Soaps and hype

[DRW50]

Did you ever start watching a soap because of what other fans (or the soap press) said?

Did you ever stop watching a show because you were tired of overhype from fans or the soap press?

Does hype (good or bad) ever affect your view of a writer or a producer or an actor?

[frequentsoapfan]

I will say the hype does make me annoyed by some actors, producers, and writers.

For the rpoducers and writers because in recent years they havent lived up to the hype and are no different then other producers and writers.

Actors because they usually aren't as great as they are hyped to be and some of them have really snotty ego driven personalities that are only fueled by fans hyping thme and calling them classy.

[beebs]

Personally, the only time hype has really enticed me was for DAYS during the baby switch. I tuned back in because of the hype for that storyline, after having sworn the show off since the late 90s. Oh if only I'd known then how bad the show was going to get. :\

[quartermainefan]

Never. The soap press has been saying Y&R has been great for 25 years. For 25 years I have turned it on about once every three, and for 25 years it is the most boring hour on television. The somber intonations of Peter Bergman and the rest do not impress me and no amount of dramatic pausing makes me think anything they are saying is even halfway interesting. And I have no reason to listen to the annoying voice of Y&R doyenne Jeanne Cooper, I can just find some old yenta on an NYC street.

[JaneAusten]

1. No never

2. No never although the hype in some cases has heightened my distaste

3. Until recently no. Over the past few years probably since I've been on line yes. The negative hype makes me root for something more the positve hype makes me root less for something. Not one thing I have seen written is ever as good or as bad as the hype its warranted. And I admit I would not dislike Carlivati so much if the press and many didn't think that he walked on water. I acknowledge in his case the crowning of him as the soap messiah has jaded my opinion of him because no one not even Jesus Christ is that good.

[~bl~]

1. I've sampled due to promotions or if someone I know well suggests it or a journalist whose opinion I tend to agree with, but it doesn't happen that often.

2. Overhype drives me crazy, but no...I try to block it. That said at times it hurts my interest.

3. Yes hype has affected my view in a negative way...

[Susan Hunter]

1. Yes. I was never really into Sunset Beach, but I tuned in for that Terror Island storyline based on the promos and stuckaround for the crazy antics of that Virginia character.

2. One Life to Live

3. Yes. There are certain soap writers who are put on a very high pedestal by fans and the soap press. You would think that they never wrote a bad story or committed a sin against the shows they've written. That really annoys me and makes me not like those writers very much.

[marceline]

I don't know if it counts as hype but all the insanity around GL's production model made me tune for a little while just to see what all the fuss was about. I also tuned back in to check out Otalia, again mostly out of hype-based curiosity.

I recently unfollowed NLG on twitter because I grew tired of her hyping of GH. I knew she was a serious warrior for the genre and I like her politics and straightfoward manner but some of her comments around GH just feel so...desperate that I tuned out.

[applcin]

1. No, my likes/dislikes are my own so, really, what anybody else thinks of something is irrelevant to me. Same reason why I don't pay attention to movie and tv critics. I start watching something if the promos or synopses for it look interesting, regardless of how many people it turns on.

2. No, I've only ever stopped watching a soap either from boredom or disgust, usually as relates to stories or overuse of actors.

3. Not for the most part, it's their jobs to make their shows sound good so I expect them to feed off hype. It only affected my views in a few instances where I felt hype resulted in actors/storylines monopolizing the show to its detriment (and to my aforementioned boredom and disgust). I will say I was quite sick of Thorsten Kaye and Bradley Cole because I felt they were being force-fed to me ad nauseum (esp Kaye on more than one show) and I don't like when shows try to pound into viewers who we're supposed to like or root for.

[soapfan770]

1. The one show I did tune into because of hype was Sunset Beach. I mean I watched a little bit here and there its first year, but like Susan said above I remember the show taking out ads in both SOD and TV Guide promoting Terror Island and that got me watching on a regular basis out of curiosity.

2. No but I do get tired of it if the hype is not worth it, which is most of the time.

3. Please see MAB, Hogan Scheffer, Scott Hamner, Latham, Bradley Bell, and Ken Corday.

[RomeAt50]

Its annoying when an actor or storyline is overhyped but if I like them or the storyline its not going to make me dislike them.