Jump to content

What stories didn't work(ratings wise/creative wise) in soaps?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Turkey baster pregnancies... apparently.

I find most gambling stories boring - if you've seen one, it always feels like you've seen them all. The only time I engage in a gambling story is if the setting/scenario is different, and not the run-of-the-mill cards/casino/horsing/dog racing or whatever - something I've not seen before, something new.

I've wondered this for a while, but why do art stories always fail? Is it simply b/c they're always written with the "who cares" factor? What would make them work?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 85
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Gambling stories tend to start way too fast. Someone is addicted in a month or less.

The only gambling stories which work are stories which build over time.

I don't think all art stories fail. I think that they can be part of a larger story. If people sit around going on about stolen paintings, it's very dull, but sometimes they work. The soap press didn't like it, but I enjoyed Sam's con artist story on ATWT - she was pretending to be Lucinda Walsh's sister so she could forge a painting. The real drama of the story was her beginning to care for Lucinda, and fall in love with Craig Montgomery, then be revealed as a con.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

They do don't they. A slow build up would require too much work these days, when everything has to happen now.

So the secret to a decent art story is not to make it the only point to the story - have something else that is the real story. That would require some actual thought going into the writing, and the soaps these days don't seem to be able to do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I hate political stories which involve characters fighting to become mayor. i especially roll my eyes when one of the candidates is a known criminal and has NO business being in office, yet he or she wins. Its usually a plot point as the elected mayor rarely does anything once they win

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I was going to say this too. Political stories tend to be a bore, or are just written as cheap comedy. The one that is probably seen as the best (Alex running for mayor on OLTL) didn't do much for me, aside from the great scenes when she was going around telling people that Nora had endorsed her, and Nora was horrified.

The best political story I've seen recently has been a city council race on Isidingo. If only they could watch it and write that here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

No, you are thinking of Carlos. He "worked" at Fusion (all he did was walk around carrying a hammer and pretended to listen in on conversation). Carlos was Juan Pablo's brother.

Both were major fails.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes! Thank you! Or the campaign is completely and utterly ridiculous. Think AMC's Travis running for a US Senate seat - and winning - despite knocking up his frequently-divorced girlfriend Erica Kane during the race. Like that would have gone over well in rural Pennsylvania in the late 1980s. wacko.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Carlos was another fail in the Rayfield era. I actually thought it was smart of McTavish to immediately phase him out and bring on his brother--Juan Pablo never fully worked, and the accent was a bit much, but at least he made some sense and the guy was an OK actor--Carlos was played by one of the worst actors I've ever seen on a soap (and his story was a mess--writing love poems to Greenlee but keeping ti a secret for some reason, etc).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy