How do Soaps do it?

Soaps are great if they are Coronation Street...the others are just an addiction that I can stop anytime I want 😉...I just don't want to.
BTW do any other of our Brit members have an opinion about Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach the post-modern meta fictiony thing on ITV1 at the moment? We like it at Pointy Towers but we don't yet love it even though the producers came up with Life on Mars and Hustle...which we did love.
Echo Beach could make or break ITV relaunch - Times Online
 
haven't really been paying much attention to it. wanted to give it a go, basically for Jason Donovan (such a fangirlie) but i, uh, forgot. lol
 
If I was home every day and there was nothing to watch, maybe I'd force myself to watch one, but I doubt it 😛 But it could happen!
 
GATEGOD said:
Is it because I'm a guy that I find them way too over dramatic and weird or is it because they are? But then again the soap I've ever "ACCIDENTLY flipped on" was some old lady, a little boy, they were witches, chanting some nonsence, I think they were evil and they kept playing that overdramtic music at the end of every scene!! lol It was funny, but I don't think it was meant to be, if you know what I mean? It was more laughing at then with. So your saying that they just make shows to fill time and to not mean anything or inspire or be complex or something? I don't know how a soap can get all the way to evil withces weird children and crazy chants and not be thought out.. lol maybe I can 😛 but then again I shouldn't judge I have maybe seen an hour of soup operas for MY entire life. So I'm a crappy judge of them. Just the one weird one I saw which turned me far far away from them.
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That would be Passions you're referring to,GATEGOD. And,it looks like the soap will be ashcanned for GOOD this time...DirecTV cancelled it a few weeks ago;NBC dumped it last September. Don't judge all soaps on the actions of one.

You're not the only one to think that,by the way;light moments-even comic ones-are always welcome on soaps. But Passions really overdoes it. It's almost as if they're trying to be self-consicous...but without,say,"Buffy"'s skill at it.
 
Randy Giles said:
They could do cycles, have one show go for 13 weeks, have another one on for 13, and then bring the first one back. I think it would allow for more time to film, which means slightly better acting. Except the ones on My Network TV filmed most of it in one take, which would explain why the five minutes I watched of one was so horrible.

And, I do have experience with a few soaps. My grandmother watched like four every day, and when I was younger during the summer I had to stay with her, so for like four months I had to watch those, I think she watched The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and....I think the fourth one was either Guiding Light or All My Children. Anyhoo, I can't say any of them had realistic characters IMO. 🙂 I think soaps would be better if they weren't CONSTANTLY about everyone cheating on each other ALL THE TIME.

But I guess I'm not a soap opera's target demo so it doesn't really matter.
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GH has tried/is trying this. GH had a spinoff, Port Charles, that ran in story arcs that lasted for 12 weeks or so. Then, another arc would pick up. It tanked. It was a ratings failure. The shows tried to be tied together, but that was crap, too, because the result was that one of their story arcs ended up demolishing a much-loved General Hospital tradition (the nurses' ball) for the sake of on of PC's crappy arcs. Many hardcore GH fans, like me, hated it. To top it all off, they made it about vampires! It was just terrible.

Now, GH has a primetime spinoff on Soapnet. It's called Night Shift. They're contracted to come back for a second season. It's more like a "regular" show: it's more episodic, it airs weekly, it has something like a 13 week schedule, it's got higher production values, etc. It's not as bad as PC was, but it's not drawing a ton of daytime GH fans, either. Honestly, I'll be surprised if it gets picked up for a third season.

So it's not that soap execs haven't thought of doing shorter arcs. It's that soap fans don't respond very well when those are offered. When soap fans want a regular show, we watch a regular show. When we want a soap, we Tivo it. The soap genre is a unique genre with its own unique set of rules and traditions. Asking soap fans to see their soap turned into a regular drama is like asking Buffy fans why they don't turn it into a soap!

As for the cheating thing, well... they do that. It's true. How else would we get to the inevitable paternity scandal story? 🙂
 
C
ckg927
Amen to that....the only thing that would make it even more fun is to have Maury reveal the paternity....:)
ckg927 said:
That would be Passions you're referring to,GATEGOD. And,it looks like the soap will be ashcanned for GOOD this time...DirecTV cancelled it a few weeks ago;NBC dumped it last September. Don't judge all soaps on the actions of one.

You're not the only one to think that,by the way;light moments-even comic ones-are always welcome on soaps. But Passions really overdoes it. It's almost as if they're trying to be self-consicous...but without,say,"Buffy"'s skill at it.
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So i should try and watch one, next summer when I'm actually at home every day 😛 ? I might, but the shows I've been accustomed to seem nothing like what soaps are, over-dramatic is something I don't like. But I could always give one a shot 🙂
 
palabravampiress said:
GH has tried/is trying this. GH had a spinoff, Port Charles, that ran in story arcs that lasted for 12 weeks or so. Then, another arc would pick up. It tanked. It was a ratings failure. The shows tried to be tied together, but that was crap, too, because the result was that one of their story arcs ended up demolishing a much-loved General Hospital tradition (the nurses' ball) for the sake of on of PC's crappy arcs. Many hardcore GH fans, like me, hated it. To top it all off, they made it about vampires! It was just terrible.

Now, GH has a primetime spinoff on Soapnet. It's called Night Shift. They're contracted to come back for a second season. It's more like a "regular" show: it's more episodic, it airs weekly, it has something like a 13 week schedule, it's got higher production values, etc. It's not as bad as PC was, but it's not drawing a ton of daytime GH fans, either. Honestly, I'll be surprised if it gets picked up for a third season.

So it's not that soap execs haven't thought of doing shorter arcs. It's that soap fans don't respond very well when those are offered. When soap fans want a regular show, we watch a regular show. When we want a soap, we Tivo it. The soap genre is a unique genre with its own unique set of rules and traditions. Asking soap fans to see their soap turned into a regular drama is like asking Buffy fans why they don't turn it into a soap!

As for the cheating thing, well... they do that. It's true. How else would we get to the inevitable paternity scandal story? 🙂
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The other bad thing about Port Charles was that in order to start it off they sent half the characters to that show, so the original suffered not having those characters anymore, AND the spinoff was unwatchable.
 
I used to love Eastenders, I still have vague idea of whats going on but nowhere near what I used to. I loved Grant and Tiffany! God how long ago was that? I'd still watch am auld ep if I had nothing else to do! the last time I really was caught up in it was the time of Kat and Alfie!LOL!

Anyone watch Home and Away? Remember Chloe and Lockey? and Shane and Angel?...I loved the show back then!
 
GATEGOD said:
So i should try and watch one, next summer when I'm actually at home every day 😛 ? I might, but the shows I've been accustomed to seem nothing like what soaps are, over-dramatic is something I don't like. But I could always give one a shot 🙂
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If you don't like melodrama, then you probably shouldn't watch soaps.

I, personally, love melodrama. I'm not really the emotional type. I'm actually kind of tough. I'm the person who can remain composed in order to give the eulogy. I'm the person who can stay calm in a crisis. I'm the person who can fall down, dislocate her knee, crack it back into place, and then catch up with you without crying or panicking. So, for me, the melodrama of soaps provides a much-needed catharsis. Because they're so over-the-top, soaps can elicit from me an intense emotional response that more subtle shows -- even my beloved Buffy -- could never ever achieve.
 
I've read about Port Charles before. That's the one soap I would actually try to watch, given the chance. I guess it doesn't come on anymore though.

The premise sounds way better than any other soap on the air.
 
I stopped watching soaps because they are so repetative and gross. I mean, moms share boyfriends with their daughters. Couples get together and break up 3million times in the course of 5 years. Everyone is rich...which is why I think alot of people watch it, because it's the life they wish to have. Not me of course, I am happy in life. Oh and I said alot of people, not everyone's reasons. 😉
People blackmailing each other for their boyfriends back and yada yada, blah, blah. You get my drift. I used to watch days and Y&R. I am sick on Y&R with the couple switching so much. It's just...eeeek. And on days, all the foney chips in your head making you a different person. And no, I don't mean like Spikes, I mean like...making you a princess in your mind when you're really just a gal. And people getting killed and coming back to life. Wait a minute...I may be talking about Buffy, lol. No but seriously, soaps are very bad. But it's ok for people to like em. I just still don't get what it is about them people like over really great shows that are on primetime.
Oh well. 🙂 I read the posts. Still don't really get it but I am glad you all shared your opinions.
 
It must be hard to keep the stories interesting when they do multiple episodes every week, all year. I think Eastenders is the best British soap. They do specials sometimes that are a bit more interesting than regular episodes. The last one I saw involved a car flipping over then rolling down a hill and into a lake, trapping the kids inside and prompting an underwater rescue. There have been a few explosions in the history of the show, too, but mostly it's just the cast hanging at some depressing bar, talking about ordinary things.
 
Ah I forgot to mention (I think) that I do like Dark Shadows, I have Collection 1, but it's way too slow and outdated for me to buy any more, so I'm going to see some more of it through Netflix. It's a pretty cool show, for a soap opera. The acting isn't AS "soap opera" melodramatic, the acting feels more like you're watching a play, which is far more bearable for me.

BTW has anyone heard of a Canadian soap rip-off of Dark Shadows called Strange Paradise? Good premise, but I tried watching an episode of YouTube and couldn't stop laughing.
 
hahaha they hook their viewers wih a false sense of romance and realism (meaning that you can see the realism in the show but at the same time realize that in no way shape or form could this EVER be reality LOL). Their target audience is full of hopeless romantics...its all about a couple finding a happy ending and their tender moments and as soon as it happens they are yet again ripped at the seems...when they can no longer write doom and gloom for a couple they send them away...they age the children over night to replace the lovers that left town.

No one is ever truly dead on a soap either and it leaves the viewers spell bound on how they pulled it off and they watch to find out never get that truth...its a vicious vicious cycle....LOL

in a way Buffy was a Soap only she got to slay demons...
 
Half the dramas on primetime could be considered soaps, lol. Even the ones that don't focus on romance and stuff like that.
 
Let me ask you this: On soaps...right now...is there one couple you can truly ROOT for? One that strikes all the right chords...gets you to laugh/cry/scream,etc.....give you the romantic butterflies?

The answer,sadly,is NO. If they're not torturing a couple with one circumstance after another(see Zach and Kendall of "All My Children" as the prime example of this),then they're falling in and out of love faster than they can do laundry.
 
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