The Soaps

Robin Agnew

I'm a proud viewer of General Hospital, a habit I picked up in college when a group of us gathered in the TV lounge to give Luke and Laura a champagne toast on their wedding day.  30 some years later, I'm still hooked (and Luke is still a venerable GH presence).  GH has gotten me through laundry, breastfeeding, and bouts of sadness.  It's been a constant.  Many moons agao I worked at a downtown hotel in Minneapolis (pre-VCR) and I'd sneak into the kitchen to trade GH tidbits with one of the cooks.  

I can only imagine the sadness and teeth gnashing occuring for fans of One Life to Live and All My Children - two shows I watched occasionally during between college summers.  I love Erica and Vicki as much as the next person, though a favorite character of mine was Judith Light's.  But this constant is going to go away for thousands and thousands of people.

There are all sorts of ways I hate the way the world changes so fast, and I guess this is just a small piece.  I do think narrative storytelling - of which soap operas are about the purest form you can come by - is something hardwired into the human brain.  I've never called them watching my "stories" as some people do, but I feel that way.  The charm of them is that the characters age and even die - it's like life, only they have better hair and better clothes and they don't have to work so much.  It's just plain better!

As I've watched the writing on soaps has only seemed to get better, as has the acting, and indeed there's a huge roster of A-list stars who got their start on soaps - Melissa Leo, Amanda Seyfried, Kelly Ripa, Leonardo DiCaprio to name a few - the list is a long one.  Recently on GH there's been a storyline with a lost child and a grandparent responsible for the death, a story taking in grief, alcoholism and even organ donation.  Across the board the writing and acting have been wonderful.

I'd have a definite hole in my life without GH (which I now watch on hulu much of the time) and I'm not sure that hole could be filled by "The Chew", a replacement show scheduled by ABC featuring cooking.  I like scripts, actors and sets - I'm sure all those things are expensive.  But in a changing world my "stories", which still include Luke Spencer, are something to hold onto.

 

Comments

[twitter.com/trow125]

I'm not a soaps watcher, though my late grandmother was hooked on "The Young & the Restless." However, I wonder if the declining popularity of the afternoon soaps is a result of the surge in reality shows like "Jersey Shore" and "The Real Housewives of [wherever]"? I don't watch those programs either, but my impression is that they're just as fake and just as scripted as the afternoon soaps -- the acting is worse, though!

[Robin Agnew]

And the people aren't as attractive...I like a scripted story personally.

[Martha Seaman McKee]

I remember watching "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" when they were 15 minutes shows in the 50s. There are some reality shows I like - Dancing with the Stars, for one - but nothing beats scripts - I do think listening to stories is a human need, like religion, music and dancing.