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Does realism matter?


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Old 13-05-2016, 15:48
Nico_D
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Soap have undergone a massive transformation since they started and every few years get increasingly more bonkers. The only one I watch these days is Emmerdale but in the past year or so it seems to have lot all touch with reality. The sheer volume of affairs,murders and disasters are ridiculous and they're a few believable relationships left even when there isn't some weekend altering disaster going on.

Does this affect you're enjoyment of he show? Or do you not mind how far fetched it gets as long as it entertains?
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Old 13-05-2016, 15:53
Harlowe
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I think it matters greatly something the soaps lost long ago and the lack of realism is exactly why the soaps are starting to decrease in quality & viewer-ship among other things.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:08
Mark_Washingto1
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I think it depends on the show and how they go about incorporating the crazy stories into the show. Jim Riley did it flawlessly on Days of Our Lives in the 90's, I remember reading an interview where he said when he first took over he wanted to have Marlena possessed but he had to prepare the audience for it so he started out with Vivian burying Carly alive as way to introduce the OTT stories and didn't start the possession story till 2 years later. When you put that type of care and planning into the stories they will work no matter how crazy they are.

Now on the flip side when Days started beating All My Children in the ratings they tried copying and it just didn't work. All My Children had always been a realistic soap about social issues and their attempt at the crazy stuff was completely out of place and done as as a knee jerk attempt to boost ratings.

The bottom line is if its well written people will watch and like it.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:21
Nico_D
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I think it depends on the show and how they go about incorporating the crazy stories into the show. Jim Riley did it flawlessly on Days of Our Lives in the 90's, I remember reading an interview where he said when he first took over he wanted to have Marlena possessed but he had to prepare the audience for it so he started out with Vivian burying Carly alive as way to introduce the OTT stories and didn't start the possession story till 2 years later. When you put that type of care and planning into the stories they will work no matter how crazy they are.

Now on the flip side when Days started beating All My Children in the ratings they tried copying and it just didn't work. All My Children had always been a realistic soap about social issues and their attempt at the crazy stuff was completely out of place and done as as a knee jerk attempt to boost ratings.

The bottom line is if its well written people will watch and like it.
I still enjoy Emmerdale but it's not remotely well written, in fact I'd say it's amongs the most badly written tv in recent memory yet I still can find enjoyment out of it.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:23
Mark_Washingto1
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I still enjoy Emmerdale but it's not remotely well written, in fact I'd say it's amongs the most badly written tv in recent memory yet I still can find enjoyment out of it.
LOL I wouldn't go that far, if you want to see badly written tv look up The Haves and Have Nots on youtube, it makes Hollyoaks look like Shakespeare. I think Emmerdale has definetly gone down in quality but it could just be because its in a transition state with the producer switch, hopefully things will pick up as we get into Summer.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:27
Ben96
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I think reality is very important, soaps are supposed to reflect people's daily lives, but I except that to keep viewers and the programme interesting etc that there has to be an element of sensationalism. Having said that, I could never watch something like Hollyoaks for example, because it's just ludicrous beyond belief, and yes It would affect my enjoyment of the show .
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:28
Nico_D
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LOL I wouldn't go that far, if you want to see badly written tv look up The Haves and Have Nots on youtube, it makes Hollyoaks look like Shakespeare. I think Emmerdale has definetly gone down in quality but it could just be because its in a transition state with the producer switch, hopefully things will pick up as we get into Summer.
Week to be fair I dint watch a lot of tv biut I thinks it's been close to a heat where Emmerdale has been poor. And I think it will take while to out right considering the damage Oates has done, unless they do the it was all a dream stunt.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:35
Mark_Washingto1
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Week to be fair I dint watch a lot of tv biut I thinks it's been close to a heat where Emmerdale has been poor. And I think it will take while to out right considering the damage Oates has done, unless they do the it was all a dream stunt.
I don't think she's done that much damage, one could argue the rewriting of Aaron and childhood with Gordon but even that won't have lasting damage on the show. For me the show is kind of boring right now, not much going on that keeps me interested.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:38
Stupid_Head
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Realism is important, to a point. I can't handle bonkers every episode stuff like Hollyoaks but I do like a little bit now and again, it makes it fun. If they are going to tackle a storyline like mental illness or cancer etc then be as realistic as possible and it will educate your audience.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:44
Nico_D
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I don't think she's done that much damage, one could argue the rewriting of Aaron and childhood with Gordon but even that won't have lasting damage on the show. For me the show is kind of boring right now, not much going on that keeps me interested.
I don't mean this as a dig but you do tend to like your soaps to be quite sensationalist though don't you? That's what I was interested in finding out wether people wanted something gritty and realistic that they connected or some form of escapism that is far fetched and fun to watch.

I think she has done plenty of lasting damage how many killers are on the loose because of her and how many relationships has she destroyed. I don't understand how so many get away with such extreme crimes, even if you confess to causing an accident that cause Multiple deaths apparently it gets laughed off as just on of this things.
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:45
Nico_D
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Realism is important, to a point. I can't handle bonkers every episode stuff like Hollyoaks but I do like a little bit now and again, it makes it fun. If they are going to tackle a storyline like mental illness or cancer etc then be as realistic as possible and it will educate your audience.
What do you think of Emmerdales comedy cancer story? Men losing testicles too a deadly illness is funny right?
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Old 13-05-2016, 16:54
Mark_Washingto1
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I don't mean this as a dig but you do tend to like your soaps to be quite sensationalist though don't you? That's what I was interested in finding out wether people wanted something gritty and realistic that they connected or some form of escapism that is far fetched and fun to watch.

I think she has done plenty of lasting damage how many killers are on the loose because of her and how many relationships has she destroyed. I don't understand how so many get away with such extreme crimes, even if you confess to causing an accident that cause Multiple deaths apparently it gets laughed off as just on of this things.
Yeah I do like my soaps to be more sensationalist but I think you do realistic and sensationalist at the same time, like the scenes where Aaron came out to Paddy that had a great mix of both.

You do make a good point I forgot all about Zack and Lisa, she did destroy their marriage and I don't see away back for them without making Lisa look pathetic. And funny enough as crazy as some of the US soaps have gotten they would never break up a long marriage like Zack and Lisa's..
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Old 13-05-2016, 17:03
samcains90
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I think realism is important, it is supposed to be about people's lives in a village after all (using Emmerdale as my basis on this as it's the only soap I watch)
Of course, I do enjoy it when it goes a bit crazy like the Siege and Charity & Declan's cottage showdown. Both stories had fantastic build up and aftermath, at least for a little while.
It's when it descends into shock twists every week and overly violent and sensational storylines that things go wrong. The writing has gone downhill, there is no build up to stories and it all feels so detached from everything.
I watch it but it no longer feels engaging and I feel detached from the characters as I wonder why they have received yet another personality transplant for the sake of another plotline that has come from nowhere.
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Old 13-05-2016, 17:12
Nico_D
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I think realism is important, it is supposed to be about people's lives in a village after all (using Emmerdale as my basis on this as it's the only soap I watch)
Of course, I do enjoy it when it goes a bit crazy like the Siege and Charity & Declan's cottage showdown. Both stories had fantastic build up and aftermath, at least for a little while.
It's when it descends into shock twists every week and overly violent and sensational storylines that things go wrong. The writing has gone downhill, there is no build up to stories and it all feels so detached from everything.
I watch it but it no longer feels engaging and I feel detached from the characters as I wonder why they have received yet another personality transplant for the sake of another plotline that has come from nowhere.
This is exactly what I was getting at Emmerdale doesn't build stories or relationships anymore they just get right to the drama or couples who never would look at each other in real life or displayed any attraction previously can't keep their hands off each other. Same as someone commits a horrific crime one day,usually Thursday's next week all is forgotten. I don't think any of the new couples from the past 12 months are believable with the exception of Bernice and Lawrence. There is never any consequences for any actions despite the sheer amount of evidence the culprit leaves which stops the drama from being interesting. Emmerdale is sometime fun but it's less realistic than Game of thrones these days.
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Old 13-05-2016, 17:14
cyrilandshirley
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It definitely affects my enjoyment that they're not as realistic these days. I think I grew up in a real golden age for soap, the start of Brookie, the start of Enders, and Corrie really upped its game in the late 80s/early 90s as well. They seemed so real, they were funny and silly and sort of lovely, like a place you knew and people you knew. And when something really bad happened, it was felt like a real shock through the whole thing. But most of the time, the characters were just having breakfast and going to work and the shop and the pub and chatting and and flirting and falling in love and having kids.

Now there's so much choice of what to watch (and a lot of people watch nothing at all), soaps have just become SO desperate to keep viewers and the advertising revenues that go with them. It's just one crash bang stunt after another. And after every one, I detach a bit more.

I don't mind stunts that come from real stories, like the Cameron pub seige on Emmerdale - that was a long long time in the build up. But now they just come out of a blue sky, and are just as quickly forgotten, and it's all a bit silly.
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Old 13-05-2016, 17:19
Ben96
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What do you think of Emmerdales comedy cancer story? Men losing testicles too a deadly illness is funny right?
I may be the minority here but I don't think that having a bit of comedy in David's cancer storyline is that bad. I mean, I bet more people would be complaining If It was yet another depressing cancer storyline and besides, sometimes people find that comedy is what gets them through it. What is it they say, If you don't laugh you'll cry.
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Old 13-05-2016, 17:21
samcains90
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This is exactly what I was getting at Emmerdale doesn't build stories or relationships anymore they just get right to the drama or couples who never would look at each other in real life or displayed any attraction previously can't keep their hands off each other. Same as someone commits a horrific crime one day,usually Thursday's next week all is forgotten. I don't think any of the new couples from the past 12 months are believable with the exception of Bernice and Lawrence. There is never any consequences for any actions despite the sheer amount of evidence the culprit leaves which stops the drama from being interesting. Emmerdale is sometime fun but it's less realistic than Game of thrones these days.
Yep, it's the lack of relationship build up that is the biggest problem for me. If they could just stop the random couplings and just let the relationships build naturally, something that Stuart Blackburn was actually quite good at (Alicia & David) and something Kate Oates was unintentionally good at (Finn/Robbie,) then the overly sensational stories wouldn't bother me so much as something is keeping them slightly grounded.
As it is, I am not emotionally invested in anyone. I have a couple of favourites, but I'm not sure I care about who they are with or what happens to them.
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Old 13-05-2016, 18:08
BlueEyedMrsP
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I can't recall if it's Corrie or EE, but at the end there's often a voiceover saying there's support online if you experienced any of the issues brought up in the show. That makes me think they are trying to make the stories fairly realistic. I suppose there needs to be a balance between realism and escapism as people will watch for different reasons.

The topic brings to mind a video I watched with Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) being asked something about viewers being upset with an EE storyline. His reply was something like, "we're not a public information service".
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Old 13-05-2016, 19:13
David the Wavid
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Very much so. They're supposed to be set in ordinary neighbourhoods populated by regular people. If viewers can't relate to the characters and their problems then the soaps are doomed because they have no other hook.

That doesn't mean they have to be ultra-realistic though. They can take liberties such as the characters leading unrealistically eventful lives but there's a point where the audience stops believing in them that the writers have to be careful not to cross.

Nico D, I don't watch Emmerdale but your complaints sound more like bad storytelling to me. You are being too kind calling it unrealistic (which in programmes other than soaps can be an appropriate stylistic choice).
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Old 13-05-2016, 20:00
Zeus89
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In the case of does relalism matter?
Yes it's what the golden age of soap was all about, so when something big happened everyone was hooked.
I think in the case of Hollyoaks the OTT stuff has wrecked the show to the point of no return, and is an example of if a soap looses all connection with realism it becomes a pile of shit. But i blame kirkwood for all of this.
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Old 13-05-2016, 20:10
Mark_Washingto1
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In the case of does relalism matter?
Yes it's what the golden age of soap was all about, so when something big happened everyone was hooked.
I think in the case of Hollyoaks the OTT stuff has wrecked the show to the point of no return, and is an example of if a soap looses all connection with realism it becomes a pile of shit. But i blame kirkwood for all of this.
You know comparing the US soaps with the UK soaps its really interesting because in the 80's when they were at the height of there popularity they were telling crazy stories. It makes me wonder what would have happened if the UK soaps had followed that trend General Hospital started. Would they have had Deidre and Ken saving world from Mike Baldwin who was hell bent on world domination? Its also telling that you guys find Emmerdale to be unrealistic in its current state where as for me I think its very realistic, because to me everything that happens on there COULD happen real life its just highly unlikely where as super vilians, devil possessions and talking dolls are totally unrealistic and if any of the UK soaps go that route then I'll call them unrealistic.
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Old 13-05-2016, 20:15
Andybear
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I think it depends on the show and how they go about incorporating the crazy stories into the show. Jim Riley did it flawlessly on Days of Our Lives in the 90's, I remember reading an interview where he said when he first took over he wanted to have Marlena possessed but he had to prepare the audience for it so he started out with Vivian burying Carly alive as way to introduce the OTT stories and didn't start the possession story till 2 years later. When you put that type of care and planning into the stories they will work no matter how crazy they are.

Now on the flip side when Days started beating All My Children in the ratings they tried copying and it just didn't work. All My Children had always been a realistic soap about social issues and their attempt at the crazy stuff was completely out of place and done as as a knee jerk attempt to boost ratings.
anf
The bottom line is if its well written people will watch and like it.
BIB: That's subjective - what some people think well written, other people might not. I don't think about that though - I watch soaps for entertainment and whether it's well written doesn't come into it.
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Old 13-05-2016, 20:19
Nico_D
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You know comparing the US soaps with the UK soaps its really interesting because in the 80's when they were at the height of there popularity they were telling crazy stories. It makes me wonder what would have happened if the UK soaps had followed that trend General Hospital started. Would they have had Deidre and Ken saving world from Mike Baldwin who was hell bent on world domination? Its also telling that you guys find Emmerdale to be unrealistic in its current state where as for me I think its very realistic, because to me everything that happens on there COULD happen real life its just highly unlikely where as super vilians, devil possessions and talking dolls are totally unrealistic and if any of the UK soaps go that route then I'll call them unrealistic.
This doesn't show Emmerdale as being realistic just how batshit crazy American soaps are, when you introduce supernatural aspects and plans of world domination it's no longer a soap/drama but fantasy and Emmerdale is no to far from this anymore
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Old 13-05-2016, 20:57
Mark_Washingto1
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This doesn't show Emmerdale as being realistic just how batshit crazy American soaps are, when you introduce supernatural aspects and plans of world domination it's no longer a soap/drama but fantasy and Emmerdale is no to far from this anymore
LOL, but isn't there such thing as a fantasy soap? Really a soap is nothing more than a continuing drama so it can be fantasy or reality. I think for you guys in the UK you have been accustomed to soaps being grounded in reality where as in the US have seen it soap that are realistic, completely insane and somewhere in between. I honestly do wonder what the reaction would have been if the UK soaps had gone that route in the 80's as well. Would the fans have loved it like they did in the US or would it have back fired? Because before the 80's the US soaps were just as realistic as the UK ones.
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Old 13-05-2016, 22:11
silversox
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I think it matters greatly something the soaps lost long ago and the lack of realism is exactly why the soaps are starting to decrease in quality & viewer-ship among other things.
I agree. Many of the story lines are pure farce. I prefer soaps to portray stories which COULD be real life, not the rubbish they keep coming up with these days. I suppose the reality is that they really have run out of ideas.
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