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And I couldn’t agree with him more. Be warned, he does say the full word bullsh**, but I think he’s right on:
I love the part when he says "write for your 10 people"….that is so true. If the writers would do good storylines for "base characters" we will stay hooked! I think they’re taking the hint by doing the storylines with Maggie and Victor…and if they bring back some beloved Salemite…they need to quit with the fluff and stick to the main characters~!
He is correct! I would welcome 3 storylines, Bo and Hope, Victor and Maggie, Sami and Rafe. Throw out the teens, throw out Melanie and Chloe. Bring Marlena and John, Patch and Kayla and Jack and Jennifer back. I would watch every day.
He’s so right. Look at nighttime TV. They have a few main characters and maybe bring in extras or guest stars periodically but it’s always the same core characters. Desparate Housewives, ER was great and they usually brought in new characters when a vetaran wanted to leave. Greys Anatomy has brought in new characters but the core characters are front and center. Daytime should go BACK to the begining and have 1-2 main families. When Days first started it was The Hortons and the extended families. Now it seems to be The Bradys who are the largest group so focus on them and their extended families but STOP with entire new families coming to Salem
You’re comparing a five day soap with a once a week primetime show. If they concentrated on only say three couples and we had to watch them everyday, viewers would drop like flies. We complain now that they can’t write about anything new and stories are seen over and over again…imagine what would happen if they only wrote for a few people. What in the world could they have them do? Let’s take ER. Yes, they only had a few main characters but every week they brought in the guest actors to be able to have some variety. They couldn’t have a show with only a few diseases/maladies a week, every week, they needed the variety to hold the viewers’ interest. Would you want to watch one hour of the same characters every day? The primetime shows go even further than the soaps…they change the peripheral characters every single episode. Ours stick around much longer.
Now, let’s take Bo and Hope. What could be written for them that would be interesting enough to watch every day or even every other day? (With only three couples, you’re going to have to watch them every day or else all three every day.) Imagin Hope going to the grocery store, Bo having the oil changed in the car, them going to Ciera’s school play? Uh-uh, I don’t think so. You know what they say about variety.
If you come right down to it, they DO write for the core couples, Bo and Hope; Sami and Rafe’ and Nicole and EJ. Everybody else falls in the "filler" category. Personally, I think they have it just right.
Nope, I don’t think that would work at all. Think about it. That would kill the rest of the soaps faster than David’s stone fell Goliath.
I’d even enjoy the show if it was on once or twice a week. Who says daytime programing has to be a Mon-Fri show. Right now you get a storyline and maybe get to see part of the storyline for 10-15 minutes an episode every other day wth few exceptions like the Colleen/Santo one. Sami shot Rafe and the next day they show the after math and when was looking for the continuation I had to sit through an episode without them. Yeah, some complain they show the same characters every day but the good storylines they show every 2-3 days. I guess it’s to keep us tuned in daily with the hopes of seeing them. That’s where we get disgusted and tune out again. Maybe they need to look not at the weekly numbers but at the daily and they’ll see which characters are bringing in the most viewers. With the previews at the end of each episode, the spoilers and days ahead posts we know whether we want to watch or not and I’m sure there are many like me who only watch when my favorite storyline or characters will be front and center.
and comparing primetime to daytime is not the problem. The problem is too large of a cast, and not enough time spent on the people we came to watch in the first place. I absolute hate too many hopping storylines in one show, with the actor(s) saying one or two lines, and then the scene cuts to someone or something I care nothing about. I realize everyone has their favorite couples, but in most instances, from what I’ve seen on this forum alone, it pretty much narrows it down to about 1 or 2 dozen characters. The cast for DOOL is practically 3 times that many actors now, which means that I’m not interested in at least two-thirds of them. Write good stories for people with whom the audiences shares a vested interest, with more screen time and less repetitive flashbacks and even more annoying, repeating the last five minutes of yesterdays show with the same exact scenes from the day before. That irritates the hell out of me. I think ALL stories should wrap up in 3 months. That’s long enough for any story to be told. Even the most popular cast members get on my nerves after that. Stop using children in soaps. They don’t work, except as plot suppliers or pawns. I love this show and have watched it since the beginning. There are certain things about a "soap opera" that will never change; however, there are ways to make them more interesting, and IMO it starts with a smaller cast and returning to family-oriented story lines with the popular villains thrown into the mix, but keeping it interesting enough to draw the fans in, begging for more …. sorta’ like we’re doing right now. If these boards are read, then TPTB know what and who the fans want to see. But the writing MUST be number one for any soap opera to be successful. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, that’s true, but when you can’t please the majority, it’s time to look at what the audience wants and give it to them. It can be done in daytime; it’s just a matter of putting the right people in charge.
What stood out when reading this was the number of characters and number of cuts to various storylines per episode. Those are interrelated and how the writing is involved is a vicious circle. In having so many characters to write for they need multiple storylines and it’s hard to come up with so many so the ones they have are lacking. The writers aren’t really invested in all these characters and writing so many storylines at once means many of them are lacking in substance or get repetative.
Narrowing it down to less characters with less storylines would mean each one gets the attention they deserve and the time to get interesting. There’s so many places they could go with Victor and Maggie but in a rush they turn to their old standby’s. Oh, they started out strong but just wait, they’ll peter out and theyll go the same route as multiple other couples in the past. Same with Sami. Rather than focusing on her growth through the years it’s easier to keep her stunted but put her in many of the same situations over and over. Why must Stefano’s storylines always involve mind control? Because they don’t have the time or interest to go further with him
First of all, I love kids in the storys. We complain about realism, kids are realistic. Look how we all goo-gooed about many of them. So what if they’re not great actors, they add to the stories. I think they should have more pets too. Everybody I know has a dog or cat.
If you don’t want to compare soaps to primetime, then you have to cut to showing them only once a week. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t like that. Days is part of my day and I enjoy sitting down with a nice cold Frapuccino in my hand and relaxing for 40 minutes. I’d hate to see it cut to 1/2 hour either, even if it meant better quality.
One thing I agree with is that the scenes are way to short. I also hate the way they flip-flop around from one senario to the other(s). But…that is for this new, younger generation. Remember when MTV first came out? The videos they showed moved so fast you’d hardly see what was happening, and it’s getting worse and worse. It’s us old folks that don’t like that. The younger generation doesn’t have the attention span of a fruit fly and if you linger on any one thing for more than 10 seconds, they lose interest. I don’t think that will change. And I also hate the repeat of the first couple of minutes. But it’s a good way to cut production costs. They used to do it pre-VCR days to catch up the viewers who may have missed yesterday’s ep. Now, it’s just laziness, IMO. Same thing with flashbacks…they are NO LONGER NECESSARY!!!
Now, if they cut to writing for only the core couples, I can tell you without a doubt, I’d be bored out of my skull. There is not one single character I’d want to do without (actor, yes, character, not necessarily). I like having Mary, Henderson, the waiter at the Cheatin’ Heart, etc. around. (Heck, my son’s ex girlfriend is an extra in many scenes, mostly the pub and Chez Rouge, I see her at least once a month…she is actually a contract writer and does it for free.) Remember realism? Sure, maybe they aren’t instrumental to anything but they do give us some variety and a break from the main action. You MUST have that. Even first-run movies do that. I don’t know any writer who could possibly maintain the interest for an hour (even a half-hour) a day only writing for six or even ten people. Hell, they can’t do it even with the large cast they’ve got now, what makes you think they could do a better job with even fewer people. Can anybody name me one hit primetime drama show that has less than 15 (heck, even 20-25) characters per episode.
I see I’m in the minority here but I’m in a very STRONG minority and am very firm in my feelings. I think a lot of reasoning to Billy Warlock’s comments was definitely knee-jerk reactionism and if more thought was given, you might see some of the points I’m making. We are quick to make judgements when we aren’t even in the business but think we have all the answers. I don’t think so…
On another note: As in Patti’s previous words to me, "this is said with all love"…I wish people who write long posts would put a couple of paragraphs in, even if they are not gramatically correct. It makes the posts so much easier to read. Thank you from this old windbag that has a hard time reading long posts. :o) But no trouble writing them!!!
Bonbon, could you point out your son’s ex girlfriend the next time she’s in a scene? Thanks. Just curious!
First I have to tell you she is an ex from about 12 years ago so I don’t ever see her to talk about Days like we used to do plus she lives in CA while I’m in FL.
She’s about 5’6", long blond hair and about 38 years old but looks younger. Sometimes I only see her from the back and not sure it’s her but when they show her face I know.
and he is completely right. We have watched for the core characters.. NOT the new folks no one knows..
CAL
we have, on many occasions, had the same opinions. That’s what makes debating fun….that and each respecting the other’s opinions without making it a war. Admittedly I make long posts, but unfortunately I don’t know any other way to get my point(s) across.
So who would be the 10 people? Bo and Hope, Sami and Rafe, Stefano and Kate, Victor and Maggie, Jen, Daniel, mel, Chloe. What about Abe, Lexie, Caroline, Roman, NIcole and EJ? No room for any of the kids, no teens, or recurring. It would make for a very small town.
I think that you would still need extras just to keep it realistic. The DiMeras and Kiriakas would still need household staff. The other sets would still need workers and customers. I also think that viewers would get tired of seeing the same people every day.
Since the show is on 5 days a week, the stories would fly. Now most stars are on 2-3 days a week and the show has many story lines going on at the same time. This is good cause everyone doesn’t like every story so there is something for everyone.
Most prime time show have a large cast like Greys or Desperate Housewives. Even those have members coming and going as storyline dictates or as cast decide to leave or are let go.
Maybe Billy is a little annoyed cause he was let go so his words should be taken with a grain of salt.
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