Soap Cities Poll: Do You Want To Be Clued in to Storyline Twists or Not?

Soap fans are a passionate lot! Some really, really want to know what’s going to happen on their fave shows, while some really, really don’t! Which side do you fall on? Some of you want to know ASAP what happens in your favorite storyline twists, while others may want to find out what happens when it actually happens in the storyline.

To Spoil or Not to Spoil?

Remember a time when there were no such things as “spoilers,” dear Soap Cities readers? Sure, we got vague hints into storyline progression from the hard-copy press. But for the most part, we had to wait to see what was going to happen, when it happened, on our favorite shows.

This sometimes still happens today, of course, as show runners have learned how to keep a tight lid on the denouement of the most watched and debated-about storylines even in the age of social media, when info moves at the speed of a mouse-click. The Young and the Restless fans can tell you how shocked many of us were when Sage Newman died in a car accident just moments after learning she was the mother of baby Sully, now Christian. How shocked were we Days of Our Lives fans when Will Horton was murdered? And who on Earth saw the Quinn (Rena Sofer)/Eric (John McCook) thing coming on The Bold and the Beautiful?

Many General Hospital fans, on the other hand, knew for months in advance that Tonja Walker was set to reprise the role of Olivia Jerome on GH and that the woman in the back of the pawn shop was her.

They Call It “Spoiling” for a Reason!

Yours truly can tell you that I did a Master’s thesis on soaps, and scholars across the board agree that the cliffhanger is one of the integral hallmarks of soaps, one of its defining characteristics. So are spoilers and set-side story leaks tainting an essential part of what makes soaps, soaps, and soap fans, soap fans?

So, some of you may not want to know what’s going to happen on your shows. You love cliffhangers and the sweet anxiety of waiting to see what happens to your favorite soap characters.

Hey, You’re Going to Find Out Anyway, Right?

Then there are those of you who probably think if you’re going to find out what’s going to happen on a show eventually, anyhow, why not find out ahead of time? You want to know NOW!

A cliffhanger is as much a cliffhanger, to the folks who fall in this camp, even if they find out how it’s going to play out some way other than watching it.

Neither Here, Nor There

Still others of you may not care much either way. You could take your spoilers or leave them. Finding out what happens, to you, is satisfying and enjoyable in whatever form it happens

Give us your input in the comment section below. Check back with Soap Cities for more soap opera spoilers, recaps, news, and fun! Follow us on Twitter at @soapcities, on Instagram at @soapcities, and come chat with us in our Facebook group. Check your local listings to find out when your favorite shows air.