Yes, I'm sure life was much better in the halcyon days before TPTB had to be subjected to the thoughts and opinions of their customers. Let us weep for them all.

This is the reality of the entertainment industry now. Instead of penning yet another screed about how much simpler life was before the rabble got so uppity, maybe she should look at the ways soaps and the people who make them have failed to use social media effectively or even appropriately.

Yes, I'm sure life was much better in the halcyon days before TPTB had to be subjected to the thoughts and opinions of their customers. Let us weep for them all.

This is the reality of the entertainment industry now. Instead of penning yet another screed about how much simpler life was before the rabble got so uppity, maybe she should look at the ways soaps and the people who make them have failed to use social media effectively or even appropriately.

Like I would believe this bitch is sincere about anything!

I don't think soap fans have changed. If the social media was around 30 years ago, we would probably see tweets like "I want Luke or Todd to rape me". The fans were just as rabid back then only they didn't have a platform in which to express it.

As for the intelligence of today's soap fans??? That's another post!

I do think posting about the show with others increases the viewers' investment in the show. It becomes a collective, cumulative thing that takes on a life of it's own and people are goaded and encouraged into combat mode. I have never written to tptb or any publication for any show other than OLTL. That alone is an indicator of just how invested I was at the time -- not just in the show but in a particular outcome for the story direction. Now it just seems crazy that I ever did it, and it's an embarrassing confession. It's just weird to see people taking that kind of responsibility now, as if they have any real power to change anything or control outcomes. Schmoozing the head writer on twitter in hopes that he'll listen to you as he's planning his next story arc. Like you have any real influence.

It's still a minority of viewers who engage in this way. Most of them watch the show, and when it's over they stop thinking about it until they watch it again. The percentage of TV viewers who actually post on message boards about the shows they watch is still miniscule IMO unless there's some kind of voting involved.

Twitter is just evil.

I see Carolyn Hinsey has returned to regale us once again with her "Tokyo Rose" routine - 'if you critique a show, these soaps will die! It's better to not question these decisions because you don't know what I know!' Shut up, you drunk hag.

Thank you. Cosign.

All I'll say on this subject is that both the soap media and the stans have have a codependent relationship that they both deserve. For all the bluster about "hating" a show / HW / EP / journalist / actor, stans are just as thirsty for any sliver of attention from the very thing that they claim to loathe and would soon as slit their wrists before they truly reclaim what little sanity they have left (if any) and follow through on tuning out. Likewise for HW / EP / journalist / actor who delude themselves into believing that they're much more evolved than the stans that they patronize, yet have no qualms in acting as if they'd stolen their man / money / woman when someone actually wakes up from the sheep-like standom and actually follows through in tuning out / TPTB wisely cancel a show that has been taking up precious airtime that could go towards a worthwhile show for far too long.

For all the concern about social media and people who rage quit a show - which I admit I've done with both soaps and primetime shows for vastly different reasons - the real problem for soaps have been the people who just lost interest and tuned out. For everyone who threatens to quit there are multiple people who just eventually and never looked back.

For all the concern about social media and people who rage quit a show - which I admit I've done with both soaps and primetime shows for vastly different reasons - the real problem for soaps have been the people who just lost interest and tuned out. For everyone who threatens to quit there are multiple people who just eventually and never looked back.

I can't recall ever rage quitting any show. I usually just get bored. I think tptb believe that rage is better than apathy.

I stopped watching AMC when they raped Bianca, and I stayed full gone for maybe two, three years. I didn't watch a full episode again until Megan McTavish was fired. But that was kind of by degrees.

I stopped watching AMC when they raped Bianca, and I stayed full gone for maybe two, three years. I didn't watch a full episode again until Megan McTavish was fired. But that was kind of by degrees.

Why'd you quit? Was it the SL or you just didn't like the character being raped at all?

I stopped watching AMC when they raped Bianca, and I stayed full gone for maybe two, three years. I didn't watch a full episode again until Megan McTavish was fired. But that was kind of by degrees.

AMC was a show that I always quit out of boredom then would just tune back in if I saw something in the promos that was interesting. For a long time I just came and went with Eden Riegel. The closest I ever came to tuning out permanently was the Sextet of Suck. It took the return of the Hubbards to bring me back on a regular basis.

Edited March 18, 201411 yr by marceline

Why'd you quit? Was it the SL or you just didn't like the character being raped at all?

I was incredibly disgusted by her rape and subsequent pregnancy. They wouldn't commit to a real love story for her character, a youmg, popular heroine, but they would frontburner her to be raped by a man and serenely carry his child. Which is really what Bianca subsequently became afterwards - a relatively de-sexualized character built to suffer and magically carry children. She had no real love stories but she became a largely asexual brood mare. That was how ABC was comfortable dealing with her.

Edited March 18, 201411 yr by Vee

I was incredibly disgusted by her rape and subsequent pregnancy. They wouldn't commit to a real love story for her character, a youmg, popular heroine, but they would frontburner her to be raped by a man and serenely carry his child. Which is really what Bianca subsequently became afterwards - a relatively de-sexualized character built to suffer and magically carry children. She had no real love stories but she became a largely asexual brood mare. That was how ABC was comfortable dealing with her.

I think the treatment of Bianca over the years has probably led to more people giving up on the show than a lot of people would like to admit. I'm pretty sure the Zarf/Zoe mess drove quite a few viewers away.

I stopped watching AMC when they raped Bianca, and I stayed full gone for maybe two, three years. I didn't watch a full episode again until Megan McTavish was fired. But that was kind of by degrees.

I quit for a while during the Erica drug addiction story because I got bored. I quit again out of disgust over the unabortion and didn't watch regularly again until early 2011, but I caught up with a lot of the missing time via recaps and YT. Even when I wasn't watching, I still looked at recaps online.

I guess maybe you could say that I rage quit over the unabortion, but I didn't make a stink online about it or write angry letters. I just didn't watch. I agree with someone else who said that they think TPTB would rather people rant about a show than simply say nothing at all and tune it out. The problem, I think, comes when TPTB let a vocal minority influence story direction.

I think the treatment of Bianca over the years has probably led to more people giving up on the show than a lot of people would like to admit. I'm pretty sure the Zarf/Zoe mess drove quite a few viewers away.

Oh, my God! Don't get me started. And the music video! I can't find it on YT anymore sadly, but there's still this gem. Well, this has some of the video.

And then Zarf sang a [!@#$%^&*] hymn at Babe's "funeral". Don't get me started. Sheer camp.

Edited March 18, 201411 yr by Vee

Funny you should mention Bianca and her pregnancy, since this week (tomorrow) is 10th anniversary Miranda was born and of course Babe gave birth to AJ and then that baby switch with OLTL

Thanks, Wikipedia.

Thanks, Wikipedia.

Not Wiki, but memory from seeing it on TV. I liked that story