It's not the same though - and Twilight is a perfect example (my 12 year old is part of that crew). Fans loyalty builds with the next book or movie is about to come out, then they back dodwn and look for something else to distract them. People like the quick-and-dirty and the "NOW", but being a soap fan takes a hardier soul. I can remember my grandmother stomping her foot at the TV and yelling at various characters (you have to appreciate, from my Scotch Presbyterian grandmother that was completely OOC behaviour) but the suggestion that she stop watching if she didn't like it was tantamount to suggesting strip-poker in Sunday service would be a good thing. She was aghast at the notion. That's the generation I'm talking about - they hung in there for the long haul through a lot of history. The instant gratification of today would appal them.

I don't think it's as simple as "build it they will come". Perhaps that worked once but the attitudes in society have changed greatly. Now it's a matter of "what's in it for me" - so if they cant feel the investment for their viewing within a day or two, they move on. Soaps are not a "day or two" proposition by definition.

I think a big part of the Twilight appeal is involving yourself in the emotional dramas of the characters. That's what soaps used to be about. You watch one or two episodes of a soap and you will want to know more and be drawn into the angst and the pain and wonder what will happen next. That's one of the reasons I started getting hooked on soaps. Interesting characters and identifiable characters and their problems and how they got along.

Soaps have spent years with constant violence and death and instalove and one-sided writing with no buildup and no reason to care. If anything this should have appealed to an instant gratification viewer. Instead it has driven viewers away and attracted no one new.

Few of the successful TV shows or film franchises are as callous as soaps have become. They are much less "what's in it for me" than today's daytime.

Edited June 21, 201015 yr by CarlD2

No new thread for this week's ratings?? Did Toups fall asleep??