ALL: Character names in opening credits

[Marco Dane]

Why did the soaps suddenly add the characters names on the opening credits back in 2002 and then stopped a couple of years later?

[SteelCity]

I recall Eric Braeden saying that he is NOT Victor Newman so it shouldn't say that on the opening. Something along those lines.

[Faulkner]

Wasn’t that mostly an ABC thing? The Bell soaps started introducing the primetime-style credits with the actors’ real names (and B&B had both the actor/character names for a while until they went back to the fashion magazine stills for the 30th). I don’t recall the P&G soaps ever doing them in the 2000s, correct me if I’m wrong. And the NBC soaps didn’t hop on trend (DAYS maintained its classic hourglass intro and Passions had those landscape shots of Harmony).

[All My Shadows]

It was just ABC (besides B&B), and it was just for a 2-4 years. Port Charles started it in 2000, then AMC’s new 2002 opening (with the return to the early 90s theme song) included the character names being scrawled across their headshots in the photo album. OLTL and GH added names to the openings they had already been using for years, but it just seemed unnecessary. All three ditched it when they went to the awful ABC-branded mess in spring/summer 2004. Port Charles had already been cancelled.

AMC did it again for the 2013 continuation.

Edited June 29, 2024 by All My Shadows

[detroitpiston]

Looking back I can appreciate the distinct brand synergy of the ABC soaps in the 00s a little more.