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My shows were As The World Turns and Guiding Light.
I first got into ATWT at the age of 8-ish, I think when I was home from school with an illness for 2 weeks. I watched with my Mom. This was around the time that Holden & Lilly were getting together for the first time and when James Steinbeck had just made his first (?) return.
Over the next couple of years I could only keep up with it during the summer, because we did not have a VCR. Finally in about 1989 we got one, coinciding with my mom getting a day job, so we'd tape ATWT & Guiding Light and watch them every night. By then my Grandma was living with us.
I think I watched both, pretty religiously, through my teenage years and then finally fell out of them when I began working and had less time.
I think one of the things that took me out of it is probably my answer to the OP question. In October 2001 my Grandma passed away. One of the things that I loved about the soaps was the history. I loved knowing that my Grandma and Mom had watched the stories unfold and the characters develop over decades. For all of the "cheese" and occasional inconsistencies, it was almost like peeking in on real lives that had been going on since before I was born.
When Grandma passed away it was almost too sad to watch those lives continue on, at least for a while.
My Mom eventually got back into them. I think it was opposite for her. It was comforting to go back to the Hughes', the Lewis', the Walsh's & Snyder's and it felt very comforting for her.
Over the next several years I'd catch different episodes and my Mom would update me from time to time.
Eventually my wife wound up getting caught up in ATWT, but that was towards the end.
We all watched the final episodes of both shows. My Mom, my wife and I. It was sad to see the shows go, but it was kinda cool that the experience of watching them had remained a family tradition for so long.
My grandmom always hated it if Another World was preempted by the World Series since did not like sports of any kind. She thought it was wrong for AW to be preempted by the World Series then. Wasn't AW on the same channel that had the World Series?
In the 1980s and 1990s I know all NBC soaps had pre-emptions due to Wimbledon tennis, but the World Series games are typically played in prime time, no matter which network has it. All about the $$$, after all.
My local NBC affiliate also aired the Jerry Lewis/MDA Labor Day telethon every year, so AW would not air on Labor Day. It kind of hurt more because this was not a case of all NBC affiliates airing something else (like tennis). All NBC affiliates were airing their soaps except the handful of stations that were airing the telethon, so we simply missed seeing that day's episode.
I watched all three of those, but in different ways. DS I caught in syndicated reruns, since the show had been cancelled when I was a toddler. I've watched those episodes maybe four or five times each, and never get tired of it.
GL was my "first soap addiction" in real time. I started watching about 1979, just as it really hit its peak in the early to mid-1980s. Though I drifted on to other favorites, I still tried to keep track of what was going on in 'Springfield' right up to the end.
I saw bits and pieces of EON as a child, since my mom watched the show, but she stopped watching it when it switched from CBS to ABC. I picked it up shortly before it was cancelled, but then had the unique opportunity to re-watch a large chunk of the final five years via late-night reruns on the USA Network. This was when the very idea of rerunning daytime soaps was unheard-of (1988-1989-ish). The format of Edge would be ideal for a reboot/re-imagined version, since the whole show was about solving complex mysteries and crimes.
Speaking to the (four year-old) topic, I think a lot of people want consistency in their lives as things seem to become more and more unpredictable and uncertain. Soaps, with their slow-moving format and long-time characters, can be relied on to always have certain elements, predictable behavior, and yes, "friends" you can visit with. Julia will always have that crush on Barnabas, while the Spauldings and Bauers will always be at odds over their latest romantic entanglements. Nancy Karr will always get the big story that will help her husband Mike convict the town's latest criminal. Even if you drop the show for a year or more, you can pick it up and see at least a few characters you remember, and they can help you get caught up. It's a unique medium, since some of the soaps run through several generations. GL, for instance was on (either on the radio or TV, and both for a period of time) for over 70 years. Like many old things, they get handed down through the generations, which allows family members to bond over them. I think it's the characters who are more remembered individually rather than the shows as a whole, since soaps allow actors to form much more well-rounded, "real" characters due to the frequency with which they appear. This is also why you heard instances of people who mistake the actors for their characters when meeting them in public. The actors are often willing to remain in their roles for twenty, thirty years or even more since the soaps provide steady work in a very unsteady industry.
My grandmom started watching soaps in 1960. The first one she watched was Young Doctor Malone. It was the soap she had listened to on the radio, until CBS canceled it in 1960. But it was on NBC TV till 63. The other one was Our Five Daughters and it had as the youngest one, the one who was a high school student worried about exams, grades and boys. The actress who played her? Jacqueline Courtney.
I was always loyal, GH fan, since the 60`s. When covid stoped the show, and then came back, I just can`t get back into it anymore. I realize now, what a waste of time, it really was.
In the 1980s and 1990s I know all NBC soaps had pre-emptions due to Wimbledon tennis, but the World Series games are typically played in prime time, no matter which network has it.
In the 60s, the World Series was still played in the afternoons. The boys in my class would bring transistor radios to school, and sneak a listen once the game started. As soon as the bell rang, everyone's radio came on and we listened to the game as we walked home from school. So it's entirely likely that the soaps that aired later in the afternoon were preempted for the World Series, especially because before 1969 the only post-season games were the World Series games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcandme
I was always loyal, GH fan, since the 60`s. When covid stoped the show, and then came back, I just can`t get back into it anymore. I realize now, what a waste of time, it really was.
Actually, I'm finding GH more interesting now - probably even moreso once I figure out who all these new characters are that I'm not completely familiar with. I started watching again when Michael E. Knight joined the cast as Martin (LOL), and got re-hooked.
In the 60s, the World Series was still played in the afternoons. The boys in my class would bring transistor radios to school, and sneak a listen once the game started. As soon as the bell rang, everyone's radio came on and we listened to the game as we walked home from school. So it's entirely likely that the soaps that aired later in the afternoon were preempted for the World Series, especially because before 1969 the only post-season games were the World Series games.
Actually, I'm finding GH more interesting now - probably even moreso once I figure out who all these new characters are that I'm not completely familiar with. I started watching again when Michael E. Knight joined the cast as Martin (LOL), and got re-hooked.
I remember watching Another World before many playoff games in the 80s on NBC. One of those times was the Mets-Astros game in 1986(expect it was on ABC). I switched to ABC on the PGP logo.
In the 1980s and 1990s I know all NBC soaps had pre-emptions due to Wimbledon tennis, but the World Series games are typically played in prime time, no matter which network has it. All about the $$$, after all.
My local NBC affiliate also aired the Jerry Lewis/MDA Labor Day telethon every year, so AW would not air on Labor Day. It kind of hurt more because this was not a case of all NBC affiliates airing something else (like tennis). All NBC affiliates were airing their soaps except the handful of stations that were airing the telethon, so we simply missed seeing that day's episode.
That telethon was on the ABC affiliate in Asheville, meaning i got to watch all the NBC soaps that day. That was one of the first times i watched Santa Barbara. I think it was before Mary died when the "C" on the Capwell sign fell off.
In the 60s, the World Series was still played in the afternoons. The boys in my class would bring transistor radios to school, and sneak a listen once the game started. As soon as the bell rang, everyone's radio came on and we listened to the game as we walked home from school. So it's entirely likely that the soaps that aired later in the afternoon were preempted for the World Series, especially because before 1969 the only post-season games were the World Series games.
Actually, I'm finding GH more interesting now - probably even moreso once I figure out who all these new characters are that I'm not completely familiar with. I started watching again when Michael E. Knight joined the cast as Martin (LOL), and got re-hooked.
My grandad would use his vacation time to watch World Series, because it was still played in the afternoons. He always was fond of saying, that he was getting his revenge on his wife because it preempted The Doctors and Another World!
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