TV shows that pretended not to be soaps (but actually were)

Toni

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Hello everybody! I hope you had a good return to work. Here is my latest video, focused on TV shows that "pretended not to be soaps, but actually were". In case the title is not clear, this top 10 list features series from the last 40 years whose creators and cast didn´t consider as soaps, though there were enough elements in them to call them soaps. It´s my personal opinion and, as usual, any comment will be welcome. Big spoilers for all 10 shows, though all of them ended years, even decades ago.

 

Willie Oleson

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There are lots of descriptions, genres, styles etc that are being used much more loosely than, say, 30 years ago.
I guess, from a 21st century zeitgeisty point of view, most of the titles mentioned in your video could be considered soap opera simply because of the open-style narrative and (melo)dramatic topics.
I haven't seen many series from that list but The Affair, Six Feet Under and The Good Wife didn't even feel soapy to me.

The one that would fit the thread's description perfectly is YELLOWSTONE. Not because of how it's marketed or tagged or whatever, the struggle is in the narrative itself.
I think it wants to be Breaking Bad On The Prairie but somehow never really wants to take it that far. In fact, after I've finised season 3 (and never watched any more of it) I felt we were back to square one, almost as if everything that had happened didn't mean anything. Which is a very soap opera thing to do because soaps don't change unless they're forced to change it (e.g. death or budgetary reasons).

I remember from the first episodes that ex-employees were killed off because they "knew too much". About what? What was so sinister about the Dutton ranch?
I think the concept was dropped rather quickly because we were supposed to root for the Duttons, which means that they were no longer committed to its initial gritty premise. All the bad stuff came from outside villains, as it usually happens in soaps.
But they made sure that the episodes didn't look like soaps - and the result (imo) is that it doesn't satisfy in either genre. It's one of the most frustrating series I've ever watched, and I don't mean frustrating in an "interesting, thinking-outside-the-box" kind of way.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that TNT DALLAS managed to do both. That was a prime time soap opera from grown-ups, and I guess I could place TYRANT (the "Dallas of the Middle-East") in the same category.

Oh btw, those clips from SCANDAL look pretty cool, how would you rate the entire series?
 

Toni

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Thanks @Willie Oleson for your thoughtful post. A previous video of mine did mention the soaps from 21st Century (see video below). "Yellowstone" does appear there and at first sight it doesn´t look like they tried to avoid the soap clichés, though as you explain they did get grittier and grittier. Nowadays "gritty" is a good thing for a soap, and TNT´s "Dallas" proved it (up to a point, though they eventually failed and made it too dark).

I wanted to use in this new video only shows I have watched in their entirety, with E.R. being the exception (I´m starting to watch season 7 now). All of them were labeled as "something else":

- the gay-friendly shows were "something nobody dared to do before",
- the Shondaland shows have the word "inclusivity" tagged to them (much less aggressively and more effectively than the wake movement today),
- "The Affair" seemed to be all about sex and "clever narrative" and more sex,
- "Smallville" obviously was a SciFi coming-of-age drama that featured "the Superman years we hadn´t seen before" (forgetting the Superboy series),
- "Glee" was the template for a musical series (few had or have succeeded on TV),
- "Brothers & Sisters" was elitist in a good way and casting Sally Field was the top of the cake (the original premise was much more chaotic and muddled),
- "Dowton" wanted to be "the best period piece ever. Period" (I think my opinion transpires from the texts in those clips...), and
- "Desperate Housewives" was the equivalent of the old "woman´s pictures" updated, sexed up and very, very black. Besides, DH sort of popularized the term "dramedy", which had been existing for decades.

If someone wonders why "Grey´s Anatomy" isn´t here, it´s because I have never gone beyond the Pilot, which didn´t impress me, and its longevity has turned it into a "monster" within its genre of hospital dramas, surpassing "E.R." itself.

About "Scandal", they were totally in love with episode cliffhangers and suspense, which made it a favorite of mine...though not immediately. As many times happened to me, the Pilot was ok, but the show was a procedural (sorry for the mistake in the subtitles...) by then and it didn´t seem to be appealing enough to me. Just like "How to Get Away with Murder" with Viola Davis, it´s built around the talent of Kerry Washington. None of those two series could have succeeded with another lead.

Though it has ups and downs, and a lot of unlikely twists, "Scandal" is a lot of fun. The main characters are not sympathetic (probably on purpose), but the regulars and recurring are much worse, and that created the drama. The acting is solid as a rock, and the ensemble has true chemistry. Then there is the underneath message of the political subplots: everyone is equally corrupted, no matter from what party they belong to. I also love to see so many familiar faces in a few episodes (including Steven-bot, who goes gay again!), and the list is long and the casting people are very good at it.

To be honest, the love story between Olivia and the Senator ends up being the weakest part, as does the procedural subplots that are almost lost at the end. There are technical findings here: many scenes are filmed with the camera moving behind glass walls thus deforming the images, and the sound effects are also good (those clicks at the end of the episodes), which remember us that "nothing is what it seems", "the Olivia team is specialized in changing your image", and "you think you have been watching this series but... click, click, maybe is someone watching you too?"

There are more things but it´s mainly all this. Most of the cast is quite pretty to look at, and that doesn´t hurt (but Tony Goldwyn is such a bore though). There´s a lot of sex (even gay!) but no nudes at all, and black humor is present but not like in DH. Heavy situations are played for real and you can find a lot of "Dallas-style" clichés (thanks the Soap Gods nobody was recast). And villains, oh yeah, there are a few but always multi-layered. Worth to give it a try.


 
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Crimson

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There was a conversation here some time back about which movies/TV shows would be classified as "camp". It was mostly inconclusive. How can you classify something with a definition that's unclear? The same applies to "soap opera". The literal definition is a drama designed to sell soap advertisements, but that hasn't been relevant in six decades. On the more liberal interpretation of the term is any serialized, ongoing (melo)drama with an ensemble cast. Everything from SEX IN THE CITY to GAME OF THRONES fits that definition. And then there's what most people think of as a soap opera, i.e, the DALLAS/KNOTS/DYNASTY ilk, dramas that are perceived as being campy and frivolous and over-the-top even if that perception is at least half false.

So soap opera is like porn -- can't define it, but you know it when you see it.
 

Toni

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There was a conversation here some time back about which movies/TV shows would be classified as "camp". It was mostly inconclusive. How can you classify something with a definition that's unclear? The same applies to "soap opera". The literal definition is a drama designed to sell soap advertisements, but that hasn't been relevant in six decades. On the more liberal interpretation of the term is any serialized, ongoing (melo)drama with an ensemble cast. Everything from SEX IN THE CITY to GAME OF THRONES fits that definition. And then there's what most people think of as a soap opera, i.e, the DALLAS/KNOTS/DYNASTY ilk, dramas that are perceived as being campy and frivolous and over-the-top even if that perception is at least half false.

So soap opera is like porn -- can't define it, but you know it when you see it.

In the last Emmy gala, producer Greg Berlanti said that the only way to know other closeted boys was if they watched "Dynasty" and "Dallas" (in this order) too... So gayness seems to be intrinsically associated with supersoaps nowadays...

:danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc: :danc::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning:
 

Willie Oleson

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Everything from SEX IN THE CITY to GAME OF THRONES fits that definition.
One thing that all classic soaps have in common is that there's no specific premise.
It's got a group of characters in a particular setting - (feuding) family, neighbours, a small town - and while it often starts with "something" to get the ball rolling, it doesn't become a recurring premise.

A lot of stuff happened in REVENGE, but it was always about that one particular story arc and therefore it doesn't feel like a soap opera by design. The story may as well have been a mini-series.
 

Toni

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I'd argue LA Law,and St. Elsewhere were soaps in disguise.

"St. Elsewhere" was almost included in the Honorable Mentions list... Anyway, if I remember well, family dynamics were not as present as in "E.R.", for instance... (ST is a very underrated show, by the way...)
 

DallasFanForever

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I could be off in this assessment but Hill Street Blues always felt more like a soap then just another cop show to me.
 

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Desperate Housewives was pegged as a prime time soap when it came out.. and was credited with a semi revival of the genre in 00s so I don't get why that show was on the list unless it's a look back in regret.

St Elsewhere started out very self contained.. but by the 2nd season, it became a soap hybrid. Some of the patient stories were multi episode stories.. but by the final season, it was a full on Medical soap opera.
 

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Toni

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I always thought that the Wilma-Fred dynamics had a little something in it that reminded me of JR-Swellin when they were at odds. Also, well, the Rubbles had a son that was adopted, like Bobby-Pam. And the Great Gazoo had its match in Adam from "Conundrum" (sort of).
 
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