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<blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 391091" data-attributes="member: 27">Another World began with the death of the Matthews family patriarch.&nbsp; The show&#039;s creator, Irna Phillips, stated in many interviews afterward that this was a mistake, since viewers &quot;met&quot; the characters in a downbeat setting and viewers had no motivation to feel sorry for these people they did not even know yet.&nbsp; I can see how Phillips imagined it to be a good idea, since all the family was gathered for the funeral and the viewers could learn all the characters&#039; relationships.&nbsp; But it would indeed be a &quot;downer&quot;.&nbsp; It would feel a bit like I was intruding on an intimate family tragedy.I&#039;m afraid the US soaps do fall back on crime (and criminals) an awful lot these days.&nbsp; GH has been dominated by mobsters and organized crime plots for thirty years!&nbsp; Y&amp;R went for about 40 years avoiding the cops-and-crime trap---there were periods of time where there wasn&#039;t even a police officer in the cast!---but in recent years they&#039;ve built their police station set, added their own cop characters, etc. just like everybody else.&nbsp; Unfortunately I think the crime/cops element will have to be included in some capacity in this new show.&nbsp; One of the reasons Generations failed was because its writers wanted to write a softer, less gritty (traditional) soap opera to &quot;set themselves apart&quot;---but all that did was make the show deadly boring at times.&nbsp; Every time GH tries to write itself away from all the mob stuff, the network tends to get nervous; the minute the ratings drift downward, the network orders them to &quot;go back to what works&quot; (or so they think).&nbsp; As much as it is claimed that viewers want more upbeat and positive, well-written soaps with &quot;heart,&quot; it&#039;s rare that such an effort becomes a ratings winner against flashy and trashy stuff that is much easier to write and produce.&nbsp; And now more than ever, the soaps that remain have to fight for every possible viewer.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Daniel Avery, post: 391091, member: 27"] [I]Another World [/I]began with the death of the Matthews family patriarch. The show's creator, Irna Phillips, stated in many interviews afterward that this was a mistake, since viewers "met" the characters in a downbeat setting and viewers had no motivation to feel sorry for these people they did not even know yet. I can see how Phillips imagined it to be a good idea, since all the family was gathered for the funeral and the viewers could learn all the characters' relationships. But it would indeed be a "downer". It would feel a bit like I was intruding on an intimate family tragedy. I'm afraid the US soaps do fall back on crime (and criminals) an awful lot these days. GH has been dominated by mobsters and organized crime plots for thirty years! Y&R went for about 40 years avoiding the cops-and-crime trap---there were periods of time where there wasn't even a police officer in the cast!---but in recent years they've built their police station set, added their own cop characters, etc. just like everybody else. Unfortunately I think the crime/cops element will have to be included in some capacity in this new show. One of the reasons [I]Generations[/I] failed was because its writers wanted to write a softer, less gritty (traditional) soap opera to "set themselves apart"---but all that did was make the show[I] deadly boring[/I] at times. Every time GH tries to write itself away from all the mob stuff, the network tends to get nervous; the minute the ratings drift downward, the network orders them to "go back to what works" (or so they think). As much as it is claimed that viewers want more upbeat and positive, well-written soaps with "heart," it's rare that such an effort becomes a ratings winner against flashy and trashy stuff that is much easier to write and produce. And now more than ever, the soaps that remain have to fight for every possible viewer. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?