Deep Soap: Troubled Teens

By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com

Kids Today…

On daytime, summer is traditionally Teen Season. In an attempt to attract young viewers while school is out, teenage characters are given front-burner storylines. When I was young, they often featured green actors in some variation of a Romeo & Juliet story of forbidden love. The good girl was always determined to remain a virgin. The guys were either preppy dweebs or “rebels” who bore more of a resemblance to the Fonz than actual bad boys. I preferred the older characters who allowed me to fantasize about the awesome adult life I was sure to have. The teens set off my b.s detector. I knew that wasn’t really how high school students acted. I still cringe when I recall how Julie and Charlie and Cecily — the then teens of All My Children — immediately swore off their two days of drinking and drug use after a “hip” motivational speaker lectured them about it. [see AMC photos] I rolled my eyes at Jenna and Dean’s “rocker falls for convent-raised orphan” story on Another World. When AW reran on SoapNet, I discovered that I enjoyed Dean and Jenna’s story the second time around. There was something poignant and sweet about her innocence and his grudging realization that he was falling for the uptight priss. However, I still find Dean’s moussed mullet an atrocity. More recently, I loved Guiding Light’s Jonathan and Tammy – IMHO a successful updating of the old tropes. The bad boy was truly, delightfully despicable and the good girl was quite fond of sex. Maybe teen storylines work better as nostalgia for cynical adults.

Those wholesome stories are relics of the past. Teens no longer watch daytime soaps in large numbers. If, unlike my teenage self, they’re interested in seeing stories about their age cohort, why would they? There are tons of teen dramas – Gossip Girl, Degrassi High, Friday Night Lights. But daytime hasn’t given up. (The reasoning is that once you’re hooked young, you’re often a fan for life. Kind of like cigarettes.) Today, we get stories that are supposed to be “darker” and “edgier”. On General Hospital, Lulu is tangling with mobster Johnny – who is not just a rebel but a criminal. On Bold & The Beautiful, young Phoebe returned home to find her former boyfriend Rick in bed with her mother. One Life To Live’s star-crossed teens are dealing with a pregnancy. Call me an old fart, but these stories aren’t making me reminisce about the joys of first love.

Instead, they make me sad that daytime’s teens have don’t get to experience any more romance than its adults do. The one bright spot is As The World Turns Luke and Noah. [watch full episodes] Ironically, the “daring” gay love story is an old-fashioned romance with lingering glances, first kisses and parental disapproval. Let’s hope that ATWT gets the courage to treat their relationship like that of any other popular young couple with love scenes that are as passionate as Jonathan and Tammy’s were.

The Dru Winters Memorial Chapeau Award

It is rare that a wardrobe item deserves its own post. But the enormous black hat that Dorian Lord has been sporting for the past two days on OLTL demands it. Heck, it deserves its own shot in the opening credits and a scandalous love affair with Asa’s cowboy hat. The Pope’s Mitre is jealous of the drama and fabulousness that is the Hat. I was so impressed by this exciting newcomer that I went to an inside source to find out who came up with the idea. Turns out, the script specified that Dorian wear a hat as she set off to announce that she owned Beaucanan Enterprises. But it was the wardrobe department’s inspired choice to give her The Hat That Rules The World. Congratulations to everyone involved, including the divine Robin Strasser who out-fierced Christian Siriano. It is my honor to bestow the first annual Dru Winters Memorial Chapeau Award – named for daytime’s original Mad Hatter - to Dorian’s Black Hat.

Ask The (Currently Unemployed) Soap Writer

MarkH: First, you said:”But, as someone who used to analyze Nielsen ratings for a living, I understand that when the numbers aren’t there sometimes a network has to make a tough call.” Can you tell us more about this? Tell us how you trained and became Neilsen-affiliated. And then how you left to write soaps.

After college I landed a job as an assistant in Columbia-TriStar’s research department – the department that deals with ratings, focus groups etc. I worked my way up, learned the relevant Nielsen software and became an analyst. Two of the shows I covered (at my request J) were Sony’s soaps, DOOL and Y&R. I got to know people on the shows and was invited to interview for Y&R’s story coordinator position.

How are you learning about the SoapNet ratings?

I can’t reveal my sources. Nielsen data is released to those purchase it. Different companies need different data. For example, a local television affiliate only cares about the ratings in its media market. A network cares about National data. Only cable stations and producers with shows on the networks pay the hefty fees for cable network data. SoapNet, like many cable networks, has ratings in the decimal points because the numbers are so much smaller than those of larger networks.

Jordan: Until 2005, I believe Y&R was the only daytime soap not to follow the trend of shaking up the writers and production team. But apparently they couldn’t stay away from the trend forever… My question for you is why?

The only thing that I’m certain of is that the people making decisions truly were attempting to improve the show. Y&R certainly wasn’t perfect before. No show is. As hard as it may be to believe, every network exec/ producer/ head writer really is trying to do a good job. Nobody is trying to hurt the shows. They’re all convinced or at least hope that what they’re doing will please the audience. So many decisions are made from fear and desperation because of the falling ratings. From a ratings standpoint, none of LML’s changes were all that significant. The ratings remained relatively flat throughout her tenure, while most other shows fell substantially. There has been a big drop since she left. So, from a network’s perspective, letting her go now looks like a mistake. The great screenwriter William Goldman once said of Hollywood, ‘Nobody knows anything.” The axiom applies to daytime.

SamanthaNC:

Do you have any advice for screenwriting novices?

Read the scripts for movies and television shows that you enjoy. Many screenplays can be purchased. Check your local bookstore or Amazon. There are also a lot of great books about writing screenplays. Right now, I’m reading “Writing The Romantic Comedy” by Billy Mernit. Many university extension programs offer screenwriting classes that are open to everybody. Some community college offer low cost classes. The best advice I can give you is to try to write something every day, even if it’s just an entry in your journal. Good luck!

nextgen: I am new to soaps watch them as bonding time with my mom but i just don’t understand them at all. watch oltl and y&r. i just don’t think i am watching them correctly, my mom tries to explain the history and i come on the message boards for added reference but i am just not seeing what everyone else is especially about oltl. i don’t understand what soapy means. for example the wedding i thought it was corny and predictable that gigi confessed her love for rex at that time instead of when she was alone with him earlier where she could have a more heartfelt discussion.

It’s interesting to read a non soap fan’s perspective. I hope your mother appreciates the effort you are putting into bonding with her! I’ll quote an academic named Albert Moran. “Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as ‘chance meetings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings’ ” Soaps combine larger than life stories with honest, human emotion. If Gigi spoke to Rex alone, it would have been a more realistic choice but far less dramatic. Effective soap stories are often about the longterm build-up of tension followed by a huge release or payoff. It’s almost like a Greek tragedy. The reader knows from the start that Oedipus is going to fulfill a terrible prophesy. The interest comes in seeing how it happens and the emotional fall out. Maybe soaps just aren’t your genre. We all have our likes and dislikes. If you can’t get into them, don’t feel bad. Perhaps your Mom would like some of your favorite shows.