Why Don't Brits Like US Daytime Soaps?

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 13:26

It has always puzzled me why us Brits have never taken to US daytime soaps. I am a big fan of the 'The Young And Restless' and CBS Drama because of lack of viewers have now relegated it to midnight and we are five years behind the US pace. I know they are much more glitzy and less realistic than the UK and Australian soaps but Dallas and Dynasty were huge in the UK.

I think if viewers gave them a chance they would really enjoy them.

Pyramidbread · 05/08/10 - 13:35

Because they are cheap and tacky

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 13:39

I wouldn't mind giving some of them a go as I keep on seeing bits of them on CBS Drama, but tbh I have enough trouble keeping up with our own soaps, let alone another country's!

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 13:44

I used to watch Sunset Beach when it was on channel 5. I never missed an espisode, I loved it, even though the story lines were highly implausible, I still found it unmissable. I was well annoyed when the whole series was dismissed as Meg's dream - just like in Dallas. :eek: But hey ho, how else were they going to end it? lol. :rolleyes:

hsellors · 05/08/10 - 13:51

When I was in Australia the person who we were staying with (who was British) LOVED the Bold and the Beautiful, like would never ever miss an episode. But in my opinion it was just awful, the acting was bad, the outdoor sets looked obviously indoor, in fact all the sets just looked really "set like".

In our soaps the soaps look like real homes and real streets and real pubs.

I guess "day time" soaps never get as much funding/viewers as the evening soaps so they end up looking cheap. Along with the different acting styles of the Americans that we find hard to enjoy that's probably why?

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 14:02

I love the 'US Daytime' soaps and watch almost all of them especially 'The Young And The Restless' but I feel that CBS Drama doesn't give them enough promotion to gain an audience unlike all there other shows which are advertised non-stop all day long.

RiDsTeR · 05/08/10 - 14:18

I have to stay up to watch days of our lives on cbs drama. Worth it tho! Great OTT show

loved SB too

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 14:20

British soaps are highly unusual, in that the lives of the characters are so run-of-the-mill. Even Hollyoaks, which is supposedly glamourous has average looking people wearing clothes from Top Shop. For some reason British people like watching ordinary people, and American soaps tend to be much more glamourous.

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 14:27

I loved how the characters on SB would tell you what they're doing and why, either out loud or you'd here what they were thinking

Annie was always doing it lol!

wallabino · 05/08/10 - 14:42

Loved Sunset Beach

I loved the fact the day of Trey's first birthday lasted for 2 weeks onscreen - 10 eps!

Bring it back someone

Harlowe · 05/08/10 - 15:22

I do watch General Hospital online sometimes,I find American Soaps are a lot more extravagant with there storylines not really about realism more about fantasy plots.

GoldenBoy81 · 05/08/10 - 15:27

because US soaps are so bad that they make corrie/EE look brilliant!

memmh · 05/08/10 - 15:34

The US daytime soaps are entirely studio based. British and Australian soaps combine emotion and action whereas, due to the studio constraints, the American soaps are only emotion. It makes the American soaps a bit lopsided for those of us who are used to the other style. Even if the action is only walking along a street it makes it more real and can help drive a story forward but the American soaps often depend on soliloquies for that, which are so unrealistic that it's hard to relate to them.

cobaltmale · 05/08/10 - 15:34

pkpon wrote: »

know they are much more glitzy and less realistic than the UK and Australian soaps but Dallas and Dynasty were huge in the UK.

quote]

Dallas and Dynasty were prime time programmes in the US too and had budgets to match.

G

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 15:37

I loved Sunset beach at the time. I watched it all the time.
I just found it pure escapism and fun.
They all now just remind me of Joey from Friends being in Days of our lives. It just makes me smile

'I'm delivering twins today, but only one of them 'IS MINE'
ha ha.

and another one of Rachel reading a script
' I had no choice but to marry him, he had my sister locked in a 'shocked face' dungoen'.

I have seen alot of people locked in dugoens and possessed rings in US soaps, they love it don't they?

I just find them funny and in sunset beach case beyond the helm of any reality.

I also used to love a night time soap opera that came over called Savannah. It was on the 90's and I was obsessed with it. I thought it was brilliant, they axed it though after two seasons I think.

*Elle*90 · 05/08/10 - 15:38

Most Americans don't even like American day time soaps lol. Not these days.

dubgaz · 05/08/10 - 17:20

American daytime soaps move far too slowly. You can have 5 episodes that cover a single day. Rather than cutting from scene to scene they will show Character A talking to Character B, it then cuts to Character C in a scene with Character D then back to Character's A and B scene where no time has moved on. Not to mention the stupid staring at the screen or each other that lasts 10 seconds.

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 17:35

smfan123 wrote: »

I loved how the characters on SB would tell you what they're doing and why, either out loud or you'd here what they were thinking

Annie was always doing it lol!

Uber bitch Annie - she was awesome. Oh and who didn't fall for dimples Cole...mmmmmm.

Yeah bring back SB!!!!

RJ1979 · 05/08/10 - 17:38

Americans invented the soap genre. Unfortunatly they don't have the money to produce the quality that they used to.

The sets didn't always look so bad, there was often real outdoor scenes, and frequent location shoots. Regardless I still find the stories gripping and would rather watch a US soap than the boring crap that we produce over here.

By the way, to those who say US soaps arn't realistic (which of course is true) Why is this a problem? Why on earth would you want to watch a soap thats realistic with all the shitty things that happen in real life? TV should be a way to escape from real life and US soaps are perfect for this.

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 17:38

dubgaz wrote: »

American daytime soaps move far too slowly. You can have 5 episodes that cover a single day. Rather than cutting from scene to scene they will show Character A talking to Character B, it then cuts to Character C in a scene with Character D then back to Character's A and B scene where no time has moved on. Not to mention the stupid staring at the screen or each other that lasts 10 seconds.

Agree there, they aren't exactly a fan of real time action are they? :rolleyes:

Deschanel · 05/08/10 - 17:51

annalou24 wrote: »

I used to watch Sunset Beach when it was on channel 5. I was well annoyed when the whole series was dismissed as Meg's dream - just like in Dallas. :eek:

But it wasn't! It was a dream within a dream - I.e: Meg in Kansas was a dream, and she woke up next to Ben, who pointed out that she wasn't dreaming. Neat twist, for those that got it.

memmh wrote: »

The US daytime soaps are entirely studio based.

They've branched out a lot these days. The Bold & the Beautiful does a fair bit of location shooting, as they use LA, and the CBS studio, for things like walking up stairwells, working out on the mezzanine gym, etc. One Life To Live is also doing a lot of location shooting.

kerry1681 wrote: »

I have seen alot of people locked in dugoens and possessed rings in US soaps, they love it don't they?

Not really, no. A lot of Americans hate the kidnapped and locked in a dungeon plot, or characters being possessed by whatever - they're old and clichéd, and b/c no-one likes these OTT stories, they're switching off, and ratings have plummeted.

*Elle*90 wrote: »

Most Americans don't even like American day time soaps lol. Not these days.

Word.

US soaps are ironically, doing better internationally, than they are in their home country... well, The Bold & the Beautiful is.

dubgaz wrote: »

American daytime soaps move far too slowly. You can have 5 episodes that cover a single day. Rather than cutting from scene to scene they will show Character A talking to Character B, it then cuts to Character C in a scene with Character D then back to Character's A and B scene where no time has moved on. Not to mention the stupid staring at the screen or each other that lasts 10 seconds.

They don't do that any more. The infamous soap stare that you mention was taken from Latin American telenovelas, and US soaps no longer have that long pause - in fact, a lot simply smash-cut to black at the end of a scene, instead of fading out.

And b/c of the tight budgets, a lot have the characters moving around from scene-to-scene more, where time has moved on. B&B does this, and Days of Our Lives does this a lot now, as do One Live To Live, The Young & the Restless.

There's a lot more movement now, even though days still last a couple of weeks - but, sometimes EE drags out a day over a week, and Neighbours does this from time-to-time, and Emmerdale did this last week, when Shadrach died, and Mark's body was dug-up all on the same day, over a period of 5 episodes. It's no longer just an American thing.

gentleguy · 05/08/10 - 18:39

annalou24 wrote: »

I used to watch Sunset Beach when it was on channel 5. I never missed an espisode, I loved it, even though the story lines were highly implausible, I still found it unmissable. I was well annoyed when the whole series was dismissed as Meg's dream - just like in Dallas. :eek: But hey ho, how else were they going to end it? lol. :rolleyes:

lol me too i loved sunset beach, also watched a bit of days and b and b

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 18:55

I love how characters die and come back alive, I've watched As The World Turns and the amount of times characters come back alive is ridiculous. If EE was America soap, D******** would still be alive, they would've found someway of bringing her back :eek:

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 19:06

GoldenBoy81 wrote: »

because US soaps are so bad that they make corrie/EE look brilliant!

Ain't that the truth!!
American Soaps suck.........I watched "The Bold & the Beautiful" for a couple of years.........dire, plastic, fantasy.
Brits (and Canuks) should be proud of our soaps!!

Now........crime-dramas.......that's a different thing.......nothing could ever touch "Criminal Minds" or "CSI-NY", or "Bones" - best we can do is "Prime Suspect"........:D

jde-tv · 05/08/10 - 19:08

American soaps are ok, but you cant really compare them to Dynasty/Dallas!!!!

[Deleted User] · 05/08/10 - 19:13

I do and have always enjoyed the US daytime soaps. The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful are excellant shows and very well produced.

Regarding the comment about the far fetched storylines, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Corrie as equally as far fetched as the US soaps.

Can give loads of examples of this if anyone cares me to.

I think the people who critise the US shows have not really watched them in full.

Just a plea (again) to the CBS Drama Fans, please e-mail CBS as the shows are ending this month. CBS Drama are not renewing the shows, if enough people let them know how popular the shows are they might reconsider.

Thanks!

Hey there!

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Why Don't Brits Like US Daytime Soaps?

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