What One Soap Does Better than the Other

[Planet Soap]

What are some elements that each soap may do better than another soap.

For example I think AMC and OLTL were better at writing causal dialogue than Y&R. For example a lot of the dialogue in old-school Y&R with strictly plot related but on AMC you could get characters discussing general things. I remember a scene where Marcy was explaining to Ryan what peel was when he was trying to scheme at the radio station. Y&R charachters tend to talk in formal diction and it seems like some interactions lack depth.

Moreover the AMC and OLTL were better at injecting humor than old school Y&R. Todd in the early 2000s along with Alex, Starr, Asa, and Nikki Smith could make you laugh at times. Y&R was a heavy and serious show. The most laughs I got were the insulting interactions between Katherine and Brenda Dixon's Jill.

Finally GH tops Y&R in continuity and acknowledgment of historY. On General Hospital you get flashback scenes of Felicia and Ryan or random references to Peter Herald and characters from the past. On Y&R you'd hardly ever know that Paul and Lauren were ever married or that Jack used to be Paul's brother in law because it's hardly ever mentioned. Young would just drop characters from the canvas like Sharon's mom and never mentioned them again.

[NothinButAttitude]

I always felt that Y&R and Another World were the two soaps that best personified workplace drama/tension better than other soaps. I'd say that GL (and everything occurring at WSPR with Holly and Roger at odds and poor Gilly in the middle) and ATWT (with all things happening at Walsh Enterprises or Oakdale Memorial) take 3rd and 4th. Other soaps (IMO) tended to flounder with actual, real workplace drama. Overall, it sucks nowadays that none of the soaps excel at workplace drama. I always felt that aspect soaps is what lead to juicy affairs and phenomenal rivalries within the genre.

 

The P&G soaps (AW, ATWT, and GL) always excelled at the importance of family and displaying various generations. Other soaps were quicker to send the older characters out to pasture. Meanwhile, the P&G soaps (up until the last decade of the brand) kept a fraction of the vets onscreen and utilized them in some format.

 

I also think that P&G soaps OWNED holiday season episodes. Instantly, I think of Mac's last Thanksgiving on AW as the ultimate Thanksgiving episode in the genre. For Xmas, my mind instantly goes to either the '86 ATWT Xmas episode or GL's four musketeers in NYC with. And GL owned the 4th of July with the Bauer BBQs.

[Planet Soap]

Yes! ATWT especially excelled at the community vibe and multigenerational cast. 

Y&R and to a lesser extent B&B was really good at making the cliché corporate drama on soaps interesting.

[DramatistDreamer]

While most daytime soaps seemed to focus their business stories more on the personalities in the boardroom and the intrigues, Y&R was really effective at giving equal time to the actual products involved in their corporate stories—at least, once upon a time this was the case.

P&G soaps were said to be somewhat stodgy but at their best, soaps like ATWT and GL were surprisingly very effective at broaching taboo topics in a way that was suggestive, risqué but somehow palatable to their audience. Characters who were in an open marriage in the early 70s. In the 1980s, a woman who decided that she’d had enough of love and was just going to build her business “brand” while choosing lovers for her sexual gratification. Also in the 1980s, a woman talking to her husband about their non-existent to lackluster sex life, while the husband squirms. Also in the 1980s, a tearful woman strips down and jumps in a fountain and declares herself the slut of the town because that’s the way she’s been made to feel in front of the man that she’s in love with, as he recoils from the scene. 

 

[titan1978]

I always felt GH was the best at the action storylines over the years, especially when they still had the directors and line producers who learned under Monty.

GH is also great at not needing a core family to create that family feeling.  It started with the hospital being the family, and continued with the deep friendships of the Monty era through Riche.  Some of that has fallen by the wayside in the last 20 years or so though, recently making a shallow comeback.

OLTL handled gritty better than almost all the other soaps IMO.  It felt more modern and urban at many times in its history, certainly compared to the P&G soaps.

[MichaelGL]

True. Next to GH, I'd say AW was also good at this as well, especially during the Swajeski era. Felicia/Cass, Rachel/Felicia. Ryan/Frankie.

[Soaplovers]

AMC seemed to have a great mix/balance between social issues and whimsy... it was almost a mirror of OLTL .. which also handled social issues.. but with a more gritty element.   Llanview seemed like a bigger suburb.. which had different socio-economic and diverse inhabitants.. at least in the pre-Rauch years... while Pine Valley seemed like a smaller suburb/town that maintained a small town friendliness (which would explain why Chandler and Cortlandt were drawn to it... lower tax base and more exclusive/privacy then Llanview).

Loving seemed to portray a college town realistically..  even when Alden U wasn't the focus, you could tell that the heart beat/economic engine was the University.  I briefly lived in a college town in MS (Oxford, home of Ole Miss).. and it had the same vibe that I imagine Corinth had.

[Contessa Donatella]

I always felt that AW & OLTL both did good jobs of dealing with different classes of people.

At some points AW was known for its use of humor, from the highjinks of Samuel D. Ratcliffe including Felicia & Wally & Cass & Carolyn the gorilla, and going to Vivian's physical humor, and plants with classical names.

I always like it when soaps do friendships. AW was usually good at that but then so were many soaps. Today GH makes good use of friendships although I find it less than credible that Ava & Nina would be friends after what Nina did to Ava.

PC had an actor in a wheel chair who was the best I ever saw at being both an actor & confined to a chair.

[Spoon]

GL and AW strong with friendships.  GH and AW strongest with humor and adventure.  DAYS also excelled at adventure.  Y&R and ATWT were pretty good at workplace drama.  GL excelled at workplace drama during the late 80s and early 90s with Spaulding. Lewis Oil the Journal and WSPR.  Can't comment on the other ABC soaps.

Also Y&R was particularly good with suspense and Psycho maniacs: David Kimble, Sheila, Michael stalking Cricket, Mary Jo Mason.  Part of that goes for the more Gothic, melodramatic tone/feel that Y&R had back in the day.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Spoon

[SFK]

In its golden years, I think AMC was best at conveying a cozy hamlet comprised of unique, clearly drawn characters, some of them, the best quirky and comedic character portraits of any tv show.

[titan1978]

They really did a great job with this type of story.
 

 I think they also told the most complete stories back in the day for ambitious characters too- you knew as an audience member how badly people like Jill, Brad, Ryan, Nina, Drucilla wanted their lives to be, and saw step by step their growth in a way other soaps tended to gloss over, even if they were sometimes underhanded or selfish on their way.

 

When Bell was still there, characters had many facets.  Nina was antagonistic but also rootable.  Lauren was awful to many people, but again, she was entertaining.   

From everything I have read about that time period, it reminds me of Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls, but if Emily & Richard also lived in town like Phoebe.

[Planet Soap]

Agreed that OLTL was great at dark, gritty, crime Riverdale type stories. Charachters like Mitch, Hannah, the Music Box Killer, Lindsay, Powell and others exemplified this.

AMC was also good and showing different social classes. On the one hand you had the hood and characters like Noah, while there was the rich Jack, Erica and David.

Y&R was better at storyline organization. Because the show had a medium sized cast with clear star players in comparison to As the World Turns per say, it's easier to understand the show's history and character relationships as many characters existed in orbits and did not interact with each other.

GH excels at storyline diversity and that's why I consider it the greatest soap. It has romance, crime, action/adventure, medicine, sci fi, fantasy, social issues and to a lesser extent.. business. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by ironlion