39 replies to this topic

[Luckylyn]

I thought it might be fun to create a thread where people can pick soap and a storyline they hate and discuss how they would have done it if they were a soap writer.

I'll start with AMC and the Zach/Reese/Binks stupidity. If I were a soap writer I would have either made Reese openly bisexual so that there's no question of sexual identity confusion and Binanca's jealousy might make some sort of sense or I would have given Reese an ex-girlfriend for Bianca to be jealous of instead of Zach. I'd make this ex someone who broke up with Reese because Reese wouldn't come out of the closet. Now this ex is an employee of Zach's and is surprised to run into Reese who is now openly gay. Bianca's jealous because the main reason Reese and her ex broke up isn't an issue anymore. Zach would still be part of the story since the ex works for him, and he's close to Bianca and Reese. Erica can get involved by claiming that Reese's friendship with Zach is just her using him to find excuses to run into her ex-girlfriend.

[Kim0820]

GH - I'd have done a honeymoon for Robin and Patrick, rather than jumping right into post-partum depression. I would not have done post-partum depression, but rather Robin going back to work and feeling bad about the baby being in day care - starting an in-house day care for the hospital. That story could involve Elizabeth, who has two kids to put in the day care.

[Hatpin]

For GH most recently, I'd have used Elizabeth and Jason's baby as a device to get Jason out of the mob. I'd have Jason and Spinelli start a PI business, which would eventually expand to include Sam. I go back and forth on leaving Lucky with the PCPD for conflict, or having him leave the force to work with Jason and Sam. I would keep the Lucky/Sam/Jason/Elizabeth quad going and viable as long as possible.

I would not have put Claudia into a marriage with Sonny, but would have a full-on romance/partnership with Ric. I'd have them work together to take down their respective fathers.

Going further back, I would not have killed off Logan, and I would have handled the Lulu/Logan romance completely differently. I would have introduced Johnny as a romantic possibility for Maxie, not Lulu.

I also would not have killed off Emily or Georgie. I can think of a lot of story for both of them.

[Prettyeyes]

If I were a soap writer, ATWT's Luke and Noah would have had sex by now-and more than once.

[Luckylyn]

I love the Jason, Sam, and Spin as PIs idea. I'd keep Luck on the force with him occasionally working with Jason, Sam, and Spin.

I would have had Luke and Noah having sex like bunnies months ago too.

If I were a soap writer for ATWT, I would find a way to make Dusty less obnoxious by having him not bully people to get his way all the time or at least have people call him on his crap instead of joining his side. I would also slow the pace of stories for the audience has a chance to get invested.

[oreo8704]

I'll start with AMC and the Zach/Reese/Binks stupidity. If I were a soap writer I would have either made Reese openly bisexual so that there's no question of sexual identity confusion and Binanca's jealousy might make some sort of sense or I would have given Reese an ex-girlfriend for Bianca to be jealous of instead of Zach.

I agree. There is enough potential for drama in this story that they don't even need a third party. But if they are going to have a third party in this storyline than, as you suggested, bring on a woman or make Reese clearly bisexual. It's awful that Bianca has another sexually ambiguous girlfriend. AMC should hve moved on from that a long time ago. They could have had plently of conflict over Zach's role in Gabrielle's life, with Reese becoming bothered by Zach's over involvement with Gabby and Bianca encouraging it. There seemed to be some hints in the beginning of the story it would go that way but it seems to have been dropped in favor of Zach and Reese's relationship.

I also would not have killed off Emily or Georgie. I can think of a lot of story for both of them.

I hated that they killed off Georgie. GH needs characters like her. It was such a short-sighted move. They should have just let her go to Europe instead of killing her. And while I'm no Emily fan the Quartermaines are a well loved family and TPTB insistance on marginalizing them has hurt the show.

Edited by oreo8704, Jan 10, 2009 @ 2:02 PM.

[tootlegub]

If I were a soap writer, I'd make GH's Alan Quartermaine alive again. Really alive- none of this ghost/Tracy's conscience stuff. He'd be the living, breathing, beloved Chief of Staff. It wouldn't even matter how it happened. I don't think anyone would care how he became reanimated. I'd probably go with witness protection or something because that would lay the foundation for bringing back a lot of beloved characters viciously murdered by that hack Guza. But the return of Alan Q would be my number one priority.

[Hatpin]

Also on GH, I would not have brought Mr Craig as Jerry Jax. In fact, given Mr Craig's heinous acts, I really don't think I would have tried to redeem the character at all. However, if I were, say, ordered to do so by the head of ABC Daytime or something, I would have never tried to make him a character that viewers already knew. If for some reason it was deemed necessary to tie him to the Jax family, I'd have made him a heretofore unmentioned cousin. Most importantly - and I've said this many times on the GH thread - I would have had Sebastian Roche's character and Nancy Lee Grahn's Alexis fall in love before she knew he had any connection to the MetroCourt hostage crisis, and I would have used their love story as a long-range redemption arc for him.

Going back years, I haaated it when GL killed off Nadine. I was in a minority in that I loved Nadine with Buzz and wanted Jenna to go find someone else. I did not love the Buzz/Jenna romance and I thought killing off Nadine was a terrible waste.

[WitsNSass]

On the Y&R front:

I would have never made Jill and Katherine mother and daughter. Totally messed up their dynamic.

I also would have never killed off John Abbott - which nearly obliterated this core family (well, after the Brooks and Fosters were pretty much removed). John was the glue that held that family together - they are splintered (in spite them joining forces to regain control of Jabot) because of it.

In addition, I would not have killed off Cassie Newman. If Camryn Grimes wanted to focus on school, good for her, but I think killing off ingenues, especially those from core families, is pointless on a soap since they (characters, not so much the actors playing them) can become future leads (looking at you Bradley Bell - see Phoebe Forrester). Cassie could have been sent off to boarding school to be SORASed a couple of years and played by a slightly older actress - I think LML made a big mistake by pushing her teacher's pet, Michelle Stafford, into a leading lady role by the creation of Phick. Cassie's death is what lead to the Nick/Phyllis coupling.

I'm basing this comment on Y&R specifically, but this is a general comment for all soaps. Don't make minority characters stuck in their own little marginalized orbit. Integrate them into the fabric of the show - otherwise it's an insult to soap viewers. Although a soap cannot air every storyline on a given episode, don't make the "minority orbit" look like "Negro Day" when their major story arc are aired as completely separate plot points from the rest of the show. Also, let the minorities have some range. Not every minority needs to be "urban" or poor, nor do they need to be the Cosbys either. I think as long as the stories are good, most people won't pick apart minor characterizations or details. This is soap opera, not an afterschool special.And when I say minorities, I'm not just talking African Americans. I also mean Mexicans/hispanics/latinos, Asians (of all ethnicities because Asian is quite a broad term), Meditterians/Middle Easterns, Africans, etc.

Lastly, I would push the envelop a little more. I know TPTB (meaning EPs and other bean counters) would try to temper this, but I would bring some sexy back to Daytime drama. Be creative! Do like the pop/rock and R&B performers of the 1950s and 60s did, and master the fine art of the subtle innuendo, double entendre, and visually clever ways to get the point across. I know this will sound a little underhanded, but I would use the fact that the economy is bad to test the waters with some provocative dialogue, for starters. Sometimes when times get bad, people start caring a little less about social or "moral" concerns and start worrying more about things like jobs, gas prices and health care. I'm not saying morality isn't important, but the thought police have gotten people too concerned about things they cannot always control. I think that's one of the reasons soaps got more risque in the late 1980s and early 1990s - there was a recession and people were willing to let things like catfights and suggestive (and at times, downright explicit) love scenes slide.

Edited by WitsNSass, Jan 10, 2009 @ 5:50 PM.

[tam1MI]

I've always wanted take some overdone soap trope and flip it around so it doesn't turn out at all like anybody would expect. For example, take the ever popular triangle set up where one girl is good and a guy's "true love" and one girl is bad and plots and schemes and finally, through various manipulations, gets the guy (who is always rather dim in these situations), only to have everything blow up in her face and end up getting dumped as Good Girl and Dim Guy blissfully reunite. I'd do the story so that Bad Girl plots and schemes and lands Dim Guy - but then, because she is so happy about getting what she wanted in life, she redeems herself and wins Dim Guys love for real! (Or maybe Dim Guy wasn't so dim after all and decided that Bad Girl's plotting/scheming abilities were a feature, not a bug). It would never in a million years be allowed to happen on a soap, but it would be fun to try.

[Luckylyn]

I would make more of an effort to show friendships on GH. All we get are rivals and love interests. There aren't enough platonic relationships that would help characters stop being in bubbles and interact across storylines. For example, Ric has been on the show for years and doesn't have a single friend. He has enemies and love interests but no one to talk to and so he's confined to his storyline bubble. He's like a plot device instead of a character. This is true for many characters like ATWT's Noah. He's in the Luke bubble where he doesn't have friends to talk to or interests outside of Luke. It limits how much depth the character can have because since he has no friends to talk to.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I'd do the story so that Bad Girl plots and schemes and lands Dim Guy - but then, because she is so happy about getting what she wanted in life, she redeems herself and wins Dim Guys love for real! (Or maybe Dim Guy wasn't so dim after all and decided that Bad Girl's plotting/scheming abilities were a feature, not a bug). It would never in a million years be allowed to happen on a soap, but it would be fun to try.

There are so few real triangles where you could root for both sides depending on the day. There is always one clearly horrible person in the triangle and the person being fought over ends up looking dumber than a box of hammers because if he/she wasn't, there would be no triangle because you wouldn't put up with the horrible person. Finally the "good" person (if it is a woman) generally comes across as a pathetic doormat for putting up with Dim Guy's waffling.

So, since real triangles are few and far between, I'd like to see Dim Guy chose Bad Girl and have Good Girl just tell him "you are an idiot to trust someone who does the things that she does to get what she wants, so you get what you deserve" and go on with her own life and not moon over Dim Guy. I would like to see Bad Girl realize once she has him that Dim Guy really isn't so awesome - he's kind of stupid for falling for all the manipulations - and dump him. And Dim Guy ends up alone for being an idiot.

Edited by Mrs. Stanwyck, Jan 12, 2009 @ 2:50 PM.

[RileyKay]

And Dim Guy ends up alone for being an idiot.

AMEN! to that one! Or at least let Dim Guy own the fact that he really likes two women fighting over him as opposed to the, "I'm so torn ... " crapola.

[Hatpin]

Actually, the story that I most wanted to rewrite wasn't even on a show I watch more than sporadically. The AMC writers screwed up irreparably when they had Babe discover the truth about the baby switch so early in the storyline. I still can't believe they did it. If Babe had remained ignorant as long as, or nearly as long as, Bianca, then the entire story might have worked. Tad shouldn't have found out either. For Krystal to have learned the truth and kept silent because her only real loyalty was to Babe would have been fine; it wouldn't even have destroyed the character, necessarily, since she didn't really have any other loyalties the way, say, Tad did. I wouldn't have made David Babe's father, either; seemed like the only reason they did that was to give David a reason to betray Bianca. He could still be manipulating Krystal now, to get back at Tad.

The big thing, though, was the terrible timing in Babe's discovery of the truth. It destroyed her character, and made the story damn near unwatchable when it could have been riveting and heartbreaking.

[Luckylyn]

If I had done the amc baby switch storyline I would have kept Babe finding out early but I would have changed what happened after everyone else found out. It was weird how Krystal and Babe's kidnapping was twisted into this not so bad offense while JR was villianized even though he was Babe's victim. It should have been a storyline about how con artist Babe took JR who was flawed but basically good and destroyed him causing him to go to the dark side. Bianca and JR should have come out of the situation best friends instead of Bianca and Babe. It would have been interesting to see Bianca cope with Babe's betrayal by just trying to move on while JR won't let it go to get revenge. Bianca's friendship could have helped him be redeemed meanwhile everyone involved should be angry with Krystal and Babe for what they did and stayed angry for years. That way years later when Miranda and Little A grew up they could have a romeo/juliet thing with the Kanes vs. the Careys with JR siding with his son and the Kanes.

[oval]

I would make a point to take a good look at real life and write about that.

What I mean:

1) More diversity in daily activities. Most people under 35 grew up with friends who might have been 1st generation American citizens. See Disney channel for examples. Our peers may be hispanic, African, Carribean, Persian, Russian, etc by birth, but American by citizenship and identification. Please show that. You can even show the parental/homeland conflict. That would be fresh. See the Persian family on 90210 for inspiration (the only good part of that show).

2) We stress out about jobs and family life. 1950s is not reality anymore. Many moms are semi-stay at home, but work part time remotely. Single moms exist. they might catch the show on Soapnet. There are few good role models or at least relational models (those we might relate to, but not follow their lead.....would you follow Sami Brady's lead as a single mom???)

3) What are the real problems of people in their 20s-40s? Exes, kids, fertility, money, the Jones', jobs, illness. I've never encountered the mob. Give us "examples" of how our peers might react.

4) Keep the stories moving. We do not care as much as past viewers about following storylines if we miss a few months. In the new economy/highspeed interconnectivity, we require fast paced stories. If the story and characters are/is good we will follow.

5) Standard soap stories are trite. We know these stories and dislike them. Give us something fresh, you can make a "boring" conflict (ie. infertility/job loss) interesting if done right with originality. Please no rape-redemption, kidnapped/switched babies, brought back from the dead stories.

[MissAudrey]

Wouldn't it be neat to have a female character who doesn't have Baby Rabies? I realize soaps are mostly about families and stuff, but having just one single female character who is more interested in ANYTHING than getting pregnant would be a nice change. GH, I'm mostly looking at you.

[tam1MI]

Wouldn't it be neat to have a female character who doesn't have Baby Rabies? I realize soaps are mostly about families and stuff, but having just one single female character who is more interested in ANYTHING than getting pregnant would be a nice change. GH, I'm mostly looking at you.

What would be even cooler is a female character who doesn't really want to have kids, or feels deeply conflicted/ambivalent about having children.

On a similar note, I am utterly sick of young male characters who, upon discovering that their one night stand is knocked up, immediately say, "I'll be a father to the child." Trust me, I used to work for a Friend of the Court office*, that is most definitely not the way it works in real life! But in soaps, even when it is clear that the mother-to-be got pregnant in order to ensnare the young man, they always immediately renounce their True Love and decide to marry whoever they got preggers or otherwise Be A Father To the Baby.

Just once, I'd like to see a male character, upon being informed of the upcoming birth, say, "My lawyer will contact your lawyer about setting up the child support payments. Good luck with the pregnancy." Or even, "Are you sure? I mean, are you sure it's mine?" Something a little bit more realistic than the usual malarkey.

* - For those who don't know what a Friend of the Court agency is, their job is to enforce child support, alimony, and custody orders.

Edited by tam1MI, Feb 21, 2009 @ 4:16 PM.

[big chicken]

I'd like to see an Alzheimer's or dementia storyline. If I were writing it, it'd be Audrey Hardy with her granddaughter Liz having to eventually take care of her. It's timely, it's medical, and I don't think it's ever been done. I'd start slowly with Audrey having memory lapses and really explore all the issues of a senior citizen slowly losing the ability to take care of herself. As the disease progress, I'd have Liz struggling with the decision on whether or not to put her grandmother into a nursing home. I'd also use this storyline to reintroduce at least one member of Liz's family, maybe Steven Lars.

[Luckylyn]

It'd be cool if we saw a story where the guy wants kids and the woman doesn't. Maybe even after she gets pregnant she could give primary custody to the father while she sees the kid on weekends. It'd be an interesting reversal of gender stereotypes. I always thought with Robin and Patrick that Robin should have been the one uncertain about having kids since she might not live to see her child grow up while Patrick wants kids.

I'd love to see Audrey again with a story so the Alsheimer's seems like a great idea. Plus, the writers have written Liz into a wall and need to do something new with her out of the mob orbit.

[daniel82]

I remember when Another World laid the groundwork for an Alzheimer's storyline back in the late 1980's. Michael and John's mother, Clara, began having the memory lapses and such, and people spoke of this as an upcoming story. Trouble was it on the heels of having done daytime's first AIDS story, and though Dawn was only in the early stages of full-blown AIDS, people had complained about what a "downer" it was to have them talk about Dawn as if she was already dead while she was still onscreen. Knowing things would only get worse--whether Dawn's AIDS diagnosis or Clara's Alzheimer's--left viewers with no hope for their "miraculous recovery" the way most soap diseases do. They decided ultimately to dismiss Clara's forgetfulness as a condition controlled by medication, and they packed her off to a retirement home down the road (and was never mentioned again).

I'm not saying it is a great storyline to explore (ATWT did it with Nancy's husband Dan? McCloskey), but there will be a contingent of viewers who will react against the reality of a disease that doesn't give one a chance of having that miracle recovery that Sweeps months are made for.

[Kim0820]

GH- Kill off Sonny and Jason; if the actors are so popular, then give them new roles.

[BondGirl]

I'd like to see an Alzheimer's or dementia storyline. If I were writing it, it'd be Audrey Hardy with her granddaughter Liz having to eventually take care of her. It's timely, it's medical, and I don't think it's ever been done. I'd start slowly with Audrey having memory lapses and really explore all the issues of a senior citizen slowly losing the ability to take care of herself. As the disease progress, I'd have Liz struggling with the decision on whether or not to put her grandmother into a nursing home. I'd also use this storyline to reintroduce at least one member of Liz's family, maybe Steven Lars.

This would be great, as it's one of the few medical stories soaps haven't tackled.

BTW, the GH writers were considering this, but John Beradino (Steve Hardy) died and the storyline was nixed.

[Nmissi]

Oh, I'll play this game. Soap should be a healthy blend of drama and escapism. When I look at some of the great shows I grew up watching, I could just weep for what has become of daytime.

We need more "reality" in little snippets of day-to-day life. The only time we get beds on daytime is sex scenes (if we're lucky enough to get our couples off the living room couch!) I'm not asking for huge set budgets- but a few rooms to establish the homes of our characters would be stellar. We can't have EVERYONE on Y&R dining at the health club, and homes should tell us a little something about our characters. I remember being in school and seeing that a teen character on Santa Barbara had the same posters on her wall that I did; it sort of helped anchor the character for me, made me identify with her on some level. I remember watching Maeve do actual HOUSEWORK on Ryan's Hope; when's the last time we saw THAT on soap these days? (I don't could GH's Liz's Folding Laundry- because it was somehow supposed to communicate her anger, not establish that she, you know- has children and washes clothes. We saw it maybe twice and it was so novel that it became memorable.) Characters don't need to have their conversations over fake food (that no one touches) or while pouring another endless drink from the weird liquor/water displays everyone on tv seems to have in their living room. Let's see friends talking over an actual meal, eaten in someone's actual kitchen. Or folks stopping by and interrupting someone running the vacuum. This is the way life actually unfolds. Male bonding doesn't always happen across a pool table; let's see a few guys borrowing leaf blowers and rakes occasionally. The fact that we don't get these kind of scenes is why it's so damn hard to round up groomsmen who aren't coworkers or blood relatives for daytime weddings: soap characters just don't have any friends.

I'm also not averse to the standard plotlines of soap: fiction needs it's long-lost children, DID, evil twins and newly undead spouses, too. But I miss the human interactions that used to define good soap. I miss the family dynamics (good and bad alike) of Capwells, Abbots, Chandlers, Quartermaines, etc. Family comes with its own storyline potentials- eliminate the families and there goes most of the plot. You have random unaffiliated people floating around loosely onscreen, wasting potential, so you have to contrive superficial relationships to prop them up. Step one to a better daytime is stronger families. Newcomers to GH could go weeks without finding out that Sam, Alexis, Nick, Lucky, Lulu, and Luke are actually related to each other. Not once have we ever seen Sam wondering who the hell her father is, either.

Step two would be to establish and revere show history, because history ALSO generates story. I would hire oldschool fans to serve as continuity fairies: Adam Chandler would never testify for Tad Martin in a custody trial, because Tad Martin has systematically stolen his children over the years. Adam and Tad are lifelong rivals, nemeses; they do not cooperate willingly with each other, and they each would gladly see the other in hell. Pay attention to character histories and you won't have to come up with convoluted plotlines- the stories write themselves.

Step three would involve firing people who cannot write, and people who cannot act. It's all very well and good if your ingenue is pretty, but it's useless if we don't identify with her and empathise with her goals. A good actor can make the audience empathise with the most amoral character onscreen, but a bad actor kills any interest the audience might have in the story no matter how good it is. We're all too busy wincing at the performance to care about the plot at that point. By the same token, a great actor can sometimes sell bad writing, but it only works for so long. Give a good actor good writing and people will talk about that scene for years, sometimes for decades. There's a reason that Karen Wolek's OLTL confession twenty years ago is a classic; good writing and good acting can always find its audience. Thousands have gone in search of that one scene alone, online.

Additionally, I'd eliminate focus groups. Apparently the only folks they can get to participate in them are too stupid to actually turn on their television sets. Besides- what insights can people who have never watched a show possibly provide about the kind of people that do, about what they are going to enjoy?

[rue bee]

Every soap should be true to its own vision. That's why, it amazes me that people think someone who wrote for Guiding Light would necc. be a good fit for AMC. Every head writer needs to realize that he or she is not the original voice or vision behind the show and should work to honor the spirit of the show's creator. (The one and only exception I would make is ATWT, where writers should look to Doug Marland as their guide instead of Irma Phillips -- but even in that case, DM himself was trying to honor IP, so it's only one degree removed). On a show called General Fucking Hospital, the most important storylines should happen...at the hospital! On All My Children, the show should reinforce the humanity intended by the title. And so on.

If I were a soap writer (cue Tevye), I would approach the task with a sense of humility. I would watch every episode of my show with a critical eye. I would watch the other soaps on my network, and (if time allotted) watched the other soaps (especially anything garnering good buzz). I would run all my characters through the Mary Sue test, to make sure I am not subjecting the fans to the likes of Ryan Lavery or Jason Morgan. I would not waste money on special effects or sweeps stunts because (1) that never pays off with long-term spikes and (2) prime-time does it so much better, it looks like a joke anyway. I would acknowledge the real world, with some stories about Iraq vets, the faltering economy, etc. I would make diversity a priority because soaps should look like America. In just 28 hours, we will have a president with a white mother, a black father, and an Asian sister. Why not have a soap character with family ties like that? And by diversity I don't just mean race (though that is extremely important), but also sexual orientation, religion, abilities, age, etc. The breakout popularity of Bianca (AMC) and Luke (ATWT) demonstrate that America is more than ready for gay characters, and every soap should have at least one gay character from a core family. Religious diversity is welcome (yeah to Nora & Matthew on OLTL) but there should also be diversity of expression within depictions on shows. Some characters clearly go to church every week, and that should be acknowledged. And some characters are atheist and that should be acknowledged, too. Church (or temple) is also a very good place to have characters who might not get along run into each other. And it's okay for characters to be political, too. I'm a liberal but I certainly don't expect everyone to share my POV. Bo on OLTL is one of my fave characters, but if he's not a lifelong Republican, I cry foul. I don't mean that characters should preach their politics. Rather, Bo's take on events (like Matthew's experimenting with pot), should absolutely be conservative. And I could totally seeing Bo & Nora disagreeing on whether or not Bo should teach Matthew how to hunt, etc. Let characters be 3-dimensional and as diverse as the people we know in real life.

Edited by rue bee, Jan 19, 2009 @ 2:29 AM.

[Luckylyn]

I agree we need more family members and friends who actually interact because this allows storylines to affect more people instead of characters living in storyline bubbles. GH drives me crazy because characters who should interact rarely do and if they did it would generate more stories. For example Carly is stuck in the Jax or Jason/Sonny/Mob bubble. Her storylines only relate to those areas of her life. She's a Spencer, and she should interact not just with Lulu but with Lucky, Luke, Bobbie, and Lucas. Carly and Liz are sorta related through Lucky. Their kids should play together. Plus, Bobbie and Liz used to be close. Lots of drama could stem from Liz and Carly snarking on each other while trying to maintain the peace for the sake of their family connections. Shouldn't Carly be torn between her law inforcement cousin Lucky and her mob family of Jason and Sonny? Forming connections is also important for integrating new characters. Kate and Patrick should have more friends. Why isn't Kate having tons of scenes with Alexis? Her only friend is Jax and that's been ruined on the alter of CarJax. Why isn't Patrick friends with Lucky and Nicolas? His only friends are Liz and Coleman. And most of the time the writers treat Liz like she's only Robin's friend and only remembers the Liz/Patrick friendship occasionally. What about Sam? Why isn't she close friends with her cousin Nicolas who is also the brother of her boyfriend? Sam and Robin had a potential friendship when Robin returned to town and the writers dropped it. Sam, Robin, and Maxie should all be friends with eachother but Robin and Sam never interact. Spinelli could have become friends with Lucky who used to be a computer expert too back when Spinellis befriended Lulu. I'd love to see Spinelli get out of the mob bubble through a friendship with Lucky and Sam. And then Lulu has only Carly and Spinelli who she only remembers when she needs to use him for something. Friendships aren't used to add depth to characters, increase the stakes of storylines, and let characters take turns being front burnered anymore. So if I could write for soaps I would make friendships and family connections a priority. It would lead to more depth for characters and more investment in storylines for the audience.

[jase-bot]

I may be off but I think OLTL's core theme a la GH with the hospital and AMC with the homespun family stuff is the "urban" feel of Llanview, and the different social classes intersecting, as well as the dysfunction and strangeness in various families like the Lords. Granted it's very easy to go OTT with this stuff, which OLTL has done many times, but it's in how you play it. I think OLTL can strike a good balance between honoring its own wild and woolly history (Mendorra, Heaven, etc) and focusing on the base elements (a city of industry, social intermingling, family secrets) and of late I think it's been good at that. It's still such a crime though how currently African-Americans, Asians, etc. are all grossly underpresented on the show, and it harkens back to how they should never have stripped away the Wolek or Hall families. Or what about just people who are struggling in today's economy, as I know some of us are. Look at the film Wendy & Lucy with Michelle Williams for a solid Hollywood-ready example. Granted, Rex, Gigi, Brody and Wes have all been presented as people who have had hard times (like the Vegas in the past), lived on the fringes of the economy, but for the moment the Balsoms' troubles are over and they are into lighter fare, while the vets are preoccupied with Brody's war traumas.

I've always felt OLTL would also be smart to take a page from both Ryan's Hope and the British soaps, particularly vintage Eastenders, to look at how to do this stuff today with no BS or exaggeration. OTT drama has its place on soaps and always will, but realism is still very powerful if in short supply. I remember when they tried to rebrand OLTL into being "the cop soap" for a couple years a while back, but it didn't fly; oddly enough, I actually think the Llanview PD scenes today come off much more real (as much as soaps can, that is); the way Bo, Nora, and Antonio and Talia toss off the jargon about their cases is as close as soaps today get to something resembling vague plausibility, IMO. I'm not saying OLTL is anywhere in the galaxy of something primetime or serious-minded like, say, The Wire, but at least I actually believe those four characters on OLTL are in law enforcement unlike, say, Roman Brady, Jack Snyder, etc. Still, making it "the cop show" as opposed to allowing them to be one law element doesn't work, so I am glad it is not wholly dominant.

Edited by jase-bot, Jan 19, 2009 @ 5:13 PM.

[Luckylyn]

Another thing I'd change on soaps is the allowing characters who are controlling self righteous hypocritical jerks to be portrayed as heros. Ex: Amc (Tad and Ryan), ATWT (Dusty and Jack), GH (Sonny and Jason) When the supposed good guys do something wrong they need to pay for it just like the supposed villians do or at least feel remorse over the consequences of their actions. Like if Tad couldn't go to jail for Madden's death, than Tad should be horrified over his actions instead of still thinking he's somehow better than Adam who never buried alive a man and killed him. I would have their heros act like heros instead of having them be jerks who the writers keep telling the audience are good guys.

[LotusN]

I were a soap writer on BnB I would see to it that Stephanie Forrester would find the love of her life. Eric would finally realize how he mistreated her all those years while making an effort to win her back-
this time in vain.

Stephanie and prince charming would get involved in another battle over FC fighting Eric because as always Steph has had enough of the Logan skanks sleeping their way through the family and at the same time seizing powerful positions. So Steph and her Romeo battle the Logans which leaves a lot room for some delicious Steph/Brooke catfights.

I want some justice for Stephanie Forrester.

[Hatpin]

I've said many times on the B&B thread that the writers wasted a phenomenal opportunity by not going full throttle with a Stephanie/Massimo/Jackie/Eric quad. There was so much potential in those pairings - all ways. Similarly, if I'd been writing for B&B back in the day, I'd have fought like hell to keep Brooke and Thorne married and create all kinds of simmering tensions between the Taylor/Ridge/Brooke/Thorne quad. The sad thing about B&B is they really don't seem to realize when they've got something golden going.