I’m not a soap kinda guy. Growing up, my father never let us watch soaps, on point of principle. If we got into the story, his theory was, then for that half hour, or more, each day, we wouldn’t do anything else. And he was probably right.
Nowadays, some eight years after leaving home for the first time, I don’t really watch soaps. It’s not the wasting time that worries me, I have enough ways as it is to waste time. What really gets me is the completely over the top storylines, the larger-than-life personalities and the complete absurdity of the whole thing.
Yes, I know, every so often one or other of the three or four main soap operas will deal with some “important issue”. And yes, the people who watch these programs are touched, and there are helplines set up, and those who have been affected by the issue at hand are helped, I guess.
But really, is it worth having hundreds of hours of excessive dramatics, which, although claiming to represent true life do nothing of the sort, in order to spend a few minutes dealing with important, topical issues?
No. That’s my answer.
To each his own, I suppose. Most people would probably call The West Wing a load of rubbish. I wish they would bring it back.