Greatest Soap of All Time?

[P.J.]

 

Had the daytime awards been around in the 60's, ATWT would surely have gotten it's share.

[kalbir]

Impact on the genre as a whole: Y&R

Pop culture impact: Days

Global impact: B&B

 

[Fevuh]

I would have to go with As the World Turns, but I think Guiding Light was overlooked for alot of years.  It obviously had alot going for it to have gone from radio to TV and lasted more than 75 years.  It had a resurgence in the early 90's, and there were a couple of weeks in the 80's where it hit Number 1 again up against GH.  Although it fell apart at the end you also have to acknowlege the budget cuts and trying to re-invent themselves although the production was bad.  I remember the year they won a ton of acting Emmy's very late.  Gina Tognoni, Jordan Clarke, Kim Zimmer and the guy who played Jonathan.  I don't think it was that year but they also won best show after that year although all shows were going downhill by then. 

[Gray Bunny]

 

Yes, GL was pretty scant in the Emmy department from 1999 to 2006 (with a win for Crystal Chappell in '02 and Jordi Vilasuso in '03) and then they nearly swept every acting category in 2006. I'm sure it was a great boost of morale for the show and the network, as they were already operating on a dime store budget (think: Beacon hotel rooms as everyone's home; the tackyass Main Street set). 

[EricMontreal22]

I mean personally I'd go for AMC, which along with One Life to Live to a lesser degree, seems to have been one of the first soaps to get mainstream media attention (largely based around "social relevancy" and finding a then unrecognized soap audience of college students)--media attention which I think was partially responsible for the backlash the soap suffered from some of the soap press at the time.

 

But as others have said, that's really just my own personal preference.  Certainly, I think AMC, GH, Y&R and ATWT are the ones with the most recognizable names, even now, to people who don't watch soaps--which ultimately means nothing about quality but you don't see One Life to Live, for example, mentioned when soaps are brought up casually.

[NothinButAttitude]

The trinity of genre: Another World (the head), As the World Turns (the heart), Guiding Light (the soul). Those 3 shows alone deserve to hold the #1 spot as the greatest of all time.

[Bright Eyes]

In terms of actual quality, I'll always believe The Edge of Night was on another level compared to the rest. Obviously, by any point system it would probably falter.

 

GH would probably win out on a scoring system, but of the major soaps leaves a lot to be desired from me.

 

 

[Cruising Soaps]

Y&R, ATWT, GH

 

Top 3

[kalbir]

 

You didn't like Robert Calhoun's run at GL (June 1989-July 1991)? Also, where would you rank B&B among CBS's long running daytime dramas?

[SteelCity]

I think above all, Edge of Night is the one soap that remains contemporary and could come back and with only technical updates still be relatable to a modern audience. I could even see it coming back in a 13 week/65 episode telenovela style. That would actually suit the form of the show well. Look how well things like "How to get away with Murder" do. Or hell, even when General Hospital did the Metro Court crisis, while different, those things work.

 

Sorry for the rant!

[RavenWhitney]

All the network soaps had something special. But it was Guiding Light that transitioned from radio to TV and set the bar for other network soaps to follow.

[koos]

 

I wasn't old enough to see pre-'86 GL, but I found the quality didn't drop until '93/'94. Around the same time ATWT became (imo) hard to watch and Days went off its nut.

[Gray Bunny]

Years from now when all soaps are off the air and people fondly recall the days of daytime serials, my bet would be Y&R and AMC on the top of the list. It was basically the end of daytime soaps as we knew them once they pulled the plug on "Susan Lucci's show." 

[titan1978]

No ABC show was destroyed as much once Frons arrived as AMC.  That is the true tragedy.

 

GH lost many important players, but even if I didn’t love the Sonny/Carly/Jason hour, the audience stayed higher than the other ABC shows.  OLTL was allowed to take risks with storytelling and content (those steamy showers) that the other two did not, even if it wasn’t always successful.  AMC just floundered  in attempts at reinvention or it was completely bland and without identity once Frons arrived.

 

For all his problems, Guza is way better writer than McTavish was.  And between her and Pratt and Frons the show was pretty much destroyed over 10 years in a way I don’t think OLTL or GH were.

[dragonflies]

Yep, even my dad who's never watched a soap opera in his life knows who LaLucci is. That's what will make people remember AMC