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Soaps vs Drama's |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: England, Bolton
Posts: 693
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Soaps vs Drama's
I've watched a few drama's this year (Line of duty, Night manager, Deutschland 83) & it's got me thinking how soaps compare in comparison. In many ways soaps are just as enjoyable, the difference being a drama is a self-contained theme served over a handful of episodes. The quality of acting is probably better but I think u can put Phil Mitchell into a drama & he'd do just as well. Soaps are now just as 'sensational' as a drama but in an everyday context. What are ur thoughts & which do u prefer?
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#2 |
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Join Date: Sep 2014
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Soaps tend to have a much lower level of acting than proper dramas in fact soaps are the lowest level of acting on TV, the ex soap stars who go onto have a proper acting career good enough for drama are few and far between.
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#3 |
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Quote:
Soaps tend to have a much lower level of acting than proper dramas in fact soaps are the lowest level of acting on TV, the ex soap stars who go onto have a proper acting career good enough for drama are few and far between.
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#4 |
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Quote:
True but soaps are more relatable because of their everyday context, which kinda makes up for it. A lot of drama's and films are a world away from our's. I'm not for 1 second saying soaps are better but I think its subjective whether which is more enjoyable.
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#5 |
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Quote:
Everyday context. Maybe in last century!
. I'm just trying to explore the differences.
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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It's difficult to compare as Soaps aired like 4/5 times a week. Television dramas only have 6-10 episodes a year, depending on the show. So Soaps will have filler episodes but they also have plenty of time to develop characters and storylines.
As for Game of thrones, it is more than just fantasy. Anyone who has seen every episode to date should and wil know that. There are many themes in GOT that could happen in soaps but done in different and modern ways. Look at Cersei. She could easily be GOT's very own Charity Dingle. She is GOT's very own soap bitch. But its not a soap but you know what i mean. Plus Arya's rise from an innocent girl to a tough strong woman could easily be seen as ED own version of Belle Dingle. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Oct 2011
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I've just watched Line of Duty & I've gotta say - Wow!. The quality of it's writing and acting is a world away from what I'm accustomed to with soaps. Eastenders is a mediocre embarrassment in comparison. If anyone hasn't seen Line of duty yet, do urself a favour & catch it on iplayer. Unmissable television.
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#8 |
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Soaps are a good comfort and can become a good part of your everyday life, when the characters are well written for example and you can connect with them they feel kinda real and like your fictional friends I guess. Dramas I find to be better products overrall in terms of quality, however a bit more sensationalist in general IMO.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Quote:
I've just watched Line of Duty & I've gotta say - Wow!. The quality of it's writing and acting is a world away from what I'm accustomed to with soaps. Eastenders is a mediocre embarrassment in comparison. If anyone hasn't seen Line of duty yet, do urself a favour & catch it on iplayer. Unmissable television.
There is a cracking thread in the UK TV forum. 'Dot' Cottan awaits.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Oct 2015
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For me, it's something that shouldn't be compared. It's like comparing a manufactored music band to an independent band with college students.
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#11 |
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Quote:
To really appreciate exactly what is going on in 'Line of Duty' you just have to have watched the first two series.
There is a cracking thread in the UK TV forum. 'Dot' Cottan awaits. ![]() .
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#12 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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I like both dramas and soaps but if I had to pick one, it would be soaps. I like the comfort of watching EastEnders, every week. Plus, you get to see characters develop for longer.
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#13 |
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Join Date: Mar 2016
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I think part of the issue is the hectic filming schedule of modern soaps, they don't have the freedom to be great dramas. It's also a very difficult comparison because you're lucking for different things from each program. Some dramas translate to comparing with soaps better than others. You want soaps to be grounded in reality. Taking my two favourite dramas of the moment Happy Valley and Line of Duty you see this:
Happy Valley - Actually had a very real feel to it despite the plot-lines occasionally being far-fetched. The acting was on the whole better than most soaps at the minute, despite actually having a fair few soap actors in it. You're tied to the story line of the murders, but also interested in what's going on Katherine's hectic home life and her family's safety. You could see a similar kind of angle being carried across the divide to soaps, with it being the flagship sensation storyline of that year. It would have to be tackled differently in soap though, probably being toned down a bit and not including so many characters directly related to the murder. Line of Duty - Despite it being absolutely brilliant and a great suspense drama that leaves you wondering whats going on it's hard to see much of it being thrown into a soap. It's too fast-paced, there's far too many layers - whilst soaps do nod to long term viewers and have recurring plots, it's unlikely a soap would run a storyline that requires you to have seen every episode and retained it in mind to understand certain plot points. It's also unlikely a soap would ever have so many utterly unsympathetic or corrupt characters in one scene at a time. They might tackle some of the issues that Line of Duty does but a good soap wouldn't build them up to the complex web that Mercurio has concocted and throw them all in the same plot. There's also absolutely no day to day stuff in Line of Duty - something any soap would never do. At the end of the day, people are tuning in for a certain thing when they put a show on. A soap could probably be as great as drama with the right story-line, but on the whole I think dramas are better but they generally have a much higher budget per episode and much better writers and actors. It's a shame that it's become a bit of a bad thing for actors to work in soaps, the reason Coronation Street worked so well originally was because it had a long list of great theatre actors in the credits who just hadn't been giving their breaks. As Timothy West showed last year in EastEnders, there is room for great actors in the soaps. |
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#14 |
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Quote:
I think part of the issue is the hectic filming schedule of modern soaps, they don't have the freedom to be great dramas.
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#15 |
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They both have something, dramas in a form of miniseries follow Chekhov's gun rule, where everything makes sense and is a part of something, while in soap you often plant things in case you might reference them later, but that might never be revisited. Though if the writers are good, I can enjoy them just as well. But soaps tend to be OTT unrealistic, right now you can't move in Hollyoaks without bumping into a serial killer, infidelity, or at least a paedo.
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. I'm just trying to explore the differences.