ITA there are plenty of stories to be told -- the world continually changes. In the 70s, it's doubtful that anyone would have imaged the AIDS storylines, the PTS of Vietnam (Loving), gay storylines, etc. Soaps were at an advantage because they could incorporate social issues quickly into the fabric of a community. HOWEVER, this has changed in past few years because the trash talk shows and reality TV stole their thunder. Instead of characters, we saw REAL people deal with those issues. As the number of shows continue to dwindle, the likelihood of anything groundbreaking will, unfortunately, diminish as those shows decide to play it safe aka OLTL.

Basically there are only a few basic tales to be told period. However, a true artist is able to take the basic tales of human nature and make it compelling by offering new insights, striking characterizations, and mixing and matching the roads taken to get from A to Z to result in a refreshing experience.

IMO the current PTB of the soaps are just painting pre-drawn pictures by painting by number...the good old days featured writers who created their own canvas, and thus their own masterpieces.

I agree with this. In fact, Henry Slesar said something similar:

"In terms of basic plots, though, there are very few. Plots don't differ that much, only the people involved in them. I tend to agree with whoever said there are only 32 plots. Every plot is a conflict: man against man, man against nature, man against himself. So plotting isn't really what makes the story what it is; it's how the story is told. It's the construction-- construction, believability, and characterization."

It's long been said that there are only 7 basic stories and everything else is a variation on a theme. I think daytime is limited in how far they take a story, but I do think there are endless themes and variations yet to be explored. Pick an "-ism" and that hasn't really been done fully. I just don't know if our post-Politically Correct universe is able to handle it right now.

Swinger couples.

Anal cancer.

Female viagra.

Necrophilia... unless you count Murphy on Y&R

Here's a story that hasn't been done on daytime: someone gets pregnant...and it's actually good news.

I think the "Jack accidentally kills his brother" storyline on ATWT was something I never saw before.

Have soaps done any polygamy or open relationship storylines?

Exactly. Simple romance storyline, but with a new angle. Who's the daddy, but with a new angle. Custody battle, but with a new angle. Just having it be two men or two women in a relationship opens all kinds of possibilities that have never been touched.

Many years ago, I was writing a fan fiction (just for my eyes) and I came up with a whole new variation on that particular story. Basically, what happened, is that the character, Jade, had slept with two men- John, who she truly loved, and Brad, who she was married to. Anyhow, Brad hit the roof when he found out and, afraid of losing the child in a custody battle, Jade switched the samples in the lab in the hopes that it would show the baby to be John's. To her absolute horror, it ended up backfiring on her & the paternity test showed that Brad was indeed the father. She was in complete & utter shock, but couldn't come out with the truth because she feared it would show her unfit & she'd lose the baby regardless, not to mention her beloved John would never forgive her. So she stayed married to Brad and carried the child to term, knowing all the while it wasn't his baby. The truth didn't come out until almost a year after the switch, when Jade & Brad ended up battling over the baby. But Jade never admitted the truth herself- it was Brad's mother, Rona (who was a lawyer & came to town to take his case) discovered the switch & revealed it in open court with Jade on the stand. Confronted with the truth, Jade broke down on the stand & finally admitted to it, appalling both Brad & especially John & Brad was given custody. Eventually, John & Jade did get the baby back, but it wasn't just a simple "Well he's the natural father, we'll give the baby to him" ending.

I'm still shocked that 10 years later, NO soap has ever played this angle in a "Who's the Daddy?" storyline.

ETA: to help with visualization-

John- Grant Show

Jade- Cali Timmins

Brad- Brent Jasmer

Rona- Anna Stuart

Edited July 22, 201015 yr by juniorz1

Every story MAY have been told but not on all soaps. However I can see some storylines that haven´t really been done on any soap. Like a mormon-style story, a mother sexually abusing her daughter, a domestic abuse story where both parents abuse their children....... There are many untold stories out there, but would any soap dare go so far?!

On B&B, there are LOTS and LOTS of storylines never done because they tend to focus only on love triangles and incestuous relationships.

On B&B, there are LOTS and LOTS of storylines never done because they tend to focus only on love triangles and incestuous relationships.

Well, that, and most of the cast, save for Flannery, Alley Mills and maybe John McCook, are just not up to the challenge.

I have always thought murder mysteries are great stories, but are done wrong on SOAPS.

I could totally see a storyline where three random people (I'll use GH as an example) were picked as killers.

So let's say Liz, Bobbie, and Skye are all kidnapped by a masked gunman. They are tied up, etc. The gunman tells them that they will each be killing one person for him, and if they dont go through with it, he has kidnapped their childrens, families, spouses, etc. and will kill them.

So the viewer is left in the dark about who is supposed to kill who, and lets say one of the characters ACTUALLY ends up dead, one ends up in a coma, and one is minorly injured...Then they could spend the next couple months in a murder mystery story with the characters and viewers all trying to figured out who shot the person that DIED, who attacked the other two, and who was BEHIND the murders.

This storyline would affect everyone. It would affect Steven, Lucky, Nikolas and maybe even Audrey on Liz's angle. It would affect Luke, Lucky, Lulu, Monica, and maybe even Lucas on Bobbie's end...And it would enthrawl the entire Quartermaine family, Jax, and maybe even Jason on Skye's angle. And it could affect other characters as well through friendships, romances, etc....And the end result, when we found out who was BEHIND it, could tie three to five ccompletely previously unrelated characters together for an aftermath storyline, after we find out why the murder was plotted in the first place.

Edited July 23, 201015 yr by SoapBoy94

Well, now that we know what Franco will be doing next year.... ;-P