Missing in Action: The Good Guys
Writers seem to have the mistaken impression that by having a few one liners and yuks, it will relieve the tension, darkness, and negativity soaps are wallowing in. Well that clearly isn't the case. I know I'm not the only one tired of soaps being filled with lies, deception, and bad guys winning. Soaps are now swamped with so many characters with a laundry list of crimes to their names you can't root for them. There's no balance to it. There are no longer those staple characters with such moral integrity that you can count on them to talk some sense into someone. Instead, those that have such morals instead give preachy, self-righteous sermons once and awhile in a writer's attempt to give the victim of those speeches some sympathy. There aren't even characters who in the past have been troublemakers who use their unique past to forge a new path in their lives. No, they either join the self-righteous club or they go right back to being troublemakers except this time the town doesn't punish them for it.
I've been complaining a lot about writers working overtime to get bad guys redeemed and the constant lies, deception, affairs, and a few more lies today's couples endure. But what I've realized is that writers long ago got the mistaken impression that viewers wanted to see nothing but nastiness, darkness, and deception. However, it's not hard to guess where they got that impression.
What do soap critics and fans talk about the most when it comes to soaps past and present? We talk about a liar getting caught, we talk about an entertaining troublemaker, we talk about a villain who held an entire town hostage, etc. How many times have people clamored for As the World's James Stenbeck to return yet again? How many times have Days' fans longed to see Stefano return? How many Young and the Restless fans love to see Phyllis go from stunt to stunt? And how many times do fans temper those cries for those fun dastardly characters with cries for a "goody-goody"? And that is just when it comes to the fans. What about critics? Aren't you more likely to see a columnist raving about a plot of deception and a delicious troublemaker like All My Children's David Hayward than one about a calm and honest heart to heart conversation between a father and son like ATWT's Hal and Will? Not that there is anything wrong with that, we need something to shake the town up, something that keeps us on the edge of our seats and Days' Alice having donuts and a heart to heart with son Mickey won't do that. But what many writers seem to miss is that we need both.
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