How Prime Time Soaps ARe Success?

[Gianni]

i have a theory about the success of primetime soaps.

Dallas, Knots Landing, 90210, and Melrose Place
all started out as the same.

Each episode was tied up at the end, and the next one focus on something different, and most of the storylines didnt continued into the next one.

It was only into the show's run that the show started to overlap and become true primetime soaps.

Now I know Dynasty didnt start out this way, and I am assuming Falcon Crest ( have yet to Watch Falcon Crest, but it followed Dallas in the timeslots so it had the success in the ratings because of that).

But those shows were totally differnt by the time they were in their heyday.

When the shows like the Colbys, Central Park West, Paper Dolls, Pacific Palisades and etc.
start at the gate as A TRUE PRIME TIME SOAP they only last a season, if they lucky which only a few like Colbys and Savannah have 2 seasons.

So my theory is the reason Knots, Dallas, 90210, and Melrose Place were successful is that those early shows help for character development and build a history before crazy things started to happen to them like the mob, bombings, fires, shootings, etc.

Each early show gave you a chance to see the show without really watching the one before and being all confused. Which is how you get hook on a show.

Most people dont get hook on a show the first time they watch, it take a while and free time to schedule your night around your show.

So early shows of these soaps help the success of these shows in they heyday.

I think this is the way to get a true primetime soap back on the air. Trick the audience first and let them love the characters.

[abbylexis]

Gianni, I too came up with the same theory.

Soaps that began with Melodramatic campy plots don't usally last. dynasty became successful due to Joan Collins.

The thing is if a primetime soap has to be successful, it needs to start as a regular drama. The self-contained episode gives the viewer a chance to get familiar with each character and setting. Dallas, KL, 90210 and MP had slow beginnings but each episode dealt with a certain character and we were able to understand the psychology of the whole show. thus, by the time things got wild, it became enjoyable because we knew every characters

Melrose Place and Knots Landing are two shows that are very similar.

Both shows began as being based on society. One dealt with young adults after college, the other dealt with married people.

The action took place in a setting, the cul-de-sac and 4616 melrose place. The show was about neighbors behaving badly.

Matt and Rondha were the Kenny and Ginger of the show.

and of course, both shows became successful when a sexy blonde came and destroyed everyone's favorite couple. Abby came in and destroyed Gary and Val, she became an important figure. Amanda broke up the chemistry between billy and alison.

"I ain't black, I ain't white, I little Ms in between"
Hally Berry in Queens (1993)

[Christine]

Hey, you guys are geniuses! You should actually write a letter to the networks, Gianni. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I think this is really the problem, most people won't tune in when a new show is labeled "prime time soap" because most people prefer to watch a programme where the episodes are self contained. Us TV freaks love ongoing plots but I think we are in the minority there. I for example watch every single episode of a TV show, when I am not at home I tape it. I love my shows and want to watch every single minute of them.
But other people only want to switch on their TV's at the end of a stressful day to watch a one hour programme that is self contained.

So, the networks should simply start off every soap with a self contained format. After one or two seasons most people will fall in love with the characters and they will STILL tune in once the ongoing plots start. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

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I've never seen the ocean
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[James from London]

You make a good point about the soaps that started off with stand alone episodes having more longevity. I originally posted this on the Knots Landing forum:

Of the main four prime timers of the '80s, Dynasty was the only one that was serialised from the beginning. Actually, I would say that Dynasty had the best first season of them all. It had a very strong sense of the world it inhabited, and the stories and plot development were excellent - honest! Unfortunately, it wasn't able to sustain itself and promptly went mad. Knots, on the other hand, had a far longer experimental period than the rest of the night time soaps (season 3 alone included ghosts, cross country bingo with Jackson Mobley, a mini-homage to Sunset Boulevard, plus more "Scenes From A Marriage" than Ingmar Bergman could shake a scythe at), and ended up outlasting them all. Coincidence? I think not!

James

[abbylexis]

Both Dallas and Knots Landing started out as self-containned. Falcon Crest had the style that Knots Landing used in its third season. There was one continuing plot (The mystery behind Joseph's death) while there were self-contained epiosdes.

I don't think Dynasty had a good first season, but I liked how it ended, all the plots... culmuniated to that murder trial

Titans and Pacific Palissades would probably have lasted if they had a more grounded beginning....

I don't think you can enjoy backstabbing, bed-hopping ect. with a set of characters that you don't know...

"I ain't black, I ain't white, I little Ms in between"
Hally Berry in Queens (1993)

[JAY_1979]

I agree with the self-contained episode method because you get to know the characters first before the mayhem starts. However, Melrose Place's biggest problem happened after season five because almost all the originals left that were popular and basically season 6 felt like a different show (however, without the self-contained episode method, you could not care about the characters).

Another thing I notice about primetime soaps that have been attempted in the last few years seem to focus too much on teenagers. I mean you can't have bed hopping, greed, etc convingly. Plus, the majority of viewers would not watch a show that focused just on teenagers (why do you think the 80's shows were successful? they focused on multi-generations. Melrose suceeded because all the characters were adults so they could carry on with the sex, greed, backstabbing, and business stories.).

This is why I am wondering if the upcoming new show O.C. will suceed or not because of its heavy reliance on teenagers. Trust me, focus more on the adults and then gradually bring in the teenagers. Another example of this was in the short-lived Pacific Palisades which I thought had lots of potential. However, they focused a lot of their story on the teenage girl instead of her birth mother and step-father, etc.

I guess what I am saying is that self-contained episodes work but also a diversified cast with equal focus can bring in different types of viewers.

[Flamingo RD]

Well, "Flamingo Road" began as a novel, then it turned into a movie in 1949, then there was a two hour TV movie on May 12, 1980. Then when the series premiered on January 4, 1981, people who were familiar with the 40s movie probably remembered some of the characters, while people who were like in their 20s and 30s probably watched the 1980 movie and were then introduced to the characters. I'm sure NBC probably repeated the TVMovie in December 1980 to remind people of the plots and characters. The first five or six episodes of the actual series were pretty much self-contained. It's starting to get more serialized, with last week's episode "The Fish Fry" being like a setup for what happened in this week's episode "The Election." It should be fully serialized by the time the second season rolls through with David Selby. From what I understand, the first season finale's cliffhanger had Constance (the woman in my signature) being pushed off the balcony at Lute-Mae's house by Lane. Will she live? Will she survive? I still have a good 7 more episodes in this season to go. Goodlife seriously needs to air the show three times a week...

<center>"Flamingo Road" 4 LYFE!
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