By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com
There’s an old saying – the opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference. In my opinion, it definitely applies to soap viewing. The on-line viewers have raged against such theoretically show killing stories as Reva’s cloning on Guiding Light, the reconning of Erica’s abortion into a long lost son on All My Children and the majority of Jim Reilly’s reign on Days of Our Lives. But, from a ratings standpoint, these stories were fine. Perhaps even successful. It seems that a show can withstand pissed of viewers who are ready to set up picket signs in front of the studio. What it cannot withstand is viewers who are bored. That seems to be the case with The Young & The Restless. Throughout Lynn Latham’s stint as the sole head writer and executive producer, fans were up in arms about the many changes she made to the show. (I’m not going to go into details, because as a former Y&R writer I can’t possibly be objective.) When she was let go, the fans rejoiced. Then the ratings plummeted. What happened?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I can’t figure out what the storylines are on this show. Jack, Phyllis, Nick and Sharon decided to start a magazine. And they did. Victor’s children disapprove of his engagement to a younger woman who talks incessantly about art, but they aren’t doing anything to stop it. Jeff has the goods on Gloria, but he’s not going to expose her for the back alley grifter she is. The show is the television equivalent of Muzac. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s so dull that nobody would ever seek it out. I’m wishing with all my extremely biased Y&R loving heart that the show manages to turn things around ASAP. Let Gloria get busted, let the fallout take down her sons Michael and Kevin. Give Jabot back to the Abbotts. Let Jack win and Victor lose for once. Maybe Sabrina is on Jack’s payroll. It would explain a lot. Hell, do something completely ridiculous. Just do something. Please.
Let’s Hear It For The Boys
In the past few weeks, not only has Snoop Dogg outed himself as a soap fan, but Dr. Gregory House was so concerned that his favorite soap actor was ill that he kidnapped him. Yes, I realize House is a fictional character – and I love that primetime’s smartest character is a hardcore soap fan. But what I really love is that they’re men who are out and proud about their love of daytime dramas. I’ve noticed that, on-line at least, there are plenty of male soap viewers. According to the ratings, they make up about a quarter of the daytime audience. Yet male viewers are utterly ignored by advertisers, the networks, and SoapNet. In an era of Tivo, telecommuting and stay-at-home Dads, men could become the one growing sector of the daytime audience. Let’s hope TPTB wakes up to the existence of male viewers soon. One day on the WGA picket line I met hipster memoirist Neal Pollack, author of Alternadad. When I told him what I did, I braced myself for a snide joke. Instead he proceeded to tell me why Nick from Y&R belonged with Sharon instead of Phyllis. A woman I know was surprised recently when the guy she was seeing turned down sex because he wanted to watch the night run of Y&R on SoapNet. The incident made her question their relationship. Especially since Y&R has been so damn boring lately. Men who watch soaps – I salute you.
Condescend To Me, Please
I was ecstatic that The New York Times featured an article about the popularity of Luke and Noah on As The World Turns. Until I read it. Starting with it’s opening sentence, “If you are between the ages of 13 and 87, the last time you met anyone who described herself as a loyal viewer of daytime soap operas you were probably still hoarding quarters for pay phones and maintaining a casual position on sunscreen,.” the article seemed as much about the reporter’s effort to assert her superiority over soap opera fans as the fascinating story of how the couple’s on-line popularity may have helped improve ratings among young viewers. She even got the facts wrong. The article states that Luke and Noah shared daytime’s first gay kiss. As 99% of soap viewers know, that honor belongs to Bianca and Lena from All My Children. With the possible exception of professional wrestling, I can’t think of another form of entertainment which gets treated with such open derision. In comparison, The New Yorker recently compared the Gossip Girl books to Evelyn Waugh’s works. Hannah Montana is treated as a serious social phenomenon.
Is it the soaps themselves or is it that soap opera fans are widely perceived as poor, uneducated and unsophisticated? The legions of smart, interesting soap opera fans from all walks of life that I met while working on Y&R disprove that stereotype. But I worry that this belief that soap viewers are somehow inferior is leading TPTB to program accordingly. If a network executive believes the shows he oversees are for the lowest common denominator, he’s going to pressure the writers to dumb down the dialogue and stories. He’s going to lower budgets – unsophisticated people won’t notice bad lighting. In the end it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that drives away viewers.
Comments (5)
I couldn't agree more! Everyday I anxiously await the last tag of Y&R, hoping that we're going to see:
Sabrina (Dials the phone. After a beat): Everything is going according to plan. (BEAT) No...he doesn't suspect a thing. (Close on Sabrina as we: FADE OUT.
Instead, I'm forcing back a yawn and already dreading the horribly telegraphed romp in the sack they're slowly (and painfully, I might add...)setting up between Adam & Sabrina.
Posted by A | May 21, 2008 2:32 PM
Posted on May 21, 2008 14:32
here, here! i keep remembering the "golden" days of soaps when a soap day could last 2 weeks. it might have been long, but things were happening. i don't ever remember being as bored then and i have been watching y&r. these days, it seems like y&r changes head writers faster than it changes storylines.
i also agree with tptb not understanding the audience anymore. my favorite character on y&r is an art history professor, who talks like an art history professor. he used to have bright, slightly snarky dialog which showed his obvious intelligence and to hell with you if you didn't understand what he said. look it up. now, he has been dumbed down. very few people object to his dialog these days. he doesn't really have any.
i wonder if the hiring of hogan sheffer is an attempt to court male viewers. he has a reputation for making male characters put down the purses that they've been holding for the females. interesting times.
Posted by sydney | May 22, 2008 12:22 AM
Posted on May 22, 2008 00:22
Sara, I agree with you 100% about the NY Times article. In this day and age I feel as if the avid Soap viewers has to be more educated, and more sophisticated based on what the genre covers. Soaps have been the first movers in so many regards. Agnes Nixon prides herself on creating two series that focused on social issues of the time, One Life to Live and All My Children.
The soap opera was also the framework for the modern primetime drama. Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brother's & Sisters... they all share the major elements of what made/makes good soap opera. The type of drama, family tension, over arching umbrella storyline, they are all facets pioneered by classic daytime television.
The issue at hand now is reminding current daytime headwriters of this very fact. So many of them want to imitate primetime writers, forgetting these basic factors that make daytime drama so great.
Take All My Children for example. Right now, it is like watching two separate shows. The Jesse/Angie part of the show just shines. The acting is spot on, the writing is spot on, and it respectful to the show's history. The other parts of the show come off as dribble: Annie's quest to get Ryan to remember her, the backburned storyline about Kate Martin, Kendall and Aidan's affair...
These plot points are great plots, but that is just it, it is all plot. Jesse and Angie on the other hand is about characterization. What motivated Jesse to stay away for so long? What is the nature of the love Jesse and Angie share with each other? With their children? It is so beautiful, and so "classic soap," it is hard to imagine that all the residents of Pine Valley are on the same soap.
I know you said you were a huge AMC fan in your first blog, so I want to also share my site with you. The All My Children History Project: http://amchistory.powweb.com/
Take a look, and I would love to know what you think!
Posted by AMCHistory | May 22, 2008 2:35 AM
Posted on May 22, 2008 02:35
Daytime soaps used to lead the way now if I want to see a good soap I watch primetime. Daytime is stagnant. The same stories, the same plots...nothing ever changes. This is not a knock at you Sara but I strongly feel daytime needs an infusion of new blood. Hogan Sheffer may or may not help Y&R but the industry needs to start thinking outside the box and stop recycling the same small group of writers. They need writers with a less myopic view of the world. The reason primetime soaps are more entertaining, to me at least, is they represent the present. I look at daytime soaps and they appear dated.
Posted by Roz | May 23, 2008 8:56 AM
Posted on May 23, 2008 08:56
I couldn't agree more with you, Roz, about the need for new blood in daytime dramas. It doesn't matter which soap you tune into to, you see the same storylines being recycled ... just different town, different names. At least with crazy Jim Reilly, we saw something different, albeit nutty and incredulous. (Witchcraft and satanic possession, anyone? What about all of those people murdered off only to be found on some Caribbean island months later?) Sara, your comment on TPTB possibly treating their viewers as the "lowest common denominator" really struck home. That MUST explain some of the god-awful plotlines! Contrary to popular opinion, fans are not dumb rubes. Many of us were hooked in the 80s (or in my case, the 70s) as a by-blow of our mothers' viewing or a teen friend's urging. So, my question to you, Sara, as a soap writer and bloggist is this: do you scribes ever read the fansites to learn about our deepest wishes and speculations for our favorite characters? Another writer, Tom C. states on his myspace page that there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between writers and fans. First, this group of diehard fans can practically draw the family trees and recite the HISTORY and LEGACIES of all the characters. Secondly, some of the forums discuss their fantasy storylines (often with the most interesting and inspired plot twists). Thirdly,it would seem to me that the only way to cash in on the Nielsen gold mine is to listen to what the viewers want.
Posted by lisa | June 18, 2008 10:08 PM
Posted on June 18, 2008 22:08