By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com
Show of the Week
I never thought I’d be saying this about the current incarnation of the show, but last week’s All My Children was fantastic. After months of downbeat, unpleasant stories, AMC managed to pull everything together and deliver a week of dramatic, emotionally satisfying television. It all started at the remarriage of beloved 80s supercouple Jesse and Angie. Their portrayers, the brilliant Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams returned this winter to much fanfare. But their story didn’t make a whole lot of sense. (Jesse faked his own death two decades ago and was still in danger because he owned some diamonds that a mad man who was related to another former arch-villain wanted? Huh?) Somehow, it didn’t matter. The wedding itself hit all the right beats, from the return of their old-friend from back in the day Greg Nelson, to dialogue that was classic AMC.
Afterwards, it all went to hell, as the psycho Rob got his revenge, shooting Tad and Julia. I don’t agree with the decision to kill the character of Julia, especially since she had a natural story as Kate’s adoptive mother. But the death scenes were poignant as viewers saw the entire town of Pine Valley react to the death.
For me, the best scenes were Friday. Tad, hovering between life and death, saw the life he would have, should have, could have had with the love of his life, Dixie. (For those of you who haven’t been watching, Dixie was senselessly murdered by a serial killer last year. Her ghost has appeared in recent weeks with the goal of uniting Tad with their daughter that he doesn’t know is his. It’s better than it sounds.) Bringing back dead characters as ghosts because is becoming a tired cliché, (John on Y&R, Alan on General Hospital, Tammy on Guiding Light) but in this case it works. In a series of touching scenes, Tad and the audience got to witness Kate’s birth, see them happily raise their daughter, and enjoy their retirement years together. By the end of the episode, tears were streaming down my face. The sequence reminded me that daytime can do something no other medium can: tell stories in real time. Tad and Dixie have been a part of my life since junior high. The emotional resonance and depth came from seeing their actual story play out much less harmoniously over a period of decades. Kudos to Michael Knight (Tad) and Cady McLain (Dixie) for their subtle, powerful work, and to the make-up department for doing a good job making the actors age from their thirties to their sixties in the space of an episode.
May Sweeps Review
Now that May has come to an end, it’s time to assess the sweeps period. Or should I say “sweeps” period. With shows still focusing on regrouping from the writer’s strike, many opted to keep things low key. There was no real time hostage crisis at the Metro Court or other high-concept stunts.
The Winners:
One Life To Live: OLTL must be a very efficient show. It was still airing pre-strike episodes in February, a month after most other shows went to scab teams. Unfortunately, this meant that daytime it-boy of the moment, headwriter Ron Carlivati’s, work wasn’t back on screen until May. He did an amazing job of quickly jettisoning what wasn’t working (the weird Christian-Jessica-Nash-Sarah quadrangle) while keeping the interim team’s good ideas (Adrianna is a fabulous villainess – who would have guessed?) The show managed to put together a well-shot location sequence and the most entertaining soap wedding I’ve seen in years. The hard work paid off; the show tied General Hospital for second place in the key demographic of Women 18-49 last week. Even better, spoilers indicate that the show is going to keep delivering in June.
Bold & The Beautiful: I’ve already raved about the storyline in which Storm Logan committed suicide so his sister Katie could receive his heart. It was a powerful storyline that intermingled tragedy with hope. The show cleverly used the transplant as a complication in a love triangle, as the recuperating Katie has moved in with the man she wants and his girlfriend. The revelation that social-climber Donna had a long lost African American son was surprising – and welcome given that B&B’s version of L.A. usually looks more like rural Idaho. Bradley Bell’s decision to bring back the Logan family has reinvigorated the show. B&B’s ratings have remained steady despite the rapid decline of its lead-in and sister show, The Young & The Restless.
The Losers: All of daytime. Ratings were nothing short of disastrous across the board, with the entire ABC line up and The Young & The Restless suffering huge drops. Y&R’s was particularly shocking. After years of hovering in the 4.0-4.2 range in Household ratings, it spent May in free-fall, hitting a 3.4 in Households for the week of May 19th. Unfortunately, Y&R’s ratings drive the rest of CBS’s line-up. The only show showing any measure of year-to-year growth is Days of Our Lives, and that’s because 2007 was its annus horribilis. ABC’s flagship General Hospital took a risk. Mob boss Sonny Corinthos’s tweenaged son was caught in the crossfire and ended up brain dead. The scenes were well-written and directed, but the story was depressing. Judging by their record low ratings, it seems to have driven away viewers.
My theory: unfortunately, if we want to watch stories about young people dying before their time, we can see it every night on the news. Right now, the audience wants fun, escapist entertainment. That’s in short supply on soap operas right now. Let’s hope daytime gets the message.
Comments (6)
i am new to soaps watch them as bonding time with my mom but i just don't understand them at all. watch oltl and y&r.
i just don't think i am watching them correctly, my mom tries to explain the history and i come on the message boards for added reference but i am just not seeing what everyone else is especially about oltl
i don't understand what soapy means. for example the wedding i thought it was corny and predictable that gigi confessed her love for rex at that time instead of when she was alone with him earlier where she could have a more heartfelt discussion. the teenage pregnancy is all sorts of wrong. the fake incest is just a turn-off and why is david tied up half - naked so classic soap. how did dorian buy up enough stock to take over BE right under everyones noses. does soapy means that non-white characters are written stereotypical or as backdrops.
maybe it's just me, maybe it's my generation or maybe it's that i watch to much other quality shows that i find myself comparing them to oltl.
Posted by nextgen | June 2, 2008 7:56 PM
Posted on June 2, 2008 19:56
I actually don't necessarily want fun, escapist fair. i want something i can care about. to me plot is secondary. i'm more in the tom c. mode. i want my soapiness back and a prime component of that is character. i don't need fun, but i need characters that i can care about and get involved with. its the caring i want, not the whimsical plots.
Posted by sydney | June 3, 2008 2:09 AM
Posted on June 3, 2008 02:09
I appreciate this insightful blog! It is refreshing to hear from someone that knows what they are talking about.
I couldn't agree more about May sweeps. OLTL is getting back to what soap viewers have long asked for....well told dramatic stories that encompass a variety of characters. If they can work on getting the "love in the afternoon" back on the show I feel it's ratings will begin to reflect how good it has become.
Diametrically opposed to OLTL is Y&R. After keeping up with this show since it's beginnings they have finally succeeded in driving me away. The only two shows I watched all month were the 5/22 and 5/26 shows that dealt with remembering Cassie. Even three years after her death it's repercussions still resonate throughout Genoa City. I had high hopes that once LML was gone the new writers would try to repair the damage she had done not only to the characters but to the couples as well. But instead we have a couple that was birthed out of the death of a child still being promoted as if they are the golden couple of the show. We have characters that we loved who are now heartless and soulless shadows of who they once were. At this point, it would take drastic measures for me to want to watch again. And that's a shame since the show boasts one of the most talented casts on daytime.
Posted by Becki | June 3, 2008 9:05 AM
Posted on June 3, 2008 09:05
My theory: unfortunately, if we want to watch stories about young people dying before their time, we can see it every night on the news. Right now, the audience wants fun, escapist entertainment.
I agree, Sara, though I also think that there's a demand for a certain level of reality. I don't think that fantasy as many of the soaps portrayed in the 1980s could fly today.
I want daytime to be daytime, and love soaps for being what they are. But the one thing much of prime time DOES seem to balance better than soaps these days is the line between escapist fantasy and reality.
Posted by Patrick Erwin | June 3, 2008 5:09 PM
Posted on June 3, 2008 17:09
HI Sara,
I love your blog and your insights. I agree with many of your constructive comments about the current state of the genre. I find the writing to be less than stellar, the management decisions poor, and the acting frequently horrific.
But I love this genre a lot, and still have great hope about it's ability to entertain, connect, and educate it's viewers.
One interesting issue that comes up a lot on your blog and with these comments is the issue of how the budget cuts affects quality. You mentioned in a previous post how DAYS was able to send the entire cast to England for Bo & Hope's first wedding in 1985. True. But as a longtime DAYS viewer I can tell you it wasn't England that made that show great, it was the emotional culmination of these two beloved complex characters overcoming inner and outer obstacles.
Good stories about CHARACTERS can be told in English churches or in front of cardboard cutouts of cityscapes. If you want a great example of this, check out the Ryan's Hope reruns on Soapnet. There you have incredible writing with a laughable budget. But this show told arguably some of the deepest and most compelling stories ever on daytime. I believe that if this much quality was invested in the writing, these frightening sweeps ratings would improve.
Anyway, thank you for your posts, please keep 'em coming!
Posted by Fabobug | June 7, 2008 5:29 PM
Posted on June 7, 2008 17:29
I love your column. I would love for you to be writing one of the soaps I watch - or used to watch. GH, anyone? Can't stomach that one anymore and can't understand how come a fairly decent soap like GL has even lower ratings??
I know you could never address this: But I wonder if anyone out there really knows how Robert Guza - probably one of the most riviled writers in soap history - manages to keep his job?
Posted by Daphne | June 22, 2008 8:46 AM
Posted on June 22, 2008 08:46