By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com
INT. SOAP OPERA WRITERS’ ROOM – THURSDAY MORNING
A small, windowless room furnished with a table and chairs that were slightly worn back when the show was shot in black and white. A group of WRITERS grimace as they look at the latest ratings. The show has hit record lows in its key demographic – Women 18-49. The HEAD WRITER pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lights up in defiance of his nicotine patch. His SECOND IN COMMAND pulls a silver flask out of her purse and takes a swig.
HEAD WRITER: Damn. I thought the story where our presumed dead heroine was kidnapped and tortured for a month while her husband impregnated both her best friend and her mother would turn things around.
SECOND IN COMMAND: It was edgy. And dark. Very HBO. I don’t understand why the audience didn’t respond.
An intern wanders in with a stack of scripts.
HEAD WRITER: Hey, kid, what do you and your friends like to do? Are you on that MySpace?
The intern suppresses a giggle.
INTERN: Last night we went to a bar. Since this internship doesn’t pay, we ended up letting these skeevy forty year old investment bankers buy us drinks. It was ---
SECOND IN COMMAND: (OVER) That’s it! Young women are into older men! It’s sexy. It’s daring. Very Showtime.
INTERN: (MUTTERING) Actually, it was pretty disgusting.
HEAD WRITER: I know! Our college student volunteers at a nursing home and falls in love with a 95 year old!
The above scenario is entirely fictional. But it’s as good an explanation as any for the sudden influx of stories about women falling for men old enough to be their fathers.
On The Young & The Restless, the 30ish Sabrina is engaged to her best friend’s 60-something Dad. [Watch Victor propose to Sabrina, and then watch them share the good news.] This plot has so many creepy psychosexual overtones that the show ought to change its name to Carl Jung & The Restless.
Take the recent scene where Victor gifted Sabrina with a Barbie doll. It reminded me of those stories about how pedophiles groom their future victims by giving them toys. Okay. That’s an unfair exaggeration. It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Sabrina might genuinely enjoy the company of a worldly billionaire, or at least his bank account. Sabrina is allegedly an intelligent, sophisticated adult.
Unlike Days of Our Lives’ Chelsea Brady. Chelsea is a college student. She had a sweet relationship with the 20-something Nick. She lost interest in him when she met 40-something Dr. Daniel Jonas. Apparently, the way to a young woman’s heart is through an incision to her pancreas.
This story is disgusting. First of all, Chelsea is being written like a teenager with a crush based on hero worship. Second, Dr. Jonas took a chunk out of her pancreas in a risky transplant operation that saved her father’s life – again with the creepy psychosexual overtones – and rendered her infertile. This means that when the doctor sticks his middle-aged tongue in her barely legal mouth, he’s not just pervy, he’s unethical. Third, Dr. Jonas speaks in pseudo-surfer patois that seems lifted from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I have a feeling this is supposed to make him seem cool, but it actually makes him seem even older – like a high school teacher who attempts to use teen slang.
Admittedly, the actor who plays Dr. Jonas, Shawn Christian, is really hot. I would hit that if I had the chance. But I am a generation older than Chelsea – and Shawn Christian is older than any guy I’ve ever dated. He is two years older than Julie Pinson, the actress who played Chelsea’s mother. That’s just wrong.
These storylines get under my skin because soap operas are, among other things, wish fulfillment fantasies for a predominantly female audience. They should be an escape from an America where a woman’s sex appeal is assumed to diminish with age, while men are considered attractive long after they become eligible for social security.
Recently, I had a conversation with a male friend about dating. He listed his upper-age limit for potential girlfriends as a year younger than me. My friend is six years older than I am! Granted, he’s a grown up version of the guys from Gossip Girl who frequently says things that make me want to ram my stilettos into his Upper East Side. But it still felt like being punched in the stomach. The worst part is that he has no trouble attracting women a decade younger than him. Though he’d beg to differ, he’s no Shawn Christian.
This dynamic is, arguably, what makes the Victor and Sabrina storyline realistic. After all, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone (chairman of Viacom, which owns Y&R‘s network, CBS) married a woman who is 40 years younger than he is. This is the world we live in. But it’s not the world of my fantasies.
Entertainment for women should make us feel better about ourselves. A soap opera should take place in a universe where the woman from the wrong side of the tracks, the woman who doesn’t look like she stepped off the cover of Vogue, the woman who is *gasp* over 40, can triumph. These days, soap operas too often forget this. Is it any wonder that ratings are plunging? I don’t want to give an hour of my day to programming that tells me that I’m undesirable. If daytime wants to get its female viewers back, it ought to show us some love in the afternoon.
[watch full episodes of The Young & The Restless and As The World Turns]
Comments (13)
Hi Sara...thanks for posting...I am enjoying your blog.
As far as the Dan and Chelsea pairing, it does not bother me because I really did not find the pairing with Nick all that compelling. You call it sweet, but I just found it tiresome and very high-schoolish. I find her relationship with Dan a tad more interesting than watching Nick get stripped of his balls and continue to try and help Chelsea be a better person...over and over again. To be honest, constantly pairing people up period, is not soapy goodness for me. I don't mind May-December pairings, but justify it for me. Give me a story to get behind. I would have enjoyed seeing Nick with Billie. I thought there was an opportunity there for the writers to show some growth on Billie's part through a developing love story with a man who, though younger, was also presented as being mature.
That being said, as someone in the 18-49 demo, I simply long for someone to show me consequences and real ramifications. I remember reading somewhere that soaps worked best when they focused on the consequences of characters' actions, good or bad; that stories were written to show just that result. I do not see that happening nowadays. Where is the fallout from Kayla finding Steve in bed with Ava on Days? Was Ji-Min just a figment of my imagination?
Soaps seem to hop from event to event to event...from stunt cast to stunt cast to stunt cast...all without the in-between stuff that makes a good story.
Posted by Leslie | June 3, 2008 10:19 PM
Posted on June 3, 2008 22:19
Amen to your insightful comments, Sara. I actually know of someone who just had a baby with a women born one day before his daughter and I think it's disgusting. Every time i watch Sabrina and Vic it reminds me of that pairing. I don't know what Y&R is thinking with this storyline it's gross and it makes my skin crawl.
Posted by KC | June 4, 2008 1:48 AM
Posted on June 4, 2008 01:48
I can not say i agree with your opinion people. For Daniel and Chelsea are the only reason I am watching the soap. They have some serious chemistry going on and most people dont wanna give it a chance because they are close minded and have their mind set to a certain tune. They are amazing though and they bring heart and heat to the screen when they are on. So for me give me some Dansea loving and Im there!!
Posted by haydee | June 18, 2008 1:20 AM
Posted on June 18, 2008 01:20
I see nothing disgusting about the pairing of Daniel and Chelsea in fact I find it very interesting. Never have I seen two characters that have chemistry and a connection like Daniel and Chelsea. They are two consenting adults and the realism of the story is awesome. Days has a classic romance in the making and I am all for it. Older man and younger woman is happening all around us today in the real world so I say go for it.
Posted by Connie Dolph | June 18, 2008 1:27 AM
Posted on June 18, 2008 01:27
I am saddened by your closed minded and judgmental opinion of the Daniel and Chelsea relationship. There is nothing disgusting about love between two consenting adults. Furthermore, your post insults the countless people in successful older man/younger woman relationships. I am appalled that in the year 2008, we have such narrow thinking about a love story with an age difference.
I enjoy the story of Daniel and Chelsea, I was captivated from their first scene together. The actors have a natural chemistry that just leaps off the screen. I am blown away each time I see them together. The age difference is one aspect of the story, but not the whole story. This is about a love that probably shouldn't happen, but cannot be denied. Two people with tragic paths and an inherent sadness were drawn together to help each other heal. They were mutually attracted to each other before they even knew who the other was.
The complications of age, him being her doctor, his reticence, her (most likely) disapproving father, all add nice soapy layers to this very classic love story. In the end, it will be about Chelsea and Daniel against the world; trying to make an unconventional relationship work.
Posted by Roselyn | June 18, 2008 1:30 AM
Posted on June 18, 2008 01:30
Very true sentiment on the horrific pairing of Chelsea and Daniel. There isn't just one problem with the pairing, there are at least six. (instant love, robbing of Nick's screentime, dumbing down of Daniel, ickiness of how bad they look, Chelsea is a stalker now, and endless propping of Daniel and his magical surfing penis).
I've found many people turned off by this pairing by many different reasons.
Posted by Tripp | June 30, 2008 10:22 AM
Posted on June 30, 2008 10:22
Why is it that people that don't like the Chan pairing are automatically viewed as being closed minded, or as I saw from one unenlightened poster on another blog, bigoted? Give me a break. Where some see chemistry, I see a vacuum. While I give RM credit for seeming to be into the pairing, SC is not giving back nearly anything to make me think that Daniel wants Chelsea.
I could have handled this storyline with a younger version of Daniel, in more of the 30ish range than 40's and with a different actor. I do not like at all how the two look together, and that does not make me closed minded. It makes me a discriminating viewer. If I have to search for and make up reasons that a couple is together, then they are not a good couple. I also am not interested in a couple that's already in love before they ever go on their first date.
Oh and speaking of first dates, talk about unromantic. If you're a doctor and you're on call, you leave and take care of business. You don't slam your date in her grandmother's hospital room (incidentally, he has FAR more chemistry with Kate than he does Chelsea) and have some random person bring her food. Having Chelsea go with him to the hospital only emphasized her slavish adoration and puppy like following of Dr. Wonderful everywhere.
If the writers want to make me like Chan, recast a younger actor, stop propping Daniel to high heaven as the second coming and stop making Chelsea appear like a teenager. Watching her prepare for her first date was like watching a 15 year old. Sorry but that's not going to sell me on her maturity.
Anyway, I'm getting long winded, but just wanted to say Bravo Biz, you got it right.
Posted by Nolebucgrl | June 30, 2008 10:39 AM
Posted on June 30, 2008 10:39
WORD on how awful Chelsea/Daniel are. And what is up with the wasting of the cute "Geek gets the girl" story by letting Chelsea's feelings for him just die? BB and RM were so cute together! And they sure didn't make me want to throw up in my mouth when I see Chan kiss.
And I can't see SC hot anymore. When they made him Dr. McStatutory, I lost interest.
Posted by Jane | June 30, 2008 11:02 AM
Posted on June 30, 2008 11:02
Great post. As a 38 year old woman, I don't tune into Days to watch a man in my age bracket having insta-luv of the chemistry free variety for a woman half his age. (And yeah, those of us who hate Chan actually aren't all Chick fans or even Nick fans, just people who can't stand this pairing.) I don't mind well-written May-December romances, but I have to have some reason to believe this couple cares about each other--or I have to see that the older man is a predator and this is a cautionary tale. I'm not getting either with this non-couple. Hey--how about a May-December romance where the younger guy finds the older woman hot? EJ-Kate doesn't really count because that was never meant to be a romantic couple, but at least it was a step in the right direction. Actually, I personally prefer couples who are closer in age to each other and don't like big age gaps no matter which gender is the older, but that's just me. Anyway, again, great post and from your lips to the writers' ears.
Posted by Paxton | June 30, 2008 11:45 AM
Posted on June 30, 2008 11:45
I, personally, do not have an issue with May-December romances. That being said, though, I do not care for Chan at all.
Their appearances are not helping matters. SC looks every inch his age (which is not a bad thing, by the way) and creepily like her on-screen father. RM looks 16 on a good day. That isn't even my biggest problem with the pairing, though.
My main issue with Chan is the maturity level of this duo. Chelsea has never been the most mature of characters. Regardless of the character's stated age, she has always acted like the perpetual egocentric child. Now, in order to pair her with the "Magical Surfing Penis" (I love that phrase, Tripp!), they have to dumb him down. Here is this doctor who seems to have breezed through medical school and interning much faster than most, and yet they have him speaking in outdated slang in a failed attempt to make him seem "young enough" for Chelsea.
Where is the story in which Chelsea must grow to be with Daniel? In my humble opinion as a woman in that much sought-after age bracket, couples should be about bringing the best out in each character, not tearing them down so they can be on the same level. They should have to grow and mature to be together, not regress. There can be backsliding (because we're all human), but that just creates a lot of the soapy goodness we all want to see. All-in-all, though, a good romance is about lifting each other up.
Posted by RileyKay | June 30, 2008 1:07 PM
Posted on June 30, 2008 13:07
I do not find Chelsea/Nick pairing appealing after all. Rachel is a very good actress and she is not fitted with all these HS crush stories. She needs to play mature roles in order to grow on the show and become one of the leading actresses in the future. Chelsea has shown maturity on the show lately. She broke-up with Nick and did not string him along. She knows what she wants and it is not Nick. Immature women will not do this, it will take them forever to decide what they want and probably, go out with 2 guys. Chelsea did not do that and that is maturity to me.
As for Chelsea and Daniel pairing, I see lots of potential for this couple. Rachel and Shawn are very talented and they have undeniable chemistry together. Rachel and Shawn are enjoying their current storyline and working together based on interviews and their answers to questions. Age is not an issue to me since there are so many successful marriages where the man is a lot older than the woman. I am just happy that Days is not wasting the talents of Rachel and Shawn.
Posted by christie | June 30, 2008 3:12 PM
Posted on June 30, 2008 15:12
I agree with you 100% on Chelsea/Daniel. I've always loved Days, but these scenes are hard to even FF thru. It's a truly disgusting storyline. Her feeding him hospital jello stolen from a patient's tray was a new low for me... My 16 year old niece looks older and acts more mature. You've mentioned everything I find distasteful about Dr. Dan. Worst S/L ever!
Posted by Jennifer | July 1, 2008 12:05 PM
Posted on July 1, 2008 12:05
I have been a long time viewer of DOOL, over 25 years. I love the new pairing of Daniel and Chelsea. I can honestly say that I have not been this captivated by a couple since the early days of Steve and Kayla, Jack and Jenn and Kim and Shane. Daniel and Chelsea are two adults. Yes, they are very different, and not necessarily a perfect match. But that is what makes them so interesting. They don't need third party obstacles (ie. Kate) to keep up the drama. The age difference, the fact that she was his patient, his late wife and her family's disapproval is what makes this a classic love story of two people who are not right on paper but cannot stay away from eachother because they feel so right together.
Posted by Michelle | July 15, 2008 10:02 AM
Posted on July 15, 2008 10:02