Top 5 Most Annoying Soap Opera Quirks

Soap operas are so highly addictive. The constant cliffhangers, beautiful actors/actresses, and ever-changing storylines keep people glued to their seats. But you may notice that no matter the channel, whether the show is "All My Children" or "Guiding Light", many of the same quirky details apply. Over the years, many things have changed about soap operas, including music, style and placement of camera angles. As an avid viewer of "Young and the Restless" for many years, I noticed that the Abbott Family very often sat down to breakfast, but rarely ate. This was one of the details that irked me the most. Others must have noticed this as well, because after a period of time, fans finally got to watch Ashley Abbott chew a bran muffin. In order for soap operas to yield the desired effect amongst viewers, there are certain things that actors, set designers, and writers are required to do. These are the soap opera quirks that people accept while watching them. But they're not very realistic...

#1- Talk to the "Back"

Have you noticed that when two characters are about to dive into some extremely juicy dialogue, they at first begin speaking face to face? But as the scene progresses, one of the parties inevitably ends up turning his/her back to the other party (about 180 degrees)? There are very few people who actually communicate this way in real life. But in soap operas, this tactic is extremely effective. To avoid shooting scenes in identical ways (which would certainly bore the viewer), other tactics must be used to convey the desired emotion for the scene. For instance, if one character is telling a lie to the other, the "liar" may face the camera using facial expressions, in order to get across to audiences that she/he is worried about being caught in the lie. This blocking technique helps viewers to get a sense of what both characters are feeling, while creating the sense that we know something that the other actors don't.

#2- The Close-Up Silent Stare

Right after a serious revelation (Gasp! Victor's not really dead?!?), you may notice that the camera slowly pans into the face of one of the actors. At this point, the music is queued, and there are a few seconds of silence before the screen fades out, and a Luvs diaper commercial pops onto the air. Why the stoic stare? Directors are attempting to do a few things with this tactic. First and foremost, they are prolonging the suspense by cutting the dialogue and going to straight to commercial. Secondly, they are buying themselves time until the next episode. And last but not least, they are trying to dramatize the situation by showing emotion without words. This is perhaps one of the most popular soap opera quirks of them all. I learned eventually that this particular technique is called a "tag", and is used primarily for the purposes aforementioned.

#3- "Idiosyncracies"

If you're extremely observant, there are a few things that you'll notice in watching the soaps (and other television programs for that matter) that may strike you as odd. For example, for many years, I noticed that whenever an actor had a drink in his/her hand, there was never any condensation on the outside of the glass. Certainly, I am aware that there are glasses which indeed reduce the amount of condensation which forms. But this is just one of life's little inconsistencies that can be annoying. Another peculiarity I've noticed, are the sizes of the dining tables on soap operas. Pay close attention, and you'll realize that when couples are dining, the tables seem to be extremely small-much smaller than a typical table you'd find in a restaurant that offers full meals as opposed to just coffee and muffins. In any event, the point is that set designers are working within certain parameters in order to make the scenes look a certain way. Tables are small, and [certain] props are set a certain way so that actors in blocked scenes can be seen completely. It's also quite conceivable that the tables are set in such a manner so as to facilitate the "intimate" dialogue that the actors engage in. Either way, the unrealistic props and blocking methods sometimes just go a little too far.

#4- Love Scenes

Romance in television soap operas has come a long way since the 1950's. Almost as racy as primetime, daytime television no longer dictates that characters share chaste kisses and lukewarm embraces as testament to their fiery onscreen love affairs. With almost as much nudity ("implied" semi-nudity) as the major television dramas, writers and directors have left very little to the imagination. But there is still a blocking practice that some of the soaps still hold dearly to their hearts, the Bedsheet Pullaway. Picture it: your favorite soap couple has just finished succumbing to their desires, and is now comfortably basking in the afterglow. After their loving and tender conversation (or perhaps the one where they're discussing how NOT to get caught), the lovely leading lady rises from the bed in all her naked glory...deftly wrapping the sheet around her and taking it and her nudity to "another room" to change clothes. I never understood why directors had the actresses to take the entire sheet from the bed. Wouldn't this mean that her betrothed is now lying in bed, shivering in the cold in his own birthday suit? And furthermore, the implication that she needs to be "covered", immediately after engaging in raunchy play, is highly unrealistic. This is one of the things that really used to irk me about the soaps. Apparently, there must have been other complaints, because directors now often simply cut away while their "nude characters" hop out of bed to redress themselves.

#5- Hospital Visits

Because of the claustrophobic nature of soaps in general, it is understandable that at some point one or more of the characters will inevitable end up in the hospital for something or another. But when characters over the years end up in the hospital for at least three major life threatening illnesses or injuries, viewers may begin to wonder if every soap opera character has nine lives. For it seems that for every fatal car crash or explosion, there are at least two diagnoses of some other life-threatening ailment. A good example is "Young & the Restless" actress Melody Thomas Scott (aka Nikki Newman) who has battled physical trials such as alcoholism, drug abuse, being shot, and even post traumatic stress disorder. Other characters on the show have gone through even worse issues. Ironically, everyone seems to come through with flying colors. Sure, there is the occasional death. But even those are sometimes "temporary."