Why Soaps Are DOA and Beyond Resuscitation

People want to blame the real-life soap opera that was the O.J. Simpson trial for the demise of the real soap opera.

That's just too easy.

That's just a cop out.

In reality, the genre that once had as many soaps as 19 on the airwaves is now down to four.

And that number might be two - maybe even three - too many.

As a lifelong soap fan, who has defended the genre to anyone who would listen, I'm ready to surrender.

And I'm ready to place the blame squarely where it belongs.

Sure, the O.J. trial, which pre-empted soaps for months in 1995, didn't help the genre.

Certainly, the onslaught of cable channels that continue to hit the airwaves hasn't benefitted soaps.

But the main reason that the once burgeoning American soap opera has all but become extinct is more complicated.

Actually, maybe it's not complicated at all.

The advent of focus groups, many of which consisted of people who never even watched a show, more rapidly contributed to the demise of the genre than O.J did.

The interference of network and studio executives who told TPTB what to do was destructive to the genre.

And the hiring and then continued shuffling of the same writers and producers who never were good to begin with put the final nail in the genre's coffin.

Ratings for the remaining four soaps - save The Young and the Restless - are horrendous.

And for good reason.

The remaining three soaps are disasters.

And, I think at least two of them are way beyond saving.

A closer look at those three shows will tell you why the industry is DOA and beyond resuscitation.

Let's look at General Hospital first.

Once the crown jewel of the entire industry, the show is a parody of its former self.

No matter who produces or writes the show reverts it back to the Mob.

It's a story about a Hospital, not a mafia show.

Maybe former Executive Producer Gloria Monty, she of the creator of Luke and Laura fame, she who saved the show from certain cancellation and rejuvenated the genre some 38 years ago, is really to blame.

Monty immediately quickened GH's pace, took the show out of the hospital and onto location and gave us iconic characters. Ratings soared and other shows followed suit.

Now, almost four decades later, the same ingredients Monty used to save GH may have contributed to its untimely demise.

Expanding soaps to a hour in 1975 also may have hurt the industry, but the main cause of GH's problems and with the genre in general is that the networks - desperate to boost ratings and revenue - have interfered to the point of no return.

GH - with its uneven pacing and emphasis on numerable actors who were hits on other shows - is now maybe the most unwatchable of the four remaining soaps.

Getting rid of talents like Emmy winners Michelle Stafford and Roger Howarth - as well as eliminating those with no talent at all, Hayley Erin (Kiki) comes to mind - would certainly improve the show, but wouldn't cure it's ultimate ailment.

While, I love Stafford and Howarth as performers, I could care less about their characters.

And that is the underlying problem at GH.

There are way too many characters who no one cares about on the show.

Bringing back Michael Easton for the umpteenth time in his umpteenth character isn't doing anything to help the show.

The return of the legendary Genie Francis as Laura could have helped the show, but, to date, TPTB have given her nothing interesting to do.

By that, I mean romance.

Soaps used to be about romance, romance and family.

GH was a hit not because of its outlandish plots, but because of its romantic couplings and the families of Port Charles.

Now, the Webbers are all but gone, the Quartermaines barely exist and the show is a disjointed mess. I never can get through an entire hour without either changing the channel or falling asleep.

Sometimes both.

As bad as GH is, Days of Our Lives may be even worse.

I say that because at least GH honored its history during its 50th anniversary three years ago.

Days, instead, totally slapped its fans in the face with their 50th anniversary celebration late last year.

Sure, they brought back a few fan favorites like Peter Reckell (Bo) and Stephen Nichols (Patch) and gave the latter and his splendid on-screen partner Mary Beth Evans ( Kayla) their first real story in years.

Unfortunately, that was amid a bloodbath of serial killings, rapes, other convoluted murders and deaths and drug addiction

The temporary ratings spike Days received during its 50th anniversary month has now evaporated.

And that's because the show is so damn dark, so ridiculously paced and plotted and overall simply umbearable to watch that I can only hope NBC puts it out of its misery when its recently signed extension contract expires a year from September.

Hiring novice actors to play legacy characters who were aged overnight didn't help the show.

Putting them front and center only showed how glaringly bad the writing and the acting is from the newcomers.

Rehiring writers who have never achieved ratings success on other shows - countered by network interference - have ultimately been the real reasons that both GH and Days are horrendous.

Maybe a Hogan Sheffer or Lorraine Broderick or Pamela Long or Claire Labine could save these shows. But even that is questionable, as the networks and sponsors won't let capable writers do what at least these four Emmy winning writers have proven they can do, which is write.

Maybe that's the real reason the networks recycle the mediocre writers because they can more easily influence them.

In fact, I'm sure that's the reason they keep the same old, same old.

Of course, there are still writers who can write, such as The Bold and the Beautiful's Brad Bell.

Unfortunately, of late, he just hasn't been doing that.

To be fair, B&B was coming off a terrific season where Bell was brilliant and no one can expect any writer to maintain excellence 100 percent of the time.

But still, the show that gave us the tremendous Maya transgender storyline last year has now turned into a muddling, recycled storyline mess in the past eight months.

Time will tell whether B&B can rebound, but right now, the show is a shell of its former self.

And that's not a good thing even for a show that is widely popular worldwide and can probably survive longer than the others for that reason alone.

That brings us to the only show that I think should survive, The Young and the Restless.

Not that Y&R is perfect or that it's anywhere near what it was in its heyday, but it is certainly in much better shape than any other soap currently on the air.

And who would have guessed that a Chuck Pratt incarnation of Y&R would be the best the genre has to offer?

When Pratt was hired to scribe Y&R some 18 months ago, I was terrified.

Pratt was the same guy who turned All My Children into a complete mess and helped seal its cancellation. So, I didn't hold out much hope for a then-floundering Y&R.

Despite a few clunkers like the Jack/Marco dual role and Neil kidnaps Hilary storylines and a myriad of sweeps disaster stunts, Pratt has proven golden at Y&R.

He is actually the first head writer since the legendary Bill Bell who really understands the Jack/Victor history and writes to it, giving the masterful Eric Braeden his best material in years.

And the continued coupling of the best supercouple to come along in years, the Adam/Chelsea pairing, has helped make his other glaring blunders at least bearable.

I would still like to see a more balanced Y&R, I would still like to see the show keep its next generation of legacy characters like Kyle and Noah on the canvas, but Y&R is at least entertaining, at least watchable and definitely showing potential to survive in an era where I feel the other shows just can't - or won't survive.

Overall, the soap landscape is in critical condition. I don't see that changing.

And that's because the same focus groups, the same network executives and the same people who helped contribute to its demise continue to dominate and continue to destroy the genre.

For a soap fan who grew up watching the genre in its golden days and who wayched the splendid Another World, The Edge of Night or the Days and Y&R of the 70s, that's sad.

I remember the brilliant story telling, the tremendous couplings and the overall excellence the genre once provided its fans.

What's even sadder than the genre reaching the point of no return is that I can no longer defend it and would rather see it disappear completely rather than continue in its current form.