Lapsed Viewers: What Would Lure You Back In?

[vetsoapfan]

It's no secret that the ratings for daytime dramas have plummeted over the last few decades. Observers pontificate about why the audience has been turning away from soaps: more women joining the workforce and therefore being unable to watch TV during the day, soaring competition from an ever-increasing number of cable channels, the internet taking over as a principle focus of entertainment, etc., but it's clear that an audience for serialized storytelling still exists. Most primetime series offer ongoing plotlines that continue throughout their seasons. The majority of today's top hits, the shows which generate the most buzz, tell serialized stories.

 

And yet, the daytime soaps seem to be a dying breed, staggering slowly but surely to extinction.

 

I, for one, am a veteran soap opera viewer; someone who has long loved and appreciated the soaps, warts and all. I WANT to embrace the world of daytime drama, and would happily make time to watch a show that enticed me to watch on a daily basis. The problem is, none of the remaining shows offer the goods. None of the remaining shows are worthy of daily attention. They continue to fail in so many ways that it's simply not worth giving them yet another chance. With the same incompetent PTB drifting from show to show, viewers have come to expect "more of the same" drivel, and no longer have confidence that the four remaining soaps can ever recover enough to offer first-rat, worthwhile entertainment.

 

If you are a lapsed viewer, a former devotee of the soaps, what would it take to lure you back into shows that you have abandoned? What would it take for you to become a loyal viewer of a newly-created soap? I was an avid soap opera viewer for several decades, but cannot imagine sitting through any of today's offerings (Y&R, B&B, DOOL, GH) for more than a few minutes, let alone 40 years, LOL. The suits seem to think that continued stunts, gimmicks, nubile young hair models, violence, and the likes of Roger Howarth and Steve Burton are the answer...but the continued declining ratings prove them wrong.

 

So speak up. As would-be viewers, who would willingly bring your eyeballs back to the daytime drama fold, what would lure you back in?

 

 

[YRfan23]

Well as much as I wish I was one of those viewers who could just walk away from all of daytime right now.....I guess if I were seriously considering dropping Y&R for example, it would probably take the news of either Sally Morina or by miracle Kay Alden being announced back as HW, to rethink my decision....

It's hard to trust what a new soap would bring to the table, especially if one of the remaining writers right now was that creator....

[vetsoapfan]

Right, savvy soap viewers would be unlikely to give a potential new soap a chance if any of the "usual suspects" were in charge. I'd be more likely to sample a new series created and written by "unknown" writers than by the likes of Sheffer, Laiman, Jean P., Ron C., etc.

 

What about Y&R is keeping you tuned in? Habit/addiction? (This is not meant to be a snarky comment; I continued to watch several soaps for YEARS after they fell apart, just because I was hooked and couldn't quite shake the habit. The last straw was when those shows gutted the vets. That finally helped me tune out.)

[NothinButAttitude]

I'd be open to a totally new soap if it isn't ridden with hacks from the past.

 

What will get me to back back to the remaining 4 soaps? 

 

Capable writers like Kay Alden, Nancy Curlee, etc. taking helm of those shows. 

 

I just refuse to invest my time with these shows anymore. I'd rather watch UK soaps instead where TPTB will at least (in most occasions) pull the cord on a m*therf-cker (a producer & his writing team) with the quickness when fans revolt. 

[vetsoapfan]

I wanted to wait and allow others to voice their opinions before voicing my own, but I do agree that the number one criterion for my devoting my time to any series is GOOD WRITING. Without a competent headwriter who understands the form, no soap will be successful.

[quartermainefan]

I don't think soaps will compete as long as they cling to tired domestic drama material.   What was compelling in 1976 is not the same as in 2016 and we have seen in show after show from Lost to Walking Dead and all smash hits in between that the scope of material covered on TV has broadened greatly.   And yet soaps still want to tell stories about women being pregnant.   Not even a story which happens to star a pregnant woman, but rather the story itself is she is pregnant.   And why would anyone who just got through watching tonight's Game Of Thrones waste their time on such nonsense?

 

Strangely, the 1980s saw soaps when they cast their widest net seeking out types of material  (and consequently enjoyed their highest ratings)  but the 1990s saw soaps decide that this was somehow unsophisticated and embarrassing.    So what would make me watch a new soap?  Maybe a murder mystery soap?  Perhaps a soap with a hint of science fiction.    I gave up GH in last fall, and while I love Tracy Quartermaine I don't care she has an illness.  I've seen illnesses before, do you have anything where she marries a terrorist and doesn't know it?     Soaps have to speak to the times, and soaps forgot that.  

[NothinButAttitude]

@quartermainefan, I don't think that domestic drama material is the issue. I think it is still compelling and some of the most gripping material told if done correctly. Some of the most watched or buzzed shows on TV have stories that consist of domestic drama. Grey's Anatomy, HTGAWM, Empire, The Affair, etc. have stories that mirror those on soaps, but they are simply told better. 

 

I think soaps issues are they no longer push the envelope like they used too. Soaps were the trendsetters. Instead, they rest on their laurels and tell the same 3-4 tropes when there are a plethora of stories to be told. Soaps used to be current and hip, ripping stories from the headlines. You don't even see that now with the exception of Maya's story on B&B, which had potential to be huge but fell flat b/c it was so safe, saccharine, and PC. 

 

 

[YRfan23]

I mean, maybe it wouldn't be too bad if one of those writers had there own shows, since in reality there would be nothing to gut, since it's their own material being produced, with no history or ties to the canvas we have to worry about....I still don't think I would particularly be interested in that show, but maybe it would end up being a surprise..

I really can't say as to why Y&R or any soap is keeping me glued in.....I could contribute it all as maybe not being able to turn away for a horrific accident, and maybe Victor being thrown in jail was enough to keep me sucked in, but now everything has become so cliched and even more offensive, so there is really no excuse as to why I have stayed with it...especially since they now destroyed the iconic set that was Katherine's estate...

[QueenOfHearts]

I agree that pregnancy should not be a story.  However domestic drama is not the issues. Sometimes I wish the soaps were a little more realistic and stopped doing things like bringing people back from the dead and having a bunch of characters who don't actually work flitting around.

[vetsoapfan]

I think HOW the stories are presented, and how rich and complex the characters are, remains paramount. I just finished watching a wonderful BBC drama entitled DOCTOR FOSTER, about a woman who begins to suspect that her perfect husband is being unfaithful. The entire series was predicated on "domestic drama," yet it was driven by interesting characters whom the audience could relate to; characters who were embroiled in an emotionally-charged situation with high stakes. There were no murders, no elements of science fiction, no impossible-to-believe over-the-top gimmicks, just engrossing character-driven human drama. And it was captivating.

 

Science fiction can be great, if done well. Action and adventure too, if competently produced. With the budget and time constraints of daytime drama, however, I question the viability of telling certain stories in this medium. More often than not, the sci-fi and "action" plots foisted onto the soaps have failed. Worse, they have been embarrassing. I think it all comes down to what one expects from any specific show. I loved the first season of ROSWELL and the 1987 TV version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, but I would not want to see space aliens on UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS or sewer-dwelling man-beasts on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. Shows need to create and be true to their own identities.

 

Give me domestic drama. Give me science fiction. Give me action, adventure, or anything else. But make it good, write and produce it well, and make me care about the characters involved, and  I will happily tune in.

 

 

[YRBB]

If soaps still do domestic drama, it's news to me. Shoot-outs, evil twins, car accidents, explosions, cheap action, it's almost all we ever see (and it's not done well, either!). 

 

There are many, many issues plaguing them now. Obviously, good writing would help, but what exactly does that mean? For starters, allow complicated, complex, varying characters. Most are so one-note and boring. They purposefully write them that way, even the so-called hacks. They know what they're doing. They dumb everything down. Slow the damn pace down. Expect and DEMAND that they audience waits for you and goes along for the ride. Enough with the endless succession of stupid, boring, unimportant stunts. Allow a normal, organic flow of things: Don't force people to get married a month after their first kiss. Stop feeding the ridiculous #teamwhatever mentality; soaps are about complicated people with complicated actions. I should be able to understand and identify with EVERYONE in, say, a triangle. Get rid of supercouple mentality that forces the assassination of everyone else that comes into their orbit, especially if the 'spoiler' has great chemistry or is a good actor/actress. Plot long-term. Try something new. Watch the show and learn its history, grasp the "soapiness" of it all. If you know a story will hurt a character, DON'T DO IT, even if it brings (temporary, useless) buzz. Allow for REAL emotion & drama: Don't run away from it because 14 year olds with 25 social media accounts will think it's not "cool." Bring back multi-generations. Stop making everyone into criminals. Stop the misogyny. 

 

For starters.

 

In the end, soaps have to be fairly character-based in order to survive, and thrive, long term. My personal preference is a plethora of stories going on at the same time: A couple love stories/couple stories, business, a feud, something soapy like blackmail, a big lie, a possible reunion, with a dash of something outrageous (an enemy returning for revenge with a new face, a supposed death, whatever). Still give that excitement while grounding ALL the stories in real people. 

[vetsoapfan]

I really wouldn't trust any of the well-known hacks to create a series interesting enough to watch, but as you say, it might be better than watching them gut a long-running show and destroying its legacy.

 

I'd like to see novelist Jonathan Kellerman create a mystery-based daytime drama, a la THE EDGE OF NIGHT. Kellerman writes a wonderful series of novels about a psychiatrist named Alex Deleware who works with the LAPD. The author is skilled at weaving complex mysteries with lots of twists and turns, and at creating likable, interesting characters. He could turn out to be a modern-day Henry Slesar. It might be fun to see what Stephen King could do with a new supernatural soap, too, if the budget could allow it. He is very prolific, and might appreciate the long-arc form inherent in daytime TV. 

 

It sounds like you're just addicted to Y&R, the way I was to certain soaps before I finally managed to cut the cord. I, too, loathed what I was watching on-screen, but could not turn away. After enjoying excellent, emotionally-involving drama offered by TGL from 1950 to 1982, the beginning of that show's destruction in 1983 made me cringe, but I continued to endure the dreck throughout the AWFUL 1980s, out of habit, I suppose. So I know what it's like to hate what I'm watching...but to watch it, anyway, LOL!

 

What have they done to the Chancellor set?

 

 

Well said. 

[quartermainefan]

No offense to Grey's Anatomy, but I don't believe that show has had even a scintilla of pop culture buzz since McSteamy went around shirtless or actors fought on set..   That show might as well not exist as far what gets talked about.  You mention How To Get Away With Murder, and I will go back to my original premise, that soaps can't just be domestic drama BS.   What is the last word in that title?   It is not "miscarriage" or "infidelity".   That show had a hook.    Empire is another show that came up with a unique topic as a setting, not generic small town featuring people who do generic non-work.    I never heard of "the Affair", sorry. 

 

I think people can validate their own tastes all day long saying there is nothing wrong with shows about miscarriages and love triangles, and vague detail-free corporations that don't seem to actually do anything, but if there was really a market for this stuff would this topic even exist?

[NothinButAttitude]

Actually Grey's gets a lot of buzz and coverage, but that aside, yeah, murder was the hook word in the title of HTGAWM; however, infidelity and miscarriage has played pivotal roles on the show. All of this past season was about Annalise's miscarriage, what led to it, and how it affects her present. Plus, the show was centered around infidelity b/c it was Sam's transgression with Lila, which jumpstarted the series surrounding Lila's death and Sam's eventual demise. 

 

Same with Empire. Cookie just revealed this past week she had a miscarriage, and infidelity popped up all the first season with Anika screwing Hakeem while with Lucious and Lucious screwing Cookie while with Anika. That just scratched the surface. 

 

And The Affair is nothing but a big soap except it collects all the buzz. It's a show about an affair and how it affects everyone around the two culprits. Simple soap plot. 

 

There is a market for soaps. These shows just need to be retooled, modernized, and placed in the hands of those who genuinely care about their well-being. The 5-day-a-week model needs to be scrapped for something less. I've been saying on here that soaps need to be trimmed to 3 days (Mon/Wed/Fri) a week. Writing would tighten up thanks to this, and there would be no filler episodes with a model like this. Every minute would count. Plus, it'd ease up on the audience and their strain to watch a show 5 days a week. 

 

[QueenOfHearts]

Anika was not unfaithful on Empire. Lucious already had thrown her out like yesterday's trash. Also it's not a domestic drama since by definition domestic dramas are about the everyday middle and lower class.

Grey's Anatomy gets lots of buzz and gains viewers all the time. Isn't it ABC's highest rated show?