Do soaps need court scenes?

[YRBB]

On a well written soap, with an interesting storyline behind it, court scenes can be one of my favorite things. It can be very fun, dramatic and just thrilling.

Of course, when we don't get any good writing anywhere, there really is no point for anything.

[MissLlanviewPA]

They absolutely can be used if there's something to be revealed.

I LOVE how Max was forced to admit that he still loved Gabrielle when he was on the stand during her baby switch trial on OLTL. Megan didn't quite feel the same way though, LOL.

[DRW50]

Most of the procedurals moved away from good trial drama a long time ago (even The Good Wife has their best drama outside of a court). I think there just aren't any stakes now - nothing ever seems to matter. It's tough to care about the endless trials on GH when you know the main criminals on the show will never go anywhere. There is no longer any sense of right and wrong on soaps. The thugs and sociopaths always win.

[Marco Dane]

OLTL: Marty rape trial when Nora freaked out on the Jury was the best.

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Also when Karen confessed on the witness stand.

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AMC: Plus Janet telling everyone off in town

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[DynamiteKiddo]

If they didn't almost always suck, then I'd be all for them, lol. As far as the 00's go, Kendall's '04 trial was amazing! I also thought Blair's notrape trial in '04 was well written courtroom drama even if I thought that interlude/'story' was so needless and I recall really enjoying Ace's custody hearing (the summer '04 one, not the AMC one, which was disappointing), but I think that might've been more because of Heather Tom, Dan Gauthier, and Renee Goldsberry. I didn't think the Michael/Morgan custody hearing in early '04 was particularly good, but from what I've seen of her work, it was the performance of Nancy Lee Grahn's career (her opening and closing statements). In '06, I do remember Julie Pinson giving a great performance where Billie confessed to Hope on the witness stand (it was like some divorce court or something for B&H if I remember correctly?) that she tried to break up her and Bo. But that's all these court scenes seem to be good for--performances, because the writing of the whole trial always collapses in on itself. I never thought about RC, being a lawyer, writing so many bad trials, LOL. Marty/Lindsay's trial in '07 was good I thought, and I loved the custody hearing with Tommy/Sam, as someone else already referenced. Nicole's big trial on "Days" was when I had stopped watching, so I can't comment there. Every trial on GH in the last five years has infuriated me, lol, and they're bad.

[Sindacco]

DAYS never do court scenes anymore. I miss them.

[beebs]

The trouble is if they DID do one now, they'd have the proceedings in the archway over Town Square. My lord, that show needs to invest in some sets :\

[Cheap21]

I havent noticed but you are right. I recall in recent years all litigation used to take place in like Mickey's office or some neutral setting like the hospital board room

[Susan Hunter]

Poor Mickey was the worst lawyer in Salem.

[Michael]

I think Mickey had more clients get the death penalty than get exonerated...

[quartermainefan]

I love a court scene but I don't think the shows have the money to do them right anymore. It requires huge chunks of the cast, a ton of extras and needs to go on for days. When you try to do it on the cheap, like GH does, you wind up with trials where not even relatives come to watch. Empty seats, no jurors, and an entire trial lasts two days.

[Quent]

quatermainefan, you nailed it. Packed court houses, with lots of affected parties/potential suspects/red herrings were a joy to watch, but trials (like weddings and funerals) done on the cheap are just embarrassing. Edge of Night was great at trials. You could have an entire episode with one person on the stand, and it was riveting.

The last good trial I remember was when Barbara was accused of her crimes against Rose, Carly and Emily. She got off (of course), but Carly eviscerated her as she sat alone in the courtroom afterwards.

[Sindacco]

Yeah, back in November when John was sentenced to prison for stealing pensions the scenes played out in a normal office set.

[hot20]

Darn it Carl! I knew you would take mine with you being as big of a Guiding Light fan as I am! Lol! I have to agree, Reva being on trial for killing Annie Dutton's unborn baby was soap opera gold. I remember that being the first time in years that I had ran home from work to watch my recordings of Guiding Light. The greatest part of the trial had to be the last shot when Annie collasped on the floor in pain and the camera panned out hovering over her as the lights dimmed to leave a spot light on Annie. Great stuff!

[balozier]

I'm very surprised nobody mentioned EON before this... I was going to post about it if nobody else had... from what I've read of the summaries (I'm far too young to have seen the show in first run... it ended in December 1984, I was born in October 1987, YOU do the math!), the all-encompassing hook of the series was its courtroom drama... hell, wasn't it originally created by Irving Vendig in 1956 with the express intention of being a 5-day-a-week television equivalent of the then-current Perry Mason radio series? And since Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason's creator) had a go-round with CBS before that could happen, Vendig had to rename some characters and slap a new title on the show (that title being "The Edge of Night", of course)?