Since becoming a "grown-up" (allegedly) I've been more interested in the history of the genre overall than in anything the soaps on the air have offered up on a regular basis. I'll tune in to see something that I read about that has the potential to be historically resonant (more and more that's had to do with a show going off the air, sad to say) but when I have watched regularly in the past decade or so, it's usually been OLTL.

Nostalgia also brought me back to soaps - I had only watched sporadically for most of the 00's, until I found all the great stuff on Youtube in early 2009/late 2008.

Even now I probably get more out of reading an old interview with some random Valiant Lady actor than I get out of most of today's soaps.

That's also one of the reasons I enjoy SON - it's got so much great historical discussion and memories.

I don't believe in that kind of loyalty to a show or network. I'm the consumer, not a partner. Keep turning out the quality and I'm a very supportive viewer. Stop putting out a decent product or disrespect me as the customer and I'll gladly walk away or worse yet, do my best to make them regret it.

I loved the CBS line up and was way attached to ATWT and GL. I thought, and still feel, the ABC shows have too many buff guys and over-styled women. I never even noticed the NBC line up. I think the days of network loyalty are over. At this point, Y&R still feels familiar but I can't stand the show.

LOL Funny as that's my main complaing about the Bell show--a focus on appearance over the BC lineup. I guess it's all relative.

Yeah, network loyalty is pretty much out the window nowadays, with only 2 on CBS, 1 on NBC, and soon-to-be 1 on ABC.

I always heard many people being loyal to one network. Usually they'd have 1 favorite and then they keep it on the same channel throughout the afternoon (i.e. start with Y&R til the afternoon ends with GL; start with AMC and end on GH; the half-hour ABC soaps were kinda hit-or-miss) NBC was a little different since their line-up wasn't as consistent throughout the 80's and 90's, plus their types of shows were different from each other.

I always thought of Another World as a blend of P&G and DAYS qualities. The other sister shows were obvious:

Y&R and B&B

ATWT and GL

AMC and OLTL (and Loving, kind of like a baby sister to AMC)

GH and PC

Edited September 12, 201114 yr by Gray Bunny

I think that kind of loyalty went away with new viewing habits. I know they started to have remote controls as far back as the 70s (60s even I think in some rare cases), though our house never had one till we moved cities when I was 8 in 1989. Now that few people are home in the afternoon and just leave the TV on the whole time while doing chores, etc--and that most of us are used to flipping around by habit, I think the days of watching one network's lineup out of habit are largely gone, although it is true that shows seem to benefit from being placed by high rated shows, to some extent, still.

As for myself, I guess my loyalty has been to the Agnes Nixon created shows, even when it could be argued her influence was no longer too direct. I first got hooked on AMC early Fall 1991--and foolishly thought I'd never watch another soap, but then moved on to Loving with the first cross over, and followed that when I'd be home until the following Summer they had the week long Carter crossover when I became a regular viewer and would tape it--around then I started paying attention to the Billy Douglas story on One Life and got hooked there.

Otherwise, my preference used to always be for the New York shows, more than for a certain network. I just liked the style of NY shows more--they seemed to focus more on acting rather than the glamour of the Hollywood based soaps (though this is relative), and felt more "real" to me. Again that's all relative too, but DAYS was already startying to get more out there by the time I started paying attention, and the Bell soaps have always had a glamour and seriousness (even in their camp moments) that I've never been able to get into for a long point of time--even now. I know Agnes Nixon, while praising Bell, said how their styles were very different and one element was the humour, and I think, at least by the mid 90s, that was still apparent.

Otherwise I've dipped in and out of all the other soaps to some extent over the years, without rewally any particular thought of loyalty (and I've never really been able to get into GH for long periods of time, though I did watch when Iw as home during the Labine years).

As a young teen one of the few people I knew who watched soaps was a close family friend of my parents--she was an author and a part time English professor but was home a lot in the day. I remember she would watch essentially all of the CBS soaps, except she also watched AMC, partly because it was her favorite and partly because I think it initially came on where we were at a time that either CBS had a 30 minute news break, and she'd just stick with AMC for the hour, or there was some other break in CBS programming.

Of course being in Canada it's a bit different anyway--for a long time we didn't get the American networks, though we have ever since I can remember from the mid 80s on (usually from the closest nearby American city--when I lived in Edmonton we got ABC/NBC/CBS from Spokane, now in Victoria we get them from Seattle, though oddly we don't get their CW). I know that the CBC aired Edge of Night from the 60s to the late 70s (my mom was a fan when she was briefly home from work on maternity leave with my older brother), and then for whatever reason around '78 CBC picked up AMC instead.

Edited September 14, 201114 yr by EricMontreal22

I think network "loyalty" is gone but it has been replaced by network "branding."

For example, I have a good idea what to expect from a show on USA (Characters welcome), TNT (We know drama) or HBO (It's not TV, it's HBO). So when I hear about a show on those networks I give it a shot. It's also the same reason I all but ignore FOX. As far as soaps go, I think we all know what to expect from soaps regardless of what network they're on.

I definitely think that's true of cable--but I'm not so sure about the major networks. Yes the CW (if that counts) is known for younger female tagreted programming--dramas with a bit of reality, CBS for procedurals, etc, but I think the networks in a sense have tried to compete with cable more and more but are having trouble finding the same sort of branding.