Lapsed Viewers: What Would Lure You Back In?

[vetsoapfan]

 

Well, watching Maggie Smith battling Darth Vader to save ET on DOWNTOWN ABBEY might be ((ahem)) "interesting" to watch, but...no thank you.

 

 

Me, too. The ludicrous stories, coupled with the slaughtering of the show's core and veteran characters, turned me off completely.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

But I still just wanna see the episodes so I can say I've seen them. 

[vetsoapfan]

I'd rather watch the teeth rot right out of my mouth, personally. 

 

But that's just me.

[zanereed]

I suppose I was jaded because it reminded me - and still reminds me - of the same storyline that "Dark Shadows" had back in 1968 with Angelique cursing Barnabas with a dreaming death. The dream sequences that both shows had for their respective storyline always seemed similar to me 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

 

 

But didn't Tom and Margo fans like the story as it was the story that started them falling in love?

 

 

Oh wow. I didn't know that Dark Shadow had did a story like that. I might look into that. From what I've seen of GL's version, it didn't bother me much b/c it is something I could see happening in real life--at least the illness portion spreading throughout and killing people. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Not the fans with good taste.

 

ROTFLMAO!

 

Seriously, to each his own, from what I recall, the story was universally reviled by ATWT viewers, although their easy-to-please children might have gotten a laugh at the cheesy, low-brow camp elements. I think T&M fans liked the couple in spite of nonsense like the Mr. Big saga, not because of it. Similarly, the fans of Reva Shayne on TGL probably liked that character in spite of having to endure Reva the Clone and Reva the Time Traveler, rather than because of dreadful, DREADFUL plots like those.

The writing and execution of DS's plots was miles above what we witnessed on many other soaps.

[cassadine1991]

But from what some fans say they don't want their soaps to have realism. Personally, I would like my soaps to be more realistic.

[vetsoapfan]

Well, I would counter that viewers who don't want to see realistic human drama played out on daytime TV should find something else to watch.

 

This is not meant to be a snarky comment, but one of common sense. What would be the reaction if I said to fans of THE WALKING DEAD that I did not want to see zombies, violence, or fighting on the show? They would quite rightly reply that TWD is not for me. If I were to were to complain about DALLAS, and say that I did not enjoy shows about feuds among rich people, the shows fans would point out that...I didn't have to watch it.

 

Viewers are free to dislike with the qualities inherent in any genre, but trying to turn sitcoms into documentaries, soaps into science fiction, MASTERPIECE THEATRE into THE SIMPSONS is not the answer.

[Fevuh]

I don't know that any of us that remember the good days of soaps will ever be back full time.  I'm not popular on the B&B board, LOL.  There needs to be just a little bit of intelligence and good writing.  Even villains should have a redeeming quality.  There is nothing I like about Victor Newman - there isn't a thing that is good about him.  Writers write characters and plots today into a corner .  I just started/returned to B&B about 2 years ago and all they do is recycle recycle recycle.  Quinn is a joke of a character and there is just so much stupidity in the writing.  Liam doesn't know who he is but doesn't want to go to a Doctor?  He never asked if he had FAMILY or what he did for work?  I quit watching about 2 weeks ago at all - but had only seen about 10 total minutes since Wyatt and Steffy's wedding, because it was Wyatt and Hope's wedding, and the show for 2 years has been Wyatt/Liam (Insert Girl's Name) for 'instant triangle'.  Insert Quinn to scheme to get Wyatt whatever he wants.  And no one ever suspects Quinn no matter how many times it happens.  STUPID. 

I'm thankful that I have a couple channels locally that show Wendy Williams one day behind and then same-day, then the same with The Real.  So I can tune in and watch both of those 1 day behind at the same time as Y&R and B&B.

And pretty much during daytime all I'm really waiting for is the Ellen Show now.  I love her, she makes me feel good, and I am entertained, I laugh at some stories, I cry at some stories - I cheer, and some stories she shows - she'll say - 'we all need to be aware of this and do something about it.' - kind of like teachers who are poor giving their own money to buy supplies for students, etc.  Wow - I just described how I used to feel about soaps.  And they wonder why they've died. 

By the way - I'm a guy, and so my viewership really doesn't matter.  Which is another problem I think - ad rates for years now should not have been set by mainly a Women's 18-49 rating.  I'm single, gay and I have nothing but money to spend.  You would think that networks and advertisers would figure that out.  I work from home as a writer, so even when I do have the TV on - it's usually for background noise - or I will hit 'mute' when I'm on a call.

I messaged Nancy Curlee a few years ago - and begged her to come back to write. She was definitely done for good.  I told her how much I loved Guiding Light the years she wrote...and she said she loved Guiding Light too, and was thankful that she was working at the end of the real time writers could execute their vision without too much interference.  That said a lot to me. 

[Khan]

As I've said MANY times on this board and elsewhere, an audience will go wherever you want them to, story-wise, as long as you take the time to GET them there.  Too many stories suffer on daytime because the writers and producers would rather dabble in instant gratification than play all the necessary beats and build even the most far-fetched ideas on solid emotional ground.  Subsequently, plots become idiotic, characters become psychotic, and viewers become just plain pissed off.

[vetsoapfan]

On DARK SHADOWS, the original story about Barnabas Collins returning to Collinwood and being revealed as a vampire worked quite well. The writers took their time about it, were subdued and not over-the-top (particularly as the saga began), and the show was fortunate to have fine direction and a perfectly-cast Jonathan Frid. This has NOT generally been the case for other soaps, whose ham-fisted, campy, wham-bam presentation of absurd storylines has been poorly executed. Viewers do indeed become pissed off, and worse, they become FORMER viewers.

[frequentsoapfan]

There's so many characters who have been around 5+ years and we still only know the basics about them form their first few months on the show. Some of them have been stuck in wash, rinse, repeat mode where all there stories are exactly alike just slightly change the situation.