Soap Operas | TheaterFire

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classicsat@reddit

I watched All My Children and one Life To Live. I am perfectly fine having watched them to the point I did. No desire to watch them again.

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IdyllwildGal@reddit

I watched Days of Our Lives for years until the storyline with Marlena being possessed by the devil. It was just too ridiculous and I lost interest after that.

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BaldBombshell@reddit

That's when I dropped it as well. I was always primarily a GH watcher.

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BigRefrigerator9783@reddit

What!? Marlena being possessed by the devil was the golden age of Days! My college roommate and I watched it religiously in between classes.

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toomuchtv987@reddit

I have said a billion times that Peacock would have my every red cent if they would stream old seasons of Days of Our Lives.

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When I was on my two maternity leaves in the early 2000’s, I would watch Y & R, B & B, ATWT and GL every day. I even started buying CBS soaps in depth magazine. When I went back to work, I recorded GL every day, so I did get to see the final episode. GL was the one that I watched in HS & college.

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Emz423@reddit

You can tune back in any time! CBS has Y&R, B&B, and a new one, Beyond the Gates. You can stream 5-10 episodes for free on the CBS app, and you may get more on Paramount Plus. I will warn you though, soaps are past their glory days in general. 😭 Writing and production is worse. Actors are still amazing. General Hospital is still on ABC and Days is still on NBC.

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Signal_Glittering@reddit (OP)

That warning lol. And so true! I watched a lot today on YouTube and you are exactly right. They don’t age well

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Emz423@reddit

I mean, when the “evil twin” and “back from the dead” stories have been done to death, it does make it more difficult. But the consistent piece for me is the actors/actresses. They spin crap into something decent.

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shehulud@reddit

Guiding Light… Josh and Reva always. And Michelle Forbes as Sonny/Solita.

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Emz423@reddit

Oh my goodness Yes!

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gangofone978@reddit

Wasn’t there a Soap Opera Network back in the early 2000s? Maybe a satellite/Direct TV channel? We were a Guiding Light house, but my bff’s house watched General Hospital and I was there A LOT. So I had to flip back and forth since they were both on at 3pm. I also watched DOOL and As the World Turns.

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TheJokersChild@reddit

SoapNet. I vaguely remember that being a thing.

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TheJokersChild@reddit

Grammy was always into her soaps. She was an NBC fan: Days Of Our Lives, Another World. Aunt liked Young & Restless and maybe a couple of the ABC ones. I was never into them but now, as someone working at an NBC station, I'd prefer them over our endless hours of Today (Jenna & Sheinelle? *Really?!)* and hour of Dateline we shove down people's throats every day. Guiding Light would be a hell of a box set. Wasn't it on TV for like 60-some years, and a dozen or so on radio before that?

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makeup1508@reddit

I agree. My first soap was As the World Turns-my grandma watched both ATWT & GL so when I was sick I went there and watched Price is Right & her stories. The number of big stars that came from all the soaps is amazing.

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LondonIsMyHeart@reddit

Those were my two, and for the same reason. My mom says she grew up listening to ATWT on the radio with my grandma. Growing up, mom and I watched them together. You're right, so many stars started in the soaps. Marissa Tomei was on GL for a little while.

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makeup1508@reddit

Kevin Bacon was ATWT for a while too.

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LondonIsMyHeart@reddit

Ooh, I forgot about that! He was!

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SpreadsheetSiren@reddit

My father worked the 4-12 shift in the 80s. His guilty pleasure was watching All My Children before getting ready for work. 🤫

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ancientastronaut2@reddit

Omg, my mother was a CBS gal too, so sometimes I watched them with her when home from school or whatever. Young and restless, bold and beautiful, as the world turns, and guiding light! Soaps are so simple and easy to follow, yet know how to draw you in with the drama. I could miss a year and then pick right up again within a few minutes know what's going on. I may or may not haved named my first kid after one of the characters. 😉

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Crikiribay@reddit

I’ve been watching General Hospital since 1981. I still watch it every day. I watched All My Children too until it was canceled.

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rpbm@reddit

I watched it starting early 80s until Anna and Robert went away. Then I was over it. I liked him.

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cltreader@reddit

I watched young and the restless and general hospital as a kid during school breaks. My grandma watched me and it was what she liked so I liked them too.

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SufficientOpening218@reddit

this is what got me to get Britbox! the soaps are going strong there. i had to watch with subtitles at first, but dang! good stuff

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Same-Text8718@reddit

Y&R and As The World Turns were shows my mom and I watched And, obviously, I watched General Hospital like most of my high school classmates

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Turbulent_Group_6616@reddit

Get an antenna

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nanniej@reddit

Loved Guiding Light and Y&R

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MaximumJones@reddit

Will Luke and Laura ever finally be together and live happily ever after???? 😳

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evility@reddit

GH did a really good tribute to Tony Geary last month. I've always enjoyed Luke & Tracy, myself.

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evility@reddit

General Hospital is my jam. Everything stops from 3-4 so I can catch up on Port Charles. CBS still has 3 soaps. Y&R (so boring), Bold and the Beautiful (so repetitive), and Beyond the Gates (recommended)

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Leeleewithwings@reddit

Santa Barbara! Cruz Castillo and Eden Capwell. Kelly Capwell grew up to be the Princess Bride. I loved Mason Capwell. Me and my BFF would rush home from school to watch it. My mom loved All My Children. Unless we were dying quickly, we did not bother mom from 1-2:00. Her show was on and we did not bother her. We knew better so we stayed the hell aeag

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this_is_Winston@reddit

I remember them because my Mom watched them. Vaguely remember the Luke and Laura drama. And I remember having a crush on nurse Bobbie.

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bendingoutward@reddit

The thing that got me was that you'd never know it from watching the flagship show, but in the spinoff, we learn that Port Charles is absolutely OVERRUN by literal vampires.

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Similar-Rutabaga-954@reddit

Either Pluto or Roku have a dedicated Guiding Light channel.

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Kindly_Jellyfish_451@reddit

I was a closet DOOL fan!

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Curious_Catlady1@reddit

Oh man, I have said the same thing about As the World Turns. 😔

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Medical-Resolve-4872@reddit

LOVE soaps. We watched ABC growing up but I went rogue at a young age with Y &R. Pro-tip: try a Mexican telenovela! I say Mexican because I’m mex-am and I *think they would be the most culturally familiar to a US audience. But the great thing is that they END. They usually last 3-5 months. The drama is delish and of course you can use captions, subtitles, or dubbing (on streaming). Funny story: when Ryan’s Hope premiered in the early 70s, I watched it from the first episode. I was like 5. I related to that family SO deeply that I reckoned I must also be part Irish. For half of kindergarten I waited to meet my Irish side of the family. Kids are dumb in the funniest ways lol

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Johnnyhellhole@reddit

I used to climb up the outside of the sorority house to the second floor when the security guard wasn't looking to watch Days of Our Lives with the girls in the late 80s. They would hide me behind the couch if the house mother came by. Loved those girls and loved the show, too.

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CousinBarnabas1967@reddit

I ran home every day after school to catch the last 45 minutes of Guiding Light back in the 80's. I watched the Young and the Restless during the Summer; it moved so slow that you really didn't miss anything between school starting and Christmas break or from then until school let out for Summer

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GardenBunnyBaseball@reddit

I used to do the SAME thing with school & Guiding Light in the 80’s. Straight to MTV as soon as it was over while I did homework.

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Last_Inevitable8311@reddit

This is bringing me back to summer vacay when I would religiously watch Santa Barbara.

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NYCphilliesBlunt@reddit

Mom and Nana used to watch Young and The Restless. Every few years, I’ll find myself home during the day and tune in and think of them.

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Kwyjibo68@reddit

YouTube made a recommendation to me about 4-5 months ago of an old GH episode. I watched it and I’ve been hooked ever since. Can’t stop watching. The nostalgia is amazing. I loved that show back in the day and I never thought I’d see it again.

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Pamelot130x2@reddit

Streaming service like Pluto tv probably has a channel of them or even Amazon live…

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archedhighbrow@reddit

I'd like to watch Mar Hartman, Mary Hartman again.

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CWShermanGirl@reddit

Both also my favorites. For GL I adored Fletcher Reade.

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MNPS1603@reddit

My friend in college was obsessed with Young and the Restless. She had a vcr and recorded it every day. Then she and her mom would call each other and discuss. She eventually somehow got out of the habit. I remember one summer watching One Life to Live with my mom while she was recovering from surgery. We watched the season where Ryan phillipe was on and played a gay teen that wanted to come out of the closet. I was also a gay teen so that whole story line was perfect in my book.

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