Wednesday Episodes & How Soaps Pace/Structure a Week

[Faulkner]

We’ve often talked about “Winters Wednesdays” on Y&R, those episodes where it seemed the Black characters and their glorified C-list stories were most prominently featured. If I recall correctly, during the soap shutdown of the pandemic, when CBS aired a week of classic Winters-themed episodes, most of them were indeed from Wednesdays.

Wednesday episodes don’t provide the thrill of Friday cliffhangers or the satisfaction of Monday resolutions. Meanwhile, soaps have often used Tuesdays as a weekly reset button, while others use them to delve deeper into the aftermath of Monday’s drama (personally, I can’t stand it when soaps leave us hanging after Mondays). Thursdays often serve as the ramp-up to the big Friday moments.

But Wednesdays have often been labeled as the “throwaway” episodes, even though they offer valuable opportunities for character development or exploring parts of the canvas that deepen the world of the show.

Some soaps have used Wednesdays for experimentation. GL, for instance, created its “Into the Light” episodes, most notably Harley’s famous superhero escapade. Y&R has adopted this single-character-focused format from time to time (often to give its actors like Jason Thompson and Michelle Stafford their Emmy reels). I don’t particularly like that format, as it stops the forward momentum of story dead in its tracks and many times feels indulgent (usually featuring writer-propped favorites I can’t stand).

Of course, there are a lot of variables involved with keeping a soap moving through a week. Actor episode guarantees being one of them. Soaps can’t usually afford to play people everyday (unless you’re Bradley Bell with a tiny cast of favorites), so choices have to be made and stories need to be rotated.

There needs to be some passing of the baton between episodes, of course, with each day’s minor cliffhanger getting some resolution the next day (some soaps just don’t do that, preferring to give some “catharsis” from the day’s episode that doesn’t necessarily make you want to tune in tomorrow—like a big romantic montage).

So, what are your thoughts on how daily soaps have structured their weeks? Which soaps do you feel best paced you through the week without dropping the ball mid-week, keeping the tension and momentum going? Are there days of the week you have traditionally most skipped when you were slammed with work or life stuff? Do you recall any soap writers or producers offering their insights or philosophies on how the day of the week dictates content?

Edited September 4, 2023 by Faulkner

[Contessa Donatella]

I really enjoyed the "different" episodes that GL did.

The in depth character-based Wednesdays varied. Some were excellent & some not so much.

The episodes about outreach into the community where GL helped build Habitat houses were very interesting to me. The one of the Gulf Coast was the most interesting but it was also the one they spent the most time with. 

Similarly, I enjoyed the Marvel crossover event. Just last week I was looking on the web to see if I could find the drawings that Shawn Reeves did of various Marvel characters besides Harley's. Didn't find them.

I also really liked the production video they did of Springfield "Cops". 

I am aware though that more fans online did not like this stuff than did. 

There's no way to do things like this without it taking you out of the moment. If you consider it enhanced content & just slip back into the moment the next day, fine. If you don't, problem. Another thing they could do is produce such content & put it up on their website, as an Extras tab or as a Webisode. Largely I think now that the soaps work so fast that there's no room for "extra". 

As far as the classic things that are done on Friday, compared to other days, I watch DAYS & GH & both of them are guilty of paying no heed to what happens on what day. They also do not respect that certain stories DO get followed up the every next day. 

For example right now on DAYS EJ has decided to seek vengeance for his mother's death which happened months ago. Supposedly it is because he's been having dreams about her. In actuality they're doing it now because they're going to reveal her as alive. 

I remember we used to complain that we only got to see the POC on Tuesday & Thursdays on DAYS - Lexie, Abe, Theo, Celeste. And last year Challie fans complained that we only saw them once a week, usually Wednesday. Neither of them are classic uses of those days.