h683ckfeNok

You've probably seen them while channel surfing. Daytime soap operas - a genre of a bygone era, yet a few series (like George Romero zombies) still stagger on. Ask any soap fan, and they'll tell you: the medium is dying. Will the daytime soap manage to survive into the next decade?

Soaps are awesome. I watch "Days" everyday as I have since 1995. I still miss "AMC".

because there are no talk shows, cooking shows etc. to replace them with.

Yes, soaps are dying/dead. But the other shows on in the afternoons aren't doing that much better ratings wise.

That is why DOOL recently got another 1 year renewal. NBC doesn't have a replacement.

I'm not a fan but obviously there are people who like to watch daytime dramas. I don't think it's that hard to figure out.

Ed.

I did not like the negative tone and sarcasm of the narration for the video. I also did not like its sense of humor.

Yes, there are fans who like to watch but the long-time ones feel and are afraid that the end is near within a few years.

Because the networks don't want to give the day-parts back to the affiliates and have yet to come up with suitable replacements that could sustain a whole day. Besides, they are still cheap to produce.

CBS is still #1 with it's line up of Game Shows,Soaps and The Talk. They found the balance that ABC and NBC haven't.

I don't watch soaps but if they went away that would be steady jobs for writers and actor's that will never come back,since it's likely replacement is just chat shows and reruns. If they are on their deathknell well then I hope they get a stay of execution that lasts for many years to come.

I'm not a fan but obviously there are people who like to watch daytime dramas. I don't think it's that hard to figure out.

Ed.

And if they deliver ratings, the networks will continue to air them.

I don't mind soaps, having watched Days, OLTL, AMC and GH for years. Not necessarily all at once, but off and on. I still watch GH occasionally because my lunch is about the same time that it comes on so I just go with it. I don't htink soaps are bad at all. I got frustrated with OLTL because they took so long to get to stories that I liked or else they would start stories and never continue with them. But if written well, they can be good. It's kind of sad that so many of them are gone now. It's a lot easier to watch them now b/c of DVRs and the soap mags and internet having so many spoilers. Used to be forever ago that it was torture watching on Friday b/c you had to wait till Monday to find out what would happen.

^Friday cliffhangers were always exciting!

Because there is nothing really else that's on.

The Young and the Restless was given a 3 year renewal on January 2014. The contract was to run until September 2017.

You gotta wonder why viewers aren't hearing about any type of renewal.

I tried to watch this video a week or so ago and turned it off after a minute or so. The creator's assertion that there has never been high-caliber acting or compelling writing in the long history of the daytime drama is just plain ill-informed and wrong.

Case in point, Judith Light's mesmerizing performance on the witness stand during Vickie Lord's trial on One Life to Live in 1979, which was as compellingly acted and written as any big screen courtroom drama!

ez79MbbIeFA

Of course, soaps today are a sad shell of what they once were, due to dire budget cuts, and they will never have the glory they once did, sadly...

^Totally agree with 80sTrivia, soaps in the 80s-90s were so awesome. I still watch "Days"....and like it...but it was so much better in the 90s-early 2000s.

I don't mind soaps, having watched Days, OLTL, AMC and GH for years. Not necessarily all at once, but off and on. I still watch GH occasionally because my lunch is about the same time that it comes on so I just go with it. I don't htink soaps are bad at all. I got frustrated with OLTL because they took so long to get to stories that I liked or else they would start stories and never continue with them. But if written well, they can be good. It's kind of sad that so many of them are gone now. It's a lot easier to watch them now b/c of DVRs and the soap mags and internet having so many spoilers. Used to be forever ago that it was torture watching on Friday b/c you had to wait till Monday to find out what would happen.

One thing that the video didn't really discuss is the real fundamental issue with soap operas (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoapOpera). Unlike a weekly, one hour long episodic show in prime-time, where they maybe at most, three concurrent storylines per episode (a main one and a B and C plot), a five days a week day-time soap opera could normally at least six different plots going at once. And only a few minutes at a time could be devoted to each on going storyline. And to make matters worse, the chances are that there may only be one or two storylines that you're actually invested in. Not only that, it could literally take weeks for one particular plot-point to gain any real traction let alone a payoff.

Also, it isn't like Netflix, where you can just "binge-watch" a readily available entire storyline. With a day-time soap opera, where you're more or less being spoon fed something that could take months if not years to unfold. This is perhaps why the attempt to relaunch All My Children and One Life to Live (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TroubledProduction/LiveActionTV) online in part, didn't work. And unlike with Netflix, with a day-time soap opera if you missed it then you really missed it.

^So basically what you're saying is, people's attention span is shot now?

I still maintain mine.

I have watched BB from Day 1.

When the late Bill Bell wrote, he was able to write a few plots at once. After he died and his lazy son Brad took over, BB now usually has only plot going. And it usually is about Brooke marrying some relative.

My point is that it could be that the younger generation do have shorter attention spans. But the major downfall of soaps is horrendous, lazy writing.

Y&R has now been renewed for 3 more years.

In the TV world the reason why some soap operas still remain on the air is because soap operas bring a whole interesting light to everyone who watches TV in the mornings and afternoons as a way to relax while their kids are in school and people have a whole hour of TV to themselves without the kids disturbing the parents while they are trying to watch a soap opera. But some soap operas even though they get good ratings and good storylines get cancelled because some game shows and talk shows make their appearances. Take for instance ABC was soap opera king when All My Children and One Life To Live and General Hospital debuted and because of the debuts of these soap operas ABC knew that soap operas really worked their magic for the network. But when Loving debuted in 1983 it really brought a new style to ABC's soap opera lineup and when Loving ended in 1995 and renamed itself The City ABC also knew that some soap opera spin-offs were a success and ABC repeated the the same thing with the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles and now with All My Children and One Life To Live gone General Hospital is still a hit with fans. NBC had also become soap opera king when Days Of Our Lives debuted and Another World made it's debut but in 1984 when Santa Barbara first aired it was a success and then when it got cancelled in 1993 the finale of Santa Barbara scored lots of viewers and made NBC a winner in daytime soaps but even though with the soaps Generations Sunset Beach and Passions making it's marks it's no secret that Days Of Our Lives is still the lone survivor of NBC soaps. CBS with the debuts of Guiding Light and As The World Turns proved that soap operas could be huge successes and so when The Young And The Restless debuted in the 70's CBS knew they had a hit on their hands and when The Bold And The Beautiful debuted in 1987 CBS had used the old college try that said "With the names Bill And Bradley Bell as creators a success can happen" and even though As The World Turns has been cancelled and replaced by The Talk and Guiding Light got replaced with Let's Make A Deal it's no secret that because of The Bold And The Beautiful and The Young And The Restless are still successful and has made CBS Daytime number one in TV. But I have a feeling that reruns of Loving and Ryan's Hope Santa Barbara Generations One Life To Live All My Children As The World Turns and Guiding Light and other soap operas will make a comeback to TV with a soap opera app or maybe they will invent a classic soap opera channel to be added to cable soon so that fans can see these classic soap operas on TV once again
Bestie

I love soap operas. I still miss watching "All My Children." I so wish they would bring it back. I'm so glad "General Hospital" is still on.

Soap operas and talk shows are still on so the networks have daytime filler for when people are working

One thing that the video didn't really discuss is the real fundamental issue with soap operas (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoapOpera). Unlike a weekly, one hour long episodic show in prime-time, where they maybe at most, three concurrent storylines per episode (a main one and a B and C plot), a five days a week day-time soap opera could normally at least six different plots going at once. And only a few minutes at a time could be devoted to each on going storyline. And to make matters worse, the chances are that there may only be one or two storylines that you're actually invested in. To make matters worse, it could literally take weeks for one particular plot-point to gain any real traction let alone a payoff.

Also, it isn't like Netflix, where you can just "binge-watch" an readily available entire storyline. With a day-time soap opera, where more or less being spoon fed something that could take months if not years to unfold. This is perhaps why the attempt to relaunch All My Children and One Life to Live (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TroubledProduction/LiveActionTV) online in part, didn't work. And unlike with Netflix, with a day-time soap opera if you missed it then you really missed it.
I agree the video started out promisingly but became otiose, though the reference to the Lever Brothers made me smile. Of course the market for these programmes has been displaced with more women going out to work and more competition from online streaming, but are they really any happier than they were in the 1950s I wonder?

I don't care for soap operas but they are preferable to the trashy talk show overload.

Better than reality tv.

As The World Turns aired for 54 years. I watched it with my mother as
a kid, as a college student, as a adult raising children and thruout the years.
I didn't realize how attached I had become to the show until I heard it was
going off the air! I couldn't believe it! I cried :) I wrote letters, signed
petitions and cried some more! :) But to no avail. It was like losing an
entire family! I was a wreck watching the final show. :lol: Sounds crazy
now but that's the way I felt when it went off the air. Just goes to show
how emotionally attached you can get to daily soaps, esp. if you have been
watching them for decades. It was the only soap I ever watched or ever
will. :)

One argument that I've just heard is that being on The CW is in a way, the modern day version of being on a daytime soap opera (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoapOpera). While it's a step up from being a waiter, you're still not considered a real actor yet. It's also like being on a Canadian TV show.

One argument that I've just heard is that being on The CW is in a way, the modern day version of being on a daytime soap opera. While it's a step up from being a waiter, you're still not considered a real actor yet. It's also like being on a Canadian TV show.
I'd rather watch ANY soap than any crap show on The CW.

Soap stars have always been neglected and talked about for bad acting but in reality they are some of the best actors/actresses in the biz. Their range of emotions are endless.

One argument that I've just heard is that being on The CW is in a way, the modern day version of being on a daytime soap opera....

^Was that argument in reference to any person in any program "on the CW" (even the persons in programs such as "Penn and Teller: Fool Us", "Masters of Illusion", "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer").

...While it's a step up from being a waiter, you're still not considered a real actor yet. It's also like being on a Canadian TV show.

^I had found both of those statements to had been insulting.

Pardon my ignorance but what does "the CW" stand for?

Pardon my ignorance but what does "the CW" stand for?

Were you referring to "the CW" that was being discussed here earlier? If so, its name was stated to had stood for CBS (as in the Columbia Broadcasting System) and Warner Bros. in reports regarding the creation of the entity for which they stood (a national TV programming service).

It was the name taken when the UPN (United Paramount Network) and the WB network merged.

Pardon my ignorance but what does "the CW" stand for?
CBS/WB. CBS was part owner of UPN by the time of the merger with The WB to form the CW.

One argument that I've just heard is that being on The CW is in a way, the modern day version of being on a daytime soap opera. While it's a step up from being a waiter, you're still not considered a real actor yet. It's also like being on a Canadian TV show.


I disagree. Stars like Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Nick Zano have all been in box office hits as a main star in the movie they were each in. I didn't know this about Jensen's movie, My Bloody Valentine, until researching but it made millions for Hollywood even on DVD / Blu Ray. It takes a real actor to achieve that kind of accomplishment. There's other actors who from The CW shows have been in hits on other networks. Wentworth Miller, Victor Garber, and Calista Flockhart to name a few were on some big shows from FOX and ABC. It's a weak argument to say the actors from The CW shows aren't real actors yet. The real reason some of these actors / actresses are on The CW is because the bigger 4 networks don't have faith in the shows they're in. CBS has passed on a few shows that went to The CW. The CW is still a struggling network trying to find its place among primetime. At one point the superhero shows were it, but now teeny bopper show Riverdale and the 13 year old Supernatural are the ones making money than most of the superhero shows for the network. The Flash is the only superhero show that continues to be successful.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160113143059/http://tvtropes.org:80/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DeaderThanDisco/LiveActionTV

Why the Once-loved Genre Is Losing Viewers, Marketing Dollars, and What's Replacing It (http://adage.com/article/media/tv-soap-operas-losing-viewers-marketing-dollars/145291/)

The death of soap operas: What does it say about television? (http://theweek.com/articles/485479/death-soap-operas-what-does-say-about-television)

How the Daytime Soap Came Back From the Dead - The Daily Beast (https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-daytime-soap-came-back-from-the-dead)

In the Wake of ABC Soap Opera Cancellation, Is the Death of Soap Opera an Inevitability? (https://www.fastcompany.com/1747516/wake-abc-soap-opera-cancellation-death-soap-opera-inevitability)

Will soap operas exist in the next 15-20 years? (https://www.quora.com/Will-soap-operas-exist-in-the-next-15-20-years)

Whatever Happened To: Soap operas | News-Gazette.com (http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2016-01-31/whatever-happened-soap-operas.html)

As the World Turns Cancelled: Why Are Soap Operas Dying? | TIME.com (http://entertainment.time.com/2009/12/09/the-world-has-turned-why-are-soaps-dying/)

PART 1: THE STRANGE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN SOAP OPERA (http://cadymcclain.com/the-strange-decline-of-the-american-soap-opera/)

How TV Fell Back in Love With Soaps -- Vulture (http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/primetime-soap-operas-are-back.html)

Soap operas: has the bubble burst? | Television & radio | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/01/soap-operas-has-the-bubble-burst)

Daytime TV Ratings Resurgence: If Soaps Are ‘Dead,’ Why Are Their Audiences Growing? (https://www.thewrap.com/daytime-tv-ratings-resurgence-soaps-dead-audiences-growing/)

The Decline Of The American Soap Opera - Daytime Confidential (https://daytimeconfidential.com/2011/04/15/the-decline-of-the-american-soap-opera)

More thoughts on soap operas and television seriality (https://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/more-thoughts-on-soap-operas-and-television-seriality/)

Who killed the soap opera? (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/who-killed-the-soap-opera-20140319-353ra.html)

Rise and Fall of Soap Operas - National Radio Hall of Fame (http://www.radiohof.org/blog_soaps.htm)

The Substitution Effect: How Reality TV Killed the Soap Opera (http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/23/the-substitution-effect-how-reality-tv-killed-the-soap-opera/)

Soap Operas: Can They Survive? (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/08/soap-operas-all-my-children_n_845089.html)

I know it's not a lot them in the daytime anymore. IMO, soap opera's are still alive and well. The spirit lives on in web series, reality tv and more than half of the prime time dramas, even the sitcoms give me soap opera vibes. ABC tried to recreate that daytime magic with the Shonda Rhimes thursday night block, all soap operas. I always looked at Grey's as GH Scandal as Capitol and HTGAWM as the Edge of Night of Prime time lol.

Viewers are likely are burnt out on following a storyline and not getting a good payoff at the end of it. That's one reason why viewers finally gave up on soaps. Far too many shows lead you on to believe that eventually you'd get a satisfying conclusion and instead the show would give you nothing for all the time you wasted watching.

And with all due respect, anyone who has a life cannot commit to 250 episodes of garbage a year. Where or who exactly are the audience now? From what I've heard, the mean age for them is early/mid 60s. And women (housewives were the main target for soap operas for many years) for the most part, work. With all of the binge-worthy stuff on Netflix, I don't think a soap would be must watch TV. In particular one, that someone has to commit to watching every day.

Viewers are likely are burnt out on following a storyline and not getting a good payoff at the end of it. That's one reason why viewers finally gave up on soaps. Far too many shows lead you on to believe that eventually you'd get a satisfying conclusion and instead the show would give you nothing for all the time you wasted watching.

And with all due respect, anyone who has a life cannot commit to 250 episodes of garbage a year. Where or who exactly are the audience now? From what I've heard, the mean age for them is early/mid 60s. And women (housewives were the main target for soap operas for many years) for the most part, work. With all of the binge-worthy stuff on Netflix, I don't think a soap would be must watch TV. In particular one, that someone has to commit to watching every day.
Seriously, you want to call it "garbage" and say anyone who watches soaps have no life? LOL...this coming from someone who does nothing but copy and paste worthless clickbait crap on this site and probably other sites ALL day long....talk about someone with no life.

Seriously, you want to call it "garbage" and say anyone who watches soaps have no life? LOL...this coming from someone who does nothing but copy and paste worthless clickbait crap on this site and probably other sites ALL day long....talk about someone with no life.

Why do you think that I'm insulting soap watchers (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/11074872)!? My point is that there has to be a good and rational reason why soaps are declining in popularity (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/18844087) and relevance. I never said specifically that soap watchers "don't have lives". Maybe I should've clarified, buy what I meant to say is that watching a daytime soap opera every single day (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.datalounge.com/thread/15676554-will-the-soap-opera-ever-make-a-comeback-&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjb6rGJxqzbAhUl3YMKHRNLD50QFggRMAY&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=012934500974320822133:_voyjogdwma&usg=AOvVaw2T4tXy9DtveakPzjRxTU3w) for an entire calendar year, is a massive commitment. And it for most people, can understandably be hard to keep track of when they have other things that they need to do like go to work or school.

And when I said "garbage", I'm referring to the quality of the soaps and writing (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/what-killed-the-american-soap-opera-and-will-it-ever-be-revitalized.1121341/) not soaps in general. That would be like me saying that all reality shows are bad or have no redeeming values. Why don't you read between the lines before you start to attack my personal merits (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem).

Why do you think that I'm insulting soap watchers (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/11074872)!? My point is that there has to be a good and rational reason why soaps are declining in popularity (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/18844087) and relevance. I never said specifically that soap watchers "don't have lives". Maybe I should've clarified, buy what I meant to say is that watching a daytime soap opera every single day (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.datalounge.com/thread/15676554-will-the-soap-opera-ever-make-a-comeback-&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjb6rGJxqzbAhUl3YMKHRNLD50QFggRMAY&client=internal-uds-cse&cx=012934500974320822133:_voyjogdwma&usg=AOvVaw2T4tXy9DtveakPzjRxTU3w) for an entire calendar year, is a massive commitment. And it for most people, can understandably be hard to keep track off when they have other things that they need to do like go to work or school.

And when I said "garbage", I'm referring to the quality of the soaps and writing (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/what-killed-the-american-soap-opera-and-will-it-ever-be-revitalized.1121341/) not soaps in general. That would be like me saying that all reality shows are bad or have no redeeming values. Why don't you read between the lines before you start to attack my personal merits (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem).
I'm too busy committing to my soap to read between the lines.

There's no need to "commit to 250 episodes of 'garbage' a year" in order to watch soaps. Just like most other shows, soaps can be watched online or on demand at the viewer's convenience. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Quite often for every viewer complaining about how awful a particular story line is, there is a viewer who loves that particular story line.

A lot of people grew up watching soaps with their Mom or Grandma or babysitter during the summer months, and the characters from those days are still on the remaining shows today. There's a nostalgia and comfort factor in watching these remaining soaps. And the great thing is that you can skip the story lines that don't interest you, and you have access to information to know when to tune in to watch the characters you want to see.

I tried to watch this video a week or so ago and turned it off after a minute or so. The creator's assertion that there has never been high-caliber acting or compelling writing in the long history of the daytime drama is just plain ill-informed and wrong.

Case in point, Judith Light's mesmerizing performance on the witness stand during Vickie Lord's trial on One Life to Live in 1979, which was as compellingly acted and written as any big screen courtroom drama!

ez79MbbIeFA

Of course, soaps today are a sad shell of what they once were, due to dire budget cuts, and they will never have the glory they once did, sadly...

Soaps often get a bad rap (https://www.quora.com/Why-are-soap-operas-so-bad/answer/Robert-Goodman-15) now because of their production issues. Soaps are generally more about "quantity" and filler (since they have to produce roughly 250 episodes a year for five days a week unlike the roughly 22 for a weekly prime time show) instead of "quality". Actors simple don't have time to work on their performance much and the directors don't have time to do many takes. There's a reason why soaps use the multi-camera video technique, because it's the most practical method. The actors are given their scripts (dialogue is churned out quickly and nobody is asking for a rewrite to make it more realistic) and expected to turn up with what they learned, stand in the right place, and be ready to go. There's simply no need to get too creative and formulas can easily be adhered to. All that matters is the target audience wants and expects melodrama, conflict, good guys, bad guys and attractive people having arguments with each other.

I disagree. Stars like Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Nick Zano have all been in box office hits as a main star in the movie they were each in. I didn't know this about Jensen's movie, My Bloody Valentine, until researching but it made millions for Hollywood even on DVD / Blu Ray. It takes a real actor to achieve that kind of accomplishment. There's other actors who from The CW shows have been in hits on other networks. Wentworth Miller, Victor Garber, and Calista Flockhart to name a few were on some big shows from FOX and ABC. It's a weak argument to say the actors from The CW shows aren't real actors yet. The real reason some of these actors / actresses are on The CW is because the bigger 4 networks don't have faith in the shows they're in. CBS has passed on a few shows that went to The CW. The CW is still a struggling network trying to find its place among primetime. At one point the superhero shows were it, but now teeny bopper show Riverdale and the 13 year old Supernatural are the ones making money than most of the superhero shows for the network. The Flash is the only superhero show that continues to be successful.

Well let's put it this way, because of the manner for which the scenes in these daytime dramas as constructed, there are very slow dramatic arcs in each scene. Acting in those scenes teaches the actor to not drive the story forward, which is a very bad habit for actors to fall into. This is hard to overcome in an audition for bigger things like a prime time series of a feature film.

This could be one reason why many soap actors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-serving_soap_opera_actors#United_States) don't go on to do things beyond the genre. When you're on the air for five days a week for roughly 250 episodes in a single calendar year, they do get a little over exposed. This will make them not as “fresh” for major films and TV.

Also, for some actors (for example, Julianne Moore (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LKivTk1QJE)), being on a soap was just temporary work to them; they did not make a career out of being on a soap like say Susan Lucci or Erika Slezak.

There's no need to "commit to 250 episodes of 'garbage' a year" in order to watch soaps. Just like most other shows, soaps can be watched online or on demand at the viewer's convenience. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Quite often for every viewer complaining about how awful a particular story line is, there is a viewer who loves that particular story line.

A lot of people grew up watching soaps with their Mom or Grandma or babysitter during the summer months, and the characters from those days are still on the remaining shows today. There's a nostalgia and comfort factor in watching these remaining soaps. And the great thing is that you can skip the story lines that don't interest you, and you have access to information to know when to tune in to watch the characters you want to see.

Either way, the very essence of soap opera is a continuing story that unfolds over years. As I said earlier, daytime soap operas and their long, complex narratives are really a commitment that seriously requires one's time and patience. And sometimes, daytime soaps can feel very slow and pandering. Maybe with better writing and better acting, the networks could revive soaps by not having them on every single day.

It isn't so much that there is no longer a calling for serialized storytelling. Modern shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead or even Grey's Anatomy can be considered soaps. It's just that most modern audiences prefers it in 22 or 13 weekly episodes one season at a time. The only difference is that those shows don't run 5 days a week without reruns.

because there are no talk shows, cooking shows etc. to replace them with.

Yes, soaps are dying/dead. But the other shows on in the afternoons aren't doing that much better ratings wise.

That is why DOOL recently got another 1 year renewal. NBC doesn't have a replacement.

The decline of daytime soaps in the United States coincide with the birth and rise of cable TV. When cable came around, there were suddenly more viewing choices in the daytime. So 20 channel choices eventually became 100 -200 channel choices. Also, judge shows, talks shows, game shows, and reality shows were all cheaper to produce and began eating away at soap market shares. Networks soon realized they could put on a badly produced game show costing 1/10th of a soap and hit just as good a ratings. The remaining daytime soaps, will remain on the air as long as they're considered profitable.

There's no need to "commit to 250 episodes of 'garbage' a year" in order to watch soaps. Just like most other shows, soaps can be watched online or on demand at the viewer's convenience. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Quite often for every viewer complaining about how awful a particular story line is, there is a viewer who loves that particular story line.

A lot of people grew up watching soaps with their Mom or Grandma or babysitter during the summer months, and the characters from those days are still on the remaining shows today. There's a nostalgia and comfort factor in watching these remaining soaps. And the great thing is that you can skip the story lines that don't interest you, and you have access to information to know when to tune in to watch the characters you want to see.

Watching soaps has always in theory been a generational thing. Women were always the main target audience and their daughters would always watch their mothers' shows. But once cable came about and there were more viewing options, you had a generation of people who likely grew up instead on talk shows or judge shows like Jenny Jones, Oprah and Judge Judy. Thus, soaps in some respects lost a part of their reverence (and their long, complex histories) if the daughters no longer watched their mothers' "stories".

I do think that when Reality TV came along it destroyed the soap opera genre. I think all the executives etc. liked Reality TV "drama" as opposed to soap opera genre. It's like soap operas used to sit at the main table, now there at the kids table.

As long as they still generate enough profit they will. However, I think their days are numbered to some extent. Most prime-time and streaming shows now have continuing story arcs available in many cases to binge watch. I grew up with the soaps (mainly Edge of Night) and I can appreciate the anticipation of a cliff-hanger or plot resolution. My wife also watched soaps but she want the next episode available right now to see what happens next now that she has grown accustomed to binge watching. I often DVR a bunch of episodes of a new season of shows I like before I start watching and binge in an orderly manner because I like to watch plots play out.

I still miss All My Children and One Life to Live. I watched OLTL faithfully and was very disappointed when it was cancelled. I enjoyed the escapism of it.