont see what it would add to the show so I dont see a need for it as it would be unnecesaru

[Graciecat]

I'm with cheap21; I don't really see what it would add.

And I don't think I would like to see a heroine of the show smoking. Children do end up watching parts of these shows when their mothers do, and I hate to see smoking portrayed in a positive light for them.

[Andrew]

What about a villain?, you know there is funny i dont think i have ever seen a really nice character on an american soap, ever smoke, after the 90s...

[SouthOfSoap]

Soaps are the same as movies and primetime in this respect. Smoking represents bad people who are dishonest, evil and/or cannot be trusted. Good people never smoke! Thats why Bonnie & Princess Gina smoked and not Adrienne and Hope, lol. Its not about realism, its about symbols and motifs apparently. FYI, I smoke a pack a day, hehe.

[Andrew]

You mean people who smokes are really evil?...!

[winterguy125]

I think what they were trying to say is that the only people we get to see smoke are evil and it should not be that way.

But anyway I agree I think there does need to be more smoking on the soaps, so that it does seem more normal. And yes I smoke. I have a feeling that is how this is going to turn out, the smokers here are going to think there needs to be more, and the non-smokers will say it is not needed.

[SouthOfSoap]

Nope, but thats what you are meant to infer when you see a person smoking on TV. American TV at least...

[Andrew]

Well, i admit i smoke myself, so i think it should be allowed , why?, i am really tired of seeing that only bad people smoke.

[Andrew]

Youtube Video of Princess Gina, Kristian Alfonso:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmQ_7VGfuLM

[edgeofnik]

When Carly first arrived on ATWT, she smoked. (She tried to hide it from Rosanna, even though Rosanna once told Mike that she knew Carly smoked, but it didn't matter to her.) Suddenly, Carly announced she quit. We eventually realized that MW was pregnant with her first child and that was the real reason why Carly stopped.

[Im-n-a-whirl]

If you watched the GL 70th anniversary episode, you will have noticed that nearly everyone was smoking. It's because in those days, people believed that smoking kept your weight down.

[R Sinclair]

Kendall on AMC smoked during the beginning of both Sarah's run and Alicia's run. Elizabeth on GH used to smoke. But now that Kendall and Elizabeth are their shows' respective "heroines", no more of that.

But, yeah. It's the old "black hat" vs. "white hat" method. Smoking = Troublemaker on soaps. On AMC when Janet Dillon was being stalked by her former cellmate Sophie, Sophie used to always been seen smearing chapstick all over her lips like a mad woman -- until it was revealed during the climax that she smoked as well.

In movies, it's different. I don't think they make a big deal out it. I know in Waiting to Exhale, Angela Bassett's character, Bernadine, smoked and she was a character to root for. As a matter for fact, she started that infamous car bonfire after lighting her cigarette and walked away puffing on it like a diva.

But primetime television is still the same way. Smoking = conflict, trouble, drama. On Friends, when Ross and Rachel broke up, Chandler started smoking again. On all the sitcoms and dramas featuring teens, the bad girls and the bad boys always smoke, and the teen hero/heroine would be taunted and teased into smoking and hanging out with the bad/rough crowd. Unless it's just part of the characterization of secondary character (like a boss or a madame or something), I don't see that depiction changing.

[Chris B]

William Devane said he got into arguments with LML at Knots Landing because she refused to allow his character to smoke, which had been a trademark prior to her arrival.