The death of soap operas

[dmahoney]

Do you think we are see the death of soap operas? Recently many of the oldies, but goodies have been taken off the air and it is rumored that Days of our lives may be next. How do you feel about this subject and have you done anything about it?

[donnitab]

Yes, I think we are at the end of the Soap Opera era. Fortunately, I have not watched soaps in many years so it has not affected me but I have friends who were devastated with the recent cancellations. 

[candyterrius]

  Please don’t hate me for saying this. I think it’s wonderful soaps are finally ending – YAY!!! 

[lucky382001]

It would be a miracle if they died if you ask me but Im not a big fan.

[annettefayeroach]

i do think we have seen the end of them.

[bessie1111]

It's all about money.  It's much cheaper for the networks to put on a reality show then pay all the actors and crew for a daily soap opera.  Money is the bottom line.

[MichelleHW101]

It depends on what you mean by 'soap opera'.  If you mean traditional like Days of our Lives or the Bold and the Beautiful then yes I think those are gone.  If you mean modern like when CBS put Harm and Mac together on that old show JAG then yes the soap opera swing is in full bloom and definately here to stay.  Just about every drama winds up turing into a soap opera sooner or later.  CSI did it with Sara and Grissom.  Heck Covert Affairs is trying to loop Annie with Auggie.  Can't stand that.  A drama shouldn't be a soap opera but I guess that craze has to go somewhere so it's turning up in prime time.  And I have to say with it turning up in primetime drama shows like The Good Wife who needs Days of our Lives?

[hipriestess4u]

when I suffered from middleclass housewife syndrome, I enjoyed soap operas, now I can put them back on
20 years later and still know what is going on and who the characters are....maybe it's time for all of them
to go to soap opera heaven.....

[raven1114]

General Hospital is the only one I really watch anymore.

[amstewart]

What???  I hadn't heard that Days is going off the air.  I have watched that show since I was a kid.  It started with my grandma, then mom, now I love that show.  I will be so bummed!  "Like sands through the hour glass, these are the Days of Our Lives."   :heart:it!!

[quietpal]

I don't think all of them will be gone, and even though I have a favorite, I wouldn't be upset. There are so many other programs to watch and so many other things to do with my time.

[ptfunds]

I think soap operas have just evolved to a different genre. I had my years of watching soap operas (I'm a baby boomer and had a mother who watched them growing up as well) and in many ways see them as the step before the reality shows about people's lives that we have today. It seems that we are in a transitional time when some of the old soap operas are ending, but in their place are the newer reality tv soap operas. Bachelor and Bachelorette are good examples of the new type of soap opera. Also, there are shows like Brothers and Sisters which  are weekly stories built on the previous week. this, to me, is just another type of the "new" soap opera.

[plennis]

 I have family and friends who have worked in the soap opera business for many, many years.  The all feel that within 5 years all of the present soaps will be gone.  Pretty sad, a lot of people out of work that will probably not be absorbed really quickly into other shows.  They make the reality shows for so cheap, and some of the talk shows too, that the bottom line is they cannot afford to do them anymore.  The same is happening to the ensemble casts of night time shows too, they are getting to expensive to do so they put on a news show instead of something with a little content, how many times a day do you want the same story told over and over.  It is cheaper to put one camera in the church (Whitney's funeral did not really deserve 24 hours of coverage on multiple outlets), or a court room and run it all day than to make something that will entertain.  I can see reality anywhere, I don't and won't sit and watch any of it on TV.  So many of the reality shows seem to bring out the worst in people that it is a shame to encourage it.

[Tere2]

When my mother lived with me, we watched some of them. I would record them sometimes or either she would fill me in. I eventually got out of that habit but I had to make sure the tv was on the right channel before I left for work so my mother could watch them. We wouldn't care now if they died.

[tssoutha]

I hope they end soon, they're all so over dramatic...it bugs me.