How Could they remember all their lines?

[Andrew]

Here is a great old clip from Coronation Street, take time and listen to it, and then ask yourself how on earth could they remember all their lines and i am speaking mostly of Ena (Violet Carson) and Elsie (Pat Phoenix)

So do you think an american soap could do domething like this?

What do you all think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btDd5qDj7BA

[YRBB]

I think it is pretty established that American soaps actors and actresses have an insane amount of scenes to shoot each day.

[brimike]

On ITZ last week, Justis Bolding talked about how she got hired on Friday, had two days to pack up her whole life in LA and move to NYC, and tape THIRTEEN EPISODES worth of scenes on Monday morning. (WHich sounds to me like Sarah was written in scripts for awhile, when she wasn't cast, and they had a backlog of Sarah scenes to tape)

Which means NuSarah's first thirteen episodes were shot in one day. I suddenly don't blame her for the rocky, wooden start. (Although I definitely think she has improved a lot in the last year, you can't deny those first few weeks were dicey)

[Darn]

Soaps used to be written and presented like plays, scenes used to go on forever. In fact some soaps did special episodes where 20 minutes would be spent on just two characters, it would usually be a culmination of some huge story point. I wish they'd do more of that, devoting an hour or a fairly large chunk of the show to just 2 or 4 characters. For an important storyline or big payoff, not a silly fantasy episode like we usually get.

[JackPeyton]

i agree..

i alo think people like JB, and for example Martha Madison whens he started at days are judged harsh. Nither one, and many others like them, didnt really ever have much work and the are thrusted into soaps with 100's of lines. It takes some time to find a grove, find a habit, find what works. Im not saying give them a year, but some time.

[All My Shadows]

That's fricken insane! I wasn't watching when Justis started airing, but right now, I can barely tell that she's such a newbie. She does a very good job with her material and I hope those rumors of Sarah being recast are just that - rumors.

Absolutely. Considering the quick pace at which US soaps shoot and the fact that most of them put out five hours of all-new material nearly every week of the year, I'm positive that remembering lines isn't a problem for most of the actors and actresses. Don't get me wrong, there are those duds who flub up every now and then, but when you have to memorize 60-70 pages of a dialogue per week (at least I think it's that's much...that's what I've heard, at least), you learn how to memorize.

If I'm not mistaken, "The Edge of Night" did an episode in the 1960s where, for the entire episode, the only character who had any lines at all was attorney Adam Drake (played by Donald May). It was a court scene, so I'm sure the other cast members were present, but Adam was the only who spoke throughout the whole thing. Keep in mind that this was thirty minutes, live, and because Adam was a main character, lawyer, and in the middle of this case, I'm sure he also had loads of dialogue for the rest of the week as well.

[MTSRocks]

Eh, yes. It's part of the job description. Y&R back in the day was notorious for there long drawn out dialogue.

[sungrey]

And Edge also did a show in 1976 where Forrest Compton and Ann Flood were the only ones to speak during the half-hour. It was a series of scenes where Nancy was packing to leave Mike (to protect him from discovering she was going through files for Beau Richardson). Edge had gone to tape by then, but to have the half-hour devoted just to them was also something.