Sara A. Bibel's Blog

[Sylph]

He's probably more suited for primetime. Or he could stay in daytime but be stripped of story power. He somehow has to be on a tight leash, under someone's constant supervision.

If left alone, he quickly falters.

[EricMontreal22]

Which is why I was agreeing with you

[MarkH]

Based on the litany of carnage you describe, I think he suffers from depression. Or, bipolar .

Goodness, Night Shift is so much more relatable to me. Brothers feuding...a gay man discovering a patient who touches his heart...an arrogant attending finally feeling real love...a couple (Scrubs) with hardened hearts struggling to let down their walls for one another and the sake of their unborn child...an adult daughter getting past her daddy-abandonment issues as her once "immortal" father confronts his immortality...and old friend and almost-brother-in-law returns to confront the reality of his autistic child, and reconnects with Robin. Man, every one of these is totally grabbing me. Every one of these feels situated in the real world, driven by genuine character history. This is much more interesting to me than Metro Court or Luke and Scott feuding. The "tangled web of lies and secrets" would have been much more palatable if it did not involve a hitman (I was APPALLED when Skye ordered Alcazar's hit...and we saw no one experience pangs of conscience as Lorenzo's death 'thud' reverberated through the house), a skank, and a druggie.

I don't mean to start a negative comparison here. I suspect that what is happening is that Night Shift is exacerbating the difference between GH's two audiences. The "action-mob" fans (are there any?) are probably happy with the daytime product. But the older fans...especially those from the Claire Labine and Wendy Riche era...are finding a brief oasis. How sad it will be for them when the show goes away. I hope -- like HBO 13-week shows -- that Soapnet commits to future renewals.

[Sylph]

Today, a post about Friday Night Lights.

[marceline]

Oh yikes. As a hardcore Panther fan, I couldn't disagree with her more. Everything she loves about FNL would die in daytime because the genre couldn't sustain it.

I don't think daytime can be helped/saved by trying to squeeze good stuff into a non-working model. I think its time to change the model.

[EricMontreal22]

I gotta agree--I know it's just a pipe dream of Sara's, but the mere suggestion is pretty ridiculous to me. I've only seen season 1 of Friday Night Lights (I admit I put off watching it because I felt almost badgered by blogs and magazines like Ent Weekly to watch it) and I did like it--maybe not as much as most peopel seem to but I get what Sara's saying about how it has all these great things we now are missing from soaps. But adapting it to daytime--even in the "glory days" of the 70s let alone now--would remove almost all of this.

[YRBB]

Friday Night Lights

[marceline]

I just had to respond to this because I find it so funny (in a good way.) I was the same way about FNL. I had NO interest in a show about football, let alone Texas football! And all the critical hype just made me less interested. I came to FNL because I was home sick as hell and looking for something to watch on my laptop. I went to NBC.com and decided to try FNL. "What the hell?" I figured, "the codeine will kick in soon enough."

Two days later I had watched all of S1...twice.

When Ben Silverman said that NBC would probably cancel it I went into overdrive. I had the "What would Riggins do?" avatar and banner. I sent footballs and light bulbs to NBC and told everybody I knew about the show.

THAT'S the love I used to have for soaps. But honestly, I haven't felt that way about a soap in ages. An actor or character, yes although not recently. But I haven't loved a show the way I love FNL, House, Heroes or Sarah Connor in a very, very long time.

[EricMontreal22]

I need to watch season 2. My twin sister--who would have even less interest in "a football show" than me, and who isn't really a big soap opera fan, absolutely devoured all fo Friday Night Lights this past Summer in about two weeks. But I get exactly what ya mean--Hell when I was 12 I first learned of the harshness of network tv when I became a part of the Save My So Called Life campaign

[EricMontreal22]

Oh and I agree--largely--with Sara's take on OLTL surprisingly improving with this latest gimmic--for this week anyway. I still have little probs with nearly every storyline but I have to say I've been entertained watching it this week which says... something. Maybe us OLTL fans who aren't completely on board with Carlivati will just have to accep tthat he's going to have good and bad periods in pretty even amounts and that's th ebest we can get

[YRBB]

God, no. I rather see it cancelled than go to daytime.

Friday Night Lights

[MarkH]

This makes me sad. It seems you have all given up on the idea that daytime can be anything but sh*t.

[leevo64]

The first episode of GH that I ever watched was Stone's death, so believe me, I am in love with Night Shift. But when you take GH for what it's become - a plot driven action soap - the first half of 2007 was great. But watching Night Shift is like watching an alternate universe of GH, where the mob never took over Port Charles. It's funny that the show is so firmly rooted in family drama, even if the families are smaller than the huge, sprawling soap families we see on daytime. If GH shifted to focus on the Julians, Scorpios, and Cates' I'd be thriled.

[Sylph]

No, it's not that. It's that Friday Night Lights is a soap opera, but not a daytime soap. It wouldn't be able to transition well. That is, at all.

The whole tone, structure, feel etc. of the show would be lost.

[YRBB]

No, it's not that. I'm just sure that it wouldn't go well. As Sylph said:

They wouldn't be able to replicate the structure, the weekly games, and all that. Plus, it would be on NBC!