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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Soaps

17:10 / 30.03.03

Just wondering how many of you watch soaps? I watch three with very few redeeming features - Neighbours, which has become an unpleasant habit but one that I can't be bothered to shake while I'm stuck in the house all the time - Hollyoaks, which for the non-UK people amongst you, is a terrible, terrible soap mostly about teenagers in a fictional suburb of Chester. To make it worse, I was born in Chester. Oh how it makes me cringe. I watch Doctors which is about a GP surgery in the Midlands and which has already been sort of covered in my thread about medical dramas. I sometimes watch Dawson's Creek too.

I'm not even sure whether all of these are soaps. What makes a soap a soap? Not a medical drama, or a space opera, or a teen drama or a sit-com? Are there any identifiable differences? Can we draw up a chart of soap/non-soap? And, the real point - what soaps will you admit to watching?

17:20 / 30.03.03

I'm not sure Dawson's Creek counts, as it's not on all the time, which seems to be a defining feature of soaps. There's just somehting about the constant there-ness of them that seems to set them apart, in my mind, to programmes like Dawson's Creek, or any other soap-ish programme that is divided in series/seasons.

I watch EastEnders and Neighbours, and Dawson's Creek when it's on when I get up during the holidays. And Hollyoaks if I'm in front of the TV and it's on.

18:08 / 30.03.03

I get caught up in Eastenders quite often. That said, I came to the realisation on Friday that it currently doesn't have a single redeeming feature, being poorly-written, poorly-paced, poorly-acted and completely misanthropic. Plotlines are hackneyed and repetitive, their conclusions obvious months before the writers wrap them up. The cherry on the top is the piss-poor direction (got to love the use of musical montages and the recent decision to have one character walking away from the home she'd just been thrown out of in a sudden five-inch snowfall, framed in a crane shot. Niiiice).

18:18 / 30.03.03

When I'm home at the same time it's on which isn't very often, I watch Passions . It's just your basic soap opera with muppet demons and witchcraft tossed into the mix.

18:25 / 30.03.03

Passions is amazing.

The internal monologues are brilliant. I love that show. it makes me wish I had a television.

20:14 / 30.03.03

Randy's right. The snow in EE is just the best in the world- where does it come from? and why? and in spring??

By far the most annoying thing I've experienced for weeks were the shots of Lisa and Phil on that cliff top with the crane going up, and down, and up, and along, and looking down but going up... Christ, it was fucking horrible. I cna see why it must have been fun to film for the camera man but for fucks sake... it went on for ages! Up and down and down and swoop and up and FUCKIG FALL OFF INTO THE SEA ALREADY.

Also irrtating were all those "thus fulfilling the prophecy"* where everyone would go silent after something that had been mentioned before happened, like the man walking the dog seeing them fight, or the blood on Phil's jacket... We all have eyes and can see, you know...

And another thing- when Lisa gave his jacket back it flew away, dispite being heavy and having very large car keys in, but the thin paper monies did not fly away.

I have to stop noticing these things.

__________________________
*Yes, they annoy me in the Bible, too

22:13 / 30.03.03

Man, you're not wrong. When she ran into that branch and bust her nose I was expecting an action replay.

The standard response from UK soaps to criticisms of overblown plots is that, sure, you wouldn't expect all these things to happen to so small a group of people in real life, but as far as reflecting the issues in current society goes, they're pretty much bang on. And, for a while back there, it was probably true. Not any more, though, and that's what annoys me most; that they still pretend to be relevant when they're no more than pure escapism. The Queen Vic and Rovers Return must be the only pubs in the country where people aren't talking about the war/paedophiles/immigration/Michael Jackson.

With that in mind, I rilly enjoyed the few episodes of Sunset Beach that I saw, especially the ones with the good/evil twins. If you're going to do fantasy at least have the courage to take it to the extreme.

Regrettable Juvenilia

22:20 / 30.03.03

Eastenders is one of those things where I honestly don't know any more which bits are actually any good, and which bits I just excuse because it's such an addiction. I do agree with the criticism that 9 times out of 10, the viewer can see the plot 'twists' coming a mile away though - although not Roy's death, did anyone honestly expect that? - but come on, Phil Mitchell's roar of anguish at the mess of ruins and ashes that is his life - that was brilliant.

And Alfie rocks - who'd have thunk that Shane Ritchie could be so likeable? They need to hurry up and get him together with Kat though.

Foust is SO authentic

01:40 / 31.03.03

I spent a summer watching Days of Our Lives. Enough plot from two monthes of episodes to fill a half hour episode of friends.

The Return Of Rothkoid

02:27 / 31.03.03

Ah, Days Of Our Lives. The only soap that I've ever seen more than about three times (with years in-between viewings, mind you) and can still follow. I wish it were still in Mrs Chancellor's veiled period, though...

03:06 / 31.03.03

I'm a The Young & The Restless/Bold&Beautiful and General Hospital fan myself....

05:35 / 31.03.03

I used to watch Sunset beach all the time a few years back, I drop back in now and again it seems to always be the same day, probably just repeats, or scarily long plots.

pointless and uncalled for

06:26 / 31.03.03

I used to be a big fan of Neighbours and Eastenders until I switched countries. When I returned, I found that I couldn't managed the same impetus to watch them. On the other hand I now find The Bill very compelling.

Eastenders has however managed to spawn the line "Mum, I'm a killer" from Martin.

Really want to get that put on a T-shirt.

A

05:43 / 01.04.03

I watch Dawson't Creek, and I don't have to explain myself to any of you, so stop looking at me like that.

09:02 / 01.04.03

I used to watch Neighbours, Doctors and Sunset Beach.

Neighbours has just turned to utter crap recently, boring boring boring.

I loved Doctors last year during the Faith/ Liam/ Ben storyline but since I don't have a TeeVee anymore find it hard to keep up. Shame, because it was the only soap where I actually cared about any of the characters. Except Katrina.

And Sunset Beach, internal monologues, long winded flashbacks, wobbly sets and even wobbly-er acting. Fantastic! Minus- I think the series was cancelled.

10:30 / 01.04.03

My favourite soap by far is the WWE. Ludicrous storylines, dreadful acting and one-dimensional characters - it has all those and more. Fantastic!

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:07 / 01.04.03

I doubt it really qualifies as a soap, but by Christ Chances rocked ass. Especially when they just let rip and put endless amounts of weird shit into it.

12:50 / 01.04.03

Ah, Ellis, Sunset Beach was fantastic, wasn't it. They used to have an omnibus in the UK that I think pretty much covered the whole of Saturday afternoon. Perfect hungover post-Football Focus, pre-going out caned viewing.

Goodness Gracious Meme

21:44 / 03.04.03

What he said about the Sunset Beach omnibus. used to be the centre of my flats' weekend. just time after waking and pre FF to sort a fry-up, grab fags and settle in...

Eastenders. Don't catch it that often anymore, but whenI do I'm still hooked.

ER

And The Sopranos. Best Classy Soap Ever

00:07 / 04.04.03

When is a soap not a soap? That mention of Sopranos reminded me of a big telly addiction that I've suffered from for years: NYPD Blue. Despite slight concerns that one of the main reasons I'm so hooked to it is simply because I've watched it from the beginning, and the conviction that most people here likely hate it with a passion, there's one thing that keeps on dragging me back. Dennis Franz' portrayal of Sipowicz is, I'm convinced, the greatest bit of characterisation TV has produced to date. If and when he goes, the show dies, regardless of how good the scripts, direction or other actors are.