Magically Soapalicious

There are people who like to watch things over. My husband is one of them. He will watch his favorite movies over and over. He watched Groundhog’s Day on DVD last week and he’s probably seen it 100 times. There are people who enjoy watching Nick at Night and Hulu and watching “classic” episodes of Happy Days or The Nanny. I am not one of those people. Sure, I have exceptions to that rule, and 99% of them are Christmas based. I’ll watch “Miracle on 34th Street” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” every Christmas without fail. But in general, I’m not interested in watching something I’ve already seen. I have a storyline driven mind, which is why Soaps are such a great fit for me. If I already know what happens next, I’m no longer engaged. “What happens next?” is the driving force for my viewing of serialized and episodic TV. Thus, when we’re right in the middle of a juicy storyline on Thursday, I look forward to Friday. I’m dying to see what happens next. But I didn’t/ Instead, I got home from w...

There is a certain camaraderie among people who watch soaps. Maybe more like a secret society. When people find out I am a Soap Columnist, they whisper to me in hushed tones about their own shameful soap viewing habit. Professional people who think being a fan of Daytime Drama would make people take them less seriously, or are slightly embarrassed that they enjoy such lowly entertainment. But here’s the thing – I think Daytime has an undeservedly bad rap. With the junk that passes for TV these days, Soaps seem to be quite high brow in my opinion. There are shows where people try to balance on giant rubber balls and not fall into vats of water. There are shows where a dozen or so women throw themselves at one smug bachelor who then says eeny meeny miney moe and picks one to be his wife after making out with all of them. There’s a show where grown adults try to pick up paper clips with a fish hook in their mouth or balance cookies on their heads to win a million dollars. There’s a show w...