Yes, most of us are aware that the best 2 daytime USA soap operas of all-time are still here:

The Young & The Restless
General Hospital

But how many of you remember THESE from the old-school:

The Edge Of Night
Ryan's Hope
Loving
Another World
Capitol
The Doctors
Dark Shadows
Search For Tomorrow

Now is a great time to have a thread like this. I have a theory that the soap opera is a dying art form.

Don't believe me? Have you ever watch NBC during daytime hours lately? Days Of Our Lives is THE last of the NBC soap operas. Another World, Santa Barbara, Sunset Beach, & Passion have been cancel within the last 20 years combine.

Without question, soap opera are dying out because of today's information technology (YouTube, IPhones, etc.) getting better by the month to the point that people would rely on them more for a source of entertaining. The state of the global economy is another factor, since would be housewives and/or househusbands are now working more hour at their day jobs to the point that no one can stay at home to watch one soap opera (especially The Young & The Restless).

But the real reason why (IMHO) the soap opera is a dying art form is because screenplay writers DO NOT know how to write a damn good storyline anymore (BTW, have you ever notice how a show like General Hospital ended up being more about organize crime than about the hospital itself?!?).

Without spending too much longer on writing an essay, I would love to hear some opinions on the state of soap operas. Whatever happen to then?
[Edited 12/3/09 21:15pm]

All I know is, Thai soap operas are awful.



The acting in UK soap series, relative to the rest of the world, is brilliant. The US ones are only marginally better than the stuff from South America and Asia.

Everyone who has an inkling bout daytime tv knew this last decade.

I'll say this much, General Hospital was one kick ass USA soap opera in 1981.




[Edited 12/3/09 19:38pm]

With Victor Newman leaving The Young & the Restless, that show is as good as dead to me!

thekidsgirl said:

Victor is leaving the Y&R? No way!

BTW, Nikki was suppose to have left first. What is happening to all of the best characters lately?!?

TonyVanDam said:

Victor was all but fired, wasn't he? It was news a few months ago (I could have sworn it was posted on the Org too, but I forget.)

i like As The World Turns

TonyVanDam said:

Don't worry, he's back

bboy87 said:

you're kidding!!

thekidsgirl said:

Yeah, he signed a new contract a couple of weeks ago, he'll be back in a month or 2

thekidsgirl said:

He's supposed to be coming back....don't know when though.

I know one thing, Y&R suffered from alot of bad writing. It was so bad I didn't watch the show for two years. All the good Jack Abbott vs. Victor Newman storylines were gone. The show seemed stagnant.

Don't know much about the older shows, but I do remember "Santa Barbara", though. My babysitter used to watch it religiously sitting in her recliner with her cigarette.

I was a CBS kid, mainly sticking to Y&R, As The World Turns, and Guiding Light, in the mid 80's. My mom and grandma were CBS soap people. I couldn't have cared less about Luke & Laura on GH. When I switched around a few months ago and saw that these soaps were being filmed on some hand held video camera, I about shit my pants. How cheap and horrid! I did watch the last couple of episodes of Guiding Light when it went off the air a few weeks ago. I knew Reva would end up with Josh, going back to Tulsa, OK (my home town!). I knew few other people.

Anyone remember Katherine Chancelor going to her own funeral after people though she died in a fire set by her crazy sister.

I remember the infinity symbol on a storyline in As The World Turns, during the same time India von Halkein married Phillip Spaulding (when the actor was temporarily replaced by John Bolger (who was the great nephew of Ray Bolger - the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz).

I remember journalist Fletcher Reade having too many semicolons in his reporting, according to his editor Maeve Stoddard.

I also remember little Meg Ryan playing Betsy Lewis Andropolis on ATWT. She was good, and cute.

Dang. I watched a lot of ATWT, and Guiding Light.

Aside from the one's you named, don't forget Capitol, on CBS.

ernestsewell said:

When did this happen?

November said:

Back in the mid to late 70's. She had a crazy sister, and she was more than a little loopy. Katherine set a fire on the drapes to keep the sister warm. Her sister didn't realize what was up and stood there w/ the curtains burning. The whole house went up. Everyone assumed Katherine was the body found. She went to her own funeral in a black veil so no one could see her. She walked down the aisle and put a rose on the casket. Her son and others looked at her and wondered who this woman was, but no one knew. I forget how she finally revealed herself later. OMG it was so dramatic! hahaha

By the way, here is Meg Ryan's character, Betsy, marrying Steven Andropolis

ernestsewell said:

Are you sure that wasn't a storyline from Guiding Light with Lujack making a music video that when Billy Lewis saw it would go mad, from being brainwashed, and shot someone?

lazycrockett said:

My references were from ATWT and Guiding Light both. Random as they came to me.

ernestsewell said:

how many times has that woman faked her death now?

sammij said:

Just the once that I remember, but isn't she really dead now? Or no? I don't watch them anymore.

bboy87 said:

And what is going to be the fate of Nikki? Remember, she was leaving the show because the producers refused to give her more money and so she rejected her contract renewal.

ernestsewell said:

I'll edit my 1st post.

Correct me if I'm wrong (since I was mostly a ABC soap viewer during the 80's summer seasons), but didn't Capitol ended on a tragic cliffhanger?!?

ernestsewell said:

no she "died" on the show, but it turns out it was some woman working in a diner in the boonies that looked just like her

so everyone thought katherine died and they had a funeral for her i think too

so that woman died, and katherine ended up marrying the widower
she came back, no one believed it was her, they thought it was the other woman out to get money (i'm not sure how this other character was introduced, i forget)


this was this year too

i guess every soap has to have at least 2 characters that cheat death on the regular

TonyVanDam said:

that's what had happened to victor too, but i think the big wigs were feeling the pressure of the fans and supporters of the show who reacted to it all with one big

sammij said:

That's the storyline I remember.

sammij said:

Speaking of cheating dead, the characters of Angie & Jesse returned on All My Children a couple of months. During the 80's, Jesse was actually killed off in the storyline. Angie would move on with her life on Loving & it's spin-off The City in a relationship with Jacob (Jesse's looking alike cousin) for awhile up to the time The City was cancel.

Now all of the sudden (a couple of months of ago to be exact) Angie is back on All My Children (without Jacob BTW) and then a few weeks later Jesse is back on the show as well in one of the most controversial storylines ever: He faked his own death as part of some witness protection cover up.

The one thing that makes the writing of THIS^ storyline so stupid is the fact that many AMC fans remember Jesse died in the hospital many years earlier, as well as seeing him as one of the spirits from heaven saving the life of his best friend Tad. Again, the writers are screwing up!
[Edited 12/4/09 1:02am]

The Young & The Restless
General Hospital my fave

But how many of you remember THESE from the old-school:

The Edge Of Night - yep
Ryan's Hope
Loving
Another World - oh gawd another fave of mine
Capitol
The Doctors
Dark Shadows
Search For Tomorrow


Another one I follow is Coronation Street

luv4u said:

1. for all of the GH fans around the world!

2. I need to check out the history of Coronation Street. I don't know if Wiki does enough justice.

luv4u said:

I've been watching Another World clips on youtube recently, I grew up with that soap!!!

thekidsgirl said:

He's back but what I read he took a pay cut. From 1.5 million a year to 1 million.

TonyVanDam said:

Don't forget about "Texas" which ran on NBC from 1980-82. Guiding Light RIP