I miss the days when a character would leave town and it'd be a real goodbye, not an opportunity yet another ratings-grabbing death, or worse, it'd be a non-event (so-and-so would just stop appearing with no explanation whatsoever). As far as I know, ATWT's Billy Ross, as played by Hunter Garner --who, granted, wasn't well-like among a lot of fans -- is still at that castle in Scotland, waiting to get back to Oakdale.

Edited August 18, 201411 yr by Khan

Or characters dying and it being a FINAL death

Or characters dying and it being a FINAL death

Yes.

I honestly don't remember the last time a baby switch storyline was well written

It depends. Some might say the Sami/Nicole switch on DAYS; other, probably the Babe/Bianca one on AMC.

It depends. Some might say the Sami/Nicole switch on DAYS; other, probably the Babe/Bianca one on AMC.

I both those stories were the last two good stories involving a baby switch, though toward the end of both of them they went a bit off the rails, especially the regime change from Malone to Higley

Edited August 18, 201411 yr by cassadine1991

This applies to primetime shows as well, but I miss actual closing credit crawls and hate the fact that they are smushed so small that not only can you not read the names, but they flash by so fast that there's practically no point in trying to read them. I think the folks who work so hard both in front of and behind the cameras deserve better.

Not only that, we don't get to hear an announcer say, "Watch (soap name) each afternoon on your local (name of network) station" anymore. At least, not last I checked.

Over at another site, I have an online soap called "Somerset", which is a continuation of the old NBC soap but it picks up over 30 years after the previous edition ended.

Even though it's set in current times, it still uses an announcer (Bill Wolff), after every fade out you hear "We'll return to Somerset in just a moment"... and at the end the credits include Bill saying stuff like "Women's fashions for today's show by Liz Claiborne" or something along those lines.

It gives today's audience kind of an idea of the shows we used to watch. Or tries, anyway.

Oh, I wish they would go back to less than 5 writers on a soap.

The more writers, though, the less risk there is of one of them suffering burnout.

The more writers, though, the less risk there is of one of them suffering burnout.

I was asking that in the vein of longer scenes/30 minutes/3 stories (front/Back/Side).

The more writers, though, the less risk there is of one of them suffering burnout.

I could same some writers who currently have burnt out so bad they have third degree burns

Looking back I really enjoy 30 min soaps better. THe stories seem to have been plotted better and even thise "Filler" scenes as some call it now had awesome character moments and those moments are missing now.

I was happy that the PP prods were getting back to those moments.like Viki/Nora at Shelter having dinner talking ablout her radio show & buchanan men.