Also, When did they become real conman?

Not sure, but I found this on wikipedia:

The practice of rapidly aging characters dates back to the early years of television soap opera.^[9] In As the World Turns, Tom Hughes was born on screen in 1961. By 1970 he had been to college and fought in the Vietnam War.^[2][9] Subsequent recasting exhibited a reverse phenomenon, keeping him in his 30s for 20 years, with Tom hitting his 40s in the 1990s.^[9] Dan Stewart, born onscreen on As the World Turns in 1958, reappeared as a 26-year-old doctor in 1966.^[10]

They did it on radio soaps, too.

What's ironic is that soaps are the one medium afforded the luxury of actually watching children grow up in real time.

Beyond radio soaps, I'd say that GL was probably the first, when Mike became about 17-18 in the early 60s.

What's ironic is that soaps are the one medium afforded the luxury of actually watching children grow up in real time.

So true! Well American soaps anyway.

Edited August 10, 201213 yr by frequentsoapfan

So true! Well American soaps anyway.

British soaps, too. They've actually very rarely done SORASing, so characters are actually the age they would be in real time (example, Coronation Street's David Platt was born on Christmas Day 1990, and he's now in his early 20s). I never understood it when people would say that SORAS is necessary because kids aren't interesting characters -- you don't write for the kids, you write for the parents and grandparents who are still viable and interesting (instead of pushing them to that backburner because SORASing has made them 'older' a la Ellen Stewart).

Even the British soaps have started doing this, for some reason - Corrie now ages their male characters by about 10-15 years, complete with ugly, untalented actors in the roles.

I was going to guess Tom Hughes, but apparently it predated him! Dan Stewart was aged awfully quickly too, wasn't he? And of course, sometime during the 60s.

Dan and Paul were aged in the late 60s.

I think Mike Bauer was the first, then the Stewart sons, or Ed Bauer.

I never understood it when people would say that SORAS is necessary because kids aren't interesting characters -- you don't write for the kids, you write for the parents and grandparents who are still viable and interesting...

Exactly! I have NEVER understood "SORASing is necessary". That's bull jive, and there are simple solutions: give families kids further apart in age, stagger ages from family to family, introduce cousins and half or step siblings. Soaps are a revolving door anyway, you could always ditch a character and make more room for the "star" babies once they hit adolescence.

I don't mind soras but I hate that they think they must soras all the kids around the same time. Like some kids just can't stay kids. All the yonug people do not need to be a year apart unless they were born a year apart.

And I don't like uneven/out of order SORASing.

Soaps are so weird. They love to put babies at the center of a lot of drama, and then treat them like they're in the way. With a few bright exceptions, they treat kids like they're only "good for something" once they've hit puberty. Imagine how much richer Erica's life would have been had we watched her raising Bianca all of those years. They probably feared that Bianca would get in the way or *gasp* make Erica too motherly and sympathetic. I think it would have been fascinating to watch that relationship evolve before our eyes. Almost like a weird Joan and Melissa, or even Joan and Christina kinda thing.

Edited August 10, 201213 yr by SFK

SORASing was common enough by 1981 that Stephen King mentions it in Danse Macabre. His term for it was the "kid trick."

I don't mind soras but I hate that they think they must soras all the kids around the same time. Like some kids just can't stay kids. All the yonug people do not need to be a year apart unless they were born a year apart.

Loved the characters but it was crazy how on DAYS Shawn, Belle and Philip were all born a few years apart and were suddenly the same age by 1999. Philip and Will were born in the same year, and EJ was born two years after them! That was really ridiculous.