Quote:
Originally posted by Senusret I
But why does the word "gay" need to be used as a negative adjective?
Aside from that, I think that the writing in soap operas is some of the most innovative, intriguing, and complex storytelling that there is. I don't watch them all, but I like Days of Our Lives, and keep up with Passions and Young & the Restless.
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I agree with this.
I don't watch soap operas regularly -- for a while I was a semi-regular Passions/GH watcher and I still sometimes tune in -- but I think they can be done quite well. One of the advantages they have over traditional 30-hour sitcoms or even hourlong dramas is that their format lends itself much more easily to exploring issues that take a long time to develop -- one example given to me was Lizzie McGuire's "eating disorder" episode versus All My Children's storyline with Bianca's anorexia. I haven't seen either of these shows so I can't back that up, but it seems pretty clear that there are some important issues that take more than one episode to properly develop and end up looking shallow when you try to cover them in one half-hour segment, and many soaps do a very good job with these. I think there are a number of soaps that have won praise and awards for their explorations on subjects like breast cancer, abortion and adoption, etc.
And then of course there are shows like Passions that are supposed to be pure escapism and that's always good too.
I think the major thing about soaps is that when they're done well, they're very very good, but when they're done badly they're really bad.