Good Soaps

[classicmoment]

I know there have never been unanimous agreeance about any one soap being of good or bad quality, but now it seem there are more complaints than ever. More jeers than cheers for every American soap throughout the internet. So are there any good soaps left? or are we just gluttons for punishment? I get that it may not be as simple to un-commit from our longterm habits (for some of us), but it's gotten to the point where I'm starting to think that complaining about the writing as opposed to the characters is one of the very reasons we all still watch. We've always complained havn't we? The difference is to complain about mostly just the characters might be an indication that a soap is in a better place than say complaing about the quality of writing, production standard, and /or overall acting. I challenge us to analyze why we watch soaps vs why do we continue to watch them if they suck. As for me, I watch soaps to see the following:

The Good

1. Captivating characters that are written intelligently and acted well.

2. Strong, thorough, storytelling that are told to build character dynamics, and that uses proper storytelling techniques to apply playing all the beats that connects those dynamics to

the honesty of the story.

3. Proper execution of scenes and visuals

The Bad

When it's bad I go on a hiatus I will find a way to connect again if it becomes good again. But many people still tune in and I'm not saying that's wrong, I just wonder truthfully what the appeal is?

Generally I look for in Daytime is what I look for in most genres, especially a serial. I think I give daytime more of a chance because I understand it may have a harder module to maintain.

[NorrthCafe]

Seeing 'good' and 'soaps' in the same header was a bit jarring.

[classicmoment]

LOL I was wondering what it was lol.... Now I know

[Sylph]

Depends. Obviously.

For example: the majority of the SON members who watch Y&R now watch it because of the hysterical behind-the-scenes stuff, the latest hilariously stupid writing idea of the writing team, to trash it. But there are those who watch it because they enjoy it.

GH: people tune to see the latest slaughter, the latest stunt, the obnoxiously irritating disregard for the history of the show, they tune to see the stellar performance of a certain actor/actress.

DOOL seems to be satisfying a lot of people these days. B&B is just... A habit. Or something.

[bellcurve]

And how aesthetically pleasing the show is in HD.

GH should easily win multiple technical awards for how beautiful it looks and sounds.

[Sylph]

Yup. That's another reason. It went from rags to riches, from appalling (Phelps!) show to a signature Phelps show.

[Ann_SS]

Habit. Every now and then, I get hooked on a story, but mostly it is habit. If I remember, I'll turn the channel from the Law & Order marathons to catch the soaps in the daytime or on SoapNet later on. If I am not home, I don't record. If I am following a story, I'll try to remember to look for episodes online, if not I'll catch it where it left on. I think most soap viewers do the same.

[Ben]

But, Sylph, why do you tune in when the bad gets tough? Unless that was your round about way of saying so... I know that you were one of the ones who continued to suffer through B&B, when everyone else was tuning out. It can't just be out of habit, surely?

Personally, I don't. There's only so far one can go with a habit, and generally, I refuse to inflict that kind of pain on myself. It has to get to a point where I loose interest in everything, for me to tune out. I've done it with B&B, and I'm finding it difficult to tune back in, b/c that interest has all but gone. Sometimes, the writing will be so bad, that I have to take a hiatus, like with Y&R; but as long as I still have interest in the characters, then I know that I'll tune back in when the show gets good again... or at least watchable.

[Sylph]

With B&B? I guess because of what could have been + it might happen, who knows attitude. Completely wrong, but... Then that plant that waves on LA wind while Stephanie watches the beautiful vista of LA from her window...

[Ben]

I guess that makes sense; not something I could do... It kinda makes you a glutton for punishment.

[miajere]

I'm usually never available for prime time. Being free on a certain night of the week for an entire season of something is extremely difficult for me- I watch prime time online only.. Daytime is my favorite time to watch television. It always makes for a guilty pleasure. It's easy to fit routine into my daytime and hella difficult to be consistent at night. But I'm no glutton for punishment. If I don't want to watch, I walk away, I don't care what I miss. But it helps keep a healthy perspective of these shows. I've only walked away from one soap angry, and the rest I would gladly return to if something looked interesting.

[quartermainefan]

Not the person you asked, but I watched Dallas from season two up til the very end 10 years later. I watched when the soap had its central POV character, Pam, exit, leaving the show with a gaping hole it could not fill. I watched when Sue Ellen left, and Ray, Lucy, Donna, Ellie and all the others left to be replaced by George Kennedy and others. Soaps are a habit one picks up, if you are a fan of the show--or rather a "follower"-- then the content becomes immaterial to your habit. Watching Dallas is just what I did. GH I am watching since 1981 on and off, but way more on than off. When the show becomes too painful to watch (as it was in 2003 or 4) I take a few months or a year off, but GH is my soap, so therefore I watch for better or worse. Dallas and Dynasty I watched faithfully, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest were not my soaps, so it didn't make a difference what they were doing, they were not my soaps. I figure it is a better habit than heroin.

[NorrthCafe]

YIKES! That's it for me exactly! There's so much 'what could have been' and 'it might happen'.

There's some disconnect for the writers since the elements are all there! Someone on the Official BnB board just asked why Pheebs had to die! There was little follow up to her death other than to have Rick sleep with her twin, using her as a weapon against her father (his brother) after already having slept with her mother. That storyline should have been transformational for Rick. It wasn't. It should have been transformational for taylor, it wasn't. It should have lead to a civil war in the Forrester-Logan clan, it didn't.

BnB romances are FILLED with the 'it might happen' part. It might happen, this time, that writers don't break up a beloved couple. It never does. BnB couples break up for the silliest of reasons and in the craziest of ways.

[All My Shadows]

Personally, and this is just me, but I think that if you're watching a show, you're getting SOME enjoyment out of it. Trash it and bash it to high heavens! But if you're watching every. single. day. and you have to chime in on every. single. thing, then guess what! The show is giving you something to enjoy! As long as you're watching, they don't care what you have to say about it!

[NorrthCafe]

I don't believe that every fan who watches enjoys what they're seeing. It would be interesting to find out how many fans watch daytime out of habit. Fans who watch out of habit are dangerous things for the gods of daytime. Why? Because once you break the habit, they have little hope of bringing fans back. When the habit watchers realize that the 'might happen' will never happen, it's over.

I don't know anyone who quit watching daytime 'cold turkey'. Everyone I know who quit watched even when they hated everything about the shows they once loved. They stopped watching slowly, until they reached the breaking point and then there was nothing soaps could do to lure them back in. Every hackneyed attempt to woo fans back (stunt casting, dragging 'big names' to daytime, big name musicians) confirmed their decision to drop daytime because it seemed to confirm their beliefs that on its own daytime had nothing to offer.

The gods of daytime also underestimate the fans' loyalty to actors/characters. It's not the dazzling brilliance of their oft retread plots that keeps us coming back. I guess if there is true enjoyment, it's in watching how actors take some of the worst dialogue and plots known to entertainment and breath life into them.