Soap fans received some shocking news this week when it was announced that SOAPnet, the only 24-hour soap channel, would be going off the air in 2012 to make room for a new Disney channel. And although fans are being reassured that this will not affect the soap genre because of the ability to watch episodes online, this seems like one more step toward making soaps obsolete.
I must say I think SOAPnet could have and should have tried much harder to promote the genre that brought them into existence, but I don't see how soaps can avoid a fallout once this channel goes off the air. Sure viewers survived years without the convenience of SOAPnet to allow them to catch up on missed episodes, but a lot has changed in the ten years since its launch. Soap ratings are lower than ever, and even with the Internet, DVR, and SOAPnet, it is a constant struggle to maintain viewer interest. In fact, I'm sure SOAPnet is the only way certain viewers can watch their missed episodes. It may seem difficult to believe in this age of technology but there are still people who don't have Internet access or DVR. And still others who might be unable to use this technology if they did have it. For those that have Internet access, how many households can really afford to have the computer tied up with soaps for several hours a night? And how many would even bother? Once it becomes too much of a hassle to stay caught up on soaps, most people will simply lose interest. Soap fans are loyal, but so far that loyalty hasn't done much to improve ratings or prevent cancellations, and I don't see how watching soaps online will either.
Related post: A Missed Opportunity: Soapnet's Cancellation of Port Charles
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Here Come the Brides: DOOL
A lot of positive things can be said about Days of Our Lives right now and I have touched on a few of them lately, but I must say I was surprised at what an outstanding plot point Victor and Vivian's wedding turned out to be. Out of all the other storylines I didn't expect this decidedly trivial event to be so entertaining. From Nicole and Kate drinking martinis before, during, and after the ceremony to Nicole lining up all of Victor's ex-wives to have their picture taken with Vivian, it was pure soapy goodness. I even loved the flashback sequences throughout the ceremony as Kate, Carly, and Nicole remembered their weddings to Victor. Most of all I am enjoying the emphasis that is being placed on Victor and Maggie's connection. I think there is real potential there. She has a way of keeping him in a line when no one else can. And he seems to genuinely respect her, which is more than I can say about any of the other women in his life.
I think the other soaps would do well to take a cue from Days, because at least right now they are doing a great job of balancing drama, romance, and comedy. And as any soap fan can tell you, finding this balance is one of the most important things a show can do to maintain audience interest.
[no copyright infringement intended]
I think the other soaps would do well to take a cue from Days, because at least right now they are doing a great job of balancing drama, romance, and comedy. And as any soap fan can tell you, finding this balance is one of the most important things a show can do to maintain audience interest.
Monday, May 24, 2010
On Guard: GH
Unless you are a soap fan who doesn't read internet spoilers, or you missed Saturday night's podcast you have undoubtedly heard the rumor about what really happened to Michael in prison. That rumor of course being that he was the victim of prison rape, which seems to be exactly what GH has been implying the past few days. And I just want to go on record right now as saying that if the reason for the Michael recast was so the show could put somebody with a more innocent look into these prison scenes it was a bad decision. It is not that Chad Duell isn't doing a good job as Michael because he is. It just never ceases to amaze me how soaps are constantly sacrificing good actors for bad storylines. And this prison storyline is bad on more levels than I can even wrap my mind around.
First of all Michael probably would have been okay in prison until Jason got there if Sonny had checked his ego at the prison door and not antagonized Anthony Zacchara with threats about Johnny. Sonny gets his kids into more trouble simply by not knowing when to be quiet. For that reason Carly should be teaming up with Johnny and Ethan to take down Sonny instead of wasting her time on this school girl scheme of trying to break up Dante and Lulu. Does she really equate Michael spending five years in prison with a break-up? Moreover Jason, whose in prison trying to protect Michael, asked her to stay out of trouble and she can't even honor those wishes. Remind me again why Jason is so loyal to Carly and Sonny because he seems to spend a lot of time cleaning up their messes.
This situation with Michael might prove too difficult for even Jason to help out with though, considering that he has now been warned by the warden himself to stay out of trouble and steer clear of fighting or risk solitary confinement for the duration of his sentence. So are the viewers supposed to believe that only certain people in Pentonville are allowed to fight, or is fighting prohibited while rape is accepted? Like I said I can't even wrap my mind around this storyline and at this point I'm not even sure I want to.
First of all Michael probably would have been okay in prison until Jason got there if Sonny had checked his ego at the prison door and not antagonized Anthony Zacchara with threats about Johnny. Sonny gets his kids into more trouble simply by not knowing when to be quiet. For that reason Carly should be teaming up with Johnny and Ethan to take down Sonny instead of wasting her time on this school girl scheme of trying to break up Dante and Lulu. Does she really equate Michael spending five years in prison with a break-up? Moreover Jason, whose in prison trying to protect Michael, asked her to stay out of trouble and she can't even honor those wishes. Remind me again why Jason is so loyal to Carly and Sonny because he seems to spend a lot of time cleaning up their messes.
This situation with Michael might prove too difficult for even Jason to help out with though, considering that he has now been warned by the warden himself to stay out of trouble and steer clear of fighting or risk solitary confinement for the duration of his sentence. So are the viewers supposed to believe that only certain people in Pentonville are allowed to fight, or is fighting prohibited while rape is accepted? Like I said I can't even wrap my mind around this storyline and at this point I'm not even sure I want to.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Easy Targets: GH
With Michael being sentenced to five years in prison, Carly is certainly entitled to be angry. It is even understandable that she would want to lash out at anyone within striking distance and seek revenge on the person responsible for putting him there. In fact given everything that Michael has been through it would be hard to fault Carly for trying to get some sort of justice for him. After all he didn't receive an ounce of it in court, yet I am still having trouble empathizing with Carly enough to support her behavior.
As I said in the last post, there were many people responsible for Michael's predicament. And yes, Dante and Lulu definitely played a part in it, but Carly seems to be focusing an unreasonable amount of anger on these two considering how much blame there is to go around. And I still think it is strange that no one is angry with Lucky for bringing Michael in in the first place. He pointed a gun at Jason to keep him from taking Michael out of the country and no one has even glanced in his direction.
If it's possible for fictional characters to resent each other on subconscious levels it would appear that Jason and Carly's hatred of Dante goes much deeper than anything involving Michael. It's no secret that Jason has been wanting to kill Dante since he infiltrated Sonny's organization, and I think a part of him still wants revenge for that. And let's not forget that for a while Dante was sort of Jason's competition within the organization. Sonny began trusting Dante so much that at times it seemed like Jason's opinions didn't count for much. And then of course there is Carly, who I tend to think resents Dante for the fact that he immediately replaced Michael as Sonny's first child.
The psychosis of fictional characters aside, I think perhaps one of this biggest reasons I'm having trouble supporting Carly's behavior is because I no longer feel invested in Michael. It is not that I dislike Chad Duell playing this role. In fact if Drew Garrett hadn't been playing Michael for the past year, I'm sure my complaints would be few, but I just don't feel like I'm watching Michael anymore. The role was recast at one of the worst possible times, right when viewers were most focused on Michael and what was going to happen to him. In addition, I have always felt that when a show recasts a popular role they should allow the viewers time away from the old portrayer before introducing them to the new one. And not just sporadically like banishing the character to an island and showing them intermittently until a new actor takes over the role. There needs to be real distance between the time one actor leaves and another actor takes over, particularly when the actor that is being replaced is as popular and talented as Drew Garrett.
As I said in the last post, there were many people responsible for Michael's predicament. And yes, Dante and Lulu definitely played a part in it, but Carly seems to be focusing an unreasonable amount of anger on these two considering how much blame there is to go around. And I still think it is strange that no one is angry with Lucky for bringing Michael in in the first place. He pointed a gun at Jason to keep him from taking Michael out of the country and no one has even glanced in his direction.
If it's possible for fictional characters to resent each other on subconscious levels it would appear that Jason and Carly's hatred of Dante goes much deeper than anything involving Michael. It's no secret that Jason has been wanting to kill Dante since he infiltrated Sonny's organization, and I think a part of him still wants revenge for that. And let's not forget that for a while Dante was sort of Jason's competition within the organization. Sonny began trusting Dante so much that at times it seemed like Jason's opinions didn't count for much. And then of course there is Carly, who I tend to think resents Dante for the fact that he immediately replaced Michael as Sonny's first child.
The psychosis of fictional characters aside, I think perhaps one of this biggest reasons I'm having trouble supporting Carly's behavior is because I no longer feel invested in Michael. It is not that I dislike Chad Duell playing this role. In fact if Drew Garrett hadn't been playing Michael for the past year, I'm sure my complaints would be few, but I just don't feel like I'm watching Michael anymore. The role was recast at one of the worst possible times, right when viewers were most focused on Michael and what was going to happen to him. In addition, I have always felt that when a show recasts a popular role they should allow the viewers time away from the old portrayer before introducing them to the new one. And not just sporadically like banishing the character to an island and showing them intermittently until a new actor takes over the role. There needs to be real distance between the time one actor leaves and another actor takes over, particularly when the actor that is being replaced is as popular and talented as Drew Garrett.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Placing Blame: GH
Even though I don't agree with the way Dante went about telling everyone that Michael killed Claudia, I can sort of understand his reasons for doing it. After all no one has ever really taught Michael the concept of taking responsibility for his actions. Moreover, the guilt over killing Claudia has been making Michael act out in such self-destructive ways that a life in the mob seemed inevitable. And if Carly and Sonny were really honest with themselves they would realize that Michael has been wanting to confess for months, not just to protect Sonny, but because of all the guilt.
On the other hand I can understand Carly, Sonny, and Jason's impulse to cover up what happened to Claudia because Michael had already lost a year of his life and was still dealing with the repercussions of that when he killed her. And if they had gone to the police at that time it is reasonable to assume that because Michael is Sonny's son someone would have taken the opportunity to make an example out of him, taking even more years off his life.
While everyone may have had Michael's best interests at heart, no one is without blame for his predicament. First of all Sonny should have never been so foolish as to marry Claudia. It blinded him to what she was capable of, so much so that Jason couldn't even convince him that she had a part in Michael's shooting until he found the audio recording of her ordering the hit on Sonny.
Sonny also should never have confronted Claudia in the middle of a crowded room. He knew she wasn't stable and could have easily killed any number of people before Max and Milo had a chance to drag her off. If he handled all of his enemies that way he wouldn't have a business.
Jax and Olivia hid the truth about Claudia for months because of Carly's high risk pregnancy. Well, at least that's why Olivia did it. I still maintain that Jax was just trying to protect Jerry, but if one of them had spoken up sooner, Sonny never would have been able to create a situation that resulted in Claudia taking Carly hostage and trying to steal her baby.
No one should have hidden Michael on the island. I know this was necessary to ensure that the cover-up stayed intact, but with Michael's confession it gives the impression that he acted in malice, not self-defense. For this reason Dante should have known that Michael would probably not receive as light of a punishment as he believed he should. And that should have somehow factored into his decision to turn Michael in. At the very least it should have given him enough pause to handle the situation in a more delicate manner, especially since Michael escaped his custody, making him look even more guilty.
Lulu should have never hidden the fact that Michael escaped Dante's custody, and Dante should not have expected her to. This put her at odds with the rest of her family and served no real purpose. Dante still had the evidence that Michael killed Claudia, but finding him before anyone else was out of his hands at that point. After all Dante never found Michael anyway, Lucky did. And of course Lucky never would have known to look for Michael in the first place if Alexis hadn't called Mac to let him know that Michael was in her living room. I know Alexis is already in a lot of trouble after running over Kiefer, but it wasn't as if she was going to be charged with harboring a fugitive. Michael wasn't planning on staying there and it wasn't like there was an arrest warrant out for him at that time. She could have just looked the other way while Michael left.
Ultimately everyone let Michael down, so there is really no need for anyone to be casting aspersions at anyone else. Michael is a victim of the life he was brought up in and no one can undo the damage he has suffered. And although it might have been risky to let him confess to killing Claudia right after it happened, that presented his best chance at having a normal life. Obviously Michael is not going to be found guilty on the grounds of self-defense. Clearly the judge is making an example out of him given the fact that many of his rights appear to have been violated in securing his confession. This will inevitably make Sonny appear justified for operating outside the law and Dante foolish for believing in it. Moreover, this will effectively villainize Dante for turning Michael in, just in case there are any viewers out there who haven't quite forgiven Sonny for shooting him.
On the other hand I can understand Carly, Sonny, and Jason's impulse to cover up what happened to Claudia because Michael had already lost a year of his life and was still dealing with the repercussions of that when he killed her. And if they had gone to the police at that time it is reasonable to assume that because Michael is Sonny's son someone would have taken the opportunity to make an example out of him, taking even more years off his life.
While everyone may have had Michael's best interests at heart, no one is without blame for his predicament. First of all Sonny should have never been so foolish as to marry Claudia. It blinded him to what she was capable of, so much so that Jason couldn't even convince him that she had a part in Michael's shooting until he found the audio recording of her ordering the hit on Sonny.
Sonny also should never have confronted Claudia in the middle of a crowded room. He knew she wasn't stable and could have easily killed any number of people before Max and Milo had a chance to drag her off. If he handled all of his enemies that way he wouldn't have a business.
Jax and Olivia hid the truth about Claudia for months because of Carly's high risk pregnancy. Well, at least that's why Olivia did it. I still maintain that Jax was just trying to protect Jerry, but if one of them had spoken up sooner, Sonny never would have been able to create a situation that resulted in Claudia taking Carly hostage and trying to steal her baby.
No one should have hidden Michael on the island. I know this was necessary to ensure that the cover-up stayed intact, but with Michael's confession it gives the impression that he acted in malice, not self-defense. For this reason Dante should have known that Michael would probably not receive as light of a punishment as he believed he should. And that should have somehow factored into his decision to turn Michael in. At the very least it should have given him enough pause to handle the situation in a more delicate manner, especially since Michael escaped his custody, making him look even more guilty.
Lulu should have never hidden the fact that Michael escaped Dante's custody, and Dante should not have expected her to. This put her at odds with the rest of her family and served no real purpose. Dante still had the evidence that Michael killed Claudia, but finding him before anyone else was out of his hands at that point. After all Dante never found Michael anyway, Lucky did. And of course Lucky never would have known to look for Michael in the first place if Alexis hadn't called Mac to let him know that Michael was in her living room. I know Alexis is already in a lot of trouble after running over Kiefer, but it wasn't as if she was going to be charged with harboring a fugitive. Michael wasn't planning on staying there and it wasn't like there was an arrest warrant out for him at that time. She could have just looked the other way while Michael left.
Ultimately everyone let Michael down, so there is really no need for anyone to be casting aspersions at anyone else. Michael is a victim of the life he was brought up in and no one can undo the damage he has suffered. And although it might have been risky to let him confess to killing Claudia right after it happened, that presented his best chance at having a normal life. Obviously Michael is not going to be found guilty on the grounds of self-defense. Clearly the judge is making an example out of him given the fact that many of his rights appear to have been violated in securing his confession. This will inevitably make Sonny appear justified for operating outside the law and Dante foolish for believing in it. Moreover, this will effectively villainize Dante for turning Michael in, just in case there are any viewers out there who haven't quite forgiven Sonny for shooting him.
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