Best US Soap Scenes

[titan1978]

I think we can have a good mix of escape and reality.  Labine maintained the action and thriller storytelling that GH had become known for and added depth and a sense of reality to it.  Her version of the mob with Frank Smith, Damian, Sonny, Stone, Luke and Laura has gravity.  There were consequences.  Sonny slowly moved up the ladder.  They made choices and their actions had consequences.  She also brought real world issues that had to do with medicine to the fore- heart transplant, HIV, cancer.  It was a wonderful mix.

 

The thing a lot of these shows forgot is that when you have romance happening on several levels, you can lean into the gritty or realistic storytelling because the love affairs create that escape storytelling.  A show like Guiding Light in the 1990’s had great, community based storylines and also a business story and romance and rivals all going on at the same time.

 

I also enjoyed DAYS at that time.  But I didn’t want every show to be like DAYS.  Far from it!

 

We were all watching a second golden age of daytime in the early to late 1990’s.  It is really sad that it was the end of greatness instead of a dip and then great again like the decade before.

Edited June 4, 2019 by titan1978

[All My Shadows]

The problem is that all soaps, at some point, tried to become all things. IMO, fantastical stories of frozen towns, trips to heaven, clones, literal back-from-the-deaths, and demonic possession just don't belong on shows that try to get to the heart of real, raw human emotion. This is not to say that soaps shouldn't have fantastical stories - but each soap should have chosen an identity and stuck with it. Any attempt to go out of the box should've been reined in.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yep. I have stressed this point for decades. Once you tamper with and drastically alter a show's identity, there's no turning back, and often the core audience ends up rebelling. You might get away with introducing an extraterrestrial on Passions, but NO ONE wants to see the Great Gazoo float into Downtown Abbey.

[DramatistDreamer]

There's no such thing as balance with today's remained daytime soaps.  Soaps write characters to commit batsh*t crazy deeds (like throwing a fetus in a fireplace) and then have the temerity to present them as a "grey" character. 

You can't hope to lure alienated fans back with that type of schlock storywriting.

[Planet Soap]

I second that shows should find an identity and stick with it, to avoid everyone becoming the same thing.  B&B the flashy fashion world, Y&R the lavish sophisticated business execs, OLTL the urban soap, AMC/ATWT the small town community soaps, DAYS the larger than life soap, and GH the big city  action/drama soap was more or less their overall styles. 

 

It seems all daytime soaps were on a  "spectrum" from (somewhat) grounded to extreme camp. Y&R, B&B, and AMC would be closer to the grounded end. GH, ATWT, and OLTL would be somewhere in the middle (breast cancer and rape story lines, yet frozen world, trip to heaven, and James Stenbeck plots), then DAYS (devil possession, stalker, Stefano) and GL (clone, Amish), near the high camp end, with Passions waaaay at the extreme camp dead end. 

 

I liked that the prime time soaps had a noticeable level of distinction: Dallas the gritty western drama, Dynasty the lavish soap, then Knots Landing as the raw middle class drama, and Falcon Crest as well a mix of Dallas & Dynasty

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by ironlion

[Marlenaphan]

Kristen’s “This is what’s left of John and Marlena” scene on DAYS.

 

Tabitha and Julian make love on PASSIONS. 

[carolineg]

No comment on Passions, but I actually do love the "This is what's left of John and Marlena" scene.  Kristen stomping on the photograph was pretty awesome.  I actually felt bad for Kristen and I felt at that point John and Marlena were just being a**holes about their feelings.  Like, dear God, just be honest with one another and Kristen.  J&M were just being bigger jerks by mooning all over one another in private, but staying silent.

Edited June 12, 2019 by carolineg

[Bright Eyes]

I'm going to be nice about Passions and add that I've always fondly remembered the scene where Liz's machinations finally come out. It was climactic and over the top with the lightning and Eve shouting "My lying little bitch of a sister!"

 

Also, when Theresa ate the paper (divorce papers?) and double slapped Ivy and Rebecca. I can't recall if these were separate or not though.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Bright Eyes

[DramatistDreamer]

What other soap would dare use Wreckx-n-Effect's "Rump Shaker" to lead off their opening scene?  You gotta love early 90s Guiding Light!

 

 

[OzFrog]

I posted this on the GL thread in the Cancelled Soaps section, but found it worth reposting on here as well. This was a brilliant scene on GL from 1984 where Alexandra takes control of Spaulding Enterprises from Alan. The way this was played out by both Chris Bernau and Beverlee McKinsey was beyond phenomenal...

 

 

 

[Fevuh]

 

And watch any soap still on today - and this is when Guiding Light was getting "really bad" according to opinions of people on message boards.  Tune in to any of the 4 still left and see which is better.  

[BetterForgotten]

The crap writing on the soaps today doesn't negate how awful David Kreizman's writing and those final years of GL were. Luckily, none of the soaps have reached Peapack territory yet. 

 

Zimmer and Pelphrey trying to out-diva one another and consuming the entire damn set was never my cup of tea. 

Edited June 19, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[Fevuh]

Interestingly several actors and actresses won alot of awards under Kreizman and they thanked him.  This scene is an example of how bad any show with better "production" is today.  If this writing was awful, then today's are so bad they shouldn't even be on the air. 

 

It's funny to me because I read opinions of all the people who love the new Adam on Y&R, and he is nowhere close to this caliber.  And he's eating the whole show.  Haven't tuned in this week. I'd watch something like this clip 8 days a week compared to waiting for the next Tennis tournament to watch during the day.  

 

And you can also look up the Cassie/Tammy scenes with Cassie revealing the truth that "JB" is her cousin.  The bottom line is the troup of actors was better even then and so was the writing by far.  And Brad Bell for B&B is awful - and is a Bell...and so apparently are all the breakdown writers because the dialogue is awful.      

[BetterForgotten]

It's all about perspective - if most looked at a scene from B&B, DAYS, GH, and Y&R from 2004 (the year of that GL scene), they'd probably say it's a lot better than what these shows are offering now. I don't think anyone doubts that soaps have gotten worse as each year passes by.

 

GL was canceled primarily because it was dead last in the ratings and its demos skewed old. GL was averaging a 1.6 in HH's during its last year, DAYS is only now starting to get that low in HH's. 

Edited June 19, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[Fevuh]

Somewhat true, but GL had much younger Demos even back then.  They skewed old for their time, but with much lower total viewers, they had higher Demos for girls and women than a couple of the shows do now.  Even with 1.8 million or 2 million viewers, their demos were better for younger women than today.  With far less viewers.  B&B has always been the oldest skewing soap.  They're in 2nd place overall with a million more overall viewers, but barely hanging onto 3rd place in key female demos.