On Soaps Suicide Is Rarely Painless--Even If You Are OLTL's Todd

[marlenadlc]

"Suicides by major characters are very, very rare (on soaps) and even attempted suicides don’t happen all that often. I theorize that the reason suicide is done so rarely on soaps is because the whole subject might be a little too close to home for an audience that characteristically spends hours and hours a day in their houses watching soaps....."

http://www.marlenadelacroix.com

[quartermainefan]

Your theory is that soap watchers are one step closer to suicide than non-soap watchers and your clue is they watch soaps? Nice to post that in a column for soap watchers so everyone can be told they have empty lives perhaps not as worth living as those out and about all day every day.

[kelly1142]

Emily Stewart's attempted suicide a few years ago was gut-wrenching to watch. She broke down completely for about a week leading up to it, and the last show was her on a cliff imagining everyone she'd wronged calling her on her actions, her son not knowing her and losing everyone she loved. When Paul tried to keep her from jumping, she said she'd never forgive herself if she trusted him again and just...jumped. She was pretty close to death (Meg even wanted to call it at one point) but Paul ended up reviving her.

[marceline]

I think all TV shows are still leery of suicide. On TV if someone attempts it they are rarely successful and like Marlena said they are all most always a tertiary or transitory character. I think that people are still afraid of the appearance that they are endorsing suicide as an option. Let's face it, no actor or writer wants to get the letter with the sentence "By the time you get this I'll be gone." or "I've been thinking about this for a long time but if Todd Manning could do it then so can I." Even if they don't feel a moral/ethical imperative you can bet there are plenty of lawyers counseling these shows to stay away from the topic for fear of getting sued.

It unfortunate because suicidal ideation is far more common than most people want to admit. And anybody touched by the subject knows that avoiding the subject doesn't work.

As for OLTL - I say this as a fan of the character of Todd Manning - I can't think of a character on soaps who is a better candidate for suicide. Todd has always hated himself. The only truly pure, affirmative thing in his life has been his relationship with Starr. (At least until Ron took a plot driven hatchet to it.) Now that Starr's "gone" I could easily see Todd choosing to end his life.

It's sad. There are SO many great stories possible for the character of Todd, yet he's languished in an ocean of couple-based, plot point idiocy. Todd Manning is a Showtime character trapped on daytime TV.

[dragonflies]

It would have had more meaning if Todd had actually done it. It was an attempt to build sympathy for Todd and nothing more

[Cheap21]

Id rather have someone kill Todd than for him to do it himself. Even an attempted murder would have been better than them having Marty force him into trying to kill himself

[miajere]

I remember when Nina from Y&R tried to kill herself. She didn't think Ryan loved her anymore and felt her home falling apart. He returned home from work only to find her pointing a gun at him and blaming him for the mess that was their marriage and their life. After begging her not to shoot him she confessed the gun was loaded for herself and shot herself.

I don't imagine there's much social responsibility to show for a crime committed by the victim- Victimless crime so to speak. The best one could do is by accounting for all perspectives involved.

A story line about mental illness (depression) usually has a good buildup and a poetic aftermath. Their depression is usually miraculously healed through some miracle of love. I'm not quite sure I would label that as a lack of responsibility. More that the writers don't want to box their characters in. Daytime usually tries to drive the dramatic points home in contrived ways in order to deliver some payoff for the story, but I think that's why people have turned to reality television.

Shows like A&E's Intervention deliver raw and real experiences of people dealing with substance abuse, depression, all the while presenting the family dynamic in an honest way that daytime is incapable of doing. They can then offer help.

But in embracing daytime, I would argue daytime will never be reality television, and the best they can do is present the miracles that can occur in the darkest of moments. Those little moments you get when you watch a family team together instead of blaming one another. But these days dark equals real, and positive payoff comes only from vengeance and scorn delivered day by day in the actor's performances and dialogue. Schadenfreude.

In hooking one's audience, that's what you're suppose to do. Deliver the drug that makes the viewers life seem less complicated in comparison. Perhaps that's a show's brilliance. It's not the most virtuous of television hours, or the most informative. But these days soaps are still struggling to be entertaining let alone socially relative and responsible.

[bandbfan]

Storm's suicide on B&B was one of the only high points in 08.