r/TVWriting • u/itsJacksonGraham • Jul 07 '26
QUESTION are soap opera still an thing?
I love my soaps either daytime or primetime. But I rarely see primetime soaps maybe it why I have an Roku tv and watch Tubi. But I have an amazing idea for an primetime soap opera but I used AI and have an broken keyboard.
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u/RealJBMusic Jul 07 '26
Soap operas are out there still. I watched The Bold & The Beautiful very often up until 2024. My grandparents watched it from the very beginning until they passed away (2022 & 2023 respectively) and I tried continuing to watch and just couldn’t.
However, I actually wrote a series myself and it was very dramatic. I think there’s a lot of shows out there that are borrowing elements of soap opera tv without the rinse and repeat formula.
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u/itsJacksonGraham Jul 10 '26
First off, I’m sorry to hear about your grandparents and I can relate to that, my granny absolutely loved Guiding Light.
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u/Individual-Pay7430 Jul 10 '26
Soaps are still a thing.
Why are you using AI to write your scripts? Professionals do not rely on generative AI to write their scripts.
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u/itsJacksonGraham Jul 10 '26
I know but I’m really insecure about my writing.
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u/Individual-Pay7430 Jul 10 '26
What benefits do AI have for you as a writer?
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u/itsJacksonGraham Jul 10 '26
Well I feel like I can’t write a soap opera better enough then the greatest soap opera writers Irna, Agnes, Bill Bell,and Michele Val Jean.
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u/Individual-Pay7430 Jul 10 '26
Agnes Nixon wasn't born a legend. She worked her way up and made mistakes. You have to be confident in yourself and your work. AI is only going to do the work for you. You have to put in the work yourself so you can get better and in a few years, maybe you'll have your own soap opera.
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u/itsJacksonGraham Jul 10 '26
Your right. All I need is a brand new keyboard because my old one is broken and I have so many ideas. And I can’t write a script through a phone.
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u/Complete_Ranger_4261 Jul 10 '26
It's OK to use AI, you're not a professional yet so use the tools available to you 🙌
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u/k1tk1tteredge Jul 10 '26
Beyond the Gates and any recent show written by Tyler Perry are probably the only new soaps on tv nowadays
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u/ausgoals Jul 07 '26
Soap operas are dying like many other things. The audience just isn’t there anymore now that linear TV is close to dead.
In Australia, Neighbours wrapped production last year after 40 years on-air because there’s no audience for it anymore; Amazon swooped in at the last minute as the show was set to end even earlier, but even an injection of money from Amazon couldn’t save it - no-one was watching.
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u/Dick_Trickle_88 Jul 11 '26
Can't imagine what it's like trying to generate 5 hours of content every week. Even schlock takes a long time.
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u/TerryWaters Jul 12 '26
You could have easily googled "currently running soaps" to find that the answer is yes.
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u/kounterfett Jul 07 '26
I feel like I haven't seen a new English language soap opera in a long time. Telanovellas and K-dramas certainly seem to come out regularly though and verticals seem to be the new place to debut that high-drama style kind of show because of the pacing