World Cup Tournament World Cup of Soap Operas - The Matches

[Daniel Avery]

You could have voted for The Colbys for the same reason you voted for Connie--Stephanie Beacham. The Colbys was never going to be competition for Dallas; in fact, it was closer (but not close enough) competition for Knots Landing when they were head to head briefly on the (US) schedule.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm just hoping you will vote for The Colbys because I voted for Dynasty and I really liked them both pretty much equally. I'm just hoping you'll give me an indirect way of giving both shows a vote.

 

[Zable]

M13: The Colbys
M14: Connie

 

[Zable]

The Battle of the Beachams!

That name's pronounced Beau-cham, I’ll have you all know; in the haughtiest tone you can muster.

And before you ask, Herself said so on radio.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

That name's pronounced Beau-cham, I’ll have you all know; in the haughtiest tone you can muster.

And before you ask, Herself said so on radio.

Sometimes when I hear Steph's surname (that is, the non-haughty "bee-chum" pronunciation), in my head I "see" the original French spelling "Beauchamp", (which of course is always pronounced "bee-chum" in the UK). It just seems more suitably glamorous for Stephanie.

Like many words of French origin (Belvoir, Beaulieu, etc), pronunciation of the name was Anglicised here owing to historical views that it was highly pretentious (and, who knows, possibly dangerous) to attempt the French pronunciation.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Speaking of soap vs. soap, here's what Pauline Fowler had to say about one of our current contestants when appearing on Just A Minute back in 1988:

Neighbours is yet another soap that we are inflicted with on TV. I personally have had to sit through this programme and I cannot understand its popularity. I don't mean to say it is any better than ours, but some of the performances in it are...[whistle blows]

 

[Seaviewer]

what term you use for the season following summer

How many options are there for that?

 

[Seaviewer]

Match 13: I suppose it had to come to this eventually The Colbys was better during the two years it was on but . . . it's Dynasty for the long haul.
Match 14: Connie. Believe it or not I've never watched Neighbours.

That name's pronounced Beau-cham, I’ll have you all know; in the haughtiest tone you can muster.

And before you ask, Herself said so on radio.

I had no idea. Just call me "peasant."

 

[Angela Channing]

Match 13 - Dynasty - Both shows were over the top but hugely entertaining and although I always had a soft spot the The Colbys for it's remarkable finale with Fallon flying off in an alien spacecraft, Dynasty was the superior show. I often felt some of the acting was more wooden than the desk in Blake's office and the storylines more nonsensical than a book by Dr Suess but for pure escapist entertainment, Dynasty a very watchable programme and at times quite compelling.

Match 14 - Neighbours - I've not watched either show. I always thought Connie was a daytime show but maybe it was originally shown in prime time and repeated months later during daytimes. My only memory of it was a trailer for the show in which someone receives a phone call informing her that "Connie's back" and she very theatrically drops the cup of tea she was holding. I'm voting for Neighbours due to it's longevity being the longest running Australian soap opera of all time and one of the longest running soap operas currently in this contest.

 

[Ome]

Match 13 - Dynasty
Match 14 - Connie

Match 14 - Home and Away

Mesa sees an edit coming up...

 

[Angela Channing]

Mesa sees an edit coming up...

Oops, thanks for noticing my error. Thankfully, my comments refer equally to both of those Australian soaps so it wasn't a major edit.

 

[Zable]

I had no idea. Just call me "peasant."

Peasant, Marlon Brando had no idea either until he phoned Herself one day at some ungoldly pre-dawn hour and asked her why her name was Beach-pig.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

How many options are there for that?

If memory serves, just the two ("autumn" and "fall"). This is a little strange for an app based on UK dialects, because some regions of the country have unique names for autumn. "Backend" is a commonly used Yorkshire variant, for instance.

 

[Jock Og]

Game 13 - DYNASTY: Well it as to be the second biggest show of the eighties, in terms of notoriety. Having toppled the daddy off the top spot in 1984 - '85 was praise worthy. With a mixture of glamour; backstabbing, affairs, oil (not as business defined as DALLAS), cat fights, unsavoury verbals, princes, princesses, ex wives, ex husbands, big hair, hot air, cold air, the mansion and the bitch of all bitches Alexis, the Colorado show was something else. It was a pity THE COLBYS didn't last another season or two, even with Fallon being whisked off in the UFO.

Listen and look at 'DYNASTY Then & Now 2019'. There are one or two errors, which I'm sure will be corrected over time. The show was never perfect with continuity.

Game 14 - NEIGHBOURS: The 'good days' have to get this battle. Neighbours is a triumph for 'Down Under' with over 8000 episodes presently and a cast as long as the equator. Throughout the soapy ingredients were fairly pleasing. I tuned in recently and noticed Oz's answer to J.R. there, the one and only Paul Robinson. Clive Gibbons has also returned. Admittedly I might not have seen an entire episode since the early 00s but Harold Bishop; Madge Ramsay Bishop, Charlene Ramsay Robinson, Scott Robinson, Nell Mangel, Jim Robinson, Des Clarke, Daphne Clarke, Marlene Kratz and one of the most beautiful characters ever to grace T.V. Annalise Hartman were particular favourites, of mine.

 

[Willie Oleson]

^
Do they use those robot voices to make it sound more factual and official? Haha.

 

[Jock Og]

^
Do they use those robot voices to make it sound more factual and official? Haha.

Yep would seem that way.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I simply can't watch yt videos with those computer voices--drives me nuts. I cannot understand how they think those disembodied monotones are preferable to "real" voices. I can't get past the idea that nefarious overseas hackers are adding malware to my computer while I listen.

 

[Gioberti84]

My votes are for Dynasty and Neighbours, even though my opinion is that Stephanie Beacham is a better actress than Joan Collins.

 

[Angela Channing]

Stephanie Beacham is a better actress than Joan Collins.

I completely agree with this statement. I've never thought Joan Collins was a particularly good actress, she is more of a personality than a actress whereas Stephanie Beacham can really act.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Match 13 - I love The Colbys. It was epic. It was more sophisticated than it's sister show. The writing was often sharper. However my love stems from the fact that for me, it was basically The Sable Colby Show. Charlton Heston put in some solid work but in my opinion, Stephanie Beacham carried that show. I lapped up every bit of screentime that she had and cared little for what went on when she wasn't around. Not that there weren't others floating around that I liked. Zach Powers was a great foil to Sable and Phillip showed potential in his all too brief stint. Dynasty wins this match for me. It was a rollercoaster of a show with a plethora of classic characters. Season one was highbrow soap opera with top notch writing and season two is an example of how to make perfect soap. It all went a bit mad after that but I did enjoy it up until the season six finale and again in season nine when the lady that made The Colbys great, came along to revitalize the parent show. For all it's faults (of which there are many) Dynasty gave us some amazing soap moments that have been replicated multiple times on many other shows since.

Match 14 - Despite my love of Stephanie Beacham, I still haven't gotten around to watching Connie so Neighbours gets my vote in this match. Not that it's just getting it by default. Neighbours has been an intermittent presence in my TV viewing since the 90's. I did always favour Home & Away over it but I do have good memories of the Julie Martin / Cheryl Stark era in the 90's and the mid-00's Paul Robinson super villain period which is when I would have last watched the show.

 

[Seaviewer]

If memory serves, just the two ("autumn" and "fall"). This is a little strange for an app based on UK dialects, because some regions of the country have unique names for autumn. "Backend" is a commonly used Yorkshire variant, for instance.

It was the dialects I was asking about, more than the app. Autumn is the only one in common use here as far as I know, although we are familiar with Fall as an Americanism, so I was curious as to what others there might be.