This Week’s Poll: Best American Soap

In the final Weekly Poll of the current series – have no fear it’ll be back – we are asking you to vote for the best American daytime some. Our candidates include the soaps still on-air and a few soaps that over the years have been axed. As ever we’ve got a little feature to help you decide.

In the final Weekly Poll of the current series – have no fear it’ll be back – we are asking you to vote for the best American daytime some. Our candidates include the soaps still on-air and a few soaps that over the years have been axed. As ever we’ve got a little feature to help you decide.

On-Air Soaps 

 One Life to Live: ABC 1968

Impressed with Ages Nixon’s work on NBC soap Another World, ABC sought out the writer and asked her to create a soap for them. Nixon was fed up with the stereotypical soap convention of a poor family and a rich family and wanted her new serial to emphasise the ethic and social diversity of America. To help launch the new serial a crossover plot with fellow ABC soap General Hospital was created – to entice audiences to the new soap. Nixon would later create All My Children for ABC and the two Nixon soaps would regularly feature crossover plots and characters.

One Life to Live during its early years focused on the wealthy Lord family and the less wealthy and Jewish Siegel family – an early representation of a Jewish family in American soap. Other families included the middle-class Rileys and Woleks and the African American Grays. Like most soaps One Life to Live had since moved away from its original core-cast and brought in newer characters and new families. In recent years the soap had been the subject of speculation regarding its future and has, on at least one occasion, reportedly been close to cancellation. Although the soap is to move to larger studios shortly when fellow series All My Children switches production to New York the future of the soap is far from secure. There is speculation that with the cancellation of As the World Turns ABC may decide to cull one of their soaps too – and One Life to Live is extremely vulnerable.

Days of our Lives: NBC 1965

The last remaining daytime soap on NBC after Another World was axed in 1999 and Passions in 2007. Days of our Lives launched in 1965 and was created by husband and wife team Ted and Betty Corday along with Irna Phillips and early storylines were written by William J.Bell – big names in the world of American daytime soap. When Guiding Light ended in September the soap will became the third longest running daytime soap in America. Early days of the soap revolved around the professional and personal lives of middle and upper class professionals in Salem with the traditional soap storylines such as love, marriage, affairs and betrayal mixed in with the psychological problems of the patients encountered by some of the medical characters.

In the 1970s the soap won praise for pushing back the boundaries of social acceptance at the time by featuring storylines concerning interracial romances and other daring plots for the time. By the 1990s however, the soap had changed direction somewhat and the realistic and daring plots it was known for were replaced with more supernatural based plots. It is perhaps due to these unrealistic and supernatural plots that audience levels have declined and in 2007 NBC threatened the show with cancellation. It was stated in 2007 it was unlikely to run beyond 2009 but the soap is still on-air and has been renewed once again – having turned around flagging ratings and cut costs.

All My Children: ABC 1970

Having created One Life to Live for ABC Agnes Nixon went on to create another soap for them in 1970, All My Children. As the two soaps were set relatively close together and were created by Nixon over the years they have featured many crossover storylines and characters have moved between the two shows. Currently the soap is set in Pine Valley, a small suburb of Philadelphia, though its location may now change because production is moving from New York to Los Angeles – the biggest upheaval in the soaps history. The move will see the soap occupy bigger studios and also secure its future for the next few years at least One of the soaps most popular and enduring characters is Erica Kane [Susan Lucci] who was one of the original cast members and remains with the soap to this day.

During the 1980s and early 1990s All My Children was the second most watched daytime soap in America but as with its counterparts its fortunes have waned since. Declining ratings continue to plague the show even though it recently passed its 10 thousand episode milestone. In recent years as the ratings dip lower the head writers and execs for the soap have frequently changed and characters which are fan favourites have been brought back to lure back viewers. The soap recently moved production from New York to Los Angeles to bigger studios and to allow a move to HD filming.

The Bold and the Beautiful: CBS 1987

Created by William J Bell and Lee Phillip Bell in 1987 as a sister soap to The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful features a small core cast with a larger recurring cast and is the only soap to air 30 minute episodes. All the other soaps still on air are in the 1 hour format despite declining ratings and budget cuts but B&B, as fans refer to it, is the exception. The soap is especially popular outside the United States where it airs in various countries, including the UK, and attracts an estimated audience of over 25 million viewers worldwide.

The main focus of the soap is the Forrester family and their fashion business. To boost the show’s popularity in its early years several high-profile, and popular, crossover storylines with The Young and the Restless were used to lure in more viewers – such as the crossover plots featuring the nutty Shelia Carter (Kimberlin Brown). The two soaps still feature crossover plots from time to time which are a common thing in American drama are but very rare for British soaps. The Bold and the Beautiful is the second top-rated soap in America with audiences of over three million viewers per episode and currently four original characters remain with the cast; Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss), Eric Forrester (John McCook) and Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery) with many of the storylines revolving around the ‘core four’.

General Hospital: ABC 1963

 Medical drama set in the fictional town of Port Charles which started life in 1963. General Hospital was created by husband and wife team Frank and Doris Hursley and had its heyday in the 1980s with a mix of action/adventure/spy stories saw millions tune in to the soap. The 1980s also saw a series of bizarre plots such as world domination plots, weather control machines and visiting aliens – and these were plots in a daytime medical soap. While perhaps spy thrillers and similarly bizarre plots were popular in the 1980s they weren’t so hot with viewers in the 1990s and the soap suffered a decline in popularity during the decade after its high just years earlier.

General Hospital has spawned two spin-offs; Port Charles and General Hospital: Night Shift. Port Charles was set in the fictional city where General Hospital is based and ran for five years between 1997 and 2003 and a change in the spin-off format saw it produce 13 week “chapters”. Night Shift was a prime-time spin-off which was widely praised by critics but has thus far only ran for two seasons and is unlikely to return.

The Young and the Restless: CBS 1973

Created by William J Bell and Lee Phillip Bell in 1973, who would go on to create another popular soap in the 1980s – The Bold and the Beautiful. As well as crossover stories with the “sister” soap The Young and the Restless has also featured crossover plots with As the World Turns. The soap is the highest rated daytime drama in America despite declining ratings over the past few years. According to the latest Nielson ratings it is comfortably ahead of its rivals. The soap successfully wrote out its original core-cast of characters and introduced a new set, few-other soaps have successfully managed to do this.

Recent attempts to stem the declining ratings have seen a series of controversial plots that have attracted criticisms from fans. Some of these criticisms focus on storylines which involved wrecking established continuity while some characters have undergone radical personality transplants for the sake of a current storyline. Recasting of characters, often explained away by use of plastic surgery, has also become something of a common occurrence in the soap. Despite this, as stated above, the soap remains the highest rated soap in America so it must be doing something right!

Axed/Ended Soaps

Guiding Light: CBS – 1937 to 2009

The longest running soap in the world having clocked up an incredible 72 years and over 15 thousand episodes! The soap has even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running soap. The Guiding Light originally started life in 1937 on radio and in 1952 moved to television, although it still aired on radio until 1956, and was created by Irna Phillips – originally revolved around Reverend Doctor John Ruthledge. However, as with many programmes over the years the focus changed somewhat as newer, young characters were introduced and audiences changed.

Guiding Light’s heyday, as with many other soaps, was probably in the 1980s when it enjoyed millions of viewers. The 1990s however, brought declining ratings a trend which continued into the 2000’s. Revamps to turn the fortunes around only served to alienate audiences and worsen the situation and things came to a head in April 2009 when CBS announced after 72 years it was cancelling the series. Initially it was hoped the soap could move elsewhere – even online – but the search to find a new home wasn’t a fruitful one and in September 2009 its final episode was broadcast.

As the World Turns: CBS – 1956 to 2009

Irna Phillips created the soap in 1956 as a sister soap to The Guiding Light so perhaps it’s not entirely surprising that both should fall in the same year. As the World Turns launched in the new soap format of 30 minute editions instead of the standard 15 minutes but such was the popularity of soaps during the 1950s that broadcasters decided to extend their screen-time. Although initially unpopular with audiences the extended editions soon became standard and accepted. As the World Turns is set in the fictional town of Oakdale and has passed 13 thousand episodes. Initially the soap followed the format laid down by creator Phillips who favoured slow-moving storylines which were character driven rather than the typical melo-drama associated with the genre.

Long gone are the days when the series enjoyed over 10 million viewers and in recent times the soap had been faced with cancellation. With the departure of parent soap Guiding Light in September its America’s longest running daytime soap but it’s a title it won’t hold for long because next September it too will come to an end. Although it’s been battling declining ratings for some years now As the World Turns enjoyed international recognition thanks to its gay romance story between the characters of Luke Synder and Noah Mayer, dubbed ‘Nuke’ by fans. As scenes of their romance were uploaded to YouTube the pair became popular across the world but not even the might of Nuke it seems could save the series. As The World Turns ended after 54 years in September 2010.

Our contenders in this week’s poll include NBC soaps Sunset Beach, Passions, Santa Barbara and the ABC soaps Port Charles . If your choice isn’t amongst our poll then simply post it below – all such postings will be counted. We are unable to include every American soap ever made due to limited room in our poll. Voting will remain open until Monday 4th October 2010.