So in Today's Soap Climate...Could You?

[Faulkner]

Totally. I mention Mulcahey because he was given more leeway than most. You could always tell when he was writing, especially on a show that can feel as plot-driven as B&B. He always gave the actors rich, allusive dialogue grounded in character and history as well as current events. I remember when Quinn was flirting with Ridge, he wrote Rena Sofer this monologue about how women in our culture are punished for their sexual desires. It was appropriate for Quinn and felt very 2020 in a way that caught my ear. You don’t hear that kind of dialogue on soaps now, whereas it’s commonplace elsewhere. And someone like Patrick is facing constant interference, you know it’s a wrap.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Faulkner

[BetterForgotten]

Michele Val Jean is the only scriptwriter left that usually bothers to infuse any thoughtful agency into her dialogue.

[Taoboi]

So you all think that there could be no way to have a decent amount of push/pull. To get to write something that you want while making those 'overheads' happy?

 

I want to put out Dan O' Connor as an example from GH. I think by this point it is clearer what is Frank with 'the pets' and the things that Dan like (for example, he likes Obrecht and tries to write her as he can a la DAYS Stefano back in the 90s with his comings and goings)  

[AbcNbc247]

That does sound ridiculous, but then again, I’d rather have that happen then write a huge story projection only to have some arrogant dumbass producer or actor complain and completely change or cancel the entire story 

[Gray Bunny]

Yeah no. 

[Vee]

 

Word.

 

 

I don't care about more Obrecht, I had enough of her years ago. The show sucks. Dan O'Connor seems like a lovely and talented guy but there's so much interference and bullshit from the EP to the network and back. What is the point of putting your name on what is mostly bad schlock in a near dead industry? Until and unless there's a better space and commitment to serialized drama off the networks I don't see what there is to discuss.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Vee

[Taoboi]

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[Faulkner]

I think a huge part of why these shows are so challenging to write is that the networks have absolutely zero respect for the intelligence of their core daytime viewers.
 

I hate to be that guy, but maybe they are right at this point in time? The more discerning viewers grew out of the habit due to changes in the culture and technology or being driven away by the soaps’ self-destructive responses to those changes. Those folks aren’t coming back: too many buzzy “water cooler” shows to catch up on to devote 4-5 hours a week to a low-budget soap. But the audience that stuck around daytime is largely not an audience you want to be writing for.

 

Nuance, diversity, grappling with anything real—they’re all seen as beyond the grasp of Karen in Oklahoma. Everything is dumbed-down banality or drained of any specificities or references to things (or stuff in their show’s own history) that might require a Wikipedia search. And when they actually “try,” aside from Mulcahey or MVJ’s stuff, you get moronic drivel like GT Phyllis’s monologue about “tiramisu sex” on Y&R. 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Faulkner