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Yes, but such OTT behavior is perfectly acceptable in a film, which by design has a beginning, middle and end. The characters will either get away with their behavior or be punished--something "final" that is resolved by the end of the film. Even a sitcom has the luxury of a finite resolution of a storyline by the end of the episode. A soap opera (when properly executed) has to keep the story going on and on, and a character's actions impact on the future episodes as long as the show continues. That's why TP ought to pace himself (and Veronica) a bit more. Soaps are a very different medium for storytelling. You can tell he's enjoying himself immensely with her antics, and of course many viewers love to see the seesaw between melodrama and camp. Sometimes, though, you have to resist the urge to give the viewers everything they want all at once, because once you give it all away, they move onto something else. Agnes Nixon, famous soap creator and writer, was asked why her soaps remained so popular. She famously said "Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, and make 'em wait."
That's a good point, Daniel. You know, it's funny, but the Haves and the Have Nots is actually the first soap opera I have ever watched in my 66 years (except for one episode of Dallas). So it has kind of been a learning experience for me. My Mom never watched them either; she thought watching TV during the day was something you never did unless you were on your deathbed.
I watched this show, semi-faithfully to on-and off, through last season's cliffhanger.
I've not really liked much about it since it started, but hung in there as long as I could.
By the time Jim set up the hits and Veronica had set up Maggie, I just didn't care.
With David being a chump, Veronica losing her damned mind, Candace beating a government worker, Jeffery getting molested by a cop, Kathyrn's all talk and not action BS, Benny being an idiot, Hannah's "Oh Lordies" -- not to mention the bad acting, horrible dialog, and plot devices that go nowhere or just make NO sense….I was just done.
I just could even watch it, for the train wreck effect. I grew to hate the show more than I could enjoy it. When that happens it's time to let it go.
Is it still on Tuesday nights? Didn't seem that OWN really promoted the new season. Then again, I don't have OWN at home, so I can only watch the show at work, and half the time our satellite it out. Besides, Bravo's Housewives of NYC came back, and I'd much rather watch that.
I was a soap opera junkie from waaay back, daytime and night time. I once watch SEVEN daytime soaps, sometimes the times overlapped, I still juggled following them, back and forth during commercials. BUT THEN, something just clicked and I realized these plots are stupid, I'm more interested in this nonsense than I am about some things that are real. I finally just caught on that the plots are STUPID. And two of my soaps at about the same time went off the deep end, and my schedule changed. That was enough to break their hold on me. I became like a reformed smoker. I don't watch and continuing plot line drama or scripted shows.
On "One Live to Live," the character of Vicky went to heaven , and then the try next season went to some hidden underground world….AND on "All my Children," Erica was burned and started wearing a Phantom of the Opera type mask on her face, but lo-and-behold just weeks later plastic surgery made her good as new. I was through. And since then, I can't get into STUPID plot shows. And since THAHN is paced more like a DAYtime soap, than a NIGHTtime one. I just can't. PLUS Typer Perry's minstrel type characters don't appeal to me. So I did have a bias against his quality going in.
I haven't watch the new season. And don't think I'll be coming back. I posted on a thread about how STUPID the show was.
I think it lost me in the first or second season, when Candace caused a scene at a hospital and then WALKED IN ON AN OPERATING ROOM, with a surgery in progress. That was it for me. The show had jumped the shark! Oh yeah and there was that bit about Jim bring the Malone's (when I saw old Mama Malone try to talk tough I just about peed my pants), and Candace and war kidnapping Jim, that was unbelievable as well. Like I said the show is just not worth watching, for me.
Anyone get the feeling last night's episode was written in reaction to this thread?
So Wyatt isn't quite as dead as they wanted people to believe. Yay, I say. I still am not fond of how they figured it out. Wyatt was said to have laid there for 36 hours. I'm no CSI person but I can't imagine them allowing a 'corpse' to just lay there while they "investigate the crime scene". Turns out he was just resting, I guess. It was notable that his 'floppy' arms and head when David flipped him over were not the movements of a person who's been dead for 36 hours, but the fact that he was still warm (according to David) speaks volumes about the investigation/observation skills of the Savannah PD.
My complaint that Veronica has gotten too over-the-top was totally undercut by the comic undertones of the aftermath of her stabbing. Yay, I said again. I noted right away the lack of actual bleeding and her relative calm as she sat there with the hilt of a knife sticking out of her chest (not shoulder as I originally thought, but certainly not her heart where Jeffrey thought it was). The kicker (the reason why she escaped unscathed) is just...well, I laugh as much as Hannah did. Yes, Hannah's reaction was a surprisingly human one (yay to her!) given how she feels about Veronica. But having Veronica being the one being laughed at rather than the one doing the laughing goes a long way toward making her a lot less scary/menacing.
Now if Justin and Jeffrey dig up Candace's backyard and find Quincy's still alive too, then I may have to re-evaluate my viewing habits.
Naw, it's always been set in Savannah. They have a spotty record when it comes to doing the right establishing shots and picking authentic-looking areas of the Atlanta suburbs (where it's actually filmed) to sub for Savannah, but when the show started they seemed to pay more attention to such details. Now...well, it could be set virtually anywhere, but some things look genuinely 'Savannah'. One nice touch I noticed in last night's episode was the scene with Erica and David in the parking garage. The view behind them was looking westward toward the Talmadge Bridge, and unless they went to a lot of excess trouble to have a real Savannah backdrop/rear projection for such a minor scene, they were filming in the actual Whittaker Street Garage in Savannah.
I had another suspicion confirmed last night when nosy-neighbor Pearl once again mentioned her son was a cop, and that her son-in-law is supposedly the Chief of Police. I suspected Officer Justin was her son, even if the ages are something of a stretch. Well, last night she said her son was named Justin Lewis, and we all know such coincidences are the life-blood of soapland. With some significant de-aging (which I'm sure the 80-ish Maree Cheatham will not mind), Pearl could have a thirty-ish son. Justin's anxiety about sneaking around with Jeffrey (who sort-of-lives at Candace's) would explain why he has visited Candace's house twice now and hasn't mentioned his mom lives across the street.
I can't wait to see what they have set up for the half-season cliffhanger next week. Luckily, Hannah's life on the lam was cut short (cue Katheryn's laughter), and who knows? Wyatt might finally get a line or two after an entire season of just lying around looking hot (dead, comatose, and otherwise). I saw pictures online of a very pregnant Tika Sumpter, so she will likely be on maternity leave for a while. That would have to factor into plots soon enough; I hope they won't make her pregnant by War, since he raped her and has plans to kill her. I'd just as soon Candace 'disappear' for a while and re-appear with her 'money problems' sorted.
I can't believe this entire half-season (nine episodes so far) has depicted the events of roughly sixty HOURS (two and a half days) of these characters' lives.
Haven't watched all season. And not going back. I was done before the last season's cliffhanger. Just couldn't do it anymore.
It just angered me, and who needs that. A person should enjoy watching a show, not hate it. It should be a pleasure, not a frustration. This show wasn't worth an hour of my life. I don't go places I don't enjoy or eat food I don't enjoy. And I'm certainly not -- in my own home -- going to watch a TV show that just pisses me off. NO one gets to do that in MY house.
The plots you described, Daniel, (Hannah on the run/Jeff and justin) don't even ring a bell.
Glad you're still enjoying it though.
I've watched soaps on and off for over thirty years, so seeing a show like this is a curiosity to me. I tend to grade this show on a curve for a variety of reasons, and I can see why others would not do that. Investing your time in a show that can easily be accused of being half-baked isn't something a lot of people will do when there are so many really good options out there for quality TV shows. I guess part of the fun I get out of watching it is picking it apart, identifying its issues and trying to come up with ways the problems could be solved in order to create a better (more typical) nighttime soap.
There have been nighttime soaps in the past who did this much better (Knots Landing, for one) that rarely made a mis-step in fourteen years of production. I'm not entirely sure Tyler Perry is trying to replicate that kind of show (he loves "scandalous twists") but when you choose shock and awe over strong characterizations, you end up with 1990s Melrose Place, where they burned through plot too quickly and viewers got tired of the "what can we top that with?" piling-on that got ridiculous.
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