Should American soaps rethink their format?

[nicknack]

I was recently talking to a friend who is a huge sucker for romance and who told me that she had given up not just on American soaps but on American tv altogether. She is now mostly watching the so called Asian doramas which are very short mini telenovelas (it seems they have between 13 and 40 episodes). These stories are written and shot finished before the first episode ever airs and when they air it's one episode a day till the show is finished. They often swap around the actors of the different dramas or pair them up again for the new projects. It seems to be mostly quirky love stories with tragic family complications.

A more intermediary case seems to exist in Germany. From what I heard soaps in Germany were on the decline when telenovelas came and started to kick the butt of soaps in the ratings (for example they did a German version of the telenovela that Ugly Betty is based on). Telenovelas started jumping up left and right. And precisely because the ratings were so huge they didn't do the thing that telenovelas are supposed to do, end. Rather than ending the shows it seems that several of them were just spun into soaps because the people had just grown so attached to the characters and supporting characters they wanted to know what would happen next.

However, because of the influx of telenovelas it seems that the soaps shaped up big time in an effort to compete with the telenovelas and the telenovelas kept some of their old properties even as they turned into soaps. Right now the strategy seems to be like this:

- Have one central main characters whose story the show is about

- That character has one One True Love who they will end up with

- Have a cast of quirky and enjoyable supporting characters who scheme, sleep around or do familial support

- The story of the main character as well as them finding their love last a "season" or two. It seems the norm is around 200 to 300 episodes.

- Most importantly when the main storyline is concluded the main character is written off with their One True Love and gets replaced by a new central hero or heroine, their story and their love [i have to say, I was rather fascinated by the story of this one german soap called Tempest of Love which actually has a black central heroine in an otherwise all white cast and that still is one of the highest rated shows in its timeslot with up to 25% viewership]

This structure seems to have drawn in a lot of people who normally wouldn't watch soaps to follow precisely the story of a certain supercouple and how they will get together (and then on the way get engrossed by the soapy antics of the supporting characters). As opposed to just people who enjoy the ever revolving backstabbing and hooking up and breaking up of couples.

Do you think that American soaps could profit from something like this? A bigger focus on romance, intentionally promoted and untouchable supercouples as well as a stronger focus on one central character and one central romance? Generally a more arc-like structure? Premiering a telenovela kind of like a backdoor pilot for a new soap?

I've always been rather fascinated that there seems to have been no attempt by any of the mainstream channels to try out a telenovela considering how hugely successful the format seems to be in a lot of countries. Do you figure that that is because it is just cheaper to use the already established soaps who already have all their actors and their sets and so on?

[Jane1978]

Interesting. But isn´t this precisely the supercouple format DAYS, GH and other shows followed in 80´s? You could always say who is the leading couple in 80´s. They always ended together at the end. And many times TPTB eventually get rid of them or atleast backburnered them when some new couple took the spotlight.

I think it´s too late for this now. In case of DAYS the show is still lead by three main couples created more than 20 years ago. Following the model would mean to backburner/fire them and bring in somone new who would lead the show. But that´s exactly what the show unsuccesfully tries to do for the last ten years! The viewership is too small now and the quality/production values so poor that even a popular new couple isn´t able to bring in enough of viewers to replace the old who would left with the vets. And the vets fans want to see their couple as the leading one, not as a supporter. And there is also a factor of FFing. A lot of viewers simply FF everything not related to their couple so they aren´t even giving a chance to anything new.

[nicknack]

But isn't that what people complain about? That soaps these days don't do any classic soap writing anymore and don't do classic soap couples anymore? That everytime a couple arrives that actually has some potential they are treated badly instead of being built up into a real power couple? So why even bother investing in any couple when it's just bedhopping and not romance anymore?

[R Sinclair]

The original American format has all but been neglected on today's American soaps -- Family and Friendship.

Once the focus became about Supercouples instead of love stories, about young and hip demo-reaching story instead of multigenerational story... the family aspect took the last seat in the back of the bus. Now, what we have is pairing young, pretty people and making them into forced insta-Supercouples.

[nicknack]

But that seems like the whole problem to me. They put a couple together and either one of two things happens:

1.) They suck and the writers give up eventually and break them up

2.) They are successful and the actors leave the show and the couple as fast as possible in the hope of building on their success

It seems that the writers are constantly pairing people up and see what works. Rather than picking a good story and telling it. Making a slow building couple rather than an insta couple.

[Cheap21]

GL rethought its format and look at how well that turned out

[nicknack]

I don't really follow GL. What did they do?

[Sylph]

If someone knew how to turn them around - whether it's something new or back-to-basics format - that person would be very, very rich and wouldn't be around debating issues on SON.

[R Sinclair]

Guiding Light changed their production format. Taping scenes in enclosed sets and actual outdoor locations. The way it's done in primetime, basically.

[R Sinclair]

Maybe they do know but they're not being heard.

[nicknack]

That's hardly an improvement if the writing hasn't changed. Besides, the bottomfeeder show of the business is hardly the best choice to really try something new. Chances are that there is constantly somebody behind them and whacking them on the head and never get to see whether any of their attempts actually would pay off if they rush from one attempt to save themselves into the next.

[Sylph]

I doubt it. Television is a business and you need a whole lot more than writing to save a genre.

[MarkH]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and did I mention yes!

There are these convenient receptacles for our ire: HW and EP. That is like blaming a president for the state of the country. Clearly, said president earns a share of blame, but there is a whole administration, and whole country underneath that, and each has some responsibility.

We have some very serious analysts and thinkers here at SON. Over the months I've visited, some very good ideas have been floated to explain why we are here today. And MOST of them have little to do with the content of our current shows. They have to do with workforce trends, and changes in the speed of life, and changes in the intergenerational structure of TV viewing, and changes in the popular interest in romance and emotion based stories, and changes in willingness to commit to something daily.

And this list just scratches the surface.

What we see as bad writing and producing and casting and underuse of vets and what have you are more often the symptom, not the cause. Ron Raines has a nice interview in the latest SID (I think), in which he talks about the economic realities and why he, personally, has to be open to continued pay cuts.

Now, I'm not going to say that bad writing isn't a part of this story. But folks, THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE RADIO. Bad writing is NOT the "new cause".

SOW has this amazing cast list in their latest issue (page 30, 7/8/08), where they highlight all the characters who experienced:

"Was in a mental institution", "Was presumed dead", and "Had a Sudden Child".

For some shows (ATWT, Days, GL, GH, OLTL) seriously half the current cast is highlighted!

That, dear friends, is soap cliche and bad writing...and it stretches back to the beginning of the genre. It is these things that have caused people not to take soaps seriously, and for them to become stigmatized. So you can't blame this bad writing on the present. It has always been there.

Again, I understand why people blame the current regimes. It is much easier to put a face on it that than to blame a system of influences that stretches far back into the past.

But easy doesn't make it right. AND IT DOESN'T HELP US FIGURE OUT A SOLUTION!

Sylph is on the right track. And--though I don't want to be pilloried--Ellen Wheeler and Brian Frons are on the right track! Ellen Wheeler is EXPERIMENTING, and that is what needs to happen. Most of us understand the experiment will not succeed, but GL was dead in the water either way. So kudos to her for buying another year and trying out some new stuff. For Brian Frons, the real innovations (and I don't credit him with the first, really) were Soapnet and GH-Night Shift. Soapnet is a failure...but the whole idea of finding a way to bring soaps into primetime was brilliant. If Soapnet had wider distribution, and better promotion, I think it could have worked better. Still, they're TRYING. Now, in the wake of failure, they are making some bad decisions (MVP, Relative Madness, SNM, cancelling good stuff), but the idea was good and risky. GH-Night Shift is the true future of the form (weekly, time limited, primetime)...so I am glad that has had some success.

Because it is end-times, I think all radical experiments are welcome. Most of them won't succeed...but some of them will...and they will be our "guiding lights" into whatever the future holds.

[brimike]

I agree. RC's stories may seem like high-class "fan-wanking" to some (That words still cracks me up), and I don't mean that in a BAD way. But he's also built up a decade of "business play" with both his colleagues and his employers at the network. It's not just about who can write the greatest stories. It's about how you're perceived, how you pitch yourself to everyone you come in contact with, from the EP to the network execs to the other writers and actors. It's about knowing how the business model of your show works, and being adaptable to that business model in the most efficient way. There's a game that needs to be played, and it's a lot tougher than someone just writing "I have the solution! Write your show like THIS!", summing it up in a few paragraphs, and then bingo, it's fixed.

And believe me. It doesn't matter how many pages the OLTL thread on SON is at the end of the week - if RC hasn't raised the ratings in a year, it doesn't mean squat. (Not to keep using OLTL as an example. It's just the best I can think of where the majority of online fans are happy with the format, but it's not reflecting in the numbers)

I think if current soaps rethink their format, you just end up with a ton of angry fanbases. (i.e. GL) I think the only way a show with a new format would work is if it's a brand new show, where tradition isn't surrounding everything you do, squeezing the lifeforce out of the entire concept. I still think that American soaps, as they are now, need to go away for a few years before soaps with a different format make a resurgence. If people are so used to tuning into their shows like Y&R and GH and Days every day (whether they're happy with them at the moment or not), they're not going to want to check out the "new kid of the block" that's using a different format, even if it IS a stronger concept. But once THESE soaps die out, or the majority of them at least, people will be more willing to check out something new and different in daytime. Especially if there's a long enough gap in between where they have nothing.

[MarkH]

How astutely written!

Yes, yes, yes. This is one of the most interesting experiments going right now! The fans are getting EXACTLY what they want. Not just online, but critically, the mags...and I'm sure the network focus groups...are all suggesting that OLTL is as close to "bullseye" as we're gonna get.

But look at those pesky ratings. NO MEANINGFUL BUDGE. If that continues, Carlivati is (unfairly) toast. Happy fans doesn't mean squat. Only numbers and demos mean anything. If Carlivati can't deliver them, then rather than concluding that the GENRE can no longer deliver them, the suits will likely seek out the next shock-and-awe.

Now, if Carlivati were left alone, and could deliver a consistent product for the next 5 years...I honestly believe this could stem the rate of decline. No network has that kind of vision and patience anymore. The disappearance of daytime divisions (hi, NBC!) means that there are progressively fewer execs who even UNDERSTAND the daypart or care about it. Animals of the primetime market, they do not understand patience, consistency, slow builds.

Yes, yes, yes! The current crop should be allowed to die natural, dignified deaths. The next iteration will not be in the daytime, and it will not be (maybe) on "television" in the classic sense. But like Star Trek or Doctor Who or primetime legal dramas or whatever....it will come back. There is too much inflexibility in the audience of the current shows to accept the kind of wholesale invention that needs to happen.

In that sense it is unfortunate that GL led the charge. GL is the VERY OLDEST show...by this line of argument, it is the last one that should have been touched.

Given the age of the show (from its' radio days), and its' ratings trend, most of its fanbase has actually already died! That may really be just too much history to allow reinvention.