My name is Sarah, and I'm 17 so I don't have quite as much knowledge about the history of soaps as I'm sure a lot of you do, but I love reading about the past, learning new things, and discussing what I do know. I have older sisters who got me started on Days of our Lives and Young & the Restless when I was about 7/8, because they watched those shows all the time and explained to me everything that went on. I've expanded my horizons over the past few years and also have watched General Hospital, All My Children, As the World Turns, and Bold & the Beautiful.
My favorite soap couple is Jack & Jennifer from DOOL, and since I'm so young, I've had to see their past through tapes of their storylines other generous J&J fans send me. I'm also hoping for a brighter future with them on the show now. I have a site dedicated to them: www.stormpages.com/jackjennifer
I look forward to posting here! I put it on my favorites list in my Control Center.
Re: Welcome!
Oh, wow, Sarah! I'm so honored to be on your favorites. This board has only been in existance for 3 days now and I'm overwhelmed with the positive response. I look forward to may more Days of discussing the history of soaps and learning even more about the genre, myself!
Network Loyalties
My mom always took pride in her loyalty to CBS, but she agreed to change to NBC when my brother & I made the move for DOOL in 1986.
I do remember ATWT jumping times & length. It was very confusing for a while back then!
Hey Matt- If you had watched Betsy & Steve's wedding instead of Bo & Hope's you would have been the female version of me! Because that's what I was doing! And when everyone in my 5th grade class was obsessing over GH's Luke & Laura, I was living for GL's Nola & Quinton! Yet another thing for kids to make fun of! Where I grew up, CBS was not the hip soap channel! That's one of the reasons I was willing to switch to DOOL.
Hi!
I'm Caragh, I'm 25 and a soap addict! I started off with AW back in '85 and became hooked (watched it right til the end!) - I got hooked on it because my best friends mother use to watch it but my grandmother watched GL, I've watched that off and on over the years. I was also a big DOOL fan in the 80s and early 90s with Patch & Kayla, John & Isabella and all but now only watch that off and on lately.
But I do watch GH, ATWT and PC daily. I was one of those that watched ATWT before AW was cancelled because we got AW twice a day (once in the morning and then again in the afternoon, hey, it was popular up here! ) so I was able to tape ATWT at 2. I was thrilled when Tom Eplin went over to ATWT.
Great board!
Caragh ~I used to have a handle on life, but it broke~
Re: Welcome!
Caragh, welcome! It's so good to have another AW fan on the board! I, too, got both AW and Days twice a day, but I never managed to get into other soaps in the afternoon in place of them. All that meant for me was that if I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough to watch the morning shows, I could watch in the afternoon! Usually, however, I would set my alarm clock so that I could be up at 10am to watch AW. I wait tables and usually work at night, so I'm always available for my soaps. However, I tend to sleep late. If you really want a cool AW flashback, Brian over at the World of Soap Themes is currently running a series of logos for the site, each new one in the style of a classic soap open. Last week was a wonderful take on the Edge of Night from the late 70s. This week is an adaptation of the AW interlocking rings of the 70s! It's wonderful. Oh, the memories.
Re: Welcome!
I guess since I've made a bunch of other posts today I should make one here. While I watched DARK SHADOWS for its last 2 years, I didn't really make the connection between it and the CBS soaps that my grandmother watched. I remember my mother and grandmother talking about the exploits of Lisa on ATWT and Vivian on LOVE OF LIFE, the great opening theme of THE EDGE OF NIGHT (the crashing piano notes and the darkness slashing across the city skyline), and those two little shows during lunchtime -- GUIDING LIGHT and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW (I had never been aware of any other 15 minute programs at that time).
On February 12, 1975 I watched ANOTHER WORLD for the first time and was immediately hooked (I remember the date because Mac and Rachel were married on Valentine's Day 2 days later). Before long I was sampling all of the other soaps on the air, and in many cases, watching them for a few months or longer. I think the only two shows in the seventies that I never watched for any length of time were GENERAL HOSPITAL and ALL MY CHILDREN, but the two that I watched all through those years were AW and EDGE. When SOAP OPERA DIGEST came along you could really "follow" all the shows and decide what looked most interesting for the next few months.
In the eighties I had a day job, and my watching was severely curtailed until I got a VCR in 1988. I still sampled some of the new shows, although I don't recall seeing any episodes of either CAPITOL or SANTA BARBARA. I began taping AW and GL, switching over to ATWT when AW was cancelled in San Francisco (late 1991). I've watched at least the first few weeks of all the serials that premiered in the nineties (even suffering through 10 episodes of SUNSET BEACH and PASSIONS :P).
Naturally, I developed my own serial (THE ENDLESS STREAM)while I was in college, and produced nearly 3 years worth of episode breakdowns for it. There was also a short-lived spin-off, HARCOURT MANOR, but I dropped it when I suddenly realized that virtually every character was involved in a love triangle with two other characters. Since this was long before the Internet, I had a very limited audience. LOL Actually, it was mostly me and a penpal friend who also had his own serial. We swapped carbon copies of our work. I still have copies of the whole thing, so if I ever get around to learning HTML... (well, actually, TES would need a little more work than that, but wou never know)
In 1996-7 when ATWT was probably at its absolute worst, I toyed with the idea of an alternate web series (ala FOLLYWORLD) that would diverge from "real" Oakdale in January 1996, with the infamous plane crash. Made a lot of notes, but nothing ever came of it. Happily, the show eventually got back on track when Christopher Goutman took over the EP slot.
I still follow ATWT but have pretty much given up on GL. I'm also watching RYAN'S HOPE thanks to SoapNet. While Claire Labine's time on GL was disappointing, she clearly knew what she was doing (and was able to carry out her plans) with her own series.
I'm fascinated by the whole serial fiction thing, and always eager to learn and share more about soap history. My three all-time favorite shows: ANOTHER WORLD by Harding Lemay, THE EDGE OF NIGHT by Henry Slesar, and AS THE WORLD TURNS by Douglas Marland.
This forum has been a little quiet in the last few weeks but I hope we can get talking again. Thanks to Matt for opening it up!
Re: Welcome!
DJ, welcome! I just love hearing the recollections of longtime soap fans and true lovers of the genre. I didn't get to watch a lot of the older soaps (LoL, Edge, et al) and only got into soap operas during the very early 80s. Of course, I was about 9 or 10 at the time....
so I don't have quite as much knowledge about the history of soaps as I'm sure a lot of you do, but I love reading about the past, learning new things, and discussing what I do know. I have older sisters who got me started on Days of our Lives and Young & the Restless when I was about 7/8, because they watched those shows all the time and explained to me everything that went on. I've expanded my horizons over the past few years and also have watched General Hospital, All My Children, As the World Turns, and Bold & the Beautiful. 
Because that's what I was doing! And when everyone in my 5th grade class was obsessing over GH's Luke & Laura, I was living for GL's Nola & Quinton! Yet another thing for kids to make fun of! 
Where I grew up, CBS was not the hip soap channel! That's one of the reasons I was willing to switch to DOOL.
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