On 9/3/2021 at 5:59 PM, applcin said:

I think there are so many variables and questions, some of which others here (esp. DD) have mentioned, when it comes to the idea of reboots that it's hard for me to blanketly say yay or nay. It would depend largely on which soap, who's the target audience, how/where/when would they be shown, are they trying to replicate the original, continue with the "next generation" or telling new stories with new actors in old roles?

The 1991 Dark Shadows reboot was actually my first experience ever with DS, and, I suspect, of quite a few younger people like myself back then who hadn't had access to the original. Here was a reboot of a daily daytime soap turned into a weekly nighttime one. The characters and storylines were recreated, although the stories were vastly streamlined to fit the weekly model. Plus, there was also the need to adapt certain elements from the 60s to the 90s, or ditch them altogether. It had a successful start and I think of the show as a "what might have been" situation as it seemed more that outside circumstances (the Gulf War, preemptions, etc.) killed it rather than lack of interest. I believe it could have been a really good series with multiple seasons. I think another reboot could also work again today if the right elements are there to make it appealing to enough people.

I think another "niche" type soap like The Edge of Night could have a chance as well and could be written as a weekly, particularly if they maintain the theme of mystery and film-noir type storylines. At this point, it's been out of sight (save for any interested people who might want to look for it online) for so long that it could be reimagined. With the majority of the mainstream daytime soaps, though, I think they'd have to be so changed, adapted, refocused, etc., that they might only have the show name or some character names in common and not much else...which then begs questions like who are they doing it for and why not just create a new product? The PP reboots of AMC and OLTL failed so miserably, I believe, because a) they desired a demo that wasn't interested in "Grandma's story"; b) they were essentially cut off from that Grandma audience that didn't follow them online or didn't have the tech savvy to do so; and c) whether by actor/character glaring absences, storylines, less censorship and so on, these were not the same shows people had loved. The daytime soaps that are still on, and those that went before them, have that loyal audience that sees them every day, knows when to watch, record, stream, etc. But if one attempts to adapt them to a more modern schedule, put them on cable, show them with far less frequency and maybe even a year or more between seasons, they would die quick deaths, I think.

Given how long tv and film have been around, it's pretty hard nowadays to find something that isn't either a remake or a derivative of something else. There's a lot of re-purposing the old things to make them appealing to younger generations. Understandable in one way and kind of sad in another. Something that I appreciated about growing up in the 70s was that, while there were a lot less tv stations, those stations were broader in their content. On one channel you could see modern shows, classic shows (and films), documentaries, music videos (old and new)...we were exposed to a wider variety of content and history because it was there in front of us and there weren't as many options. Nowadays, you have to search harder for a particular type of show or genre amidst the morass, meaning you have to already have either some awareness of it or interest in the genre. Reboots may or may not stand alone on their merits--with people either remaining unaware or unexposed to the original-- or they may spark an interest in what came before. I think most reboots now would fall into the former situation--created mainly for a new audience who would see it as a brand new "world"--and not really for the classic viewer who wants to revisit something familiar.

 

 

I guess you're right, funny, I think a Dark Shadows Reboot would work right now too, as long as they don't turn it into a Vampire diaries sort of show, I want they keeping the storytelling before Barnabas, Laura, the Widows ghosts then Barnie, would be nice

Edited September 6, 20214 yr by Joseph

Daytime soaps tend to do soft reboots with the change in head writers 

Bringing a cancelled soap back from the dead and rebooting that's a different story