The Authentic Life: Facts about Soap Operas

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Facts about Soap Operas

Who out there watches a soap opera? I do. I've been watching Days of Our Lives for years. But I didn't start there.

When I was either in junior high or high school, my sister and I started watching Guiding Light. We watched that one for a while before we got hooked on Days of Our Lives. I also in my early married years got addicted to As The World Turns. I watched several soaps from one channel.

My mom, sister and I began watching Days Of Our Lives, back in the days of Kayla and Patch and the Stockholm mystery with bad guy Orpheus. My mothers favorite scene was when Kayla got captured by Orpheus and it showed her being really surprised when Patch came in and rescued her. That scene got played over and over again.

Sometimes my mom would tape the show when we were in college and we all were busy earlier in the day. When we would come home, my mom would wait for us to get our cup of coffee or a late lunch and then we would settle down to watch the days events.

The basic facts about watching a soap opera is that the scenarios go on for months on end.

If you miss your soap opera for weeks on end or even during the summer time when your kids are home and they rule the tv channels, you can catch up on your soap opera in the fall and get right back to where you left off. You aren't missing much.

A dead person can always come back to life.

Family members and other cast can always reprise a roll years later. Like with Days of Our Lives this last summer or fall, they brought back Marlena, Roman, Austin, Carrie, and a few other members.

People are always getting buried alive, poisoned, shot and kidnapped, and they always get rescued.

There is always betrayal, lies and deceit and things getting covered up. Blackmail, adultery, sleeping with the sisters husband and it stays locked up for many months.

Storylines get prolonged.

Actors or actresses go to another soap opera. Eileen Davidson went from Young and the Restless to Days of Our Lives.

Soap operas are addicting. We all have our favorite characters or storylines we like to watch. My favorite recently has been the Jennifer Horton and Daniel scenes. And then they also had to bring back Jack Deveruex. A thorn in the side.

And then there is always the natural disaster that leaves all your characters either sleeping or dead or wounded. And the character that has the elevator accident, but it really was planned.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 25, 2012