What year did soaps start to become more like the way they are today?

[yr9190]

Hey guys, i was just curious to know when you guys as viewers, noticed changes in the soaps, that eventually led them to become like the way they are today. for example, on Y&R i think that sometime around the late 90's (Circa 1999) to early 2000's is when the format of the show became similar to what it is like today. Scenes became shorter, and the lighting was not as dark then as it was in the 70's/80's/early 90's. Same with B&B, i would say around the early 2000's it became similar to what it is now. That's only my opinion production wise, writing wise i would say both shows were find till like 2005 for Y&R, and 2002 for B&B.

GH imo seems like it has been the same since 1996 since thats when Jason became a mobster and the show got more violent, even though it was probably not as mob obsessed as it would be latter.

so when did you guys first notice certain changes that made soaps become what they are now?

[DRW50]

Most of them started to lose their souls and become more regressive around 1996. Y&R I would say it started around 2002-2004.

[EricMontreal22]

This is all so relative. 60s fans would be against the ABC/Y&R youth invasion of the 70s, then the action movie invasion of the 80s... I don't think the OJ murder trial deserves as much credit for destroying soaps as it gets--but I do agree with Carl that a few years after that soaps got more seperate and lost track of why fans were fans. DAYS' Reilly stories and their undeinable success did this as well--as well as (yes I'm gonna say it) the slow but sure rise of the internet, cable, and even less people (women and men alike) wobeing at home, daytime.

I didn't feel AMC was unsalvageable to being the way it was, till 2000 when Agnes left as official headwriter and Passanante came in. We had VERY rough times before, but that started the full on loss for the show I think. OLTL (I'm a Malone fan--well his first era) for me was earlier even--96 when his co writer Griffith left...

[DRW50]

I think it all boils down to corporations taking over soaps, down to people who have blatant hostility towards women and minorities taking over, people who have contempt for soaps taking over, and the idea that the only acceptable soap is one which has men who are rapists/thugs/sociopaths as "heroes" and one where women are kept in their place and minorities are given token roles. The soaps also stopped telling stories, because they assume viewers are idiots. And they always have a fallback excuse for their failures -- OJ, cable, women leaving home, you name it. They got very lazy and interested more in their fiefdoms, because they stopped caring about daytime or believing it could be salvaged.

1995-1996 was when I really felt the noticeable changes, especially with ABC, and then the P&G soaps were also very badly damaged at this time, pretty much never to be repaired.

[EricMontreal22]

I'd agree with all that. The irony is of course soaps flourished once corporations actually STOPPED being such a part of their creation in the 70s.

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[DeeeDee]

04.

It's been all downhill since.

[NYC123]

AMC started in 2003. Like Eric mentioned there were BAD times before when Megan came back but when Agnes took over things started to get better. Also the years 2001-2002 weren't that bad.

But in 2003 things just started getting worse and worse.

[Jonathan]

Concur.

[supes81]

Y&R is the only show I really watched, I felt it lost some of its spark when Bill Bell left as head writer in 1998, but I still enjoyed it, though I became a casual viewer by the end of 1999. The Abbott takeover of Jabot was exciting and Eileen Davidson returning was great, but I found myself less interested, especially by the youth invasion that happened on the soaps around 98-00. By 03/04 I stopped watching.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

For ABC Soaps it started when Disney bought it then the Frons-Reign-Of-Terror began.

[RomeAt50]

I though AMC was pretty good in 2003 and early 2004. For me the latter half of 2004 was when things started to get real bad.