Storyline Roulette
else on that show is working, nothing. Opinions range on the Anita and Bobby recasts, but I've heard no one actually remark on the story. People are still having troubling warming up Reggie and that means when he's not around his adoptive family (and even with his family), the investment is low. And well, I think people overdosed on anything involving Maria and Edmund over a year ago and anytime Ryan isn't just being a shoulder to cry on for Bianca, most wish he wouldn't eat up airtime.
Then there are soaps where plenty of stories are going on with little filler, but it is so schizophrenically delivered from day to day that the impact is lost. The best example of this would be Passions, which has never made much of an attempt to have the canvas gel on a regular basis anyway. Now how entertaining you find each story to be has always been a matter of opinion and you may adore every single wacky and nutty thing currently going on. The real problem is the severe difference between these stories. The unpredictability of where each ride is going to take you, what the daily theme will be, can immediately put a viewer on guard ... well, this viewer anyway. One Life to Live is not as schizophrenic as Passions, but the stop and start rhythm of each story can be just as disconcerting. In the middle of a pretty crucial story for Blair and Todd, this story for Starr just took off. And although lord knows I wanted the McBain/Haver story to end quickly, didn't it get dropped just a little too quickly? Even if all these stories ended up being home runs, the way they are thrust upon the viewers randomly without proper day to day buildup prevents the fans from really getting involved. I really do believe that if every story on every soap was written with amazing skill, but was presented with this lack of focus, it still wouldn't gel with the audience.
Meanwhile, soaps with repetitive stories while obviously not fractured, can be equally unpredictable and cause a dreadful anticipation. If you are burned out on the mob stories on Guiding Light or General Hospital then you definitely have anxiety as to what will be the focus that day. With Days, more and more people grow so tired of this serial killer story that they literally miss
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