Okay ... I just gotta ask this." on 07:32:03 10/03/07 Wed

Has Soap really changed ... or has the audience?

TK and I have spent hours discussing this ... as have I and my offline friends who all told probably represent Centuries (grin) of Soap viewing. I know I've put in a couple hundred thousand hours of Soap Watching. Damn. I could have used that time to find a cure for cancer.

Anyway ... Marsbelle, aka Belle of Oakdale, a columnist for totaltvonline.com has a post up at PGP about Show favoritism for characters.

A gentle warning here. Marsbelle hates Paul these days and thinks OLTL is a far superior Soap to ATWT. I expect her to dump her column on ATWT and embrace OLTL commentary any day now. But ... let's take her request at face value.


http://www.pgpphoto.com:3864/showthread.php?t=28796

And here's my reply ......

[QUOTE=MarsBelle]I've decided to write a column about how characters are being sacrificed to make others look good. I've finally become convinced that there are favorite characters and couples and then there seem to be character scapegoats. I know who I think they are, but I know I don't have either the full perspective on this, nor the history that many of you do to make the most complete or relevant assessment of this phenomenon.[/QUOTE]

Well, I've only been watching ATWT since 1999 ... but I did watch the whole ABC lineup since it's inception. Lotta years ... lotta Soap.

And that's what it is. Soap. A very specific kind of serialized (melo)drama. Formulaic. Because without the Form ... there is no Function. I might complain about "propping" and plot contrivances and bad mechanics, but you know what? It's usually my facile irritation that MY faves aren't getting their glorious due. Heh. It's not like I haven't seen these kinds of dynamics over and over again over the decades. It's Soap.

I can't ascribe to any conspirancy theories about favoritism ... even though I really want to, Grin! Because ... I honestly think that the writers just want to tell a Story and they let the chips fall where they may. I have a lot of sympathy for them really, because they are constantly hobbled by fan agendas, focus groups, contract statuses and the bottom line. On top of it, because of the Internet, Everybody is a Critic ... and feedback is almost immediate. I wonder if we ever really see the original story that the writers want to tell? I dunno. All I can say is from Sheffer on I've seen each writing team under Goutman tell their own particular stories ... and have the same charges leveled at them.

I guess I just think Soap is pretty much still Soap. What I think has changed is audience expectations. I don't think people want "Soap" anymore.

Man, I really should use a spell checker. That typo embarasses me. Hee!

Anyway ... to expand on what I said over there. I'm just not seeing that much difference between now ... and the so-called Golden Days of yesteryear. Sure, I think there were Landmark Stories in the past ... but there was also a lot of drek ..... and a lot to complain about. I know my friends and I spent hours gasping "Can you believe that!" "He/She wouldn't do THAT!" "Why is the Show doing that?" "Eeek!" "Ack" "UGH!"

It was all good soapy fun. We didn't expect Literature or Theater. It was Soap. We expected SOAP. The Good Great Bad and ugly. Root for our faves ... wish desolation and destruction on the creeps who were getting in their way. Hee! And if we got a Story that touched something deep inside us ... well done!

We were kinda like old time and old school baseball fans.

Yep.

People are different now. They don't seem to want to root anymore. They don't seem to want to hang in anymore. They don't seem to want to see Soap anymore. Oh, they say they do ... but their very arguments against what they are watching are telling me that they have moved on from what Soap is really all about.

I dunno. What do y'all think?

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