Soap Operas bring something else to the table - melodrama. That, and a weird time bit where the plots seem to advance at different speeds. You have this group of characters doing X, that group of characters doing Y, and another driving between two places. X takes longer to do than Y and both would eat up more time than a quick drive, but all three things tie together as far as the time goes.
I can see the following plot: Innocent girl framed for something and her mother promising her a good paddling for it. A group of her friends stumbling over the frame up, then convincing someone else that there was a frame up (say convincing the teacher who sent the letter home that the victim didn't do what she was accused of), then racing to where the girl is in a desperate attempt to stop the paddling. Meanwhile we have brief scenes where the girl tries to convince her mother that she's innocent and her mother not believing her. Maybe a quick travel scene as they head to a cabin (where there's no cell phone coverage) with the mother promising to blister her buns when they get there - and where the girl can cry all she wants without anyone hearing her.
The show could flash between the two groups, mixed in with the other dozen or so plot lines, dragging out the "will she get spanked" question for a week or two. And because Soap Operas love to do the bait and switch, half the time there wouldn't be a spanking.
Alas, writing that story is beyond me. I'd need an entire soap opera full of characters, dozens of meaningless plotlines, and tens of thousands of words to duplicate it. I've included a summary of something like that in Christmas Across The County Line (where young "guest stars" are including on local soap operas in a spanking friendly setting, with the audience not knowing if there will or won't be a spanking) and a soap opera write up in an Bared Affairs story - but to go beyond a summary... Nope, I can't do it.
Goodgulf |