ALL: End of an Era: Are Daytime Soaps Washing Away?

[Marco Dane]

I wish abc would step its game up and get back into Daytime Soaps...

[Khan]

Say what you will about Maura West, but I've always appreciated the fact that she never phones in her performances.  Same goes for her current GH castmates, Jane Elliot, Cynthia Watros and Laura Wright.  Even when the writing for that foursome is [!@#$%^&*], they show up to work.

[Liberty City]

A.K.A. east coast vs. west coast hire.

Maura, no matter what, is magic with a script. She can turn even the shïttiest of writing into pure GOLD!

[Khan]

With some exceptions, "West Coast hires" can give you the extreme closeups, while "East Coast hires" can give you the pure, theatrical energy.  It's not a knock on either group, however.  It's just two different approaches toward the material.

[Planet Soap]

And just to be clear, I love Maura. I was knocking Kelly's latest performances.

[Sapounopera]

Team East Coast. Soaps suffered a huge loss when they stopped being produced in New York. And prior to that, when they started casting people with West Coast looks and acting skills.

[j swift]

Trust and believe, if daytime dramas were still effective in selling shampoo and dishwashing detergent, then nobody would care about the acting or story quality but us.  As evidenced by so much of the melodramatic acting and poor quality scripts from 1960s soaps.

But, when consumer product divisions started to scrimp on safety testing, and were deemed no longer as trustworthy, they lost profitability and found that the old ways of marketing were no longer a useful investment.  For example, the toxic shock lawsuits of the early 1980s were completely avoidable if P&G hadn't put sales before safety.  But once they lost 900 lawsuits and $58.2 million dollars, they could no longer afford to produce soap operas.   They also lost $24.2 million due to misleading the public on decongestants, and $45.6 million on deceptive marketing of probiotics.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/03/27/after-8-years-procter-still-not-free-of-the-rely-controversy/

Just think about the timing of these losses, and the resulting changes in the daytime landscape.  Because OJ and shock talkshows wouldn't have been allowed to flourish if ATWT was still pushing Prell.   Take a moment to watch the commercials on daytime now.  Nobody wants to invest in a medium that markets to people interested in mesothelioma lawsuits and dental assistant training programs. 

Edited September 14, 2024 by j swift

[Liberty City]

YUP! East coast talent was and is unmatched. Yes, west coast had some golden castings... but nothing in comparison to the east coast hires. Nothing.

[te.]

Well, I guess this is sort of an appropriate thread - but there's a trend with Netflix trying to do their shows / movies more "background" friendly:

 

Of course, this is historically how soaps often functioned - background noise for hausfraus while going on about their business and sitting down to watch the good parts. I think this is another sign why Days keeps getting renewed, Amazon picked up Neighbours and CBS pushed through with Beyond the Gates. People want some sort of format they can dive in and out of. 

[Soaplovers]

East Coast soap performers were broadway/stage performers.. and sometimes they forgot to tone it down for tv and it became too showy and not realistic.

I prefer the more subdued acting of someone like Ms. Mnoco over the over-acting of Maura West or Michelle Stafford.