This is the list of the most brilliant but canceled soaps ever:
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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! -
stanbrown32 — 12 years ago(November 21, 2013 08:59 PM)
Most brilliant but canceledI would put As the World Turns at the top, even though I loved Guiding Light, too.
Even though Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life and The Secret Storm and The Guiding Light all started a few years earlier, and The Edge of Night began the same day, ATWT topped them all. It became THE classic doctors-and-lawyers soap. You can see how The Guiding Light, although older, was revamped later to follow ATWT's lead, with Mike and Ed Bauer following in the tradition of Don and Bob Hughes. Another World was planned as a spin-off of ATWT, and Days of Our Lives and All My Children followed the ATWT template, too.
And even though hundreds of different characters passed through ATWT over the years, it maintained a strong core around the Hughes family (and to some extent, the Stewart familyand later core families like the Snyders) so that it had much more stability than Guiding Light, for example, where there were long periods where the Bauers were almost entirely absent from the show, or Another World, that wiped out it's original core family.
ATWT under the Dobsons and then under Doug Marland was particularly brilliant. -
blaque108 — 12 years ago(November 30, 2013 02:49 PM)
I haven't watched soaps in a minute I thought Days of Our Lives still came on. I remember Passions I watched that constantly. Passions was so different and yes it had some very crazy and weird story lines that didn't make sense but that is what made it brilliant and unique.
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007135 — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 07:47 PM)
What was the US' ABC thinking(or not) when they cancelled the Soaps?
Both air and cable/sat networks are so boring anymore.
Not just soaps, but shows that require writing in general.
I don't want to watch crap like The Chew.
Your feeble skills are no match for the power of kittens.