The Soaps During Lockdown
 

I don't know if it's just me but are you guys starting to care less about the soaps during the lockdown? I am a massive Eastenders fan but for the first time I can honestly say that I am not to bothered if I watch it or not. I think it might have something to do with the cut from four episodes to two. It is much harder to keep up with it and what with the daily drama that is playing out on our tv sets, it's hard to take the fictional dramas of Albert Square that seriously. Are you guys finding it harder to care about the soap plotlines during the pandemic?

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

From my POV, its impossible for me to care less about them than I ever have. :)

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

It will be interesting if for once they actually mention a huge worldwide pandemic when they finally return.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

I'm with Paul.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Words cannot describe how I feel about it this:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...sodes-11982688

How sad and pathetic that the only thing they can find to replace coronation street when they have run out of new episodes is old episodes. When we have discussed soaps and terrestrial tv in the past I have questioned the lack of quality US programming and how much we are missing out on. I can rattle off tonnes of old series they could put on in place of Coronation Street. Why not do X-Files from the start or Heroes or Lost? If it is a questions of the demographic put Grey's Anatomy on, there are 16 full seasons so even if you put an episode on a day like Coronation Street you still got enough to keep you going several months until they can resume filming. It does my head in and it is like they have got tunnel vision for shit. If anything was going to give them a kick up the ass and make them think outside the box and broaden their horizons this would be but all they are doing is stooping to a new low.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Not a lover of modern soaps personally but sometimes one has to grin and bear it.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Or watch one of the many other options on TV. That's one of the benefits these days. Not so long ago it was just a choice of 3 channels.

Or people might rediscover life beyond TV and do something more productive. Gardening, DIY, knitting, homebrew, that sort of thing ;) Better than wasting an incredible amount of time on all the latest soap vitriol.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

There are many options even being in the same room with using the laptop or another device.

---------- Post added at 10:36 ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 ----------

l would have thought the knitting was right up your street Mr K but alas the the possibility of homebrew might keep you more occupied.;)

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

While I cannot work out how anyone ever has any interest in soaps, I dont see the issue here, replacing like for like seems right to me.

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because they are missing an opportunity to improve and do better. Strive for excellence!

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I'm afraid that's not an opinion shared by all. ;)
While I cannot stand soaps, others seem to love them.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Well they are wrong. We know best :D

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

I don't see what the problem is either. Soap lovers will expect something similar, even if it means going backwards. I would take that when Eastenders runs out of episodes

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

have you ever watched Grey's Anatomy?

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

You are correct saying that some love the soap

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

This is interesting, because there was a time, not so long ago, when the soaps were only on once a week. Then they went up to a couple of times a week and now it seems to be wall-to-wall. All they're actually doing is reverting back to a means of telling the story that was obviously successful, because it was that way for years and the soaps maintained their popularity and their ratings throughout that time.

Has viewer attention span really changed so much that if you're not getting it via an IV drip you lose interest in it?

Also, I couldn't give fewer smegs about any soap opera.

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My only reaction if I accidentally tune into a soap is to ask "Who the hell is that?

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The Archers is digging into their archives - quite a lot of material there.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Isnt that a Radio show ?

Surely they could easily continue making new episodes of that :confused:

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

It's extremely difficult to capture dialogue consistently when people aren't being recorded in the same space. You don't notice it quite as much on TV but it's often quite obvious on radio. If it was as simple as sending kit out to the actors' homes I'm sure they'd have done it, as they have with several live radio presenters. It doesn't matter that Ken Bruce's audio characteristics are a bit different when he broadcasts from home, but the sound editors on the Archers go to such great lengths to create the illusion of characters standing together open fields, kitchens and wherever else, I can see why they might not be keen to start with dialogue recordings that would spoil the illusion from the outset.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Does anything ever happen in the Archers? Isn't lockdown ideal for them anyway.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p01pgzx0

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

It moves slowly, that’s for sure. I used to drive a fair bit for work, and if I was in the car after lunch maybe once every couple of weeks I could always pick up what was going on. I quite enjoyed it. Soaps don’t always have to be murder and betrayal.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

And they never used to be...

I remember, before Eastenders, there was Emmerdale Farm, Brookie and Corrie - mildly humorous, slow moving entertainment - then, over a period of time, murders, train crashes, plane crashes, people being buried under patios...

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

The older Emmerdale Farm episodes going back to the late 70's and 80's were more my type of episodes before they started to introduce more dramatic storylines and also shortened the soaps name as well to Emmerdale and then from there its became too far fetched for my liking.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Problem with showing early Eastenders episides is people might realise how good that show used to be and quite how much it has declined.

The name shortening conincided with viewers diminishing attention spans I'm affraid, they might havr switched over if the title was to long :spin:

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Mollie Sugden ruled the roost then down on the farm. Ena Sharples still ruled in the Rovers Return.

Those were the days!

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Exactly and who can forget such characters as Hilda and Stan Ogden , Betty Turpin , Seth Armstrong and Amos Brearley.:)

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They were great characters, I whish they bring those type of Characters back, there too much violence at the moment .

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The trouble is the programme makers believe that violent storylines and other far fetched storylines bring in more TV viewers Ken.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

That to soo very true

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They are doing this because they don't want to risk losing viewers.. Coronation Street's viewing figures are down on what they were at their peak, but they are still considerably higher than those achieved by any imported series (and certainly higher than Lost, Heroes or the X files, all of which struggled to break the million viewer barrier, even on Sky). They know that a high percentage of the viewers that like modern episodes of Corrie will happily watch old episodes..


I like Lost, Heroes and the X files (early seasons at least - I think all three lost their way), but they aren't mainstream TV.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

IIRC Lost was pulling in well over 3 million on Channel 4, and when it went to Sky it hovered around the million mark, which is exactly where most shows of that type sit in Sky’s ratings. I seem to recall at the time thinking that all the billboard publicity they did when they poached Lost for season 3 suggested they really thought they had a good chance of significantly increasing their subscriber base off the back of it, but the data suggested it had little or no effect.

That aside, you make a good point; those broadcast slots are ITV’s most lucrative. Advertisers pay top rates to get into the commercial break in Coronation Street entirely because of the show’s ratings and audience share. If ITV can’t broadcast new episodes of Coronation Street then it has to replace it with something that is guaranteed to be as popular. If they package it correctly then classic episodes ought to do it.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

The wife and I used to watch soaps every night they were on, however since the episode reduction, we've hardly watched any of them since.

I don't thinks it's because there are less to watch but that we have been finding other things to do.

Re: The Soaps During Lockdown
 

Do you remember Life with the Lyons and Archie Andrews but many followed them

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Life with the Lyons is a little before my time Ken as l know l am getting on a bit and increasingly having more senior moments but really...:D

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There's also things like who has the rights to the shows in the UK. I'm sure Sky has the rights to Grey's Anatomy and Lost. It's not just a matter of putting a show on because they ran out of episodes of something.