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Do you think any soaps will end eventually?


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Old 31-10-2016, 01:45
Edward Skylover
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As the title asks really.
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Old 31-10-2016, 01:54
owen10
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As the title asks really.
Yes as Soaps cant go on forever

Coronation Street has been on for nearly seventy years. But a show that has lasted this long cant go on for centuries with our kids and Grandkids watching it while we are not around anymore

There is a reason why a TV Soap has not lasted a Hundred years and thats because eventually it will just end and be replaced by another soap or just become a drama similar to Casualty or Holby City
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Old 31-10-2016, 08:13
davads
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There is a reason why a TV Soap has not lasted a Hundred years and thats because eventually it will just end and be replaced by another soap or just become a drama similar to Casualty or Holby City
I think it's more down to the fact that TV hasn't been around since 1916...
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Old 31-10-2016, 08:59
actual_soap
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Yes as Soaps cant go on forever

Coronation Street has been on for nearly seventy years. But a show that has lasted this long cant go on for centuries with our kids and Grandkids watching it while we are not around anymore

There is a reason why a TV Soap has not lasted a Hundred years and thats because eventually it will just end and be replaced by another soap or just become a drama similar to Casualty or Holby City
56 years is hardly nearly 70 years!
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Old 31-10-2016, 10:16
SuperSoaper
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I can see Hollyoaks being the first to go, although I hope not.
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Old 31-10-2016, 10:18
djfunnyman
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I can see Hollyoaks being the first to go, although I hope not.
If Channel 4 axed Brookside then I see this as a possibility
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Old 31-10-2016, 10:19
sorcha_healy27
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Yes as Soaps cant go on forever

Coronation Street has been on for nearly seventy years. But a show that has lasted this long cant go on for centuries with our kids and Grandkids watching it while we are not around anymore

There is a reason why a TV Soap has not lasted a Hundred years and thats because eventually it will just end and be replaced by another soap or just become a drama similar to Casualty or Holby City
Corrie has been on since 1960 so not quite nearly 70 years.
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Old 31-10-2016, 11:09
Danny_Francis
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I can see Hollyoaks being the first to go, although I hope not.
I personally think that Oaks has run its course, and would not be sad to see it go
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Old 31-10-2016, 13:16
Jib111
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I personally think that Oaks has run its course, and would not be sad to see it go
Is Oaks still one of C4's most viewed shows though?
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Old 31-10-2016, 13:33
Andybear
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Both Brookside and Crossroads have ended.
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Old 31-10-2016, 13:34
Andybear
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I think it's more down to the fact that TV hasn't been around since 1916...
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Old 31-10-2016, 13:46
THOMO
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Don't forget The Archers, that's been broadcast on BBC Radio since about 1951, the oldest soap in the world.
Ian.
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Old 31-10-2016, 13:48
Harlowe
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Anything is possible but its also possible that the soap genre and how they're made,produced and aired changes and evolve as television itself advance, I hope its not in my life time anyway.
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Old 31-10-2016, 14:44
Edward Skylover
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I don't think any will go. Look how long Coronation St has been crap, about 20 years and it still goes on and on. They live off their legacies these days IMO.
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Old 31-10-2016, 15:11
Danny_Francis
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Is Oaks still one of C4's most viewed shows though?
Unfortunately, there's a fan base for a show that barely resembles a soap-opera these days it's becoming an amateurish, trashy, cartoon-ish production that reminds me of one the worst American dramas out there. How it's still popular beats me? A shadow of itself, and IMO Brookside at it's so called worse still had leverage over this.
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Old 31-10-2016, 15:31
RickLopez
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Is Oaks still one of C4's most viewed shows though?
It gets about 600k on E4 and Channel4, so a total audience of 1.2 million.

That's about average for a Channel 4 show, certainly not high.
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Old 31-10-2016, 16:48
Harlowe
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Unfortunately, there's a fan base for a show that barely resembles a soap-opera these days it's becoming an amateurish, trashy, cartoon-ish production that reminds me of one the worst American dramas out there. How it's still popular beats me? A shadow of itself, and IMO Brookside at it's so called worse still had leverage over this.
It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it can still be watchable drama, its never set itself to be the same as the other soaps, it was initially a teen/young adult set drama, the show has a huge advantage over brookside that its survive through to the social media age we now live in, it must still be a profitable show to have or C4 would of axe it long ago and if they did that they be left without a continuity drama for their output.
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Old 31-10-2016, 17:17
acid rain
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Only if the viewing figures dropped dramatically.
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Old 31-10-2016, 18:18
Steady40
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Only if the viewing figures dropped dramatically.
Well they have (kind of). The main three are around 20% less consolidated, than five years ago. If they were to continue to see that level of decline, then it could be 10-15 years that we start seeing them moving to less primetime slots or disappearing.
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Old 31-10-2016, 18:39
sorcha_healy27
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Well they have (kind of). The main three are around 20% less consolidated, than five years ago. If they were to continue to see that level of decline, then it could be 10-15 years that we start seeing them moving to less primetime slots or disappearing.
TV viewing habits have changed completely though. Considering the amount if channels available and catch up and the likes the soaps still pull in very good viewing figures.
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Old 31-10-2016, 18:42
bass55
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Yes, obviously they will end some day. And I suspect EastEnders will be the first of the big three to go. Not for several years, mind.
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Old 31-10-2016, 18:53
flbkab
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Is Oaks still one of C4's most viewed shows though?
It struggles to make C4's top 30 most watched shows of the week, according to BARB, but each first look episode generally takes up the top 5 places on E4's most watched shows of the week.
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Old 31-10-2016, 19:16
Corrie_Fan2
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Soaps will have to end at some point, but I think we're a hell of a long way from that point.

The big UK soaps have all been going a while now

Coronation Street - 56 years
Emmerdale - 44 years
EastEnders - 31 years
Hollyoaks - 21 years
Doctors - 16 years

The main catalyst for soaps ending could be the move away from watching on television. Soap opera is very much appointment to view television more than it is binge watch territory. There's probably quite a lot of people who sit down to watch Corrie, because they've always sat down to watch Corrie - they grew up watching it with their mum and are still doing so as adults. This helped hook a few generations, the issue is now the younger generation aren't really into family viewing a telly set - they've got gaming and computers to hook them, or god forbid going out with their mates.

This imbalance is clearly whats driving the soaps towards sensationalist bullshit, it's not a overnight thing, it's been happening for years. You now have two groups of soap fans, the traditional character driving everyday fan and the constant big drama fan - years ago we ridiculed american soap for employing the constant big drama rubbish and now we actively use it in our plots. With catch up services now so prevalent the death of TV in itself surely won't kill soap, what might do so is the inability for these programmes to please enough of their audience to remain viable.

Coronation Street is currently being slated for being too OTT and unrealistic.
EE is currently being slated for being to everyday and too mundane.

All the big soaps have to find the realm of detached realism that keeps the traditional fans but keeps the youngsters hooked.

I personally think Coronation Street will survive as long as ITV survives - which unless they start getting their finger out in online content provision might not be as long as people think as TV slowly becomes less important. A few years ago you'd see someone who didn't have a TV as an oddball, now you'd just think he must watch stuff online then. EE needs to survive both the government and the BBC as scrutiny increases on that front.

Regarding all of the above one of the key changes all the soaps could make is reducing the number of episodes they play out a week. They all play far too many and it means the calibre of acting has to be less in order to fit everything in.
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Old 31-10-2016, 19:20
Mint-Opinion
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Last in first out.
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Old 31-10-2016, 20:11
owen10
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Will Coronatiion Street survive without all of the old characters that have been around years like Ken and Rita

Could we handle watching Fiz, Maria and Sean for another fifty years
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