Agendas in Soaps: Name Them!!!!!

[jfung79]

I have several more:

1. The Escapism Agenda -- "Fans watch soaps for fancy sets and to see rich people feuding, not to be reminded of real life! Anyone who disagrees does not understand soap opera! GL's closeups are bad because I don't want to see wrinkles!"

2. On the flip side, the Social Issue Agenda -- Soaps are only worth watching if there is a social issue storyline going on connected to real life.

3. The Long Arc Umbrella Story Agenda -- A soap needs to have stories meticulously planned and told over time affecting most of "the canvas." 13-week stories are bad and a sign of the death of soaps. Anyone who disagrees is a hack writer.

4. The Fire the Writer/Executive Producer Agenda -- Some people don't so much have favorite writers, as writers or producers they refuse to give any credit to or watch. If such a writer or producer is working on their show, they will demand this person be fired no matter what.

5. The Bring Back Past Characters Agenda -- Such and such show is a mere shadow of its past self. The real heart and soul character, or the real core family, of the show has been decimated. Bring back the dead heart and soul character, or the niece, the first cousin once removed, and the father of the sole remaining representative of the core family, or it is no longer the same soap and deserves to die.

6. The Sex Agenda -- You aren't really writing for a couple if you don't show them having sex. Or, another version of this agenda is that soaps have to show skin -- clamoring for more shirtless scenes.

7. The Criminals Must Pay Agenda -- I can't believe this character is getting away with it and/or being redeemed. Villains must pay for their crimes.

[All My Shadows]

Or its cousin, The Realism Agenda. If any of the cast members are the least bit attractive, the show is silly fluff. If I don't see dirty dish towels lying around kitchens, rolled up socks in the living room, and if I don't see Erica Kane taking a dump every now and then, the show is totally unrealistic and is laughable.

Ugh, I hate this one. If a writer writes a bad story or two, it's no longer possible at all for them to write a good story. And if they do, they're not actually responsible for it. People will give credit to the hair stylists and make up artists for writing the story before they give it to the headwriter. And if a character's hair looks horrible, somehow it's the headwriter's fault...

[jfung79]

Good points, All My Shadows! I hate the firing/no-credit one too. LOL at the makeup artist or hair stylist getting the credit.

Some more:

- Anti-SORAS-out-of-order / Anti-"Rewriting History" Agenda -- Kid A was born after Kid B, why is Kid B older now? The show is ruined. (That's the SORAS part.) The "rewriting history" part is we saw this character at such and such time, they were already on the show, and the story they are telling now wasn't on screen then so could never have happened and therefore the show is ruined.

- "Marland Rules" Agenda -- If the head writer doesn't follow the Marland Rules, they are a bad writer. Everyone has to follow the Marland Rules to write good soap opera. Douglas Marland was the be all and end all of good soap writing.

- "Eww, that's Incest" Agenda -- These characters can't be together because they are related (not necessarily by blood, although in the case of GL's Jonathan and Tammy they were).

- More Than Just Couples Agenda -- Life is more than just who sleeps with who. A soap must show family relationships and friendships.

- Humor Agenda -- The show is getting too dark or serious. It needs comedy. (On the flip side, too much humor evokes the "No Camp" Agenda -- the show is getting like a sitcom, it's too camp.)

By the way, just in case it's unclear, just because I list an agenda doesn't mean I disagree with it. I believe in some of these positions that I label "agendas" and will continue to do so -- but I know that not every soap fan will agree with me on these positions, so I recognize that they are agendas.

[SteveFrame]

I think some of your jfung are agendas and I like them.

The more than just couples I don't call an agenda. That is just getting back to what soaps are about and something that soaps have gotten way too far out of.

The couples thing is what has ruined soap operas and led to the unplanned pregnancies and so much more that we have talked about. In the 80's shows like GH and Days turned soaps into The Couple Shows and sadly every soap followed. Out of that grew the fan bases that have created some of these agendas.

There may be some that take the family thing too far but for the most part all I see are people who just want fans to realize that soaps are not just about couples and pleasing their fan bases. I get tired of hearing the line - well none of the fan bases are happy. As I have asked before since when is producing good soap opera about making the fan bases happy.

Characters like Joanne Gardner on SFT and Vanessa Sterling on LOL were made complete and whole because their storylines were not always about the men in their lives. Often it was about their families or even their careers. And often the love story in their life affected the family and that was the story.

[jfung79]

I agree with you! I hope enough people agree with us where it's really not an agenda and more of a consensus as to what soaps are about.

Thanks for the interesting and informative historical analysis/context too.

[MichaelGL]

I notice this agenda a lot of times in the OLTL daily threads. I mean I know they're not the best young actors, but not all of them are that bad of actors, and the stories surrounding them are miles above the rest on daytime IMO.

[DeeeDee]

:o

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Well, everything she does is "breaking news."

[DeeeDee]

:lol:

[All My Shadows]

Psh. Yall know that La Kane has probably thought about canning the scent and selling it through Enchantment at least once. "Essence of Erica."

[DeeeDee]