I happened to come across the below book excerpt the other day, and I think it connects to this thread and the idea of missed opportunities in terms of what this genre could have been and could be now. I’m excited to read the full book; not sure if it’s come up in other threads on the forum.
Literary Hub
How Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Redefined Daytime Television
It was a breakdown unlike any the soaps had seen. A housewife named Mary Hartman had accepted an invitation to appear on The David Susskind Show, a decision that she likely did not anticipate would…My intro to soaps was via Y&R circa '95, but I haven’t watched in years, and from what I can tell, it’s been reduced to a pitiable state. GL was the show I really fell in love with, until it broke my heart under the enshittification wrought by MADD, Rauch, Conboy, Weston, and Wheeler. (The Millee Taggart era was such a painful tease).
Of what remains, GH could really spark a renaissance, in a world that wasn’t so horrible — I would reinvest in Elizabeth as the show’s heroine, immediately, and bring back her boys and use her a mirror for the world we live in and actually have something to say about it, contra the flaccid slop that passes for “story” today.
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bzz ·
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