All: My experiment

[Days22]

I havnt been on this site in a few years and even back then I never really posted but I thought I’d talk about my experiment.

I come from a “soap family” my grandmother, mother, and many close cousins of mine at least watch one soap. So I grew up seeing a lot of daytime drama on the tv screens. As I grew older the soaps I got close to were Days and Y&R. But in 2007 I couldn’t take neither soap any more and stopped watching soaps daily all together.

But since a lot of people in my family watch soaps I have seen bits and pieces of some over the past year and recently I decided I want to start watching again. But I didn’t know which ones to start watching. So I decided to start an experiment last week and DVR all the current soaps and see if any of them could get me hooked. I plan on doing this throughout the rest of the year and pick 3 soaps to continue to watch in the new year. I figured I would probably be biased with Days and Y&R and that wasn’t necessarily the case.

Right now in my opinion the two hardest soaps to get into are AMC and Y&R. Both shows came off totally boring to me. On AMC I just cannot connect with any of the characters. I either find them boring or already hate them like Ryan, Adam, Zack, and pretty much most of the guys. With Y&R I know most of the characters from watching the show for so long, but like AMC and find them all to be boring. Some out of character like new Mac and new Billy. I read recaps of the last few months and wow I am glad I didn’t watch. I wouldn’t have hated the whole baby SL with Ashley and Adam. And the pointless death of colleen. Two thumbs down for both of these shows so far.

B&B tho I also find it boring, at least it has my interest. I love Sarah Brown and was happy to see her on the show. I read up on the Bill and Katie story and since my cousin watches it, she was able to tell me a lot about them. I like them both and enjoyed the wedding. Maybe because its kinda retro Brad and Vicki from Y&R. I am glad the focus wasn’t on Ridge, Brooke and Taylor like it was always back in the day when I would watch occasionally. No thumbs up for B&B but no thumbs down either.

ATWT AND GH surprised me. ATWT was really the wild card for me. I expected to hate it or find it boring, but I didn’t at all. I didn’t read the best reviews for it, but it held my interest and I enjoyed pretty much everything except for ‘nuke.’ Whom I find contrived and the fall on Friday was not very well done. I cheated and started watching GH a little early (because of my undying love for Sarah Brown). The climax to her exiting the show was phenomenal and actually made me like Sonny which would make my mom proud. I think the Lucky, Liz and Nik triangle is good so far and I am giddy for James Franco to debut. 1 THUMB up for both shows!

DOOL was always my favorite soap opera from when I was six and Marlena was possessed by the devil till two years ago when I stopped watching. But two years ago I was just not enjoying anything that was going on and with all the newbies I thought I would be hard on it like I was with Y&R, but with Carly’s return and the big return to me, Vivian I had to give it a chance. I enjoyed it a whole lot. Though it is slow and drawn out it feels so Days to me. In fact I am glad it was a drawn out week because I get to see all the emotions of the characters that way. Sami/Ali Sweeny was great in the middle of the week. And with the exception of thick sculled Hope and Lucas gone at the moment, I am loving Days again! 2 thumbs up!

Which brings me to OLTL. The soap that had all the good reviews going in. 2 of my cousins and my mother said this was the best soap right now. Most of the reviews online and in message boards were also positive, but I expected it to be all hype. I expected it to be over rated, but I found last week to be very thrilling and the only soap I didn’t fast forward through once. I found it very plot heavy, but the characters have enough spark to each hold their own. Maybe I was in a horror movie mood because I found the whole Mitch stuff to be like a horror movie, but I enjoyed practically everything last week. It was the best soap of the week in my opinion and leading the way in my experiment for week 1.

I embark on starting on week 2 this week. Which will be harder because I was on vacation from work last week and this week it is back to the grind, but I will do my best. I look forward to OLTL, DAYS, ATWT AND GH. And I am dreading Y&R and AMC, but I shall see what week 2 brings and let you all know what I think. If you really care! haha

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Cool, thanks for sharing the findings of your experiment.

I'm not surprised you didn't enjoy Y&R or AMC very much. And I find what what you said about characters not behaving like their old selves on Y&R very true. Nice to see an objective eye that hasn't kept up with the show much over the past few years is seeing some of the major problems on that show that many of us who have watched consistently have been seeing.

[DRW50]

You have a lot of great insights. Thanks for sharing them with us. I agree with many of your points.

[juniorz1]

I LOVE experiments like this. It's nice to get a fresh perspective from someone who's been out of the soap habit for two years. I'm not surprised that you found AMC & Y&R to be the two worst- I had been a daily Y&R viewer again until the past few months. Now, I don't care if I miss it for weeks. I usually marathon my soaps when I have time through the week but after watching a Y&R episode, it feels like too much of a chore to sit through another one. ATWT & DAYS have been like a breath of fresh air.

Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts as you continue with your experiment.

[P.J.]

I think you lucked into a good week to watch ATWT. I love the show, but I certainly don't dispute it had been a dull summer.

[Michael]

Thanks for sharing! It's interesting to see your "first" impressions of each soap, going in pretty cold.

I wonder if certain shows will wear on you over a matter of time, because they seem good on a day-to-day basis but the overall stories are a mess (GH and ATWT come to mind, or at least that's how they feel to me -- I usually enjoy singular episodes, but the sum of them drives me insane).

[Days22]

I am glad you have enjoyed my thoughts thus far.

Two days into week 2 and its the same trend. I have to agree that watching Y&R is a chore. Its tough to do. Same goes for AMC.

As for ATWT. It has been the suprise for me. It could fall off once i get to know the stories better, but as of right now I enjoy basically every story, aside from nuke. I am enjoying Jack's road trip. It would be better if I knew more about the characters he has been meeting but I have enjoyed Ben, Mike and Molly so far. Why arent these characters not regulars on the show anymore? Seems like a lot could be explored with them.

I kinda of regret missing the baby switch story on Days. The fallout has been amazing and AZ and Sweeny are hitting it out of tehe park. And as much as I hated EJ when I stopped watching, James Scott is great.

[Days22]

Well week 2 is said and done.

As much as it pains me to say and as much as I never thought I would say this. Y&R is the worst soap on air without a shadow of a doubt. It's a painful train wreck to watch and I dont think I can even continue to watch it going into week 3.

All My Children improved slightly this week compared to last week in my opinion, but it is still underwhelming.

B&B is the most inconsistent soap on air. They dont seem to have many stories going on right now and the story witn Bett White seems out of the blue.

I continued to enjoy the other 4 soaps. OLTL was not as interesting this week. I caught it on a good week last week with many climaxes in the stories. The problem I have with it is that I can really find a character to latch onto and really call a favorite. They have gotten a bit annoying at some ppoint this week.

ATWT is still entertaining for me as well. I kinda enjoy this ghost story with Austin Peck because it is different. I continue to look forward to this show.

GH has been pretty good this week as well. Of course a lot is starting to center around James Franco, but right now I dont have a problem with that. But I know GH is known for their stunts. I just hope they can continue consistant story telling after this Franco story.

And just it pains me to say Y&R is horrid and the worst soap. It makes me filled with glee to be able to say that Days in the best soap going right now. It all just feels right and it is the soap I cant wait to watch every day. It really makes me all warm and fuzzy inside again to enjoy this show! lol

[P.J.]

Sadly, Ben was just kind of "dropped" off ATWT when his marriage to Jessica Griffin tanked (she was played by Tamara Tunie, who you might know from L&O SUV). Mark Collier (Mike) left the show to do LA. They briefly brought recast his character last year, and he hooked up with Lily when Holden had an affair with Carly. But Lily and Holden reunited and Mike left town. Lesli Kay left the show five years ago to jump to GH as a recast Lois. That flopped (they dropped her when she was pregnant) and she jumped to B&B as Felicia Forrester. That was only supposed to be a three month gig---Felicia was supposed to die of cancer (Lesli even shaved her head for the role) but the story got such a good response Brad Bell reconsidered and gave her a miraculous recovery. Unfortunately, Felicia hasn't really done squat since, which opened up this opportunity for Lesli to "recur" on both soaps as two different characters.

[jfung79]

Glad you are liking ATWT! It was going through a rough patch a few months ago, but it has been solid for the past couple months. Reviews have also been better the past couple months.

Sorry the firework explosion did not appeal to you. I still like Nuke. Glad Molly's flighty needy character, the weatherman and congressman, and portrayer Lesli Kay's strange-looking eyes, did not turn you off! I was worried the Molly stuff would be turning some viewers off!

Hope ATWT will be one of the soaps you choose to stick with in the new year!