Current Daytime Soaps in Order, by Quality
Looking for a new soap to watch? Find out which are the
best (and worst). Here are the daytime soaps, listed in
order of quality, in my opinion.
#9 Passions--This show uses every possible annoying soap
convention. The characters act stupidly, history is
changed without any sense of logic or reason, the characters
talk out loud to themselves endlessly and have tons of
unnecessary flashbacks, they constantly rehash (tell us what has
already happened and who is related to whom), and stories are
dragged out until you are ready to scream. The show has
some humor, but it used to have more when they focused more on
the supernatural. It has never really recovered since
Timmy died. They have many great actors on the show, but
the directors encourage them to chew the scenery and over-act as
much as possible. They also have many bland, boring people
who were probably models before they became actors and have very
little talent. The writers act like the viewers are 12
years old, or stupid. Except for those people who watch
just because they love a particular actor or couple, the only
people who still watch this show are probably idiots and people
who really like a good laugh (but not the intentional kind).
The show does do integrate minority characters well, since one
of its core families is black and one is Latino.
#8 Days of Our Lives - This show is written by James E.
Reilly, the same guy who created and writes Passions. I have no
idea why NBC likes him so much. He wrote this big serial
killer story where he killed off tons of favorite characters,
most of whom were over 40. That was bad enough, but then
he inexplicably (and most unbelievably) brought them all back to
life on an island that is an exact replica of Salem. Then,
to make things even worse, they either stand around and talk
endlessly, or they keep falling off cliffs. The show has
totally lost its grasp on reality. To be fair, the killing
off of the actors was probably an idea from the producers, in
order to save some money. They could save all the money
from the six months the actors were gone, and then renegotiate
their contracts from a position of strength when they wanted
them back. Want to cut your actors' salaries? Make them
think they're fired for six months! That will make them come
crawling back. Shame on you, Days! And by the way,
bring in some more non-white characters.
#7 One Life to Live -- This show is a shell of its
former self. It has not been very good since about 1998
when the producers and writers changed. They fired a bunch
of good actors and brought in some new people we hated, among
many other things. The show was very boring for the next
three years. Then they brought in a new EP and brought
back a writer who had done good work in the 90's, and at first
the show was very exciting and interesting again, and characters
we hated were shown the door (and some we didn't hate).
That didn't last for long because the show took a very dark
turn. We suddenly had psychos like Mitch Lawrence brought
in and they just stayed far too long. They victimized
heroines Jessica and Natalie to the point where we wonder about
the characters' brains. They ruined their Latino family,
the Vegas, by making Antonio into a seething mess and
introducing another family, the Santis (perhaps trying to bring
mobsters in the way they did on GH). The Santis were
loathsome, unlikable characters played by bad actors. Even
worse, the show has gotten rid of people whose talent they
wasted (Linda Dano for instance), or ignored people who are very
popular and likable (like Roxy, Viki, and Lindsay). They
focused on boring teens like River and Adriana, and the college
kids at the "Love House". I hear that the show has a new
writer, so I hope they can fix this mess! Most fans
fast-forward through most of the show, which is not good.
#6 Guiding Light -- The show has been improving under
its new writers and EP, but it's still a bit boring and has made
some questionable choices in how it pairs some of its lovers.
They should integrate the older people in the show more,
especially Beth, Blake, and Holly. They don't seem to have
many non-white people. There are many good and interesting
actors on the show that do a great job. The show was so
bad up until now, I'm not sure they can get enough viewers to
tune in who will be pleased, before it gets canceled. I would
hate to see it go, though.
#5 General Hospital -- This has always been my favorite soap,
so it saddens me to see how many problems it has and how far
down it is on this list. You've probably heard it all
before, but here goes: the show has too much violence and
doesn't focus enough on the hospital. They have made some
strides lately in showing the Quartermaines and Cassadines more,
and focusing less on the mob, and that is fantastic. They
need to do more of that. They need to concentrate
more on the details of the writing and the show's history so
that characters don't act stupid or sacrifice what made them
likable in the first place. I am enjoying the storyline
about Carly's father immensely. Some fans will probably
never be happy as long as Sonny and the other mob people are on
the show and being shown as good guys, but that's business
because Maurice Benard and some of the others are SO popular
that GH would be foolish to dump them. The show is still
exciting and that is also a good thing. We just don't want
the excitement to be all about shootings, stabbings,
hit-and-runs, etc. And the show needs to have more
non-white characters.
The shows below this are all ones I consider to be top-notch,
very good soaps that anyone should watch!
#4 All My Children -- A lot of viewers may not agree
with me on this choice. I am really enjoying the show this
past year. It is Must See TV for me. Any fan should
remember back to how bad the show was two years ago and then
tell me it's not better now. It has really come a long
way. It was a really tedious mess that had a bunch of
useless, boring characters and didn't focus on fan favorites,
including the show's star, Erica. Now most of the veterans
are used. The newer characters are tied to the vets so
they are not by themselves so much and we care about them more.
I have really enjoyed the baby switch storyline because it's
been fascinating and has involved so many of the show's
characters. I love how they have given such great story to
Erica, Bianca, and Kendall, as well as many others. I am
enjoying the relationship between Ryan and Greenlee. There
is room for improvement, sure. They need to use even more
of the vets (they should not have let Marcy Walker go!).
Sometimes the show is too "talky" and I fast-forward through
these long-winded scenes. They have made Kendall act too
crazy. They need to give Bianca back her love (and sex)
life, whether she's paired with Maggie or someone else.
They need to figure out what they want to do with the black
characters on the show, and some other people like Simone and
Brooke. But basically, the show is really good.
#3 As The World Turns -- This show is very interesting to
watch. There is always something going on, the dialogue is
crisp and fun, and the actors give great performances. The
only bad actor on the show has really improved a lot. The
show occasionally introduces a clunker story, like this recent
one about the search for the keys, but otherwise it does a great
job. They use all of the characters, from every
generation. I may not always agree with how they treat
some of the actors but there is no question that generally, the
decisions the producers and writers make are good ones.
The only reason this show is not on the top of the list is
because I do not watch it every day and I have only watched it
for the past few years (so I can't tell you about whether it's
true to its history). I have heard a lot of complaints
from regular viewers who don't like some of the changes in the
show. So I can't tell you whether the griping is valid or
just the usual fan complaints. All I know is, compared to
the the other 5 shows I've talked about above, ATWT is doing
great and the fans should be happy with that. It's been my
experience that if you have only watched a show briefly, you are
more likely to like it then if you are a long-time viewer
because you remember older storylines that may contradict
current ones, or were better than current ones, or were even
duplicates of current ones. Also, the show did have some
great black characters but got rid of half of them, so that's
not a good sign.
#2 Bold and The Beautiful -- I must say that #3 and #4 are
probably actually tied. Sometimes the writers at B&B do
some very creepy things, like pair up people who used to be
brother and sister, or put a 20-something woman with a
17-year-old people. Sometimes they introduce new
characters too fast, like the Marones, while ignoring their core
family, the Forresters. However, they have been really
good about recognizing their mistakes and switching gears very
fast to fix them. Day to day, the show is interesting to
watch and that's what counts. The dialogue is good and the
characters solid. It is not always the most exciting show,
but sometimes it can be. Since it's a half hour, it's easy
to watch. They do pack a lot into that half hour, which
they have to because they have a large cast. They use
characters of all ages, which is nice and how it should be on
soaps. Some long-time viewers may gripe about how often
they have Ridge and Brooke marry, but they are also popular with
many fans. For a show that exists in Los Angeles, it's
pretty lily-white. They did a good thing by introducing
the Ramirez family, but they need to be more than just tokens.
My only other complaint about the show is that they often cast
these wonderful actors and then don't seem to know what to do
with them, so they end up writing them out (like Brian Gaskill).
#1 The Young and The Restless -- There is a reason this
show has been number one in the ratings for so long!! It
has well-developed, three-dimensional characters that don't
suddenly change how they act for no good reason. They
rarely recast the actors; heck, they rarely even lose actors,
compared to other soaps, because they treat them so well.
They integrate black and white characters, as well as characters
of all ages, better than any other show. They actually
have interesting black people that are neither saints nor drug
dealers, which is something you rarely see on TV. They
have long-term, well-paced stories that they clearly think out
ahead of time and follow through to an exciting conclusion.
Interesting and unexpected things happen that make you go, "Oh,
wow!" The dialogue is snappy and fun. They use the
show's history well and often bring back characters from 10 or
more years ago and make them interesting and vital again. The
show has always been a bit slower-paced than other soaps, but I
think they have to do that in order to show character
development and build the stories. I have watched the show
off and on since 1986, and right now it's the best it's ever
been.
Page updated 12/27/11
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