The Real Loss in Daytime: Trust and Faith in the Creative Teams

I haven't written much lately as, well, besides having a complicated and soap opera-esque personal life, I'm not inspired at all. I find all of these shows currently tedious and drab and although I still hold out hope, I'm not interested or engaged enough to even rant.  Yet, there did seem to be one issue that peaked my interest.

I know there's a lot of "hullabaloo" about this "sex" spoiler with Todd and Carly. I see some saying they are done with the character and never to return. They feel betrayed and angry. I see others, who actually may be fans of this non-couple, feeling cheated as the situation is fraught with pitfalls and anvils as this is not based on truth and love but deception.  I see others who feel it's disgusting seeing a convicted sex offender be overtly sexual. Lastly, I see some who don't believe it all and generally think they're being duped by TPTB.

I am in this last group. Yet, I'll be honest, I don't really care enough to even give it that much thought.

What's most interesting here is that this situation shows how Valentini as lost his way with his audience. He hasn't engaged them. He hasn't enticed them. He's nauseated most of them and made others indifferent.  These "spoilers" are put out on purpose and are supposed to build excitement. I don't see much excitement here, although I'm sure there's some, but I see a lot of comments claiming they don't trust this team to be true to anything.  

It's become apparent to many that there is no longer an understanding between the creative team and the audience. I've watched soaps all my life. I've made them a large part of my career. I've helped bring them to a "new audience" to some extent as I've forced thousands of students to watch them and did endless pimping for ones I thought were worthwhile. I always thought there was an understanding between TPTB and the audience that we were in this together. We were, to some extent, a team. We all had a stake in this.

You see, it was my understanding that they put on a show and we watched it. We gave them a lifetime of solid viewership and they gave us a modicum of respect. I didn't expect a lot, but some.  They worked hard to deal with a grueling schedule and trudge through difficult economic times and we paid them back with loyalty.  I can't even tell you how many times I yelled "I hate this show" to the screen during AMC, but, no doubt, I was back the next day.  And I cried like a  baby when it left me for good.  She was my girl and I loved her. I watched her until she didn't look like AMC anymore. But, if she remained and gave me one iota of familiarity, I would have been back in a flash. I'm loyal like that.

But that blind loyalty is no longer happening. The audience, I see, no longer trusts the creative team to be upfront with them. They see that they're being manipulated and used and they don't like it.  It's a sad day when we, as  an audience, hang our hopes for a decent story that is true to character and not offensive on the actors!!! It's not the actors' jobs to make the story work. It's the producer and the writer who are in charge of that. But these people, the ones who are really in control, have so lost the faith of the audience, that we now feel the only chance for truth is from the performers who are forced to muddle through insipid crap to show us a semblance of who the character really is.

This isn't just about story but about promotion, as well. I know Valentini encourages his actors to lie.  Hell, when TSJ opens his mouth, I know it's crap.  If he says "up", I know the answer is really "down".  The idea here is that spoilers are so misleading that we often no longer believe them at all. The reason is that they are there for tittilation and shock value.  It's to entice the audience to watch but not promote a story. It's about getting viewers to tune in but they then see that there's only a massive bait and switch.

Fool me once, Frank, you know the story here. But after the fifth or sixth time of this crap, I no longer care. I'm not titillated. I'm not engaged. I'm not angry. I'm bored and rolling my eyes, saying "Whatever".  The idea here is that I don't care if Todd sleeps with Carly. I don't believe it will happen because, well, you say it could. That makes me think the opposite.  I no longer trust you as I know I'm being hosed. And not in the good way.

It's the same way with Carlivati's writing. I know I slam him and call  him Nimnuts, as it's fun for me, but I do truly have a problem with his writing style. I am a trained critic in my offline life and did work for a major daily newspaper writing media reviews. I'm no slouch here, Ron, although I see why you wouldn't listen to me. But, maybe, just maybe, you should  this time. I'm being serious. No name calling or cracks. Just real criticism that's meant to be constructive.

The writing I see for most shows left is not about story or character or history but rather a "moment".  That "moment" can be promoted and then move on to another "moment".  The incessant need to have the patented "twist" is a cheap tactic to keep people watching.  I don't need to be tricked into watching. I watch because I like these people- well, OLTL people anyway- and I'm concerned and interested in their lives. I don't need to have "turns" to make it exciting and interesting. The characters and the story should stand on their own. They should keep me engaged.  I don't watch to watch to have the rug pulled out from underneath me. This is a soap opera, Ron, not Hitchcock.

The idea here is that you don't trust us and we don't trust you.  You don't trust the audience to stick with you as you write stories that are eloquent and insightful and interesting character studies. We don't trust you to write them for us. We don't trust that you aren't always trying to yank our chains and "stick the knife in", as I've seen. We don't trust  you to remain true to history. We feel that not only don't you like us, you don't like the shows. And I know you do love the show- well, OLTL anyway.

I see on Twitter that you say that if you write it, then it is true to history.  Are you kidding me?  I hope you're being snarky because I never really thought you were dumb. I'm sure I called you that but I didn't really mean it. I'm hoping you're saying this but not meaning it either.  You didn't create this history-  you inherited it. And it's not just for you. It's for all of us.

You see, this is the point. We're all invested in this here. It's not just "your show".  It's "our show", although I feel no allegiance to GH.  You've imported some of "my show", so now, it's as if we're a blended family and have to find some peace. But I digress. We don't trust you with our show.  We don't trust you with our viewership.  We don't, in crass terms, trust you with our shit.  You've lost that and that's sad.

I don't for one second believe that Valentini and Carlivati wouldn't throw my characters under the bus for a ratings point. I think they'd do it willingly.  Look what they're doing to GH characters.  I don't care about them but the assassination is awful. Sonny's a drip, Carly's a stooge, Jason was a mope, and Duke's a murderer.  That's some bad stuff. I don't mind it but it doesn't instill trust with your new audience, Guys.

Ripping apart reunions like Jolie as you did was not an act of good faith. Sticking Blair with Tomas when it was so widely panned, even off screen, was a dirty trick.  Even if you fix it, it was a bush league move. You could have had her leave Todd and have that be that.  So much that's happened actually makes the relationship between show and audience now antagonistic.  

That's what I don't think you get. It's about a relationship. You want us to stick with you and give you our time and be loyal. We'll do that. We've proven that. But now it's your turn.  You need to prove that YOU deserve it.  

We're not Carly. We're not morons who blindly trust strangers with bad pasts and rap sheets.  Frank, you and Ron have that with us.  The GH fans resent the way you've handled their show.  The OLTL fans resent the way you've handled ours.  You don't come to us with clean hands here. You have to earn our trust now.  At this moment, I think anyone who trusts you is as stupid as Carly.  And we all know how stupid that is..........

So, that's that. It's sad to me.  I still miss the days when I knew I would have to deal with turns in story I didn't like, but they'd be turns in plot, not character. I'd still recognize the person doing the thing I didn't like.  I didn't see a stranger inhabiting my friend's body. But when you move a character to such an extreme that they lose the essence of who they are, then you lose the audience, as well.

I've been told in comments here that you all are trying to save a genre and my criticism doesn't help. I wholeheartedly disagree. If you want to save a genre, then you better listen to criticism from all sources.  Especially one who doesn't have an economic stake in this.  You have to remember who this is about, Frank, and who we are. 

We're not interested in stunts or twists or slams that keep us on the edge of our seat. We're interested in truth. Characters being true to themselves. Stories being true to history. And, mostly, forces behind the scenes that are truthful with their audience.  That's where you lost your way, Frank.  People tuned out as they didn't want to be manipulated anymore. They wanted the show they loved.  Not a peep show or a bad spy film.

I miss that. I miss being able to know that even if I was unhappy with what was on my screen, it was what I had to deal with as that's the character. I had that with Blair on her last gig in PC.  I hated what was happening but I got it and it made sense for her history. The Tomas thing, no, but the idea that she'd run and hide from Todd made sense.

But it's rare.  Now, I don't think the character will even remember the move in ten minutes. It's all flash and silly plot point.  There's no motivation or understanding. It's all there for shock value and a good, juicy spoiler.  Even if it never happens.....

I miss Viki and Bo. They'd never screw me. But, with you all in place, I can't be sure. I don't trust you.  But, damnit, Frank, I want to.  Yet it's up to you. The ball's in your court.