What's Killing The Soaps

What's killing the Soaps are people who scorn the soaps and don't even care to think about how much talent and intelligence it takes to portray a character most of the year .Who have to learn and memorize pages and pages of dialogue just to get in front of the camera! The actors have to portray that character in a way that captures the viewers interests even when their writers and head writers don't understand the genre!
What's killing the Soaps are people who scorn them and who have never truly watched a soap or who secretly watch them just to scorn them.Many nightime people and movie stars have come from soaps and have learned valuable acting experiences because they started on soaps
What's killing the soaps are headwriters who are hired and treat the soaps history like it never happened ,like the viewers have never watched the soap.Following the Bible of the soap is not a sin but a must !Viewers appreciate the richness of the stories that incorporate the people and the families that drew them into their "Stories .
What's killing the soaps are the steadfast rules of how they monitor the ratings so they can get their add revenue.Just going to the 18 -34 years of age range for ratings is ridiculous ! People below and above those ages watch and watch via their VCR's,PVR's, DVD,Recorders and on their TV screens but the medium of television is going to the personal computer and the medium will have to move with that if it wants to survive! Their product is bought by these people!

Another thing that is killing the soaps as I said is the storylines.They are alienating viewers with their refusal to follow history!One of the key things that went wrong with All My Children over the last year was they stepped away from the bible characters lines were virtually interchangeable as the characters spouted their lines! Mr.Pratt said he liked his soaps campy but that's not what long term viewers want!They'll put up with a little camp if they must but not to the extent that Mr.Pratt took it!If you want viewers for the soaps you give the viewers what they want to see!One thing that always keeps viewers watching are good stories stories about families,families triumph over adversity but also good times and bad!Multigenerational stories are the type that bring viewers in!!One thing that does not is a constant bombardment of depressing story-lines something All my children suffered under Mr.Pratt's leadership! If there was a happy moment in the time he was there I don't recall it!

Give the viewer something and or someone to care about!But don't change long term characters into unrecognizable people! You have a history use it to your advantage and make the viewer like them again!Recasts are tricky recasting someone who looks almost twenty years younger then the character is jarring for the viewers so you really should ease into it.Show the viewers why they should like this character by slowly introducing them to current stories! Having a character a popular a long time character come back and then act out of character alienates your viewers.
So in conclusion if you want Soaps to survive writers should honor the history because then the viewers will continue to honor the Soaps!