American Soaps

American daytime soaps have to be seen to be believed! We Brit audiences sometimes laugh at the silly plots our soaps come up with but American soaps really do come up with some bonkers plots! If you thought Sunset Beach or Passions are the only bonkers soaps to have come out of America then think again folks. We take a look at the daytime soaps currently on air in America and reveal some of their more bonkers storylines.

Guiding Light

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 soap originally started life in 1937 on radio and in 1952 moved to television, although it still aired on radio until 1956. The soap was created by Irna Phillips and originally revolved around Reverend Doctor John Ruthledge. The soap has, obviously, changed its focus since then and introduced younger characters and over time these characters have become the focus of the soap.

The soap was cancelled earlier this year by broadcasters CBS. Ratings for most daytime soaps have been declining for some time now and a revamp boost flagging ratings failed to improve them. CBS decided to cancel the series despite its long history with the broadcaster. Producers of the soap stated their desire to take it elsewhere but as yet no other broadcaster has taken on the soap. Guiding Light’s final episode is due to air on CBS in September.

General Hospital

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 when a mix of action/adventure/spy stories along with popular characters 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. However, these style of plots and the spy storylines featured within the soap declined in popularity during the 1990s.

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. In the UK in the 1970s a daytime, later prime-time, series called General Hospital aired on ITV. It was styled after a previous ITV medical series, Emergency Ward 10, and only shared its name with the USA series. There were no crossovers or other similarities.

All My Children

Created by Agnes Nixon and starting in 1970, this daytime soap has clocked up over 10 thousand episodes. The soap is set in Pine Valley, a fictional small suburb of Philadelphia. 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. Like most soaps it originally started off in a 30 minute format before being extended to a 60 minute format. It was recently announced by ABC the soap would move to HD filming and new, bigger, studios in Los Angeles. The series is currently filmed in New York.

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 dipper 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.

Created by Irna Phillips as a sister show to Guiding Light, As the World Turns lunched in 1956 and was one of the first new soaps to feature the new 30 minute format. Previously serials had been 15 minutes long but by 1956 broadcasters had decided to extend them. Although viewers didn’t welcome the move to begin with they eventually embraced the longer format. The soap 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.

For twenty years the soap regularly pulled in over 10 million viewers and was hugely popular with audiences. Long since are gone when the soap pulled in such figures and now its future is uncertain. When sister soap Guiding Light ends in September As the World Turns will be the longest running soap in America but its future beyond that is uncertain. The soap has been threatened with cancellation unless ratings pick up. The soap has been at the centre of media interest in the past few years due to the gay relationship between Luke Synder and Noah Mayer, dubbed ‘Nuke’, by fans. As well as attracting huge media interest the storyline has attracted praise and criticism alike. Fans of the storyline have even, at times, criticised it for the lack of affection shown between the tow characters – this is likely due to the conservative backlash every time the characters kiss.    

The Bold and the Beauiful

Launched in 1987 and created by Willian J Bell and Lee Phillip Belll as a sister soap to The Young and the Restless. B&B, as it’s referred to by its fans, is an ensemble piece with a small core cast and is the only daytime soap to air 30 minute episodes. 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 shows 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. The two soaps still feature crossover plots from time to time which are a common thing in American drama’s but very rare for British soaps. While its ratings too have suffered at home the soap has leveled somewhat after a record low and sells well outside of America meaning its long-term future should be relatively secure.

The Young and the Restless

Launched in 1973 and created by William J Bell and Lee Phillip Bell who would go on to create “sister” soap 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.

Days of our Lives

Launched in 1965 and 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. The soap airs on NBC and is the last remaining daytime serial on the network. When Guiding Light ends in September the soap will become 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. The show has been renewed until Autumn 2010 but beyond that it’s future isn’t secure and its possible the series could be axed if ratings do not radically improve.

One Life to Live

Launched in 1968 and created by Agnes Nixon who had been a writer on NBC’s Another World. ABC had been impressed with the ratings for the soap and sought out Nixon and asked her to create a serial 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 and crossover plot with fellow ABC soap General Hospital was created. Nixon would go on to create All My Children for ABC which would also feature crossover plots with One Life to Live – both being set fairly close to each other.

The soap originally centred on the wealthy Lord family and the less wealthy and Jewish Siegel famiy, 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. It has also courted, like other soaps, controversy for storylines its featured. It was recently announced that One Life to Live would move into the studios currently occupied by All My Children when the soap moves to Los Angeles for future production.