I find it hard to believe that soap viewers wouldnt be willing to watch a show about family which to me is the original concept of daytime drama to begin with.

Precisely.

Yes, the Qs were great until the most recent regimes completely destroyed them. They could argue as well as the Capwells could (and did), except that the Capwells were a bit more dignified (the Qs often made their altercations physical!!).

Ryan's Hope was about the Ryan's, but like any other soap there were more than one family that was important. The Cooleridge family and small Reid family were an important part of the fabric, not to mention various scattered characters that didn't have to all be related to count. I think if someone took the Ryan's Hope model they could make an excellent modern soap.

Ryan's Hope was about the Ryan's, but like any other soap there were more than one family that was important. The Cooleridge family and small Reid family were an important part of the fabric, not to mention various scattered characters that didn't have to all be related to count. I think if someone took the Ryan's Hope model they could make an excellent modern soap.

AGREED

Majority of the soaps start off as Family Centric until they expand to one hour.

Majority of the soaps start off as Family Centric until they expand to one hour.

Thats why I perfer half hour soaps. Loved RH, PC, LOVING and the reboots of AMC & OLTL. They cut out the fluff and told story

Yes, I do watch family centric primetime soaps now but I thought daytime soaps are already family centric

Edited July 11, 201411 yr by Cyberologist

That's a very good point - and most likely why Claire Labine never wanted RH to expand to an hour.

Providence (1999-2002, NBC) was another primetime show, in a semi-serial form (maybe more of a dramedy) that featured a single family and the people that came in their lives. I still miss that show, and to this day, I don't think it has gotten a season-by-season DVD release.

Edited July 11, 201411 yr by amybrickwallace

Soaps being family centric is what I LOVED about them! When I think about the Hortons, Hughes, Bauers, Bradys, Snyders, Quatermaines, Capwells, Matthews, Frames, Corys, Buchanans, Siegels, Lowells, Webbs, etc., it just warms my heart! I wish soaps would've continued the format basically instead of the variated style that exists on soaps now. They have decimated the family units and it IMO is not helping the soaps with longevity. Family interactions were always the best. And it was better written in the past as characters outside of the families interacted with them. I enjoyed them more and made the soap feel more like a real community. Families were closely connected as friends and/or rivalries. I wish soaps would return back to the format that made the shows more cohesive.

So do I. Very well put.

I grew up during the end of the Monty era on GH. I don't need a soap to be about a core family to enjoy it. I like that GH was both about personal relationships and "work" relationships. It still can seem like GH without a specific family.

But when I watch Days, I want to see multiple Horton's and Brady's. When I now watch Guiding Light on YouTube, I watch for the interactions between the families as well.

The only advantages to a family on a soap are A) it allows people to live together, and it gives people reason to care and discuss each others problems. There is no reason a soap needs a family any more than it needs a cop. On Days the true value of Hope and Jennifer being cousins is not that they are cousins but it gives Hope a reason to care about Jennifer's story and vice versa. But the same vibe could be achieved between mere best friends.

So I have been watching a lot of Ryan's Hope on You tube and I miss that kind of soap. Daytime soap fans, would you watch a family centric soap like Ryan's Hope in 2014? Would you see this type of soap being successful?

Depressing to say, but the family structure has broken down so much that I don't think families like that are widespread anymore.

Soaps being family centric is what I LOVED about them! When I think about the Hortons, Hughes, Bauers, Bradys, Snyders, Quatermaines, Capwells, Matthews, Frames, Corys, Buchanans, Siegels, Lowells, Webbs, etc., it just warms my heart! I wish soaps would've continued the format basically instead of the variated style that exists on soaps now. They have decimated the family units and it IMO is not helping the soaps with longevity. Family interactions were always the best. And it was better written in the past as characters outside of the families interacted with them. I enjoyed them more and made the soap feel more like a real community. Families were closely connected as friends and/or rivalries. I wish soaps would return back to the format that made the shows more cohesive.

Oh now I get what is meant by family centric, yes I would there are still families out here. But again it depends on the writing and how they address old (eg like primetime Bluebloods) and new dynamics of family structures...(eg Will and Sonny married with a daughter, interracial families)...

Edited July 13, 201411 yr by Cyberologist