TV and Movies

[CrazyKittyLvr2]

Oh my!

[Wsmom]

Soaps are escape tv for many people.  I don't know that many people watch them to learn anything.  We have hours and hours and hours of tv that we can watch to learn things, with all the newscasters to recap their opinions over and over again.  To say nothing of the fact there are channels devoted to breaking news coverage.  The poor woman wanted to watch her soap for one hour.  Who knows how many times she has lost her soap to see what she can watch later in the day 100 times.   That may be the one thing she has to look forward to each day.  

[Shelbelle]

My elderly Mom was just about addicted to Y and R, all she talked about. Then one day she stopped mentioning it and told me she stopped watching it. It was then that made me realize she was having some emoltional issues and starting to show signs of dementia. That was all it took for me to know something was not right with her. 

[stevieb]

When real and significant news is actually 'breaking', then fine, preempt whatever is on. But that's rarely the case. Preemptions for just about anything from photo ops to press conferences to ongoing hearings that are not 'breaking news' at all  have become a regular things. The soaps aren't what they used to be so I don't much care anymore if I miss them but for those who enjoy them, the constant premptions for material that really isn't 'news' and that could be covered by any number of cable stations and reiterated any number of times on the mulitple hours of local, national and magazine type news shows is annoying.

[deepwaterdotter]

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@10sluvr wrote:

the political hearings are like soap operas. let us watch the real thing. Cspan is for government hearings.

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I watched the hearings today on CSPAN.  I found the writing much better than any soap opera.

[CrazyKittyLvr2]

Several years ago the local station broke in due to tornadoes in the viewing area.

Boy, did they get phone calls about breaking in on the soaps. 

Several businesses in one area were destroyed but thankfully no one died. 

Let's see, watch my soap or be glad I was warned in enough time to seek safe shelter.  Sorry, saving lives over rides soaps.

[cornicopia]

I used to love to watch Soap Operas to see the cute actors.  What more do you want?

[phoenixbrd]

I have never watched a soap nor has anyone in my family (past or present).  No judgements, just not interested,  If it pleases you, go for it!

[AuntG]

I have learned not to go into the town square and talk out loud to myself as someone is always eavesdropping. 

Happens a lot on Days of our Lives in particular.

[Laura14]

Soap operas were the first place many people including this young girl saw how a first kiss, a first dance, or a first boyfriend might play out. The teen storylines are usually fairly tame. 

For the adults, it was one of the first genres to introduce a non internet society to gay people, women's health, cancer diagnosis and treatments and the emotions that go with, signs of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, dating, etc) and what to do, mental illness and losing a child or a parent to dementia which has been done beautifully in the past few years on two different soaps.

Do they throw in outrageous adventure, love affairs, who's the daddy, blackmail, and meglomaniacs for a laugh and a good time? Absolutely. It caters to a specific audience and each soap has a different slant. 

If you do not know what BJ's heart is, you've missed one of the greatest storylines ever told in any drama ever. 

Some of us chose not to follow the real life meglomaniacs and in a now streaming 24/7 news world, it's unnecessary and rude to try and force us to become engaged in a spectacle we want no part of. Weather alerts are one thing. Political hearings belong on the internet. 

I just can't cope without my soap is mental health and self care at its finest from time to time for certain audience members and I am proud to count myself among them.