All My Children
BBC reports, "Do US daytime soap operas have a future?"
Courtesy/Getty/ABC
Our dwindling American daytime soap opera scene has everyone talking including Britain’s main outlet, the BBC.
In a report and perspective from Peter Bowes in the L.A. bureau, he spoke with among others, Mal Young the producer behind the British soap hits, EastEnders and Coronation Street and Robert Thompson a professor in pop culture at Syracuse University. Here are some excerpts!
Mal Young is currently in Los Angeles developing a soap opera for primetime US TV, and details that Americans are yearning for more dramas about real life. “One of the shows that I’m developing out here is to tap into that. A British-style soap opera, with real people, real issues, working class blue collar families and not the Dallas and Dynastys and the Desperate Housewives.” Young believes US viewers would buy into a Coronation Street or EastEnders set in small town America. “I think they’re ready to go on story-telling journeys in drama and see themselves. We haven’t seen the demise of the soaps. We’ve seen the demise of a certain type of them but as a machine, as a business, a cost model, they’re so effective as long as they’re done with a great heart and they’re relevant to the audience. I think they’re ready to go on story-telling journeys in drama and see themselves.”
Professor Thompson offered up his thoughts on the the fractured daytime landscape: “The future of the daytime-type soap opera is not in the daytime. That ship has sailed and I think they are going to be gone pretty soon. However, I think there is a possibility, especially in the new economics of television that the telenovela model, the five days a week, cheaper budget kind of thing could at some time be tried in this country and work.”
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General HospitalDecember 2, 2021GENERAL HOSPITAL: Laura Wright and Kelly Thiebaud Deliver One-Two Punch as Britt & Carly Grieve the Loss of Jason
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As The World TurnsNovember 26, 2021As the World Turns and Guiding Light Favorite, Lisa Brown, Passes Away at 67
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General HospitalNovember 28, 2021Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson Share Disagreement with Each Other Over Vaccine Mandate; Will Continue ‘Stone Cold and the Jackal’ Shows In 2022
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General HospitalNovember 29, 2021GENERAL HOSPITAL: What Will Happen When Port Charles Finds Out What Happened to Jason? (PROMO)
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General HospitalDecember 1, 2021General Hospital Has No Immediate Plans to Recast the Role of Jason Morgan Following Steve Burton’s Departure
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Guiding LightNovember 28, 2021Guiding Light’s Robert Newman Pays Tribute to the Brilliance of Lisa Brown
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General HospitalDecember 4, 2021Kristina Wagner Shares She’s Back On Contract at General Hospital
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Breaking NewsNovember 29, 2021OLTL Alum Arlene Dahl Dead At 96, Son Lorenzo Lamas Shares: “She Was The Most Positive Influence In My Life”
Ok then, ABC listen up, just move “One Life To Live” to primetime and all will be forgiven.
My comment refers mostly about ITV’s Show “Coronation Street” Britian’s longest running soap program. In the UK, it airs in the evening, not daytime.
Haha Brian! I’m with you!
“‘A British-style soap opera, with real people, real issues, working class blue collar families and not the Dallas and Dynastys and the Desperate Housewives.’ Young believes US viewers would buy into a Coronation Street or EastEnders set in small town America. ”
That interesting, and right up Agnes Nixon’s alley! OLTL was developed with a similar concept in the beginning – the contrasts between social classes.
A soaps fan just pointed out the other day that elaborate sets of sprawling mansions aren’t necessary. (But really, I do love Llanfair, La Boulaie and the Buke mansion!)
I am in total agreement with Jen. Plus, this is America, NOT England!
they should just keep them there where they are. Getting rid of them are really stupid.
I don’t think Young gets it. A “soap opera” with real people is a reality show. That’s not what I want. She continues, “I think they’re ready to go on story-telling journeys in drama and see themselves.” No, I am not so narcissistic that I want to see myself. Enough with the reality show crap. I want to be entertained, and the perfect model for that is OLTL, not what Young is proposing. And Thompson teaches at the same university from which Frons graduated.
Notice the “telenove
la” stands to make the networks more money!”
yes, we have enough rality in lives these days,bad economy,high price gas,people losing jobs,war,how much people can take? they need some scape and soaps provide that for them. I am sick of talk shows and reality shows,we need our soap daily,so we can battle with realities in our lives.keep them ABC or you go to trash can.
Actually, I agree. I think people want drama, but they want it to be relevant to their lives, what is going on in society, and addressing social issues of the day. Characters need to be warm and emotional. Not overly melodramatic, but they have to drawn you in and make you feel for the characters. That would be interesting to do it at night 5 days a week. I think some people (like myself) would watch it in the evening – if it were decent. For example, I like the show Brothers and Sisters – it is done well. I… Read more »
Umm…RJ. Brothers and Sisters IS a soap!
you know its been on for 40 yrs somebody is watching i’m one of these somebodies..
OLTL is my day time family.
I guess i’ll be grieving after OLT goes dark in janurary hard to believe both it and AMC will be gone this makes me wonder which of the remaining soaps will be next to get canceled.. I read a few years back that fox was looking to get in on soap operas but haven’t heard anything since then wouldn’t that be great if fox picked up OLTL and AMC.
Isn’t Britain one of the countries that uses soaps as a lead in to primetime programming? I know my mom watches Y&R here at 4:00 pm (and sometimes 6pm on Soap Net) and the 6pm airing on Soapnet, comes on right before programming that I would watch such as reruns of Chicago Hope on AmericanLife, and stuff my mom likes on CBS. If instead of airing them during the day, what would happen if you aired them instead of the news at 5pm or 6pm? I mean, who cares to see the news at 5pm, 6pm and then again at… Read more »