Websoaps: Are we apathetic or are they just bad?

[beebs]

I can see that. It frustrates me too. I guess the thing is that for me, all I need is one good, meaty storyline, and a character that interests me, and I'll give it a try. Not one of these shows have managed to provide me with that spark of interest yet, and stuff like Gotham's" 20 seconds of story" debut aren't gonna catch anyone's attention.

Agreed on The Bay. I want to like it, I really really do. But the last straw for me was Mary Beth Evans on a dock with Matt Ashford, trying to make a string of bad cliche lines sound romantic, meanwhile the mics are picking up EVERY LIGHT GUST OF WIND, rendering both of them inaudible. It's embarrassing.

[remos]

I've tried to watch a little, but I just can't do it. For me it's not even the production values or story problems, it's my own personal time. Do I really want to waste my time on this or can I be doing something else? The shows I still watch now are the ones I started watching in the late 70's, and as such have been part of my growing years. I think there are a lot of people in my boat who just don't want to buy into another series.

I do think the problems are common though, and were what TV faced when it took over from radio. It's going to take at least one cyber generation (which is fairly fast, realistically) or two before they become watchable. I do believe they are the future for that type of entertainment, but do I personally want to bother? Not sure that I do.

[JaneAusten]

Trying to recreate bad soap from TV on the Internet is not a good idea but it's a stepping stone. I think until folks understand that developing programming for the Internet can't be the same as TV, it's going to continue to stink. I've watched some recent stuff. The new program Blue with Julia Stiles is actually pretty decent. The episodes are 10 minutes each. Buppies was a web soap developed by BET that I watched for a while that was fun but again each episode was 7 to 10 minutes. I'm not sure the current climate of TV producers and writers especially those that are involved with daytime TV today could make the leap unless they understood the differences in writing, production, casts that need to happen plus understanding the difference in technology and viewing habits on the Internet. Sorry it's not the same as sitting in front of a TV despite the claims otherwise.

[Mr. Vixen]

I can't really get into websoaps...I watch the Bay from time to time, but that's mostly because I love the cast.

[frequentsoapfan]

NBC tried a websoap before all the soaps started dying at the same time. It was back in either 06 or 07 and was called Coastal Dreams. I hated that one too. It was boring and making Danica Stewart the lead was a terrible idea. I do agree it has to be short. I have a hard time sitting in front of the computer for more than 10-15 minutes to watch a video so anything over that time takes me awhile to watch.

[beebs]

Keeping in mind a lot of people have HDMI cables now, so there's a good chance of bridging that gap sooner or later. Personally, I have no trouble watching a full 38 minutes of DAYS on my compie, and 19 minutes of B&B seems to fly by. I guess it's all how you watch it though. Having my laptop that I can move into the kitchen and watch while cooking helps a LOT. I know not everyone has that luxury.

[Cheap21]

I watch 95% of my soaps right in front of my PC scree

[RogerNewcomb]

I love them and produce the Indie Soap Awards honoring the best. I would check out Ragged Isle (raggedisle.com) and Pretty (prettytheseries.com) which we thought were the best drama and comedy last year. Ragged Isle's second season just started (it's more Twin Peaks/Dark Shadows-esque). Pretty is a comedy but smart and funny and now features several former daytimers. Sundays, Thurston, Out With Dad and DeVanity are all great shows too. There are dozens of new shows every week. Most of the soap press only cover shows that feature or are produced by former daytime stars.

One problem with the web series that have been produced by people related to Daytime is they've had to figure out (or are still figuring out) that you can't have 30 characters and tell compelling stories in 10 minute increments. The shows that have been written for the web, tell a complete story each week and have a real VISION are the ones that I find the most interesting. Sometimes actors are becoming writers and producers and that's not a job they trained for or worked on. Not that the transition can't be made, but in some cases we've seen some on the job training in their series.

But I'm rooting for them all. I've produced indie projects and when you have no money, some things get sacrificed at times which are out of your control. And it sucks. I would love the producers of the shows I mentioned above to have the daytime soap opera budgets to see what they can do. It's nearly impossible to extrapolate the 10-episode 10-15 minute shows to daytime, but the fresh and innovative ideas would be SO welcome.

I watch some things on the fly, but when I sit down to watch a web series marathon it's always on my big TV in the living room.

[theherowithin]

I've tried to watch a few of them too. But like others here have said they are just too short and cheap looking or have designed cherry picked scenes. If they were 30 minutes long and a new episode came out every week I'd be more inclined to watch one.

[cityfan01]

totally agree.

[MissLlanviewPA]

I haven't seen any of them yet, but if I ever did, I'm really only interested in The Bay, and that's because of Fiona Hutchison.

[sungrey]

Roger, your site did a great job in letting me promote DRTV... maybe OnTV (our new name) and MySON should get some respect in the community. These sites aren't video, they are just scripts... but there is a following among these shows as well.

[juppiter]

This is how I feel. I always think it's something I could do extremely well but whenever I try to write a soap opera it turns in to porn so I end up just writing porn *shrug*

[ClassicSoapsFan]

I like them. And you can throw tomatoes at me all you want but I don't think you all get that the shows AREN'T produced by networks so they have a very tight budget. They have some sponsors and fans raising money for them (Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.) I know the people on The Bay (and I'll keep my comments concerning The Bay to myself because it will look like I am playing favorites) and I have personally always wanted to produce a web soap opera. They are called Indie Soaps by Roger Newcomb at We Love Soaps for a reason, they are independently produced. I have watched almost every popular indie soap and like regular soaps, they're are good and bad. They are not for everybody. But to judge a indie show next to an accomplished network soap like Y&R is kind of off putting. Especially since network soaps' end seems to be near. Not to be harsh but people on this board are complaining about their shows all the time and how they want to tune out. I think Roger even said that people who are dealing with the cancellation of AMC/OLTL should start watching Indie Soaps...well why not put your bias' about how a show should look to the side and actually check it out. Just my opinion.

[DRW50]

I don't care about production values, I just care about the writing and acting - I think that's what often lets these shows down. I think that there's too much emphasis on Fantasy Island or Love Boat type cramming a bunch of names into roles.