Soaps In The Time of Crisis

[edgeofnik]

@Aback Your thought on the characters being quarantined during the gap is a really good idea. Hopefully, learning from the disastrous DAYS TJ, the 3 soaps could  present new stories based on things that may have happened during quarantine. Clearly soap characters continued living - so maybe couples reconciled during that time, broke apart from stress, unexpected pregnancies (we know a boom is coming 1Q in 2021 in the real world), etc.

 

We certainly won't want to watch a quarantine/characters being sick (soaps are an escape), but the fallout could be a good launch for new stories.  

 

[Khan]

 

They've been that way for ages, so....

[Aback]

 

That's interesting. I had thought of the boom in 2021 but not of the impact on soap babies.

 

I agree the soaps should take this chance to reboot themselves. It could also help them sell their shows to new channels.

 

It's weird because soaps should provide escapism but at the same time they can't escape reality (see how 9/11 + war affected certain soaps) and the world will be totally different after covid-19.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Aback

[Chris B]

I don't think anybody has announced plans yet, but Y&R's music director tweeted that the show plans on airing some classic episodes to keep the show on the air. I don't know if they'll cut down on 5 episodes a week to stretch, but at least we do know the show is tentatively scheduled to stay on air. 

 

Do y'all think it would be smarter to run through the episodes and go straight to classics or 2-3 episodes a week to stretch them?

[Aback]

 

I think it would less confusing to run through the episodes and then switch to classics. The show will have to take a long hiatus in any case, so it might as well 'fire its last few rounds', so to speak.

[JAS0N47]

SOAP OPERA DIGEST OWNER AMERICAN MEDIA INC. CUTS STAFF PAY BY 23%...MASS LAYOFFS AND SHUTDOWN OF MAGAZINES POSSIBLE...

American Media Inc., is cutting the payroll of the National Enquirer and at least nine other AMI publications by 23 percent starting April 1, the company announced in a staff memo last week.The company-wide move, which comes as AMI is ending its fiscal year, could well be a harbinger of worse things to come, including mass layoffs and the shutdown of several AMI titles, according to people who are familiar with AMI’s financial condition. In the memo: "Beginning April 1, we will need to reduce the compensation of all staff by 23%, however, such reduction will not cause an employee’s compensation to fall below the applicable minimum wage for the city/state in which the employee resides.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ami-tabloids-are-on-a-ventilator-after-david-pecker-enforces-brutal-staff-pay-cut

Edited April 4, 2020 by JAS0N47

[dragonflies]

I wonder how well soap digest sells? It to me is very pricey for a subscription, same with SID 

[DramatistDreamer]

Seems as though AMI has been in a bad way for at least a year or more, especially with the Trump sex scandal. That publishing outfit really had very little margin for error.

[kalbir]

SOD/SID haven't really been relevant for years. I don't see them lasting much longer.

[mango]

 

Even though I purchase a copy here or there electronically, it's rare, especially with it being more expensive as a Canadian. $6.99 is a bit rich. I snag one as a treat if there's a new feature on some of the defunct soaps.

[Paul Raven]

Not surprising , with only Days to cover, it would be the time to shut down.

 

The magazine has been as cheap as the shows themselves - a shadow of its former self.

[Wendy]

I loved getting SOD as a teen in the '80s, the soap heyday. My mom once surprised me with a subscription for my birthday. Back then, there were some great articles and commentary, not to mention actual covers using real photography. Sometime in the mid-to-late '90s, I recall the quality beginning to slide and eventually stopped my subscription. And then I would get constant phone calls, trying to get me to renew.

 

Why? All of the non-butt-kissing articles and such were long gone, they spent no more money on actual photo shoots, and the magic was gone.

 

I have not read an issue in EONS. I am sorry, however, that so many are losing their livelihoods, but SOD's time has come and gone, mostly gone with only four soaps left.

 

I do still mourn the loss of Soap Opera Update, which I thought was a great magazine. And, in the '90s, I think the defunct Soap Opera Weekly did a much better job, as well, compared to its sister magazine, SOD.

 

Anyone remember the simply-titled Soap Opera Magazine? It began in the early '90s and seemed to disappear rather quickly. That one seemed a bit more tabloidy to me.

[DRW50]

 

Soap Opera Magazine ran from about 92-98 I think. It was a bit more slick, although Update was probably the slickest to me. Of the 4 Weekly was the one that tried hardest to talk about the genre in a more intelligent way - until the hammer was brought down by Corday, or whoever. I'm still amazed Weekly managed to limp along for another decade. I'm amazed the soap magazines lasted as long as they did.

 

Digest, for me, was ruined once Carolyn Hinsey, a repulsive individual, got so much power. The quality became much more trashy, and also a huge personality cult focused on her. 

 

I do recognize SOD's importance to the genre, and it was the first soap magazine I ever read, the first time I ever started to really know about what was going on behind the scenes. I especially enjoyed their old Best/Worst issues. With that said, once I started getting more into soap magazines, I appreciated the '70s variety, especially Daily TV Serials and Daytime Stars, much more. They had a much more honest and less patronizing approach to the genre that clearly could not last.

[victoria foxton]

My first issue of SOD was the 25th anniversary of GH issue. Which i got from my neighborhood supermarket. I only started watching soaps a couple of years before. SOD and the other soap mags were a great resource. In the a pre-internet world of the late 1980's. I loved all the articles . My favorite features were Remember When and Questions. There i learned off older stories and characters. Also loved all the creative covers. Over the years SOD became an overpriced  shell of its former self.  Which i rarely saw on sale in places like CVS and Duane Reade. Where they were afraid to properly critique any of the soaps. 

Edited April 5, 2020 by victoria foxton

[David_Vickers]

SOD subscription is a little high, yes, but since it covers all soaps I subscribe to it, since it's much cheaper to subscribe than to buy.     I do agree SOD has gone downhill in the last few years. SID subscriptions aren't too bad, and again still cheaper when susbscribe. 

 

Maybe they'll temp stop production and come back once the covid 19 crap is over. 

 

Agree Soap Opera Update was a very slick, nicely produced magazine, and I collected their year end issues.

Edited April 6, 2020 by David_Vickers
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