Soaps Get Technical: How Daytime Dramas are Using New Media To Survive

Daytime soap operas represent a past time of television. In the past, people in general had more time on their hands to watch television. Now, with the Internet, cable TV, and other distractions, television networks are constantly looking for new ways to get and keep audiences. Daytime soaps are no exception, especially with low ratings to worry about. The soaps are using technology as a life preserve to save them from cancellation.


A good example of technology being used to seal the fate of a soap in danger of cancellation is Passions. A few months ago, NBC announced that it would be cancelling Passions, which was a shock but at the same time, it wasn’t. The cancellation news was a shock because Passions has earned a good amount of ratings, especially with teenaged girls and young women, but its ratings are always horrible in comparison to the other ten soap operas on TV. Of the ten, Passions is always rated the lowest, and Passions has been network television for eight years. In 2007, NBC says it is cancelling Passions because it wants to add another hour to the morning show Today, and also the network wants to cut back on its budget. As soon as NBC announced Passions’ cancellation, there was immediately speculation that SOAPNET would pick up the show. SOAPNET is a network owned by Disney which repeats soap operas such as General Hospital, The Young and The Restless, and Days of Our Lives (the other NBC soap) at night. It would have made sense to put Passions on SOAPNET, but SOAPNET did not want it. It seemed like there was no hope for Passions, but it was recently announced that DIRECTV would pick up the show. New episodes will run five days a week, and reruns will be shown on the weekend.
Passions will be the first soap opera that was saved in cancellation in this way. Producers of popular cancelled soaps of the past must be kicking themselves for not having the option to have been saved by satellite television. Even if DIRECTV did not catch Passions before it fell, the Internet could have saved it. Passions fans can already watch episodes of the soap on NBC’s website. If it wasn’t already going to DIRECTV, Passions could have made history by becoming the first soap opera that was on television but could now only be seen online. It’s not as if it would be the first time that a soap opera moved from one medium to another. Shows such as Guiding Light and As the World Turns are the only soaps on television today that originally started on radio, so why not with a show like Passions that is in danger of cancellation. With dwindling ratings, it is an option that soaps should definitely consider.



Although the majority of soap operas are not in as much relative danger of cancellation as Passions, let’s face it. Daytime soaps are considered by many in America to be archaic, boring, and lacking in creativity and innovation, so what better way to spruce up the viewing public’s image of soaps than to use it together with new media technologies. For example, two soap operas-As the World Turns and Guiding Light-are available for download on iTunes. What’s interesting about this is that the downloads are only audio and not video downloads, which hearkens back to the radio years of those two particular soaps. It is a positive thing because Proctor & Gamble-owned As the World Turns and Guiding Light have comparatively older viewers than the other two CBS soaps: The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, so iTunes is an alternative to get viewers, especially young, technologically savvy viewers, interested in the P&G soaps.



With the exception of the P&G soaps and Passions, the other daytime soaps don’t offer their shows on iTunes. So for a soap fan that misses their favorite show, SOAPNET is another alternative. As previously mentioned, SOAPNET’s allure is that you can watch your favorite soaps even at night if you miss them during the day. SOAPNET, as with anything in life, had good and bad points. The network is good if you, for example, do not feel like watching General Hospital at the time it is broadcast on your ABC-affiliate. SOAPNET is also useful if you forgot to program your VCR or TiVo. On the down side, SOAPNET does not show all of the soap operas. Another big downer is that SOAPNET is very biased towards ABC’s soap operas, which isn’t surprising since both SOAPNET and ABC are owned by Disney. It is only very recently that SOAPNET introduced The Young and The Restless and Days of Our Lives to the lineup; before, the lineup was all of ABC’s soaps.



Basically, if you are watching SOAPNET for the non-ABC shows, you will feel cheated and that there is nothing much for you to watch, but the network wants to show that it has a cornucopia of programming for a soap viewer. What is great about SOAPNET is that it has original programming such as I Want to Be a Soap Star, a reality show where aspiring actors and actresses compete to win a 13-week contract on a soap. The network also has Soapography, a series about the biographies of soap opera stars.



Of course, what about the person who doesn’t have iTunes or SOAPNET? Well, of course, there is always the good old-fashioned Internet. All three of the major networks have websites for their soap operas. The websites contain information on the soap characters, cast bios, story synopses, and more. These sites are also interactive so that fans can vote on polls and write on message boards.

Diversity in Soap Operas: Are Soaps Doing Enough?

Historically, daytime dramas have had mostly all-white casts with a sprinkle of a minority here or there. With the statistic that Hispanics will become the majority in the U.S. in a couple of years, and with the strides and contributions they as well as Blacks, Asians, gays, and others have made to American society, wouldn’t it be a little more true-to-life to have more of a variety of different kinds of people in daytime television, right? Wrong! At least that is what soap opera writers seem to think.

Even though the lack of diversity on daytime television dramas is disappointing, there have been some strides made. All My Children recently made strides with introducing the first transgender character. This is the same soap opera that made into a lesbian the daughter of a beloved character, namely Erica Kane. It is commendable that a daytime soap is willing to take risk by introducing gay and transgendered characters, but it is a double-edged sword. On soaps, the gay characters don’t stay in the storyline for very long. For example, Erica Kane’s daughter, Bianca, is being written out of the storyline as well as Zoe/Zarf, the transgendered character. To be fair, viewers have seen Bianca’s realization that she is gay as well as her relationships with other women, so much so that a TV Guide Editor calls the character “the patron saint of gay soap characters,” but it is not enough. Bianca and Zoe/ Zarf are the only homosexual characters on the show. After they have left, the show is all heterosexual characters. At least there is always room for Bianca to come back because she is related to Erica, an important character on All My Children, but Bianca is relegated to the “character that comes back every once in awhile” status. What kind of message does this send to viewers, particularly gay ones? That it is okay to have homosexual and transgendered characters as long as they are not on screen too much? It is tricky to feature gay characters on soaps, especially when it comes to portraying romantic and sexual scenes. Soap opera writers, directors, and producers have a tricky balance between showing realistic portrayals of gay relationships while still placating those who are uncomfortable with gay relationship storylines.

What about portrayals of African-Americans on soaps? In general, there are some strides, but nonetheless, there is much to be desired. Soaps such as Passions and The Young and the Restless have African-American families who get a fair amount of time onscreen and regularly interact with the White characters. These African-American characters even get to have romantic relationships with the White characters as well, which brings up another issue all together. Passions especially is commendable for its portrayal of Black characters on the show. One character on the show, Eve, has had a long relationship with a White character. Eve’s daughter, Simone, recently came out as a lesbian, and it was recently revealed that Chad, who is married to Eve’s other daughter Whitney, is having an affair with a man. Never before have Black characters been so complex. Often in soaps, the Black characters are morally perfect, which is a good thing or a bad thing. It is good because Black people are portrayed in soaps as doctors and lawyers rather than maids, criminals or prostitutes. At the same time, though, soap writers are pressured to make Black characters good all of the time because: 1)They don’t want the soap to be deemed racist against Blacks and offensive to Black viewers. 2) The majority of soap viewers who are White have limited contact or knowledge of the African-American experience, so soap writers put the Black characters in one-dimensional roles.

As for Latino, Asian, and Native American characters, there is still much to be desired. Native Americans are virtually non-existent on soap operas. There is a Latino family on the ABC soap One Life to Live who are regulars and who are involved romantically with the White characters. Passions has set the standard by including a whole Latino family as well as an African-American one. Otherwise, the number of Latino characters isn’t a lot on soaps. At least the Latinos on One Life to Live are really Latino, whereas a good number of the “Latino” characters on Passions are either White or of mixed heritage. There are not a lot of instances of Asian characters on soap operas, and when there are Asians around, they don’t get front-burner storylines, and they are usually platonic with the White characters, but there is nothing romantic going on.

The issue of romantic relationships with White characters brings about the issue of interracial relationships on soaps. Again, One Life to Live is making strides with the character of Evangeline. She is a successful African-American attorney who has had relationships with White and Latino characters on the show, and aside from the romance, Evangeline is important to the storyline. Shows such as One Life to Live, Passions, and The Young and the Restless is doing a lot more than most of the other soaps when it comes to having minority characters get involved romantically with White characters. The Young and the Restless, for example, features Lily Winters of the African-American Winters family. Lily is married to Daniel, who is White. The interesting thing about it is that about ten years ago, Lily’s father Neil was romantically involved with Victoria Newman, a White character, a relationship that was unfavorable to some fans, but Lily and Daniel’s relationship has not received much audience disapproval. There has not even been uproar for the relationships Evangeline from One Life to Live has gotten involved in. This suggests that there may be a bias for soap opera fans when it comes to favoring relationships with Black women and White men over Black men and White women. This may explain why the Black man/White woman relationship is rarely seen on soaps, and if it is seen, it doesn’t last long. For example, on The Young and the Restless, Daniel’s mother Phyllis, who is White, had a romantic relationship with a Black man, but the relationship didn’t last and the man has since left town. This is an example of how soap opera writers are reinforcing long-standing racial fears of putting Black men and White women together romantically, even in a fictional setting.

Diary of a Soap Fan

It is hard for me to pinpoint when I started watching and liking the soaps at the same time. There is a difference between watching soap operas because you’re forced to and watching them because you like them. I have vague memories of being four or five years old and being annoyed at my great-grandmother for not letting me change the channel to watch cartoons because she was watching the soaps. I had to endure hours of boredom while she enjoyed her stories. Little did I know that as I’ve become older, daytime soaps would remain a part of my life.

My family is a big reason why I became hooked on to the soaps. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all watched all four the soaps on CBS: The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, As the World Turns, and Guiding Light. On the other hand, my two cousins on my mother’s side watched the daytime dramas on ABC: General Hospital, All My Children, One Life to Live, and any one of the other now-defunct soaps that used to make up the four-soap lineup. Before my adolescent years, I would watch the CBS soaps from time to time. The interesting thing about that period was that I was not a soap fan, but I knew the names of the characters and most of the storylines. This was because of the ongoing TV watching struggle from when I was a child with my great-grandmother and even with my grandmother to an extent. From the time period of 12:30 pm to 3 or 4pm, I not anyone else could disturb my great-grandmother as she watched her stories. This would have been fine by me except for a few things. For one thing, I was a kid, and kids like to watch cartoons. In my mind, soap operas were an integral part of the adult realm, and especially the female adult realm. I didn’t want to

watch stuff that involved sappy melodrama, kissing scenes or (Gasp!) sex scenes.

So what made me change my no-soap operas boycott? For one thing, I have two words: General Hospital. I started watching the soap because of my two female cousins who were practically raised on ABC’s soap operas. My cousins, who are 11 years older than me combined, had a big influence on my young mind. I used to take cues from them on many things, and soaps were one of them. Another reason was due to adolescence and all of its changes and confusion. To make a long story short, I was starting to have crushes with the boys at school and catty drama with the girls so much so that going to school everyday felt like going off to the battlefield. Soap operas were a refuge for me, an escape from the tough lessons of adolescence.

The irony of my soap watching was that the people who got me hooked on the stories stopped watching. Those who hate soaps would proabably say that this is the point when these people gained their sanity and I lost it (lol!), but what can I say? A lot of habits one learns comes from the home and family. Anyway, both of my cousins haven’t watched soap operas in years. My great-grandmother died and buried her soap-fanaticism with her, and both my mother and grandmother became born-again Christians who feel that watching daytime dramas is sinful and is at odds with their beliefs. So where does that leave me? Yup, you guessed it, still watching soaps. When everyone else jumped over the sinking ship that is soap-opera watching, I stay and will probably continue to stay. And with these changing times when it seems like many people like my family members have abandoned the stories, I as well as others choose to watch soaps, even if the ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

Where Have All the Good Soaps Gone?

What happened to soap operas? Do they need to be cancelled, and are they still relevant? For some, the soaps or the “stories” are still fun and entertaining, but the vast majority of Americans consider soap operas as one of those things that should have been thrown out with the trash ages ago. To combat this belief, daytime soap operas are doing two things. For one thing, daytime dramas are ignoring naysayers by continuing to do the same programming that they always have. Secondly, soaps are working together with companies such as iTunes and DIRECTV to survive. But are daytime TV’s attempts to stay fresh and new while still retaining their old audiences a futile effort?

Upcoming Soap Opera Series

I have written a few articles about my thoughts on the daytime soap opera industry which I will be posting soon. I think that even if you dislike soaps, you will find these articles interesting. Later Dayz!

XM-Sirius Merger

Hello World,
I am working on a paper regarding the upcoming merger between XM and Sirius satellite radio companies. Can anyone help me out by recommending any articles? Are you a writer or journalist who has an opinion on it? Please let me know by writing in the comments section of Digg.com or on my blog. Thanks again!

Check It Out-Pandora Internet Radio Service

Hey World,

I have been looking at the Pandora Internet Radio Service http://www.pandora.com/ since yesterday, and I have to say, I have found my new obsession. I had first found out about it in a New York Times article about Internet music services that are competition to satellite radio as well as terrestrial radio, and the article mentioned Pandora. In short, my experience with the service so far hasn't been too bad, despite what the name "Pandora" suggests.

All you have to do is set up your account, which isn't very difficult as it is with signing up for other things on the 'net. Actually, that part was quick and simple. Then, all you have to do is enter and artist's name, and then you are given a selection of songs from that artist as well as similar artists. You can rate each song: If you like it, click on the thumbs up like it symbol, and if you don't, you can click on the thumbs down. When you dislike a song, the music player plays the next song on the queue for that artist's radio station. You can even enter a song title in the search to look for covers of that song or similar artists to the one who sang the song.

Pandora is part of the Music Genome Project. According to it's founder Tim Westergren, the project was started in 2000 was when musicians and music technologists listened to over 10-thousand artists and looked at each artist's musical qualities. As a result, the project has come up with hundreds of musical genres or "genes" into a Musical Genome, like the Human Genome. The Music Genome is how Pandora can find similar artists or songs. And Westergren says that the music ranges from the well-known to the obscure, and Pandora is constantly on the look-out for talent, even unknown, underground talent, which is cool because it isn't biased towards mainstream artists.

So far, Pandora has been pretty good. I have not only enjoyed listening to my favorite artists, but I have also learned about new songs from those artists. On top of that, I have learned about new artists altogether, which has been great too.

But, as with everything in life, with the good comes the bad. One negative about Pandora is that when you enter an artist or song, that artist/song may either not be on your queue, or you have to look at song after song and artist after artist until you finally what you want. Another problem is there is a limit to the number of songs you can listen to per hour because of some legality. So if, for example, you listen to a Marvin Gaye Station, and you go through your queue not liking the songs very much, then next thing you know, you can't listen to any more music until an hour has passed.

The limit of songs issue is minor because you can occupy yourself with finding more albums and songs until the hour is over, and then you can go back to that particular station and listen to more random songs, and like a radio station, you never know what you are going to get. But there are issues with the search engine, too. Pandora acts like it has such a great variety of songs, but if you are looking for foreign artists, forget it. I tried to type in some French artists, and the search engine didn't know who I was talking about. As for foreign artists, British and Canadian artists are as foreign as it gets when it comes to Pandora recognizing them. I put Shakira and Damian Marley in the search and I got stuff, so there is also luck for Latin American and reggae artists, but anything too obscure, forget it. I also have beef with the like it/don't like it. A lot of the artists that I listened to were either just okay in my book or I just didn't feel like listening to that kind of song, so I didn't want to say I didn't like the song, so most of the time I just click the fast forward button for the station to go on to the next song in the queue. I think Pandora should have a button where a song is just OK, and the symbol for it could be a hand moving like when someone says something is okay or so-so.

Besides those little snafus, I really like Pandora. It's a great way to give Internet users a say in what they like and dislike. Pandora is democracy at it's finest.