Do soaps need court scenes?

[DRW50]

When I watch my "soapies", the South African soaps, they seem to take great pains to avoid courtrooms. Characters who are involved in trials are seen dressed in their best clothes, and then returning from court, with long, expository dialogue about the demeanor of the person who was on trial, the reaction of the judge, the lawyers, etc. While this can sometimes be a cheat (Generations had a story about a woman who had a man prosecuted after he deliberately infected her with HIV, and yet we saw none of her immediate reaction to his conviction), I wonder if they have the right idea.

Back in the day of Marland or Bill Bell I could see the point of a trial, with all the drama, the shocked faces, the banging gavel, but I can't remember the last time I cared about any trial, or anyone involved in a trial. It just seems like a waste of time and money. The latest, Maxie's trial on GH, has been a pointless embarrassment.

[Soapsuds]

The one I will never forget is ATWT.....Emily walking in the court and Greta calling her a whore and they then the reveal of Paul and Emily....with the lawyer asking did you have a sexual relationship with Emily Stewart.....lol...loved the whole trail.....

[soapfave06]

When was that? It sounds exciting so I can't believe I haven't heard of it.

[frequentsoapfan]

Not really because very few are done well. Can't remember the last trial on GH I found interesting, DAYS Nicole trial was only alright because Sami and EJ got called out by the judge. For the most part they are written bad. RC write sthem bad and he was a lawyer!

[soapfave06]

I agree that in the days where soaps stayed suspenseful they were good. When I see a trial on primetime shows and movies, I love them. But on soaps, they just don't write them well, or there is no build-up and the big climaxes are gone. There also haven't been any good recent murder mysteries either. Its just sad.

[Soapsuds]

87...I believe its on youtube. I am not sure if someone posted it on the ATWT thread.

[soapfave06]

Every single time I see a courtroom scene written by him, I think about him being a former lawyer and unable to write what he should know well. I will say I did enjoy the custody trial on OLTL over Tommy/Sam, but since then, they have all been horrible.

[DRW50]

1989, November, mostly. A lot of those episodes are on Youtube.

[BingCherry]

I feel like after the OJ trial, none of the soap trials were really able to pull my attention.

[DRW50]

The last one I enjoyed was Reva's trial in 1997.

[~bl~]

I miss when soaps did good court scenes. It has been at least five years since I really enjoyed a court case on a soap opera. I think once they no longer had legal consultants (and Ron C as a lawyer doesn't count) it progressively got worse. Also a good number of actors I've seen over the years that were hired to play lawyers were barely competent speakers. I remember reading once how Kin Shriner said he was the worst lawyer on tv, and I totally appreciated his candor.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Carl, I mostly enjoyed that for Watros handing Zimmer her ass and having more sympathy for Annie than Reva or Josh.

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed courtroom drama on a soap. Maybe the last one was Little Mo's trial in 2002 on EastEnders, a time I was really getting into the show. I still remember the verdict being front page news on most UK papers at the time.

Sh!t, I can't believe that was 10 years ago...

[juppiter]

So I think we all pretty much agree that this is a soap staple that is a fun part of this guilty pleasure when done right.

Is the problem that they don't do it as well now, or have Law & Order and other procedurals upped the ante?

[Susan Hunter]

Soap trials used to rock. Lots of nasty secrets exposed in front of the whole town. I think the last good soap trial was the trial of Billie Reed for murdering Curtis Brown. When Laura and Vivian walked into the courtroom, it was heaven.

[Skin]

I definitely think it can be compelling if it's something we truly care about. I remember being riveted by the Cambias trial with Kendell and Marty's Rape trial had me spell bound. They can be done well if they are well executed.