Anyone here into watching soaps?

[Desperado]

For over 45 years, I watched all the American soaps on and off starting with Another World as my grandmother and mother both watched it. I then moved to General Hospital (yes, I saw the original Luke & Laura wedding with guest star Elizabeth Taylor) which I credit to this day for helping me learn English.

To improve my Spanish I dabbled in telenovelas (someone here suggested the Argentian show Botineras way back and it was an adventure ). My Spanish sadly still sucks.

I tried the same with Italian shows but access was an issue. My Italian also sadly still sucks.

I more recently tried Coronation Street (Prime Canada had a year of reruns (2010) and I got hooked. Not having access to archived shows I moved to the current 2022-23 eps but Candian eps were 6 weeks behind and the stories turned too dark for me so I quit.

Although the last decades were terrible for soaps (many cancellations, including my beloved As The World Turns), I’m particularly hopeful this year as new and good writers are now on GH and a new Black-centered soap (The Gates) is in the works at CBS.

I watched soaps more often in trying times. There is something quite comforting in seeing characters and storylines over decades. My last years have been quite trying so I immersed myself again (had to abandon most though, the writing being horrible).

Are you into soaps at all?

 

[Firedancer]

I watch GH everyday. So excited to have Jason back!

 

[annie720]

I got into GH when I was home on maternity leave in the late '80s and early '90s, but always had a soft spot for the Agnes Nixon shows, and would watch All My Children and One Life to Live religiously when on summer break from school. I always thought OLTL was a cut above with its acting and storylines, but I had a lifelong crush on Richard Hatch from his too-short time as Philip Brent on AMC. When Dark Shadows started, it was nice to have something that I could watch daily after school. Later in life, my mom would videotape OLTL and GH and watch them after Wheel of Fortune in the evenings. I enjoyed watching with her when visiting. To her dying day, she thought it was a sin to have the TV on during the day until evening news time.

 

[manhn]

I don’t watch soaps anymore but I loved my stories when I was younger. Another World was my jam.

 

[caseyedwards]

I try to sample them all! Bold and the beautiful is a half hour so that’s one I see most frequently entire episodes and weeks of.
1. Did steffy really kill Shelia Carter or was it a look alike that died
2. Who is Luna father? Bill or adopted cousin Finn due to case of hallucination by drugs
3. Will Thomas come back and will Hope and Finn be a couple

 

[kwanfan1818]

Another World was my very favorite.

 

[airgelaal]

To improve my Spanish I dabbled in telenovelas (someone here suggested the Argentian show Botineras way back and it was an adventure ). My Spanish sadly still sucks.


Are you into soaps at all?

This is how I learned Spanish. But I read on the Internet that it is better to start with Mexican telenovelas. This is how I became a fan of Mexican soap

 

[Buzz]

Does the Marvel Cinematic Universe count?!

 

[Desperado]

Does the Marvel Cinematic Universe count?!

Like many soaps, I gave up on that universe a long time ago.

 

[Cachoo]

When I was in college (many, many years ago) my friend had a cousin named Pamela Roylance who had been on "Little House on the Prairie" and found work after that as a doctor on "Days of Our Lives." I would watch with him and became hooked fairly quickly. I watched faithfully through college and sporadically for years after that. Every once in awhile I would return just to see if I recognized any of the characters.

Much later our local PBS station ran a British soap (Emmerdale Farm.) I liked how regular the folks were and how realistic most of the plots were in this soap. American soaps are escapist and that is fine but I also appreciated the realism of Emmerdale. Now I don't watch any soaps.

Forgot to add that I was absolutely hooked on "Dark Shadows" in grade school....made it home in time each day to see some or all of it.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I’ve been watching Y&R since I came out of the womb, and I was a diehard Guiding Light fan until a few years before its cancellation. Over the course of my life I’ve watched almost all of the network soaps at some point or another with the exceptions being One Life to Live, Santa Barbara and Ryan’s Hope.

During 2020 lockdown I watched GH Liz and Lucky’s love story on YouTube (bless the user who uploaded 150+ videos in chronological order), and then I started watching GH when they began airing new episodes. I enjoy it so much more than Y&R these days (it is TERRIBLE). Carly annoys me to no end and I need her to get taken down a few notches at some point!

 

[vgerdes]

I think I watched most of the soaps that were on during the 80s and 90s, at one time or another. I haven't watched in quite a few years though.

My favorite was "Santa Barbara." I just loved it.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Of all of the soaps, Y&R is the only one I never watched, aside from award show clips. We only had one TV for a long time, so I watched what my mother watched, which mean the occasional dip into Guiding Light and As the World Turns on CBS, but usually not for long.

I think I saw the very first episode of All My Children, so I must have been home sick.

 

[Desperado]

I’ve been watching Y&R since I came out of the womb, and I was a diehard Guiding Light fan until a few years before its cancellation. Over the course of my life I’ve watched almost all of the network soaps at some point or another with the exceptions being One Life to Live, Santa Barbara and Ryan’s Hope.

During 2020 lockdown I watched GH Liz and Lucky’s love story on YouTube (bless the user who uploaded 150+ videos in chronological order), and then I started watching GH when they began airing new episodes. I enjoy it so much more than Y&R these days (it is TERRIBLE). Carly annoys me to no end and I need her to get taken down a few notches at some point!

I really tried with Y&R because I remember the Catherine Chancellor days but with only one head writer and no team, things have fallen off the deep end (ex. the horror that is Phyllis).

As an ATWT fan, I did take a look at the fabulous Colleen Zenk scenes but I hate over the top master criminal kidnapping plots so even that has not gotten me back.

The GH Carly character can be extremely annoying and now that she has her Jason back... I still have hope for good stories though.

 

[Jenny]

I was a Y&R fan for decades, mostly because it was the most accessible - it ran after school when I first started watching, and where I live, we got the next day's show so if you were home sick from school or work or on some holidays, you'd get two episodes. Then for awhile I had access to a soap channel that ran it every evening around dinner time, so I could watch it then.

I get that on long running shows they have to play with timelines, SORASing, changing actors for the same roles. What put me off it permanently in the end was that every time a there was a new head writer, they went back and reversed so many of the storylines and so much of the long term character development. And usually in the most ludicrous ways - including the sudden presence of evil twins, plastic surgery, and DNA sample swapping. Like you couldn't count on anything, because the following week they could just reverse it again. I also hated when two characters met and acted like they didn't know each other, when so many long time fans would remember that she used to be married to his brother for example, so of course they would know each other, or other character points like that disregarded history that many fans still remembered (why is it that none of Victor's many wives, children and housekeepers never found the dungeon at the ranch lol?).

My fave nighttime soap was Knots

 

[Cachoo]

I got into GH when I was home on maternity leave in the late '80s and early '90s, but always had a soft spot for the Agnes Nixon shows, and would watch All My Children and One Life to Live religiously when on summer break from school. I always thought OLTL was a cut above with its acting and storylines, but I had a lifelong crush on Richard Hatch from his too-short time as Philip Brent on AMC. When Dark Shadows started, it was nice to have something that I could watch daily after school. Later in life, my mom would videotape OLTL and GH and watch them after Wheel of Fortune in the evenings. I enjoyed watching with her when visiting. To her dying day, she thought it was a sin to have the TV on during the day until evening news time.

I do have vague memories wwwaayyy back with GH. I remember my mom ironing while my sister and I (around 5 and 3) played as she watched Nurse Jessie (I think) and Dr. Hardy. Our little tv was black and white.

 

[Desperado]

I get that on long running shows they have to play with timelines, SORASing, changing actors for the same roles. What put me off it permanently in the end was that every time a there was a new head writer, they went back and reversed so many of the storylines and so much of the long term character development. And usually in the most ludicrous ways - including the sudden presence of evil twins, plastic surgery, and DNA sample swapping. Like you couldn't count on anything, because the following week they could just reverse it again. I also hated when two characters met and acted like they didn't know each other, when so many long time fans would remember that she used to be married to his brother for example, so of course they would know each other, or other character points like that disregarded history that many fans still remembered (why is it that none of Victor's many wives, children and housekeepers never found the dungeon at the ranch lol?).

Yes, I particularly hate the recon deaths. They used to mean something (ex. Asa’s death on OLTL with former characters including Nathan Fillion’s, showing up). Now they’re a dime a dozen and barely last more than a year unless the actor/actress themselves dies.

Knot’s Landing, spin off of good old Dallas, I enjoyed too.

 

[Stefanie]

My mom always watched Y&R and Bold and the Beautiful so that's what I am most familiar with. I hardly ever watch now, but as @Jenny mentioned, some of those story lines are just so ridiculous even for the soap world. Being an actor/actress in the soap world has to be the best gig--even when a lot of them quit, you'll see them reappear a few years later and can count on being written back in to the storyline...

Oh, and @Jenny reminded me of how I used to follow this Y&R fan board years ago and how the Canadians were always one episode ahead of us Americans...so it was nice to have spoilers sometimes, especially before a weekend. LOL. I never understand why Canada got the episodes before us when the show is produced in the US...

 

[kwanfan1818]

I do have vague memories wwwaayyy back with GH. I remember my mom ironing while my sister and I (around 5 and 3) played as she watched Nurse Jessie (I think) and Dr. Hardy. Our little tv was black and white.

Those were the days, before Luke, Laura, an Australian agent, and a supermodel had to save the world from destruction or (different soap) Marlena was possessed by the devil, etc.

It was always sad when they had to write out a character because the actor died. Douglass Watson (Mac Corey) was a tough one for me.

I always loved it when soap actors were able to make it in TV and/or movies, plus, especially the NY-based actors, in theater.

 

[Cherub721]

I try to sample them all! Bold and the beautiful is a half hour so that’s one I see most frequently entire episodes and weeks of.
1. Did steffy really kill Shelia Carter or was it a look alike that died
2. Who is Luna father? Bill or adopted cousin Finn due to case of hallucination by drugs
3. Will Thomas come back and will Hope and Finn be a couple

Steffy is the absolute worst!!!

 

[TanithandBenFan]

My mom always watched Y&R and Bold and the Beautiful so that's what I am most familiar with. I hardly ever watch now, but as @Jenny mentioned, some of those story lines are just so ridiculous even for the soap world. Being an actor/actress in the soap world has to be the best gig--even when a lot of them quit, you'll see them reappear a few years later and can count on being written back in to the storyline...

Oh, and @Jenny reminded me of how I used to follow this Y&R fan board years ago and how the Canadians were always one episode ahead of us Americans...so it was nice to have spoilers sometimes, especially before a weekend. LOL. I never understand why Canada got the episodes before us when the show is produced in the US...

Whenever I go on vacation in Canada it’s great because they usually have both CBS and Global at AirBnBs, so I record them and can catch up on two days of episodes in one day lol.

 

[once_upon]

My soaps watching days were over long ago

• Dark Shadows
• Soap
• General Hospital until L/L's wedding..it had gone off the rails before that but.
• all my children until Ericka got married a billion times, I couldn't nor wanted to keep up

 

[jamesy]

My mom and my aunts used to watch Days of Out Lives when I was a kid and it was always on in the background. I would watch it occasionally when I was bored, so I got somewhat of a sense of the characters and their relationships. I started really watching it when Marlena got possessed by the devil and the stories got ridiculous. I didn't care so much about the romance, but tell me more about this lady being buried alive.

For soap opera purists, I guess I was part of the problem, because I loved when the plots got hella stupid. Half the town being murdered with one of the bodies stuffed into a pinata? I was there for it. Someone turning into a dead princess/art thief because of a chip in her head? Love it.

I was really excited when Passions started because it was going to be all stupid plotlines and a chance to start a show from the beginning. But the tedious repetitive dialogue and the constant flashbacks got old so fast and made the story so slow.

 

[caseyedwards]

Steffy is the absolute worst!!!

So true for many reasons

 

[Cachoo]

Those were the days, before Luke, Laura, an Australian agent, and a supermodel had to save the world from destruction or (different soap) Marlena was possessed by the devil, etc.

It was always sad when they had to write out a character because the actor died. Douglass Watson (Mac Corey) was a tough one for me.

I always loved it when soap actors were able to make it in TV and/or movies, plus, especially the NY-based actors, in theater.

That's pretty, damned funny and so typically Soap American style. I do remember how big that wedding was at the time---approaching the "Who Shot JR" popularity from the evening soaps.

 

[Desperado]

all my children until Ericka got married a billion times, I couldn't nor wanted to keep up

I will always have a soft spot for Susan Lucci/Erica.

 

[myhoneyhoney]

I don’t watch soaps but went out a few times with a guy who used to be in the Young and the Restless

 

[Desperado]

I don’t watch soaps but went out a few times with a guy who used to be in the Young and the Restless

You must’ve known we would ask… Who?

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I don’t watch soaps but went out a few times with a guy who used to be in the Young and the Restless

We must know!!

 

[Tesla]

I don’t watch soaps but went out a few times with a guy who used to be in the Young and the Restless

Shemar Moore?