Supercouple

A supercouple, in American soap opera terms, is a romantic pairing on a program that becomes extremely popular with fans, captivates the audience's attention, exceeds the network's expectations and transcends the normal pairings on the show. Often, the supercouple will become a de facto symbol for the show itself. In other countries supercouples do of course exist, they are just not known as such.

Becoming a Supercouple

Usually, a supercouple storyline will involve the initial courtship of the couple, with the couple facing seemingly insurmountable challenges via plot devices such as differing socio-economic backgrounds, family opposition, simple misunderstandings, marriages to other people, children with other people, etc. In the end, though, the two characters that make up the supercouple will usually reunite and marry. However, since the soap opera genre is neverending, there can be no happy ending unless both characters leave the show together. As a result, after the usual fairytale wedding, if the supercouple remains on the show, they cannot live happily ever after as a couple in a fairytale would, but rather they are subjected to a continual cycle of being separated and reunited. This often leads to two characters of a supercouple divorcing and re-marrying each other several times.

Notable Supercouples

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Days of our Lives's Bill and Susan Hayes as Doug and Julie Williams on the cover of Time Magazine.

While the term was not coined until the early 1980s, the first soap opera supercouple was Doug Williams and Julie Olson on Days of our Lives. [1] From 1970 until 1976, the two characters wavered between love and animosity. The chemistry that the two actors exhibited became evident off-screen: the portrayers, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth were married in 1974. Fans became emotionally invested in the possible couple, and thousands of people called NBC as well as their local affiliates to petition for the right for Doug and Julie to marry, since the actors were married already. NBC bowed to the popular pressure and the characters were married in October 1976. Doug and Julie were also the first soap characters to grace the cover of Time Magazine.

Perhaps the most famous supercouple is that of Luke Spencer and Laura Webber, played by Anthony Geary and Genie Francis on General Hospital. Their romance enthralled viewers, and, when they wed on November 16, 1981, daytime television

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Luke and Laura's record-breaking wedding - November 16, 1981

recorded its highest-ever ratings, with 30 million people tuning in to watch them say "I do". [2] As a result, Luke and Laura have arguably become daytime's quintessential and most iconic couple.

Supercouple Golden Age: The 1980s

The 1980s is known as the "Golden Age" of supercouples and shows such as All My Children (AMC), As The World Turns (ATWT) and along with the aforementioned General Hospital and Days of our Lives were well known for their supercouples.

Days of our Lives in particular had a particularly large amount of them, with their five biggest - Bo and Hope, Jack and Jennifer, Shane and Kimberly, Steve and Kayla, and John and Marlena - all going on at roughly the same time.

All My Children was represented by Cliff and Nina, Greg and Jenny and Jesse and Angie, the first African-American supercouple.

As the World Turns had the immensely popular couples Craig and Sierra, Tom and Margo, and Steve and Betsy, with Betsy Stewart being played by future star Meg Ryan.

Along with Luke and Laura, General Hospital also boasted Alan and Monica and Frisco and Felicia.

The phenomenon even spread to foreign shores around this time, with Scott Robinson, played by Jason Donovan and Charlene Ramsay played by Kylie Minogue on the Australian soap Neighbours and "Dirty" Den and Angie Watts played by Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson on the British soap Eastenders generating an audience response similar to that of the supercouples on American soaps.

Supercouples Today

While there are many popular couplings on soap operas today, very few earn the right to be called a supercouple by fans and the soap media alike. Usually, the term is reminiscient of the 1970s and 1980s. As such, the few supercouples that are still on serials today were from the 1980s, or at the latest, the early 1990s. After that the supercouple phenomenon slowly faded and the nature of soaps today allows few characters and couples to truly define the nature of the show anymore, as the original supercouples once did.[3] Shows have attempted to revive the success of the supercouples through modern couples, but only a few such as Zach and Kendall (All My Children), J.R. and Babe (All My Children), Will and Gwen (As the World Turns), Lucas and Sami (Days of our Lives), Shawn and Belle (Days of our Lives), Lucky and Elizabeth (General Hospital), Rafe and Alison (Port Charles), have resonated with fans. Though these couples are popular with fans, they have yet to reach true "supercouple status." The case for couples such as Ethan and Theresa and Luis and Sheridan leaves their status as supercouples in doubt, as the soap opera on which they appear, Passions, didn't exist during the "supercouple era." However, the inordinate emphasis placed on them in the show, as well as their overwhelming popularity, suggests that (by at least Passions standards) they are supercouples.

In today's medium there are couples which come close to gaining supercouple status in terms of popularity. Although these pairings have explosive chemistry and immense potential, the couple's story is cut short often due to the actors leaving to pursue jobs outside of soaps. These wildly popular couples simply don't last long enough on-screen to garner the long history of a true supercouple. Such couples include Leo and Greenlee (All My Children), Ryan and Gillian (All My Children), Dusty and Lucy (As The World Turns), Simon and Katie (As the World Turns), Jonathan and Tammy (Guiding Light) and Cristian Vega and Evangeline Williamson (One Life to Live). These couples were extremely popular with critics and fans and with time they arguably would have become beloved supercouples.

Internet Trends

With the advent of message boards, fans have used portmanteux for their favorite couples, including supercouples from the past. For example, Bo and Hope becomes "Bope," Josh and Reva becomes "Jeva," and so on. This was parodied on The O.C., when Seth Cohen talked about real couples' overexposure to one another; he wondered whether or not his pairing with Summer Roberts would be called "Summereth" or "Sethummer". Occasionally, even anti-fans come up with names for couples, such as General Hospital's' Sonny and Emily. The unpopular pairing of the mob boss and his enforcer's sweet younger sister became known as "Soily."

Supercouples

Below is a list of regarded past and present American soap opera supercouples:

• Cliff and Nina, All My Children
• Greg and Jenny, All My Children
• Jesse and Angie, All My Children
• Tad and Dixie, All My Children
• Craig and Sierra, As the World Turns
• Holden and Lily, As the World Turns
• Jack and Carly, As the World Turns
• Steve and Betsy, As the World Turns
• Tom and Margo, As the World Turns
• Bo and Hope, Days of our Lives
• Doug and Julie, Days of our Lives
• Jack and Jennifer, Days of our Lives
• John and Marlena, Days of our Lives
• Shane and Kimberly, Days of our Lives
• Steve and Kayla, Days of our Lives
• Alan and Monica, General Hospital
• Frisco and Felicia, General Hospital
• Luke and Laura, General Hospital
• Sonny and Carly, General Hospital
• Josh and Reva, Guiding Light
• Quint and Nola, Guiding Light
• Roger and Holly, Guiding Light
• Clint and Viki, One Life to Live
• Todd and Blair, One Life to Live
• Victor and Nikki, The Young and the Restless
• Nick and Sharon, The Young and the Restless

References

• The Washington Post. Luke and Laura's Altared State

• Associated Content. The Rise and Fall of the Supercouple in Soap Operas

External links

• SoapCentral