International Fan Spotlight... US Soap Fan In Australia

In the first two "International Fan Spotlight" features, I spoke with Mark Knoop, an AS THE WORLD TURNS viewer in The Netherlands, and Marco Corsi, a GUIDING LIGHT (SENTIERI) viewer in Italy. Today, We Love Soaps goes down under to talk to Brianna, a fan of multiple United States soaps who lives in Australia.

Reminder: If you are a fan of a U.S. soap in a different country and want to speak about the show and its following there, send me an email at editor@welovesoaps.com.

Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you became a fan of the US soaps?
I’m a 23 year old university student studying a postgraduate degree in Construction. I became a fan of US soaps through the natural transition of mother and daughter bonding. Well actually there was nothing to watch and mum was watching DAYS OF OUR LIVES and from then on I’ve been a huge fan of soap operas.

How long have you been watching?
I’ve been watching soaps on and off from 1992 with the off period to be a few months around the time I was finishing my HSC (final year studies for New South Wales students) in 2003.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS have been the soaps I have watched the longest both starting in 1992. I started watching THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL in 1994 and PASSIONS in 2001. However, PASSIONS finished in Australia around 2004-05 due to issues with music licensing.

How popular are the US soaps in Australia? How does their popularity compared to Australian soaps?
The main difference between popularity of the US soaps in Australia compared to Australian soaps is the time in which they are aired. Australian soaps like NEIGHBOURS and HOME AND AWAY have a primetime slot at 6:30 and 7:00pm respectively. Australian soaps are targeted more to the market of teenagers and younger people like myself moreso than an older adult audience. In a move to fix the problem, a new Aussie soap was created and is currently being shown over summer in a 10:30pm timeslot called OUT OF BLUE, which is directed at an older more mature audience. The US soaps (still airing in Oz) are shown at 2:00pm (DAYS – Channel 9) and 6:00pm (B&B – Channel 10) both of these are shown on free to air TV. Y&R in 2005 moved to Foxtel and is shown about 3:00pm; however Y&R is repeated as a Saturday marathon from around 12:00pm. When Y&R was moved from Channel 9 to Foxtel there was uproar from fans of the show as we used to have a back-to-back showing of DAYS and Y&R.

The average rundown of US soaps in Australia v Aussie soaps is as follows:
HOME AND AWAY: averages around 2 million viewers a night

NEIGHBOURS: averages around 1-1.5 million viewers a night

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: averages around 250,000 viewers a day

THE YOUGN AND THE RESTLESS: averages an around 300,000-350,000 viewers a day (this includes the people who watch the repeats on a Saturday on Foxtel)

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: averaged around 300,000-400,000 viewers a night. However this has increased significantly since the move of the show from the 4:30pm timeslot to a primetime slot at 6:00pm

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Do the US soaps air current episodes or are they behind? If behind, do you follow what is happening on the US episodes via the internet or just watch the current Australian episodes and not want to know?
Originally Australia was four years behind both DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. However, around late 2004 we were fast-tracked to only being 4 months behind which meant we missed on the most significant DAYS storyline The Salem Serial Killer but we did get the ending of this (which annoyed a lot of Aussie Days fans, particularly me because we got half a story). But with the showing of cricket matches and sometimes episodes being taken off over holiday time (due to content issues) we are now about six or seven months behind the US.

Because I don’t have Foxtel I used to head over to my mum's friend's house to watch Y&R on a Saturday when they replay all the weeks episodes in one sitting. However, when listening to a "Daytime Confidential" podcast and how interesting the current storylines on Y&R were I decided to start watching online through YouTube. I also do this now with DAYS.

In terms of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, we are roughly four months behind the US. I don’t watch this on YouTube cause it’s the same revolving storyline. On top of that my interest in the show was almost killed off when Taylor ran over Darla and Thorne became a plot point for everyone else. Although in saying this I have been watching more faithfully since Pam arrived in town.

When PASSIONS aired in Australia we were 2 years behind the US. I couldn’t keep track of the show on YouTube much due to conflicting interests with copyright (or something like that), so when PASSIONS stopped airing in Australia I keep up to date through daily episode synopsis’. I only really did this as PASSIONS was one of my all time favorite soaps. My interest in it had a lot to do with James E Reilly’s involvement with DAYS throughout the 90’s.

I also watch other US soaps like AS THE WORLD TURNS and GENERAL HOSPITAL (it did once air in Oz a long time ago but was cancelled due to lack of ratings) through YouTube as well since these have become personal favourites of mine.

Do you follow the US soaps through any of the US soap press?
I never used too but from about May 2008 I started to check out the websites and I usually get most of the soap gossip from message boards amongst other places.

What type of media coverage do the US soaps get in Australia? TV? Newspaper? Radio? Anything?
The only real coverage of US soaps in Australia is through mags like Soap World and TV Guide. When B&B moved to the primetime slot on channel 10 in early December the network did show a number of ads to promote the change.

How do you feel the sensibilities differ between the Australian audience and the American audience if at all?
I find the main difference between sensibilities of Aussie soaps versus US soaps is how everyday life is portrayed. Usually in US soaps characters are shown to live in middle to high income families with their jobs to match, where as Aussies soaps present a more realistic way of life with characters to represent all spectrums of society. The realistic representation makes the audience more receptive to the storylines being presented within the show.

Same-sex kissing: Aussie soaps haven’t really portrayed a gay couple before. However Heath Ledger played a gay teen in the Aussie Soap who was in love with his best friend in SWEAT. The first gay character in an Australian soap was in the 1970’s in a show called NUMBER 96 (which was quite racy for its time). Talking to my mum about NUMBER 96 there wasn’t much of a who-ha about the character rather the way he came out and the fact that he didn’t really have a storyline after coming out. Going back to SWEAT and the portrayal of a gay teen other Heath Ledger’s portrayal (which was awesome) the show was cancelled before any potential developed of the character or potential relationship could be fully explored. In terms of reactions I spoke to a number of gay friends who said from their own experiences within the community and coming out that there would be pockets of the community that would be outraged with a storyline featuring a female/female or male/male relationship let alone doing anything else. However in saying this, the Australian public is very accepting of all relationship types so the backlash would probably be only minimal (particularly in recent law changes that have occurred).

Raciness: I stated before the issues presented in Australian soaps are more realistic then US soaps, however, Aussie soaps are limited to how much they are allowed to show due to timeslot requirements and of course the targeted audience. Due to the restriction you rarely see two characters in bed together or even semi-undressing each other like they do on US soaps. There was a soap many years ago called HEARTBREAK HIGH that directly related to teen issues such as pregnancy, teen sex, abortion, etc. SWEAT did similar things despite only being around for one season.

Coverage of Issues: I find Aussie soaps are more likely to cover real issues affecting the characters in a more realistic way then US soaps. For example, HOME AND AWAY as well as NEIGHBOURS has covered issues such as abortion, miscarriage, rape, religious cults, tsunami victims, HIV, drug abuse and overdoses, and cancer storylines and looked at how these really impact the character and those around the character. Where as US soaps are more likely to turn events such as these into revenge type scenarios (DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL are shockers for these). However, I do find THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS more high brow in how they tackle issues impacting the characters, although there still remains subtle revenge contexts within the stories.

International Fan Spotlight... GUIDING LIGHT (SENTIERI) Fan in Italy

In the first International Fan Spotlight segment, I spoke with AS THE WORLD TURNS fan Mark Knoop who lives in the Netherlands. This time, I talked with Marco Corsi, a longtime GUIDING LIGHT in Italy. The show is known as SENTIERI there.

Can you tell me a little about your background and how you became a fan of GUIDING LIGHT?
I graduated from Università di Pavia in Italy and before I settled down. I was an exchange student at Miami University (Ohio) I worked and lived in England for short time, and in Florence. Now I live near Milano, in the financial department of a major Italian bank. I used to watch CAPITOL, and miss it so much. Paula Denning from CAPITOL, along with along with India Von Halkein on GUIDING LIGHT, are my all-time favorite characters on daytime ever. I tried to watch THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, but it never did it for me).

How long have you been watching?
The Mrs. Piper storyline just glued me, and the arrival of India in the pouring rain. I've always been into soaps both daytime and nightime.

Is the show popular in Italy?
GUIDING LIGHT was popular in the 80s and 90s. There is a rock hard fan base. I experienced it when a bunch of us got together at Milan airport to greet Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman a few years ago. Amazing! GUIDING LIGHT is not treated well by Rete4, the network that broadcasts it. Can you believe they show from 10 to 20 minutes per day? And that means that Italian episode 100 may begin with last five minutes of American GL 10000 and the first 10 minutes of American GL 10001. I hope you get my point.

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Is the show running current episodes or is it behind? And do you watch current episodes through the internet and know what is going on now?
When the show was regularly broadcasted we were about one year behind. Now, about three years. The show airs Monday through Friday at 4 pm. Until a few years ago I had friends tape the show in the United States and send it to me. Now I download it or watch it on Youtube. I kind of stopped watching last February as I wasn't involved anymore, where was the story? What happened to the dialogue? Gone were the days when I couldn't wait to watch the next day's show.

Do you follow the show through the American soap press?
I've been a Soap Opera Digest subsciber for the past 15 years. Unfortunately, I just had to cancel. My Digest kept "getting lost" in the mail.

Have you met any of the cast from the show? And have any of the cast been to Italy?
YES!!!! I've visited the set a few times. In 1996 I just waited outside the studio and begged the actors to let me in! They did. The same in 1999 and 2001. In 2005 I was lucky to meet the italian guy (Sante Cossentino) who the works pro bono as publicist for SENTIERI. Sante works as publicist for quite a few italian actors. With him I was given the "proper" tour. We went to dinner with Kim Zimmer, Ricky Paull Goldin, producer Maria Macina and Marj Dusay.

Does Guiding Light receive any media coverage there?
From time to time GUIDING LIGHT actors would come to Italy. Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman have had some coverage in the press. Beth Ehlers was the last to come over here. She was vacationing and did some press too.

If you are a fan of a U.S. soap in a different country and want to speak about the show and its following there, send me an email at editor@welovesoaps.com.

International Fan Spotlight.... ATWT Fan In The Netherlands

This week I am debuting a new feature, the International Fan Spotlight. I've always been curious about how American soaps that are popular in other countries are perceived, and why fans who live there enjoy the shows. If you are a fan of a U.S. soap in a different country and want to speak about the show and its following there, send me an email at editor@welovesoaps.com.

AS THE WORLD TURNS has always had a big following in the Netherlands so I'm kicking off this new column by talking to a longtime Dutch fan of the show.

Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you became a fan of AS THE WORLD TURNS?
My name is Mark Knoop and I live in the east of the Netherlands. I'm 20 years old. AS THE WORLD TURNS has been on Dutch TV since 1990. I was too young to watch, but my mother and grandmother have been loyal viewers of ATWT since the beginning. So from time to time I would see an episode, but I didn't start watching everyday until later. It was the Lily/Rose story that got me interested in the show because I remember how amazing I thought it was to see one actress playing two completely different roles. I've been watching the show since that storyline (with one short break of a couple of months when I was too busy with school work). I don't know exactly how long it has been, but I think it's about 8 to 9 years (since 1999/2000).

How popular is AS THE WORLD TURNS in the Netherlands?
For a US soap, AS THE WORLD TURNS is doing really well. Right now there are only two US soaps: AS THE WORLD TURNS and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Other shows like DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS were all canceled due to bad ratings. B&B used to be the more popular show but that slowly changed over the years and now ATWT has the better ratings. What I think helped the show is that people have three chances to watch an episode. ATWT is broadcasted by RTL and they have four national channels. An episode will premiere around 10:30 PM on RTL8. The following day that episode will re-air on RTL4 at 5 PM and that same episode will air for a third time the day after that at 9 AM on RTL4. The 5 PM timeslot is the most popular one with 454,000 viewers on Friday. 10:30 PM had 137,000 viewers Friday and 9 AM had 125,000 viewers. A total of 716,000.

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Do you watch current episodes through the internet and know what is going on now?
The show is about a year and a half behind. Today the episode of June 1, 2007 will air over here. I have watched current episodes through the internet since April/May 2007. The show, like all other shows except children's TV, has subtitles.

Do you follow the show through the American soap press?
I don't subscribe, but I do read the scans other fans make of the soap magazines.

Have you met any of the cast from the show? And have any of the cast been to the Netherlands?
I've never met any of the cast members, but a couple of them have been here. Like Elizabeth Hubbard, she has been to the Netherlands a couple of times and from what I can tell she loves being here. She has done a couple of TV show interviews and did an online video chat on the RTL website where she answered a couple of my questions. Todd Rotondi (ex-Bryant) has been here too and after leaving ATWT he had cameo roles in the #1 Dutch soap GOEDE TIJDEN SLECHTE TIJDEN (Good Times Bad Times) and in the movie Phileine Zegt Sorry (Phileine Says Sorry).

What type of media coverage does ATWT receive there?
It obviously doesn't get as much coverage as Dutch soaps, but there has been some media coverage the last couple of years. When the 50th Anniversary was going to air over here there was a lot of media coverage. There was a radio interview with Elizabeth Hubbard, a talk show covered ATWT with two Dutch celebrities who are fans of ATWT and an entertainment show had a segment on their show about the special episodes. There was more coverage during the Nuke kissing ban media blitz. The fan campaign was mentioned on the news, on the radio, in a lot of articles in newspapers and in blog entries.

A TV show called TRY BEFORE YOU DIE did a set visit in 2006. In that show a group of young TV hosts are travelling all over the world doing things they always wanted to do before they were going to die. And being on ATWT was one of those things for Ruben Nicolai. He was playing a Lakeview bartender. In the episode he walked around the studio talking to cast members (Michael Park, Don Hastings, Spencer Grammer, Grayson McCouch), we saw him in rehearsals with Paul Leyden and we saw how they were taping his scenes (standing in the background of a Henry/Maddie/Louis/Eve scene and his scenes with Paul Leyden and Maura West.

How do you feel the sensibilities differ between the Dutch audience and the American audience? For example, would the Dutch audience be outraged over a Nuke kiss or sex as some American viewers would be? Are the Dutch soaps more racy than ATWT or the same? Do they cover any issues that American soaps would probably shy away from or vice versa?
I think there are always going to be people who are outraged by a same sex kiss, but I don't think it will be on the same level over here. Dutch soaps have had their gay storylines in the past where the characters (male and female) kissed and had sex but I don't remember too much outrage because of it.

I don't think the Dutch soaps are a lot more racy than the US ones. The way they handle love scenes are about the same. Maybe some of the dialogue or situations are more racy. Like in 2004 when a 17 or 18 year old girl was raped. The rapist denied it happened (he was drunk) and she wanted revenge. So she took a nail pistol and wanted to force him to admit what he had done. The gun went accidentally off and a chandelier fell on his groin causing him to lose one testicle. When her mother (one of the best bitchy villains the show ever had) found out what he had done, she lured him to a butcher and threatened to cut off his one remaining testicle. He got so scared that he wet his pants.

And I'm not sure if there are some issues US soaps shy away from, but some of the issues we've seen are:

HIV
One of GTST’s heroines is Anita. She has been on the show since 1992 and was infected with HIV about 5 years ago.

Gang rape
A couple of months ago a young woman was gang raped by three men. They didn't show the rape, only them throwing her on the bed and the next morning when she woke up with the three naked guys around her (they had drugged her so she was out during the rape).

Euthanasia
A couple of years ago they did a love story between two 60+ characters. It was really sweet and the actors were great. But she got cancer and didn’t want to suffer any longer. She chose to have euthanasia.

Psycho Nun
Not one of the best storylines, but a couple of years ago a character went to a monastery to get some peace. He was in a relationship, but one of the nuns in the monastery became jealous and very psychotic and wanted his girlfriend gone. So she tried to burn her like a witch. I’m not sure if the US would do something like that with a religious person.

Incest
I know, the Snyders are a little incestuous but there was one storyline on GTST that was even more incestuous. After her mother died, Isabella wanted to take her mother’s place. Literally. She thought she was in love with her father and wanted to have sex with him. It’s extreme, but I do think the writers did a great job with the story. Because some time later it turned out that she was mentally ill and very unstable (which gave us stories for a couple of years).