Males that watch Soap Operas

[st3dm4n]

Hi all, first time poster.

 

Just wanted to see how males/guys are there out there that watch watch Soap Operas + what are/were your favourite shows? (past or present)

 

Cheers...

[Khan]

Hello, st3dm4m!  Welcome to SON!

 

Last time I checked, I was a male.

 

Favorite shows: GL, AMC, OLTL, ATWT, EON, DAYS.

[BetterForgotten]

I remember hearing Y&R always rated very strongly with men - many attributing their #1 status partly to male viewership. Whereas GH, despite its focus on male mobsters, didn't rate as well with men as it did with women. I'm more interested in these demographic analyses to be honest. 

[Bright Eyes]

The ones I consider "my" soaps are: Days of Our Lives, One Life to Live, The Edge of Night, and Dark Shadows. I've ventured into watching most of the others at some point or another and always keep up with the remaining shows despite not watching any of them for years.

 

[Khan]

 

Y&R rates well with men for one reason and one reason only: The Great Victor Newman (TGVN).  He's a ruthless, self-made billionaire who is catnip to many women, even though he treats them like [!@#$%^&*].  Men love that.

 

But, I think Y&R's continued number-one status is probably due more to its' African-American (and other minorities) viewership, even though it's the same show that had the nerve to saddle Black characters with names like "Kong" and "Mamie."  (But, everyone on the show is rich and fabulous, so why not?)

 

As for GH, I think the fact that it airs at 3 pm in most parts of the country, when people are still at work, might have something to do with why it doesn't do as well among males.  Y&R (and AMC), OTOH, air(ed) during most people's work/lunch breaks.

 

 

Aside from DAYS, I would say those are the soaps that males tend to watch most.  ESPECIALLY EON and DS (and I would add AMC to the list).  I mean, I've never heard as many men say they were fans of ATWT, for example, or GL.

[will81]

Male here as well. Y&R was always my #1 show. I did watch Days and B&B as well, I know of all the shows and have taken an interest in certain periods of those shows, but Y&R was the only one I watched consistently from the 80's to early 00's

 

Yeah AMC for sure had strong male viewership. There was a documentary about it from around 79/80, I think they even interviewed some basketball players, who would take a break in training to watch the show.

 

 

[Faulkner]

It feels like a good percentage of the posters here have been men, predominantly of the gay variety. Certainly, I’d love to see the gay male demos for soaps over the years.

[vetsoapfan]

 

When I was growing up, I knew several boys in our neighborhood who watched soaps, primarily The Edge of Night, which aired after school hours and was more of crime melodrama than other serials. Later, when Dark Shadows debuted, many boys watched that as well.

 

There used to be a stigma against watching soaps, however, particularly for males of any age. Penised persons (LOL) were often derided for being "sissies" if anyone caught them enjoying daytime dramas. So they kept their soap opera viewing in the closet. Ridiculous, I know, but I distinctly remember a very nasty neighbor of ours shouting at his daughter while a group of us kids were playing outside. He told her to to stay away from one of the little boys playing with us because the child did not like sports at all, but watched soaps with his grandmother, and was therefore (supposedly) "going to end up a f*ggot and a queer!" He was a vile, vile man, attacking and humiliating an 8-year-old gratuitously. Ironically, this pig was so unpleasant that other parents on the street didn't want the rest of us playing with HIS daughter, just because of HIM.

 

But I digress.

 

Men and boys have always watched soaps, and I recall reading an article about this back in the 1970s, when the networks guesstimated that up to a quarter or a even third of certain soaps' audience were male. The Edge of Night and All My Children were mentioned as having a large male following.

 

I hear you. I cannot stand watching any of the remaining soaps in their current, abysmal condition, but for some unfathomable reason, I continue to keep up with them all, anyway.

 

 

 

 

[Khan]

 

Certainly, as I've said before, the fact that AMC aired during the lunchtime period helped the show become popular among non-traditional audiences, such as men and college students.  But, I think another factor that played into that was its' reliance on humor and comedy, which made AMC, along with OLTL, seem more contemporary and "adult" than a lot of other shows.

[NothinButAttitude]

Right here!

 

I used to watch soaps. Nowadays, they all bore me to tears as none of them attempt to try. I do still watch classic episodes on a site that shall not be named. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Just to be clear, nowadays soaps bore women too, LOL. They bore soap fans of both genders and every category, which is why today's shows are basically in the toilet and ready to be flushed. 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Well they need to go ahead and flush b/c there is no use keep 'em alive.

[vetsoapfan]

 

 Personally, I would rather see the remaining four soaps cancelled outright than watch them stagger to their impending deaths any longer, although I do realize that the two or three people (LOL) still watching may want to cling to the shows for as long as they can, for nostalgia's sake if nothing else.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Oops. I meant to say "no use." My mac has a tendency to try and declare what it wants to say versus what I want. 

 

I agree that I'd rather they put the remaining 4 out of their misery. 

[Marco Dane]

Avid ABC Soap viewer and DOOL viewer during the SS madness... Blame my grandmother and mom lol...