So you think the "soaps" are finished

[widgitfidgit]

Ten years ago I knew loads of people who watched them. I also remember things like soap awards and big stars that would come from them

Genuinely don't know anyone who watches them now or who talks about them anyway.

Has the age of streaming killed them off.

Plenty of people watch them, just not in your circle. I personally don't but I know several people (50's) that do and one it's the whole household including young adults. Yes people watch on catch up these days but still they watch them

My manager (late 50s) still watches Emmerdale, but she's the only person I can think of who does.

Yes people still watch them.(including me) but the writers seem to look for ever more shocking and violent storyline. Not so much humour now in coronation st, the likes of Stan and Hilda, Jack and Vera, Blanche Hunt etc.Although Tim and Steve have shaped up into a good comedy duo.
I stopped watching eastemders years ago, too much doom.and gloom and long dead characters being resurrected 😆

Dh and I only watch Eastenders (and the mumsnet threads are brilliant) , but we both admit the storylines are stupid and far fetched at times and any kind of reality has gone out the window.
Im a loyal watcher, but even I sometimes wonder why I bother ( probably because I remember how good it used to be)
The actors are not too bad , but it's the scripts that let it down at times.
It's a bit of escapism from reality , which is why soaps are popular I think.

I also know no one who watches them though everyone did when I was a kid

There's so much good tv on now though

Come to think of it I don't know anyone who watches terrestrial tv apart from my mother in law who watches the news at 6 every night

I just remember them coming up in conversations much more. Genuinely struggling to remember last time I heard them mentioned. And just checked no soap awards any more. Surely what's a bad sign.
Actually would be a shame to see them go. Old episodes of corrie are practically social history.

I caught a bit of Corrie on Friday and one last week ( I don't watch it usually and had no idea who anyone was)
I thought the acting wasn't too bad and a few people around I remember from the 80s like sally and Steve and Gail's daughter i think ?
The bet lynch days were the best

I used to watch Corrie, Emmerdale and Doctors. During Covid they all went to shit. So I stopped watching all of them. I don't know anyone who watches them,

I watch EastEnders. I like the routine of it, a little bit of escapism, sometimes it's funny, sometimes I think what amazing actors they can be. Stacey Slater's actor is brilliant sometimes, as are Bianca Jackson and Kim Fox.

Maybe its the appalling story lines ?
I watch classic corrie ,
I can't watch modern corrie ,as the acting and storylines are just awful sometimes I will catch the odd episode I can't beleive how bad it is compared to classic

I suppose they’re a bit dated now, against all the streaming stuff. They’ll go for a while yet because of the older generation but when they die out, I think they’ll disappear.

This. I catch them sometimes if I watch the odd episode of gogglebox and that's it. I think some of the writers have been watching too many telenovelas tbh At least Jane the Virgin was funny as well as outrageous and ridiculous!

I am 66. I don't watch any 'soaps' at all, and haven't done so for over twenty years. Nearly forty years ago, when I had a toddler, I used Coronation Street and EastEnders as part of bedtime routine. When they came on, we had milk and a biscuit and when they went off, we went to bed.

Yes, I think they are. Why would people want to see dough-faced characters in Next clothes shouting at one another on the same two ‘local pub’ and ‘street’ sets about what Tina from number 19 got up to with Chloe’s boyfriend, when they can watch copious amounts of high-concept, high-production-values drama with Hollywood actors grappling with Armageddon/outer space/ white-collar crime/a dystopian society etc?

I think they will eventually go online only, then fade away
It is a shame

Yes. I agree.

I watch neighbours but I agree I might be the only one..

Not the only one - Neighbours is my lunch break watch. I do love it.

My mum (in her 80s) is the only person I know who watches soaps and I think she only watches Coronation Street and Fair City. I have never watched any of them apart from Neighbours when Scott and Charlene were in it!

A few of my friends watch the soaps , but younger people under 40 don't bother ( going by my experience anyway )

I think a good metric for this is Children in Need.

The BBC love to plug their own celebrities on CiN, but this last one, I hardly cared about, or even recognised anyone! It used to be filled with soap stars, Doctor Who, Bean, Vicar of Dibley etc etc (showing my age now), and now we're getting rejects from game shows, 'celebrities' who haven't been in anything for years, etc. They even had to have five presenters on stage last year because none had the star power or charisma to hold it on their own.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12761139/Children-Need-2023-list-presenters-celebrities-donate-watch.html

So yes, I think soaps (and the BBC) are slowly disappearing. I think they only give 'some' content to justify the licensing fee. I literally only watch half an hour of BBC breakfast in the morning.

So true. We watched children in need for the first time in years (Ds wanted to see some as heard about it in school)
We hardly recogniosed anyone

I stopped watching, years ago, for the same reason. It all seemed too grim and grey with increasing violence. Can't handle that any more. 🌹

If no one watched them there wouldn't be soap related threads on MN. I watch Eastenders and I love it. So do some of my friends. Coronation Street is the first programme I remember but I stopped watching a few years ago. But I am old.