Its okay to get dirty sometimes (Best US prime time soap poll)

MSCL - the alpha and the omega
Dawson's Creek - I think I've seen all of these at least three times
Gilmore Girls - Lauren Graham is the only good thing about this one, but that ain't nothing
The OC - even the bad seasons weren't that bad
One Tree Hill - god

Toss up between DC and OC

im pretty sure its the OC but Knots Landing might come a close second

dud

this is difficult.

i mean, really.

lol maternity leave

lol @ "Ugh these people aren’t rich at all."

i think whatever i end up voting for i probably won't admit it.

i'll admit it: i voted for dallas.

my feelings for Dawson's Creek are so complex, guys.

yeah, this is impossible.

if it were best north american prime time soap poll it would be degrassi, no question.

knots landing

lol @ Titans

Voted for Other. (LOST, y'all)

The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations". Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in a particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. "Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as 'chance meetings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings' ". These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, from EastEnders to Dallas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera

I think LOST isn't a soap due to the desert island main locale mixed in with the grossly divergent locations in the flashbacks.

chance meetings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings'

hahaha, I dunno, Dan, that gets pretty close to the LOST experience...

Also, Super XLII

Super Bowl XLII

I can't believe Dallas was on until 2001! WTF, ar eyou serious?

Anyway, no Twin Peaks, no cred

I always thought Jennifer Aniston was responsible for the Y necklace!

FRESNO!

lost and twin peaks arent soaps!

Abbott, you might be right. I didnt watch friends when it was new and there was a 5 year overlap between melrose and friends. The first I remember seeing the Y necklace was on Jane.

Dirty Sexy Money! Donald Sutherland & Jill Clayburgh! Casey from "Sports Night!" Natalie Zea is hilarious!

How do you talk
to an angel?

gossip girl is awesome.

my faves on that list would be:

baywatch
beverly hills 90210
melrose place
models inc
my so called life
gilmore girls

for me, it's a toss-up between gilmore girls and my so called life. my other faves aren't on that list though. my top four would be:

thirtysomething
my so called life
once and again
gilmore girls

honorable mention:

sisters
brothers and sisters
northern exposure
china beach

(although i guess some of those are less soapy...whatever. i loved soap too. and the show Grand (nobody remembers Grand). and the one with dana delaney that they cancelled. um, can't remember the title. mary hartman, mary hartman is better than all of them though.)

Greatest theme song ever: Dallas. I never actually saw an episode, but when I was a kid the theme song would always compel me to get out of bed and hide behind the couch and listen, and then sneak back to bed. Or, if it was up especially loud, to jump around the living room and off of the couch. That song (and Duck Tales) fucking drove me wild.

scott, do you mean pasadena? thats on the list!

i cant believe i forgot thirtysomething and picket fences.

brothers and sisters might count, too?

it is about rich people!

ive never heard of it!

it's okay; it wouldn't win anyway.

i guess i only really watched the prime time soaps that had spaceships.

I had to vote Gilmore Girls, despite the final season which threatened to compromise the integrity of all that came before. When it was good, it was well-written, well-acted comfort food. Which fulfills, like, 90% of my daily recommended televisual entertainment value.

Admittedly, though, I've been very engrossed in Dallas lately, which I've started watching from the beginning. If you can overlook the often hammy acting and over reliance on boilerplate "one and done" A-stories (both of which seem more a symptom of the era more than anything), it's pretty damn compelling. J.R. Ewing might be one of the greatest fictional characters of the 20th Century.

(Oh, and the 2001 end-date for Dallas is including the multiple post-series TV movies, I fink.)

right. 1991 was the end of the weekly series.

I would be able to solve more crossword problems if I was familiar with Dallas.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Torn between GG and OC, but since OC was good for four seasons, and GG has only been good for one, I'm going with OC.

1st and 4th seasons of the O.C. trump everything here. Still pissed that Models Inc. ended on a cliffhanger. Who the hell did the sniper shoot in the wedding chapel??????? I NEED CLOSURE TO THAT ANECDOTE

This would have been a *really* tough choice in a world without "Dallas".

i cant believe other people remember models inc. nice!

My So-Called Life, Party of Five, Felicity, Gilmore Girls not soaps!

oh good lord of course they are

ok you win i vote bev

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

shit i forgot to vote!

i'm sort of surprised gilmore girls won.

gilmore girls isn't a soap if twin peaks isn't a soap

dawsons creek was high-speed verbal diarrhea? i dont think it rubbed off on too many people; i remember a few of my friends watched that & i made fun of them but i knew they were only watching cuz of katie holmes

meanwhile the girls who watched it were probably just dumb

twin peaks had a conclusion that we knew would be reached from the beginning. not the same thing at all.

the laura palmer case was never meant to be solved in twin peaks, though.

Go on Gilmore Girls. Even though I voted for the O.C.

I’ve watched 2 and a half seasons of Knots Landing and good lord, I fucking hate all the male characters. They are all weak assholes. One of them is thankfully killed off at the beginning of Season 3, but really all of them should have been. Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark are outstanding though, that’s the saving grace. It’s a show that’s very hard to stick with, and I would suggest anyone who’s interested should skip the first two seasons altogether.