Hello lemmings,
I am not exactly a fan of soap dramas, however through regular visits at my moms place i end up watching these shows (specifically the german shows “Alles was zählt” and “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten”).
Until this year, the drama was worth it because Doctor Who aired inmediately after and i think Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Clara Oswalt etc. are much more entertaining.
Over time i’ve noticed that the plots have become much more dramatic. Schemes have become much more schemey, crimes have been commited and became more crimey and the drama has become seemingly constantly more dramatic.
Now my question is: Am i mistaken with my impression? Is there a name for this drama creep? Does this also happen to other long-running soap dramas where you live?
That’s the tendency of drawing out shows for too long. The same goes for new season renewals because it got popular. The stakes have to be bigger, and it just gets bigger and bigger until it becomes absurd or unrealistic. The worst ones are shows that were supposed to be a one-time thing, but they go viral and super popular that the network forces a new season to milk it, and the quality suffers as a result.
Even great shows tend to do this as well. For example, Peaky Blinders was a great show about a local gang fighting for power in their town. By the last season the protagonist was fighting against the rising fascists on a national scale going into WW2. Money Heist, whether you think it was great or not, was a simple heist story contained in a single event. But because it got popular, the stakes had to be bigger on the following seasons, which obviously starts to make things unrealistic.
Korean dramas have a way around this. Kdramas tend to be lenghty (i.e. 16 episodes that are 1.5 hours each), and what makes the great ones successful is there are 2 to 3 arcs that happen within the show, so it doesn’t feel like the plot just keeps escalating and getting stretched out for the entire run. There is a semi-conclusion halfway, then a twist happens which opens up another side to the story.