Soaps

Anna Gregoline | August 13, 2004
Watching the "soaps" has become an American pastime. Why are these television shows so popular?

Scott Hardie | August 13, 2004
I'm guessing there's only one reason: The complicated ongoing storyline. You get sucked in easily, and you fear missing a day. Besides, for people who are home to watch them, there's little competition at that time of day. Primetime shows have to compete with other primetime shows, not to mention dinner and phone calls and other nightly business.

Anna Gregoline | August 13, 2004
That's what's weird about it though - the story lines go so slowly - they are complicated, but SLOW. You can miss two weeks sometimes and still be in touch with what's going on.

Anthony Lewis | August 19, 2004
It doesn't hurt that today's soaps are full of beatuiful men and women.

It's another world. When you have a housewife that has to cook, clean, take care of the baby...it offers a world of escape. You get connected to the characters. They become (I hate to say) part of the family...which is one of the reasons why soaps get a bad rap, when a person can't seperate the fantasy from reality. I am a mark for soaps, although I don't watch much anymore. But I'm not ashamed to admit that I've laughed, cheered and cried over certain storylines.

Like I said...soaps get a bad rap, but they feature the hardest working actors in the business. They work 12-14-16 hours a day, learning 90 pages of dialogue on average. I mark out more for soap actors than for mainstream Hollywood actors. I shrug my shoulders at Charlize, but wherever Rena Sofer is, or Mary Beth Evans or Sarah Brown, or Elizabeth Hendrickson, or Marissa Ramirez, or Terri Ivens, or Alisha Minshew, or Rebecca Budig, or Martha Byrne (I could go on and on)....

Wherever they are, I'll be there.

Jackie Mason | August 19, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | August 19, 2004
It's a terrifying moment when that happens - and it can change how people view the character and how they write for it. I think that one of the characters I used to watch got a lot meaner after they changed actresses - the other actress was just too nice-seeming.

Melissa Erin | August 19, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | August 19, 2004
Don't forget eating disorders!

Melissa Erin | August 19, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | August 19, 2004
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Melissa Erin | August 19, 2004
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John Viola | August 20, 2004
Come on people - don't hold back your true feelings on Anthony's account - tell us what you really think! :-D

Scott Hardie | August 20, 2004
Lifetime shows movies? I thought their schedule was comprised entirely of Golden Girls reruns.

Scott Horowitz | August 20, 2004
I like how Family Guy described Lifetime. Lifetime: Television for Idiots.

Anthony Lewis | August 20, 2004
Scott: Not only that...but Lifetime has their own movie channel.

Lifetime movies are the bomb! I like them a lot. The only thing is, a man has to catch them from the beginning and get interested. A man doesn't say "Hey...I wonder what movie is on Lifetime now." But they have some good shit on there. I admit it.

Re: Daytime soaps. The one thing that pisses me off is S.O.R.A.S....Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. This is when a character that was a child three years ago, is now 16-17 and having sex. It burns me up. I happens more often than not, and it makes me mad. Eh, it's a small complaint.

Anthony Lewis | August 20, 2004
Jackie - "The only think that sucks about that is they quit so often and have to be replaced by other people that sorta look like them."

And there's the rare occasion a show makes a recast and casts someone who comes NOWHERE near the description of the original character. Case in point - One Life To Live. The character of Blair Kramer Buchanan Manning was originally played by Mia Korf...an actress of Asian descent. She was replaced by Kassie Wesley DePaiva. No, she is nowhere near being Asian.

But she's a damn good Blair.