This is the list of the most brilliant but canceled soaps ever:
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d122458 — 17 years ago(October 18, 2008 08:29 PM)
I used to watch many of these over the years, but Another World stands out to me as probably the best. Although I watched it from the beginning, my favorite years were during the days of Cass, Felicia, Wallingford, Ceceile, and Kathleen. I don't think I've laughed and cried so much as I did watching this particular ensemble go through their hilarious and sometimes sad antics. I saw Stephen Schnetzer (Cass) on an advertisement the other day and wondered why he never made it bigger than he did. His comedic timing, dashing good looks, and brilliant acting for me made him a perfect candidate for films as well as night time series work.
Dark Shadows of course was so much fun. Would run all the way home from school to catch in in the afternoons. My mohter and grandmother would be glued to the TV right along with me. My Dad would come home from work around that time and tease us about watching it. He would say "That old Barnabas is so misunderstood. He really is a good guy", and I'd get so perturbed.
Thanks for the memories on this thread. -
SenoritaTorres — 17 years ago(November 16, 2008 10:02 AM)
Brookside. So bad it was brilliant. Now that was 25 years of entertainment. I was born in 1983 and it started 1982 but I was four when I started watching the goings on in Brookside Close, Croxteth Park, Liverpool, and I was captivated until the close was boarded up in 2003. I cried for what we were losing.
I'm from Liverpool by the way so maybe I'm biased but it was a highly exciting soap.
'Wendy, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in!'
-Jack Torrance, The Shining -
Isaac5855 — 17 years ago(November 25, 2008 10:15 AM)
OK, you've listed all the soaps that have been cancelled over the years, but I wouldn't call all of them brilliant. There's only one soap on your list that was brilliantSANTA BARBARAsnapping on the heels of brilliance during its initial years but faltering near the end were RYAN'S HOPE and THE EDGE OF NIGHT, but that's it.
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grantch — 17 years ago(November 26, 2008 09:47 AM)
From 1956 to 1981 The Edge of Night was consisstently brilliant. Unfortunately many soaps get off to an excellent start and then due to sponsor or network meddling in the name of "improving" ratings are destroyed. The Secret Storm in the 15-minute format it held from its inception until 1962 was an excellent, absorbing show when its main focus was on widower Peter Ames, his sister-in-law Pauline, and his children Susan, Jerry and Amy. In fact Roy Winsor its producer was a genius Winsor's love of Life in the 15-minute format centered on the conflict between sisters Vanessa and Meg and kept lunchtime viewers involved, then in 1958 the 30-minute format remained interesting and retained viewership until it jumped the shark in the early '60's. I've state before From These Roots was probably the BEST family oriented serial (even better than Ryan's Hope) was From These Roots - a brilliant concept which NBC annhilated story-wise after two years of greatness. The original first couple of years of Ryan's Hope were also excellent.
Soaps in the last few decades seem to think all they need is to show attractive youngsters undressed and making out. In 1961 actor Paul Savior who was a good-looking guy was shown quite frequently wearing pajama bottoms while talking to his serial wife Barbara. Many girls I knew watched Love of Life just to get a glimpse of Savior's pecs. So I suppose unwittingly Savior created today's current rage to see good looking guys stripped to the waist and making out with their girlfriends. May point in this paragraph is that today's soap writers place more emphasis on unbridled sexual activity than on story values. It is true that the last soap aired which was the ultimate in coolness was Santa Barbara - a great mix of whimsey and story telling.
Perhaps as indicated on another thread, soaps are dead. Certainly tv entertainment is coming to an end. What's with AVC canceling Pushing Daisies, an intelligently designed entertainment, to be a ble to offer viewers more cheap-to-produce reality shows?
Let's examine that cheap-to-produce statement. A large factor in the vdwindling story values of the soaps has been the 60-minute format. Why an hour? Rather than creatively using the time to entertain and tell good stories, the hour shows are excessively padded with uninteresting characters sho provide poorly conceived humor to detract from the main story lines. Or, as One Life to Live did in the past 6 weeks there were major crises for several different sets of characters and once again the writers have resorted to an inherited (?) multiple personality PLUS switched-baby opportunity (pace, Judith Light) for the current main storyline. Tell me truly wouldn't a doctor who had just delivered a living baby and taken the newborn to her office and walked out for a few minutes, realize that the dead baby in the wrapping when she returned was not the same tyke?
RIP, soap opera. -
rnigma-1 — 17 years ago(November 26, 2008 02:58 PM)
Of the eight soaps still on the air there is only one that is a half-hour long: "The Bold & the Beautiful." I'm sure the reason CBS didn't expand B&B to an hour was that it would cut into affiliates' local time: many of them run half-hour news shows at noon. CBS has two separate east-coast feeds of Y&R: one at 12 noon Eastern, the other at 12:30 pm, so that affiliates can run a half hour show at either noon or 1 pm. (I once worked at a CBS station.)
I thought NBC was nuts when it expanded "Another World" to 90 minutes in 1979. No doubt, it led to overworked actors and writers, and padding galore. -
BoyScoutKevin — 17 years ago(January 28, 2009 03:36 PM)
I enjoyed the "The Doctors." Indeed, when it was on, I'd use to bring a portable TV to work and leave it in my car. Then during my lunch hour, I eat lunch in my car, so I could watch the program.
Apparently, "The Doctors" was Alec Baldwin's first acting gig on TV. I wonder whatever happened to him. -
myhulagirl-1 — 17 years ago(December 24, 2008 12:20 AM)
That's quite a list!! Many I haven't heard of, but the rest I haveTOTALLY agree with: Another World and Santa Barbara (my two favorites, and the best on TV as far as I'm concerned!!), Ryan's Hope (a close second), Loving & The City (third), Texas and Dark Shadows. I watched the new Dark Shadows though, with Ben Cross and Joanna Going from Another World. I remember vaguely watching with my mom: The Doctors, Somerset and maybe one or two others. Those were the days!!
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rhettsamigo2003 — 17 years ago(December 24, 2008 10:48 PM)
The Edge of Night, Somerset, Texas, and Another World.
Somerset was a spin-off of Another World, sharing characters, storylines, and the same network, Brooklyn Warehouse Studios, opening Logo (the spiraling circles), and announcer.
Another World had melodrama and tragic situations (like The Secret Storm).
Somerset was more violent and mysterious (like The Edge Of Night).
I don't believe that Somerset was cancelled because of it's low ratings.
I think it was cancelled because both Proctor & Gamble AND NBC wanted
Another World's brilliant head writer Harding LeMay to create a totally new soap (and unofficial spinoff of Another World) to replace Somerset. It was called Lovers & Friends, then came back re-titled For Richer, For Poorer. This "experiment" was not near as exciting nor spooky as Somerset. Even the new show(s) could not pull in the ratings that Somerset managed to carry in it's seven year run.
NBC (and P & G) almost killed Another World by expanding it to 90 minutes.
Ratings and popularity plummetted.
Then they created another spin-off called Texas. Very fine show, but we fans could not help but notice it's daytime rip-off of the Dallas media frenzy. -
Lucaslover — 16 years ago(September 09, 2009 07:33 AM)
I'd call
Santa Barbara
brilliant. Lane Davies, Nancy Lee Grahn, Harley Kozak, Roscoe Born, Marcy Walker, Justin Deas, Robin Mattson, and A Alvarez and others delivered some of the quirkiest, funniest, most romantic moments I've ever seen in a soap opera.
Many of the others on your list are great entertainments. And there's NOTHING wrong with that label. I wish a lot of these shows were back on the air, maybe then I would actually watch tv again.
In my day, I really enjoyed Dark Shadows, Another World, The Secret Storm, Love of Life, and The Edge of Night.
When soaps became more about sex than about good storytelling, my interest began to fade. I have nothing against seeing sexy performers involved in interesting love stories, but when it comes down just to looking at naked bodies? What's great about that? Doesn't take a lot of talent to get naked on camera.
"Who's drivin' the car, Ben?"
Lucas Buck -
mel-yo — 16 years ago(September 13, 2009 07:31 PM)
Unfortunately we can now add GUIDING LIGHT to that list. It was the oldest running serial on television,
72 years. It got it's start on NBC radio back in the late 1930's. This Friday, Sept. 18th is the last air date for the show. It was a wonderful drama that I grew up watching most of my life. It will most definitely be missed. -
fiatlux-1 — 13 years ago(November 01, 2012 12:06 AM)
One Life to Live
is the best soap opera I've seen, with
Days of Our Lives
a very close second.
I LOVED those soaps when I was in junior high school. I'd race home to see them, and even record the beginnings since I was still in school.
I really loved discussing them with my friends then too.
Oh nostalgia. They bring back such terrific memories! I wish those days were nowadays sometimes.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush." -
btb-nj — 13 years ago(November 21, 2012 12:12 PM)
I so agree with you tbell, my favorite current soap is DAYS OF OUR LIVES, with those writers, Days reminds me of Search For Tomorrow a little bit, even has some ppl in the cast that were former SFT stars of yesteryear like Victor Kiriakis, Kimberly Brady, Caroline Brady
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antonio8885 — 12 years ago(November 21, 2013 04:09 AM)
I'm sticking with soaps that had a limited run on daytime and prime time as compared to the four recent long-term cancelled classics (Guiding Light, As The World Turns, One Life To Live and All My Children):
DARK SHADOWS (Original series)
FLAMINGO ROAD
THE COLBYS
ANOTHER WORLD
PORT CHARLES
SANTA BARBARA
LOVING -
grantch — 12 years ago(January 29, 2014 03:11 PM)
I still believe The Edge of Night from its 1956 debut 'til the 1984 cancellation was the very best of the daytime soaps on TV. A close second would be The Secret Storm with the offbeat actions of the Ames family and Love of Life with compelling characters and interesting stories.
Of the cancelled soaps which had converted to the 60-minute format, I felt One Life to Live was absolutely the best - acting, cast, involved plots nothing but fun, thanks to Erika Slezak and the others.
What's the best soap of the 4 survivors in 2014? I'd have to vote for Days of Our Lives because of the writing which manages to involve ALL of the front burner major characters in whatever ludicrous action is going on and, like OLtL, is very well acted and produced. I'm not sure the beautiful cast members are a tribute to plastic surgery or botox, but the gals and guys are stunning. The Young & the Restless runs a close second despite the present executive producer's demonstrated penchant for destroying any soap she's controlling. Just look at what she and Brian Frons did to General Hospital over many years, killing off the major core families and making 3pm to 4pm on ABC a mob war for years. LOL
GH has improved under the guidance of Mr. Valentini and Mr. Carlivati, but too often they'll abandon a major plot development for several weeks and let other plots come to the forefront. They should take a page from the golden days of Irna Phillips with the 15-minute The Guiding Light as well as the 15-minute The Secret Storm and Love of Life which always were absorbing and well written. But that was 60 years ago and I was only 10 years old, so naive I thought these soaps were a fascinating glimpse into real life of adults. Ay, caramba, what a joke but I tuned in daily to see what would happen!