Melodrama Variations: TV Soap Opera (Discussion)

From Screenpedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

"'I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV'"

Screen shot of Frank Runyeon and Meg Ryan in As the World Turns (1984).
Screen shot of Frank Runyeon and Lindsay Frost in As the World Turns (1985).
  1. Group 2: How does Jean-Louis Comolli's notion of a "body too much" in historical film apply to the soap opera?
  2. Group 3: What is the "commutation test"? How does it apply to soap-opera recasting?
  3. Group 4 & 5: How do Lindsey Frost's character/performance signs differ from Meg Ryan's? What meaning does that difference connote?
  4. Group 6: What makes Meg Ryan an atypical soap star?
  5. Group 1: How does the position of soap actors resemble that of early-film actors?

All Groups: How might the commutation test be used with Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnut character in African Queen? Pick another actor and perform a commutation test on Charlie Allnut.

"Television and Zero-Degree Style"

Katie and Brad in an As the World Turns screen shot, from :30:40 in the episode broadcast 1 Feb 2008.
  1. What are the main characteristics of soap opera's style of sound and image? And what significance do they have? In other words, what/how does style signify in terms of:
    • Group 2: Sets? Lighting?
    • Group 3 & 4: Multiple-camera production? In terms of how it looks on the screen, how does multiple-camera production differ from single-camera production?
    • Groups 5 & 6: Dialogue? Music? How are these characteristics present (or not) in the scene from ATWT episode we viewed in class? How would you compare/contrast the sound in ATWT with that of the radio soap, Backstage Wife?


2010 Ratings

Total Viewers (Compared to Previous Week/Compared to Previsou Year). Boldfaced shows are still on the air as of spring 2014.

  1. Y&R 5,103,000 (+17,000/-13,000)
  2. B&B 3,188,000 (-71,000/-111,000)
  3. DAYS 2,838,000 (-96,000/-148,000)
  4. GH 2,532,000 (-19,000/-114,000)
  5. AMC 2,481,000 (-79,000/-218,000)
  6. OLTL 2,314,000 (-112,000/-350,000)
  7. ATWT 2,308,000 (-160,000/-224,000) -- 9.7% drop from 2009

http://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/35133-march-15-19-2010/

Bibliography

  1. Jeremy G. Butler, "Notes on the Soap Opera Apparatus: Televisual Style and As the World Turns," Cinema Journal 25, no. 3 (Spring 1986): 53-70.
    • Revised and updated as: Jeremy G. Butler, "Television and Zero-Degree Style" in Television Style (New York: Routledge, 2010), 55-120.
  2. Jeremy G. Butler, "'I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV': Characters, Actors, and Acting in Television Soap Opera," Cinema Journal 30, no. 4 (1991): 75-91.

External links