Which Soap (Past or Present) is "Your" Soap?

[Steve]

Yes, Graham, we do know exactly what you mean! AMC was always my soap precisely because it had that special quality that, as Eric said, felt like home.

My second favorite changed over the years depending on the stories. I really loved Ryan's Hope for most of the 1980s, ATWT in the mid to late 1980s until Doug Marland's death, then I was drawn more into GL and OLTL in the early 1990s, but none of those shows came close to AMC for me.

[~bl~]

At different times in my life, different shows felt like home.

AMC was the show my mom and sister watched, I have no memories of that, but I feel close to it for that reason if nothing else.

Days was the first show I loved myself, so it felt like home.

For more years than I can count GL was home, *but* the people in charge ruined that. So while it is home, it felt like someone set it ablaze. After that happened, I really didn't have a home show anymore.

I was never really emotional attached to Passions or the Bell shows, but otherwise....

[Pine Charles]

I think for me, and possibly others, it was the characters. They seemed "real" (if that makes sense). Even some of the more over-the-top characters seemed like people you could actually meet in real life. I also appreciated the fact that AMC - for the most part - didn't need to reply on crazy/sci-fi/mobster-type plots for ratings. The characters were strong enough that it didn't need to.

I also liked the mix of humor & drama. Speaking of the glory years, AMC sometimes felt like a satire of an American soap opera, but then the next scene you'd have classic soap drama. It definitely was a unique show.

[theherowithin]

Days Of Our Lives. I've gotten attached to more characters on DOOL throughout the years then any other soap.

[silascrocker]

Guiding Light, Started watching in 1979, watched until the last show in 2009. No soap does

it for me like Guiding Light did.

[soapfan770]

Definitely Y&R as that was the first soap I ever got into as a kid infact my mom claim's Nadia's Theme was my lullaby.

ATWT and GL are both a close second, followed by Days in fourth.

[Ben]

Sunset Beach. There is no contest. It is without a shadow of a doubt *my* soap. Nothing has ever made me feel the way this show did - and still does (when I watch episodes on YT).

B&B is second, and the one I keep coming back to; I can never let it go permanently, and when I do tune out, I keep up to date with spoilers. And while I do keep returning to Days of our Lives, I don't have the same emotional attachment to it as I do with B&B - it saddens me when B&B is the pits, but with Days, it doesn't disappoint me in the same way B&B does. I enjoy Days when it's good, but I'm not fussed when it falls short of the mark and I tune out.

However, OLTL set the cats among the pigeons in 2009, when I first tuned in and was instantly hooked. I had fallen in love with the show by the end, and that sadden me a lot. Interestingly, I tried this show back in 2002/03, but I literally couldn't watch more than 5 mins of an episode; I never thought it would ever suck me in several years later and rival B&B for second favourite.

[soapsnstuds]

3) Guiding Light

2) One Life to Live

1) SANTA BARBARA <---- AND I HATE NBC AND ALL OF THEIR SOAPS BUT THIS GEM WAS A BLESSING 1984-1993

[balozier]

The only real choice for me, is the one I remember watching in reruns on Sci-Fi (NOT SyFy, but Sci-Fi. There IS a difference, folks!), and that would have to be the original Dark Shadows... I'm still torn as to who was more beautiful, either Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans, or Lara Parker as Angelique...

[Quent]

I would have to say Lara Parker. There was something about her that made her stand out among all the women on the show. Her eyes were just mesmerizing. Alexandra Moltke was not as strinking, but she had a haunting quality about her.

[ChitHappens]

I've watched everything since starting with OLTL. Once Judith Light left, my obsession turned to its okay. 1987 and a few years that followed, GL and ATWT were my reasons for living. Present day soaps in all their horridness, GH was must see from 2006 to 2010. When I learned the overrated Marcil would be returning, I turned the show off before she got back. I tuned back in January 2011 when I saw that Chocolate God on my screen. Now that Cartooni have soiled the show, there's no soap that I care about. Before them, GH was the best of the worst. I'd take Guza back in a second, and I hated him after Carly had sex with Sonny and Jax in the same night. But all is forgiven and I'd have him back at the helm if I could!

Loved me some Santa Barbara as well. Jed Allen as the family patriarch was perfection!

AW certainly gets an HM! The period shortly before Wallingford died and roughly the following 5 to 8 years were absolutely amazing!

ANDREA

[vetsoapfan]

Being a long-time, die-hard soap fan, I've watched all of the long-running ones, and almost all of the short-lived ones, over the decades. I've always preferred generational, interpersonal relationship drama, based on reality, and found a special place in my heart for AW, as written by Agnes Nixon and Harding Lemay, which would have to be my first, all-time favorite. But I also loved TGL and ATWT when they were at their peak, so they would be my runner up choices.

[Graham]

LOL at people just basically listing their entire soap history.

[novsag86]

I'm grew up on CBS soaps. My whole family has always been into the CBS lineup. My memories were of the early 90's: Y&R, B&B, ATWT, and GL. I watched them all, but over the years I've really developed a strong appreciation for Y&R and GL. Those are "my soaps". I remember better days, which is why I was so sad to see GL go out like a limp dog and also why it breaks my hear to see Y&R in it's current state (Victor and Sharon, anyone? YUCK!!!!)

As I got older, I branched off and tried to give other soaps a chance too. I find that I've become most fond of AMC. I LOVE watching old episodes of that show from the 1980's on youtube. The characters back then were so richly drawn and the acting was so real. I just love the simplicity of that show in the 80's. It's also sad to see what it became during its last years as well.

The best of this genre is in the past!

[OldGHFan]

GH. I faithfully watched the show from the late 70s to the early 2000s. Unfortunately, the show that calls itself GH now is not really my show anymore.