Soaps In The Time of Crisis

[DramatistDreamer]

With #marketcrash trending all day, I was reminded of an event nicknamed Black Monday (which really should've been Red Monday, in the interest of speaking the accurate language of finance), which was on October 19, 1987.  I thought about what episode was airing that day on my favorite soap. As The World Turns had been pretty strong pretty much all year long in 1987, which made me wonder whether, in the midst of financial market chaos, the soaps perhaps served as some form of consistency in the middle of the chaos.  Which begs the question:

As soap fans, can you think of other days when you associate a soap/soaps as being a form of comfort, or refuge in a time of upheaval or crisis? It doesn't have to be a national or international crisis but some date/time in which you considered to be a particularly chaotic event.

 

This episode was/is particularly topical since it featured a storyline where a bank executive actually assisted a wealthy person in an act of kindness--to pay off the debts of a struggling family farm that was headed to foreclosure.  How's that for irony?!

 

 

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[victoria foxton]

I don't think today's soaps are capable of offering that comfort. But i know exactly what you mean.  Soaps offered me an escape and comfort. During a very difficult adolescence.  

[AbcNbc247]

Same here.

 

I can’t name any specific episodes, but whenever I was going through some serious personal stuff, I could always count on DOOL, Passions and later on GH and reruns of AW, Dallas, Dynasty and Knots Landing to cheer me up. 

 

[Aback]

It's going to be interesting to see how soaps will deal with the real catastrophe ahead. Coronavirus. Evidence around the world seems to suggest it will spread around the US as well and cause most areas to lockdown before the emergency becomes too much of a strain for the health system. How are soaps going to shoot the shows if people can't leave their houses / can't touch each other and so on?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Good question.  The soaps and the production companies that produce them have never been very good at adapting to changes, let alone crises. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

@Aback I'm still pondering your question today, with that clip of The View panelists introducing the show to an empty audience floating around. There is an article about some talk shows and shows like Jeopardy taping in with no audience and it made me think that soaps really are unsustainable, not because of audiences (other than the crew, there is none) but because of the level of intimacy that characters are expected to have.  Even though, for several years now, soaps have had less passion and true intimacy, which is a definite complaint from fans but they still throw in sex scenes.  To have a soap without kissing or embracing, these shows would have to do something more akin to a Jane Austen dramatization (which could be entertaining if done well) and I think that is slightly above the pay-grade and expertise of today's soap showrunner. 

In other words, unless this pandemic is decreased and elminated within the next couple of weeks, I think the soaps could be screwed.

 

Also, I wonder what will The Price Is Right do without their signature big crowd in the audience?

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Edited March 11, 2020 by DramatistDreamer

[Aback]

 

You see, the thing is... if a make-up artist is positive, they'll infect one of the actors or vice versa.

 

No production is sustainable. Soaps will have to take a hiatus. TV shows, films too.

 

I wish this thing could go away in a couple of weeks but I'll be brutally honest. It's going to take some getting used to.

While you're reading this, please guys: don't wait for the state you're in to declare a state of emergency. Just act as if the emergency was already in place - because it is. Don't go out. Insist on working from home if you can. Wash your hands every 20 minutes. Use a handsanitizer if you're outside and you touch money bills. Refuse kindly to shake hands or hug people. Keep a 6,5 foot distance from other people. Don't share headhphones. Don't stockpile on the groceries and drugs because that's morally wrong.

 

But most of all, don't trust me - trust the World Health Organization. Check their social media channel as well as the World Economic Forum's videos. They are very informative.

 

Please guys. We can beat this. But we need to cut social contact. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I don't really watch daytime soaps anymore but I would tune in if they started to show the classic era soaps from the 1980s and back.  Have Retro daytime television with their most successful line up of shows.  If CBS brought back classic episodes of Y&R, B&B, As The World Turns and Guiding Light, I'd tune in for sure, forget today's soaps.

[Vee]

I mean, this isn't how I'd have chosen to get classic reruns but I'm for it.

 

Relevant from SNL - coronavirus soaps:

 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Vee

[Antoyne]

Days is fine, I’m sure they’re close to filming Christmas by now if they haven’t already.

[Aback]

ROTFL!! 
 

As for reruns, don’t hold your breath. Every network will turn into a CNN-like all-news channel. People will be addicted to the news. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I just saw that SNL sketch and don't give these showrunners any ideas, they may just try some of them, especially with the budgets hitting rock bottom, from what I've heard.

 

Have any of these soap blogs/podcasts discussed what the pandemic would mean for these soaps? I mean actual in-depth discussion or analysis?

[VanessaReardon]

The soaps will go on. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Wow, what are the odds when I posted this on Monday?!

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Thanks to @victoria foxton I at least found out the answer to this question.