Deep Soap: Coming Attractions

By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com

18 More Months of Our Lives
Variety just broke the news that, after a protracted negotiation, Days of Our Lives has been renewed for 18 months. It looks like the show’s recent improved ratings paid off. This is an unusually short daytime contract. But it’s great news for DOOL fans and for daytime.

I’m Meh About Paris In The Fall
I am trying to be enthusiastic about The Young & The Restless’s Paris remote. It’s an actual international, multi-episode location shoot in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It showcases veteran characters and promises the resurrection of two of the show’s classic romances : Nick/Sharon and Victor/Ashley. So why aren’t I loving every minute? First of all, the locations aren’t being used in an exciting fashion. Phyllis supervising a random dayplayer’s photo shoot is a lot less exciting than Santa Barbara’s Cruz and Eden finally getting their baby back by the Seine. In fact, unlike more remotes, this trip to Paris is more about set-ups than payoffs. The Victor-Ashley reunion, while beautifully shot. Seemed rushed and anti –climactic. Yes, the two share a powerful history. But it rang false that she was able to snap him out of his epic grief orgy in one conversation. Weeks of story were shoved into one episode. The obvious, and inexplicable, use of green screen technology in several Sharon scenes was distracting. It doesn’t work any better for French boat rides than it does for Pennsylvania tornados. I hope this European interlude is merely an hors d’ouevre to whet viewers’ appetites for the impending Y&R renaissance. Right now, I’m more intrigued by Marge’s death by low-tech shaky camera car accident.

Soap Net Scrubs Soaps From Its Schedule
Brian Frons announced SoapNet’s new slate of original programming. On the plus side, there will not be a second season of Relative Madness. But it’s clear that despite record October ratings, SoapNet’s strategy is heavy on the Net, light on the Soap. There are three new programs. In the, “Seriously, what the hell is this doing on SoapNet” category, is Greg Behrendt’s Wake Up Call.” The author of He’s Just Not That Into You continues to use a funny B-storyline on a single episode of Sex And The City as a qualification for a career as a relationship expert. Apparently, in each episode he will help a real life couple work through their problems. This could be a decent program on TLC or WE, but where’s the soap? There is a different couple each episode, so viewers won’t be able to invest in relationships over time. A self-help program that happens to focus on dating is not a soap opera. But it will be pre-empting the 11PM DOOL run on Thursdays in January. Relative Madness, meet your replacement.

In the category of, “Canadian import that SoapNet is touting as original programming,” we have Being Erica. A show called Being Erica Kane that would teach me to transform myself into a much-married five-foot tall supermodel/cosmetics mogul/talk show host would be appointment viewing. (In fact, if SoapNet’s determined to do unscripted programming, a tongue-in-cheek series on how to become a soap character would be fun.) Unfortunately, Being Erica is about a woman who relives events from her past with the help of her mysterious therapist. It’s impossible to tell from the blurb if there are soap elements. Perhaps the premise is the jumping off point for a romance and mystery that will be revealed through the therapy sessions. It could appeal to the SoapNet female demo. A little Google sleuthing revealed that, like MVP this is a Canadian series that SN is passing off as an original. I think the network should be a showcase for international soaps. I’d love to watch some of the South American telenovelas. But I’m not sure Being Erica qualifies. I think SoapNet may have picked the wrong CBS show. According to the marvelously named TV-Eh blog, CBC is also launching a new series called Wild Roses, described as, “Two western families clash over property, loyalty, wealth and power… in Canada’s new west… Alberta’s booming oil industry.” Sounds like Dallas with people saying, “aboot.” Sign me up! Why the heck didn’t SoapNet buy this? It really seems like the network is not only anti-daytime soaps, its anti serialized dramas.

The network’s final category is, “Obligatory obviously scripted ‘reality show.’” I present you, Southern Belles a, “docusoap about modern Southern women in their 20s and 30s.” In other words, Real Housewives of Louisville. I know that The Hills has sadly become the soap of choice for many people. I understand the thinking behind this one. But SoapNet is missing the obvious here. A docusoap that goes behind the scenes of a daytime soap. Everyone who works in daytime jokes that the cameras are often pointed in the wrong direction. People who haven’t watched soaps in years would tune in to go inside the production, watch writers pitch storylines to the network, and see actors struggle to memorize lines, worry about how often their characters are being used, interact with the rest of the soap staff, and sell fruit juice. There’s no way Y&R or GH would expose themselves to this kind of scrutiny. Only a show desperate for publicity would risk it. Guiding Light, I’m looking at you. It would probably be a poignant look at television’s longest running scripted show’s struggle for survival.

My personal preferences aside, SoapNet’s policy of cleansing the soaps from its schedule is bad business. Night Shift is its most successful original program. Its other original programming usually underperforms daytime soap repeats. Perhaps the network needs to schedule an appointment with Greg Berhendt to cope with it self-destructive self-loathing.