Like a lot of people around the world, I grew up with some knowledge of the existence of the entertainment genre known as the soap opera. As a small child, I watched daily soaps with my mother. Later, when I was in school, there were only sick days and summers to see them, but I kept up somewhat.
Mum and I mostly watched the CBS soaps (The Young & The Restless, The Bold & The Beautiful, As The World Turns, and Guiding Light) but I knew about the soaps on other networks. I think most everyone in the U.S. has at least heard some reference to Luke and Laura from "General Hospital" or Erica Kane from "All My Children" and a host of other famed characters.
I always just sort of grew up knowing that soaps had been around in one form or another since the days of radio. Like a lot of people, I figured they would be around forever. Oh, granted, some had been canceled over the years (Dark Shadows, Strange Paradise, Port Charles, The Secret Storm, Search for Tomorrow...the list goes on and on) but a lot of shows of all sorts get canceled. It never occurred to me to worry until the oldest of the shows started to drop like flies.
CBS canceled "Guiding Light" in 2009. The oldest continuously running U.S. soap, on the air since radio was the main mass media/communications source, and it winked out in a snap. Around that same time came the news that "As the World Turns" would be ending in 2010. And it did.
Now ABC is canceling All My Children ( the final episode of Pine Valley madness will air on the day after my birthday this year) and One Life to Live. The soaps are slowly disappearing, dying...and we can never know until they are gone just how much they meant.
Some of you may think that soaps aren't so great, that they are not important. That's your opinion and that's fine. But soaps are more than just the melodrama of cheating, switched babies, and evil twins. At their best, soaps are an escape from the mundanity and gloom of real life. They show us a little excitement, joy, danger...all the things people used to enjoy from their entertainments. Of course, it seems that "reality" shows (which are really just poorly scripted piles of drivel) are the order of the day. Some people find them entertaining, and that's fine. But there needs to be more than that. If you want reality, get out in the world and do something.
As for me, I'll miss the soaps. They were fun, weird, maddening...they were like going home, and the characters were like the largest, strangest dysfunctional family. Yes, they're annoying or insane, perhaps even a little evil, but we love them.
(Note: Head over to my Tumblr to see a collection of Soap Opera logos/opening title cards.)
Mum and I mostly watched the CBS soaps (The Young & The Restless, The Bold & The Beautiful, As The World Turns, and Guiding Light) but I knew about the soaps on other networks. I think most everyone in the U.S. has at least heard some reference to Luke and Laura from "General Hospital" or Erica Kane from "All My Children" and a host of other famed characters.
I always just sort of grew up knowing that soaps had been around in one form or another since the days of radio. Like a lot of people, I figured they would be around forever. Oh, granted, some had been canceled over the years (Dark Shadows, Strange Paradise, Port Charles, The Secret Storm, Search for Tomorrow...the list goes on and on) but a lot of shows of all sorts get canceled. It never occurred to me to worry until the oldest of the shows started to drop like flies.
CBS canceled "Guiding Light" in 2009. The oldest continuously running U.S. soap, on the air since radio was the main mass media/communications source, and it winked out in a snap. Around that same time came the news that "As the World Turns" would be ending in 2010. And it did.
Now ABC is canceling All My Children ( the final episode of Pine Valley madness will air on the day after my birthday this year) and One Life to Live. The soaps are slowly disappearing, dying...and we can never know until they are gone just how much they meant.
Some of you may think that soaps aren't so great, that they are not important. That's your opinion and that's fine. But soaps are more than just the melodrama of cheating, switched babies, and evil twins. At their best, soaps are an escape from the mundanity and gloom of real life. They show us a little excitement, joy, danger...all the things people used to enjoy from their entertainments. Of course, it seems that "reality" shows (which are really just poorly scripted piles of drivel) are the order of the day. Some people find them entertaining, and that's fine. But there needs to be more than that. If you want reality, get out in the world and do something.
As for me, I'll miss the soaps. They were fun, weird, maddening...they were like going home, and the characters were like the largest, strangest dysfunctional family. Yes, they're annoying or insane, perhaps even a little evil, but we love them.
(Note: Head over to my Tumblr to see a collection of Soap Opera logos/opening title cards.)
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