One Life To Live Discussion Group
Message Responses
Subject: Tina
Response Posted by: allison13
Date Posted: Sat Jul 12 19:44:32 2008
Message:
Andrea Evans has a huge following as Tina. I am not among them.I've have always found her version beyond silly and that squeaky voice only makes it worse.She was barely tolerable when she was younger but now she and Mendorra are strictly ff material.I am not a fan of child-like women.
Subject: I don't agree that AE played Tina in the early years as 'child like', I really think she was much more cunning, scheming, devious, and would use her sexuality to acheive her ultimate ends.True, the character has become somewhat 'simple' with AE's return.. back to lack of history knowledge by current writers I believe. L.A.
Response Posted by: L.A.
Date Posted: Sun Jul 13 1:47:14 2008
Message:
eom
Subject: Again, I disagree that it is the writers, but the way they are being told to write the character. Most of these writers are capable of writing the character well. Sadly, it is as though they are making Tina into AE's character on Passions, which would be a BIG mistake!! Next thing we'll see is Sarah being recast w/Liza Huber (ex-Gwen/Passions). eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sun Jul 13 10:12:16 2008
Message:
eom
Subject: Who exactally 'tells' the writers what to write? Isn't that was everything went pear shaped when the writers strike happened? cause no one else coulfd fill the need properly. I think if you bring a character back someone should at least look up theire history before having them speak!! L.A.
Response Posted by: L.A.
Date Posted: Sun Jul 13 18:59:01 2008
Message:
eom
Subject: This has been going on for over 15 yrs--far longer than the writers' strike! For soaps, things really started going south (creatively) in the early 90's. What goes through the market research process & what they think will make Corp. happy is what gets the green light. Writers (& former HWs) have said, several times, that when they have submitted story ideas for consideration, what comes back seldom resembles the original concept. But the writers have to go by the approved storylines, which have nothing to do w/whether the writers like it or not. Market research has very narrow definitions of who soaps are appealing to. Corp. has taken the perspective (wrongly, imo) that the audience & demo they need to focus on is a dumbed down, 12-25 yr old demographic. Anyone over 25 is considered old & set in their ways, in terms of buying habits. They know that their advertisers want those tweens, teens & young adults who have billions of $$ of disposable incomes & who are setting their buying habits. But at the same time, they take the dumbed down vision of who these people are, assuming that they have the collective attention span of a gnat. They don't think that they care about soaps' history or want to see characters other than those around their own age group. This has led to Corp & Marketing to take the low road & ignore established (even recent) history of these characters. It is also an old wive's tale in marketing that older audiences are set in their ways w/buying habits & brand loyal at any cost. The reality is, more of those 30+ (particularly those 50+) are more willing than ever to try new products & change things up. By excluding the older generations from soaps, they've made them less & less appealing to a wide audience, including many in that target demographic the Suits are so wedded to. With marketing people making the story decisions we are looking at people who have no loyalty or affinity towards soaps as a genre or the audience as a whole. These aren't storytellers, they are ad people taking their cues from Suits who may have college degrees but they also aren't storytellers! They don't know, or care to know, the soap opera audience & it shows. Millions of fans a year keep falling by the wayside & that gap isn't being filled by that 12-25 demo either. I've said it before, soaps don't HAVE to be in this condition, but as long as storytellers aren't part of the creative side of soaps this downward spiral will only continue. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sun Jul 13 20:22:51 2008
Message:
eom
Subject: I disagree. Andrea is a great actress.
Response Posted by: kcc1977
Date Posted: Sun Jul 13 21:08:25 2008
Message:
Done
Subject: O.K. Rosebud, that all makes sorta sense, but when you say Soap fans are falling by the wayside, I mean where to? Changing the chanel to another Judge or infotainment show? Where do these loyal viewers go? out in the garden? People still watch, alot of people!! How can any buisness ignore all these fans? the one's out here on the Web is huge. All the 'fan fests' are always more than sucessful too!! L.A.
Response Posted by: L.A.
Date Posted: Tue Jul 15 1:30:10 2008
Message:
eom
