Why couldn't you get into Agnes Nixon/ABC soaps?

[soapfan770]

A while back there was a lengthy discussion on why people couldn't get into the Bell soaps. In light of AMC and OLTL's cancellations, I was wondering if there was anyone like me who loved CBS soaps and loved Days (and to some extent SB, Beach, and AW) but could never get into ABC soaps. I tried AMC, OLTL, and GH twice but I often felt more they were dramadies than soaps. I mean I understand the significance and impact of the ABC soaps have had on all of daytime through out the years (I even made a point to watch the rerun of Luke and Laura's wedding on ABC in 1999 or so). However their style struck me differently than Y&R, ATWT, GL, and Days.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Did you start watching DAYS under Reilly?

Because throughout the 80's and early 90's, DAYS was possibly the biggest GH ripoff on daytime. All the soaps (except the Bell soaps) were accused of piggybacking of GH's success in the 80's, but that was definitely most apparent on DAYS.

[Chris B]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dark Shadows, General Hospital and enjoyed Port Charles, but I can't get into Loving or AMC for the life of me! I dont know. There is a phony feeling and when I watch episodes from the 80s it seems very dated. I've never been a fan of Agnes style, but I'm not sure why. I see greatness from AMC, but even when it's good I can't get hooked.

[Cat]

This is probably the case with me. I found it hard to get into both the P&G stable of soaps AND Agnes Nixon's creations when I was younger. I just felt they were a little more... pedestrian and greyer than the shows that were attracting me at the time -- Santa Barbara, Days and GH with their swoony supercouples, Y&R was spooky and elegant, B&B. They were very bling-blingy shows, all bells and whistles and fancy production and wardrobe and gorgeous sets and locations. The fact that these shows were filmed in Hollywood is a coincidence, but there must have been a very definite visual and storytelling LA style which P&G and the Nixon shows did not have.

It wasn't until I got older that I began to truly appreciate a show like AW, RH, ATWT, EON, OLTL and AMC. I bitterly regret not having gotten into AW when it was actually on the air. I like OLTL but feel like I am missing that important link that OLTL fans have with the show. AMC has been easier to embrace, thanks largely to engaging personalities like Erica Cane, Adam Chandler, Angie, Jesse, David and others, but Frons' mis-micromanagement of that show has hastened it to its early grave.

As a former NYer, I really wish there were a bunch of soaps being filmed in NY because I have come to love that aesthetic, sense of humor, vivacity and passion for stories. NY is so creative and dynamic and I wish more soaps had thrived in that atmosphere. Like EON today would be THE perfect NY-based soap. Heck, all the shows I mention were perfect in their own way -- until execs started interfering and squeezing all the creativity and intelligence out of them.

[aMLCproduction]

What a great topic. i only recently got into the ABC shows minus GH. Back in the day I just felt AMC esp was too light hearted. Too womanly. I could never watch it felt fake to me. But now when I watch it, it really draws me in. And OlTL Ionly started watching because of the gay couple they had and I fell in love with the show.

AW was a very good show. Vicky, Grant, lila, Cass, Donna, OMG the list goes on. joe and Pualina. The honey moon express that littler short guy that alwasy by Felicia's side or something. Ill never forget when Grant shot him self and framed Vicky For it. Great times for sure.

[soapfan770]

I actually started watching Days just a little before Reilly came on board, but of course it was Carly buried alive and the John&Marlena affair that got me hooked.

This is pretty much how I feel though I wouldn't call it too womanly. Although I did like the GH character of Lucy a lot, I felt all four shows at the time ran on the light side of things.

[Cheap21]

man I grew up on the Nixon soaps. OLTL was pretty much my soap in the late 80s and then later I got into AMC. They always were the best for me back then

[Dr Neil Curtis]

DAYS and AMC was similiar to me before Reilly took over at Days, both shows were family oriented and the town itself had story. I was always a follower of the NBC soaps because that what i grew up on. I came upon AMC during the Michael Kinder storyline, OLTL during the who killed Georgie storyline and i fell in love with both. I have watched every soap that is currently on the air at one time or another. Y&R i starting watching when Brenda Epperson Ashley was married to Michael Tylo's character, B&B i never watched that much but i watch when Taylor return from the dead the first time, GL goes back to when Reva return from the dead, ATWT during the church fire story or it might be before then because another actress was playing Jessica, and GH i only watch during the nurse's ball and got hooked when Skye & Rae made appearances. I dont know why i didnt watch nixon soaps before but i remember the two stories that got me hooked on them and i will miss the dearly.

[koos]

Whenever I tried to watch AMC or GH in the '90s/'00s, I thought the actors seemed really cheesy and fake, even compared to Days. I dunno. Maybe it's just because I wasn't used to them. I was never a Susan Lucci fan.

[quartermainefan]

I was an ABC soap watcher. To this day GH at its worst is till infinitely more watchable than Y&R and wax face Bergman. ABC soaps were always soaps that seemed fast moving and full of life. CBS soaps were always, and remain, these plodding affairs where everyone over emotes every sentence oh so slowly so the camera work or music can inform us of just how significant every line of dialogue is. Listening to Peter Bergman is painful. I blame the people at Y&R for ruining him. On AMC he was this normal guy who spoke the way a human spoke. On Y&R he and Braeden intone everything on the brink of slow motion with the most unrealistic pauses and emphasizing on TV.

[Quent]

For me, it was an accident. I had a broken leg once, and was laid up for a couple months. I was bored out of my mind, so I flipped through TV channels like crazy. By chance, I landed on ATWT. The scene had Larry Bryggman as John Dixon pulling off some disguise as he walked into a courtroom , where everyone thought he was dead. The next day I just had to find out what was going on. And the next day, and the day after that.

The plot got me hooked, but what KEPT me hooked was the acting. Even in the worst of days, nobody had better actors than ATWT. I never realized how good, until one week I tried watching AMC and DAYS. I couldn't believe how amateurish the acting was. Everything was hair-tossing, face-slapping and bare chests. Not that ATWT was above a little of that, but it wasn't the emphasis of the whole show.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but the difference between CBS and ABC is: ABC people actually think Susan Lucci- style acting is good.

[P.J.]

*snort* TRUE.

Personally, there was always some artificiality about the ABC "look" that drove me away. It was full of himbos who couldn't act, and squeaky-voiced ingenues that made me cringe.

[EricMontreal22]

I love Dark Shadows as well...

I just can't get into the Bell stle of soaps (I know this is counterproductive to the thread ). The moodiness, everything. I appreciate the artistry--particularly in the amazing 1970s Y&R I've seen, but I think daily it's just too much. Even under McTavish, AMC never had that *feel*, which someone on here called akin to a TGIF sitcom---and maybe that's why I like it lol. At it's best it felt more like hanging with your friends, and not peering through their eternally drawn drapes.

[EricMontreal22]

It's funny how POV is different. For me--the CBS look (although I always thought the P&G soaps were basically ABC in look) seemed SOOO soapy and hard to relate to. I think it's more the Bill Bell syndrome---those LONG soap pause to commercials, etc.

[DRW50]

It's funny, but when I was most hooked on "my" soaps, I never looked at other channels, not really anyway. It wasn't so much loyalty as not even needing to look around.

Only when GL and ATWT both began to fall apart in the mid-90's did I start watching ABC soaps, mostly because I wanted to keep going with soaps.

I never really felt that the ABC soaps were that much glossier than the CBS soaps, although that might be down to me not paying attention to ABC until the mid-90's. Unfortunately by the time I started watching both shows were heading downhill.