The Marceline axiom

Some time ago, I mentioned the Jack Peyton axiom, which basically asserted that once a show lost viewers, they were never coming back.

I have frequently mentioned SON's Marceline here, and her "nostalgia" thesis. It is time it gets immortalized as the Marceline axiom.

As she writes it:

Here's the problem...the "loyal" soap fans, the "real" soap fans don't want to watch a bunch of newbies regardless of talent. I contend that you could bring on a heavenly host of actors with real, true dramatic talent and the people watching soaps now would hate them anyway because they aren't "vets." They'll let a few "core" or "legacy" characters through but in the end it won't matter because it will never measure up to the good ole days. That's nostalgia. It kills the very thing it's meant to preserve.

She goes on to amplify:

Actually the Marceline Axiom can be summed up by the words of Billy Joel in Keepin' the Faith : "The good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems."

These ideas are not inconsistent with my recent blog post, which argued that a part of the problem of soaps is that they grow too old. Burdened with decades of history, they become unwieldy and filled with "saturated logic". There seems to be a pop cultural reality that new generations don't want to enjoy what previous generations did.

Soaps didn't always last forever. The Secret Storm, for example, gave way to The Young and the Restless--after a healthy 20-year run. I'm sure may SS viewers lamented the change, but in the end, something of new relevance had to be created. And Y&R has remained relevant for a long time.

The bottom line, for me, is that I wish the networks weren't too terrified to keep trying. If they have low-performing shows that no longer meet their needs, they should let them go (hopefully giving them grand goodbyes that reflect their long contributions). But they should make new efforts. Most of these will fail, but one fine day.... something will stick to the wall. While doing this they can explore different time slots, different platforms. Because keeping these soaps on during the weekdays for the "housewives" is another form of ridiculous nostalgia.