If Allison Sweeney or Alicia Mishnew are cast on Eastenders this post will be why

Edited May 22, 201114 yr by CarlD2

+1

IMO, it's very sad that for a genre that was started in the US, OTHER COUNTRIES (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea, China & Australia) all have THRIVING soap operas, while here in the US , we're in the death throws of it.

I've watched almost every US based soap opera that was on air from the time that I was a child, being watched by my grandmother until I was in my early 20's. I ONLY got back into watching soaps, because I read that ATWT had written a storyline that had Luke Grimaldi Synder, coming out of the closet. Then, somehow I found out about a similar storyline on a UK based soap called, Hollyoaks with their John-Paul McQueen character. I know that US based soaps want to provide "fantasy", but on the other soaps, especially the UK based ones, IMO are more successful in providing entertaining serial drama that doesn't make it seem like they're dumbing down their audience. I don't see or feel that misyogeny is the driving force of those soaps. It's not the norm that female characters are having 2, 3, and/or 4 children out of wedlock by different men. It's not the norm to have female characters falling in love with their rapists/abusers. It isn't the norm to have "secret twins" being discovered.

And in a nutshell you've explained exactly why American soaps are a dying breed. They long ago stopped striving for excellence and have been insulting our intelligence. They assumed that a whhole generation of viewers would actually enjoy stupid storylines, tripe sensationalism and shock value played by people hired more for looks than acting ability. This massive miscalculation and insult to audiences is the prime reason soaps are dying. It's been a race to the bottom, they've reaped what they've sewn since the 90s with the result that people have deserted the genre in unprecedented numbers in the 2000s alone. Primetime dramas for most part don't pander to some idealised "youth market", most of them tend to have older and often less "glamourous" stars as their leads, and a show like Ugly Betty (for example) was the exact opposite of the "image" Daytime has tried to push. Not to mention things like shockingly misogynistic writing (with female writers and produces- I'm looking at you Phelps and McTavish- ironically some of the worst offenders), and an acceptance of mediocrity- that bad writers and producers have been around too long to do damage, whereas in the past they would be punished quickly. Though P&G's butchering of its own shows in the mid-90s (JFP at AW, Valente/Black/Stern at ATWT) was fatal in hindsight too, because ultimately they never recovered their former quality and integrity.

In the 1980s, we saw the supercouple phenomenon pioneered by General Hospital and aped by many other soaps. While it was wildly successful back then, it proved a double-edged sword in the longer term because it changed the way people watched their shows. Then in the 90s, the success of JER's first run on Days altered the soap picture. Again, the idea spread like cancer- the astonishing short-termism of giving viewers the most stupid and outlandish in the hope they'd come back for more. Such a strategy never works in the long term. With it, any credibility and viability for the genre is gone. Y&R stayed above the fray for so long because it avoided that and, while not without its flaws and also suffering a decline, seemed to have maintained its integrity relative to other soaps. Only after Bell's death have we seen his legacy thrashed- especially by LML.

So yes, the genre could and SHOULD have survived if better decisions had been made back in the day. Much quality drama is and can still be made in the US and elsewhere. The decline and death of this once wonderful genre will be the subject of many a book.

Check out this clip from CBCN featuring Cameron Mathison, marceline's favorite person in the soap world (AKA Nelson Branco), & some random ladys who watch Y&R.

Cameron Mathison: "I always envisioned myself growing old on the show" Lol

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Well said David V.

The dumbing down of TV (e.g. reality TV), I will also add, is just another example of how destructive our modernist "culture" really is. Look around at other countries- some European and Latin American countries, also Japan and Korea- that make a better effort with producing quality dramas. US Primetime is, IMO, not in such a bad state as Daytime (well duh) because good dramas are still being made.

Let's not forget the last time more than one soap was cancelled in the same year- Another World and Sunset Beach. The way NBC handled those cancellations was really disgusting. The Internet wasn't quite as "sophisticated" as it is now (tee hee) but it was still big talk even then. Is it a coincidence that it's been an even steeper slide since then?

"More women in the workforce" is no excuse because that's been the case for, what, a generation and a half now? OJ isn't much of an excuse either- soaps have been pre-empted and disrupted in the past without such profound impact.

Edited May 22, 201114 yr by David V

If Allison Sweeney or Alicia Mishnew are cast on Eastenders this post will be why

Don't forget Rebecca Herbst or Katherine Kelly Lang.

I actually did forget them. I'm not sure why...they're probably better choices. (KKL would be the long lost Ronnie/Roxy sister).

Check out this clip from CBCN featuring Cameron Mathison, marceline's favorite person in the soap world (AKA Nelson Branco), & some random ladys who watch Y&R.

Cameron Mathison: "I always envisioned myself growing old on the show" Lol

LMAO at "marceline's favorite person in the soap world." So I've become that poster huh? Yeah, I suppose I do have a bit of a hair trigger where he's concerned. I'll try to do better.

That piece was as much of a cliche as these soap stories. Who on this board didn't know EXACTLY what we would see in that clip? Fan watching show, "These people are like my family..." (Please people, stop saying that!), another crazier looking fan in some embarrassing t-shirt making vague threats and predictions of doom and a few clips from the shows of the other soap cliches (sex scene, overwrought emotion) add one actor and one "expert" and stir. Although the worst were the soap puns in the intro.

As much as I hate, hate, hate Ryan Lavery, I find Mathison to be a very likeable guy. That little look he gave when he said the fans have an uphill battle spoke volumes. "I always envisioned myself growing old on the show." Don't you mean you FELT it Cameron?

Edited May 22, 201114 yr by marceline

I love how succinctly the NY Post put it in today's paper

The last soap star

Genie Francis gets ‘Restless’ about daytime’s future

Deidre Hall’s a memory. Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak are on their way out. For soap opera lovers, the divas are dropping like flies,

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/the_last_soap_star_GL1x38RlPlijAbfStUOxjI#ixzz1N6zO4Lqe

As much as I hate, hate, hate Ryan Lavery, I find Mathison to be a very likeable guy. That little look he gave when he said the fans have an uphill battle spoke volumes. "I always envisioned myself growing old on the show." Don't you mean you FELT it Cameron?

I'm sure he did, it helps being a Frons pet knowing you're secure as it comes

“In our business there are people who have a vision and people who are knock-off artists.”

Nothing we've never heard before, but it really lingered in the air when I read her say it.

“In our business there are people who have a vision and people who are knock-off artists.”

Nothing we've never heard before, but it really lingered in the air when I read her say it.

I think she is right about that.

Monty’s mentoring of Francis culminated in “General Hospital’s” very own royal wedding. Nov. 17 will mark the 30th anniversary of the spectacular nuptials of Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura, which drew the kind of ratings that would make any contemporary television producer weep — 30 million viewers.

With numbers like that, the copycats swarmed. “Every show looked for their Luke and Laura,” Francis says. “In our business there are people who have a vision and people who are knock-off artists.”

The lesson from Luke, Laura, Gloria Monty and weather machines should have been "lets get an original to save our show and make it stand out" not "lets get our own Luke and Laura"

"lets get our own Luke and Laura"

I don't know if Braeden and a few others at Y&R will care for that "last soap star" bit.

Genie knows more about soaps than I ever will but I get so tired of the blame OJ stuff.

“In our business there are people who have a vision and people who are knock-off artists.”

Nothing we've never heard before, but it really lingered in the air when I read her say it.

And sadly the knock off artists are all we have left because the people with vision refuse to deal with genre in it's current state for more than the short term. Curlee, Labines, Daran Little, Michael Malone have all opted out of writing for these shows. In fact have any of them even commented on cancellation?

Edited May 23, 201114 yr by marceline