Soaps: Why?

[Matheous-2]

Probably need some male support here, but why do you ladies watch such drivel? - I wouldn't mind so much if any of them had a decent plot or story....!
They just seem to revolve around some of the rubbish people type on FB and other social sites. Either there is a dramatic car-crash which of course ends up with the obligatory dreaded 'hospital scene' .....Wouldn't even be so bad if they incorporated socially unacceptable bad habits - you all know what these are -just to encourage better social conscience & responsibility.
Sorrow if I'm a killjoy here- probably because I don't have the bravery I would need to complain to my own female family members, but I feel there must be much better 'soap' writers out there that don't depend on the often very good acting ability I have seen on the major soaps who really work hard to carry off such feeble story-lines who could really add imagination and flair to this daily drivel.

[B00]

as a female (no, honestly, I am!) I hear ya!

I cant stand soaps Real life is miserable enough, without watching it too. And they're not even true representations of real life either, it's like their lives are on speed or something. Within a year a soap couple, meet, all in love, get married have kids then pack said kids off to university (may be slight exaggeration) Then they divorce/ die/ kill one off and the circle starts again with another partner the following year- it's all just plain silly!

[shoota]

I'm with you too Mat.

'Doctors' is beyond dire.

[Islay]

I'm female and I don't watch soaps.

I think its because people like to watch misery in others!

[paddywak]

The stories all seem same,they just roll along from soap to soap somebody has an affair,a baby gets divorced etc every now and then there's a disaster or a murder to get rid of a few bits of deadwood,then it all starts up again.

[tearinghair]

Well I might reply 'why do you men watch such rubbish as football matches - always eleven men on each side running up and down a bit of turf, kicking a ball around'....but I won't. Never let it be said that we typecast men and women into separate camps or that different people enjoy different types of entertainment...

[Unsureme]

What do you watch then,Mat.?

[Baldric]

Don't like 'em, don't watch 'em, simples!

[pastafreak]

I'm not a fan either,yet I know that if you tune into something like EastEnders...having not recently or ever watched it...you will know every miserable storyline in minutes. They are designed to suck the viewer in...quickly.

[mrs_overall]

I am not a soap fan & agree they are drivel.
In their defence I have to say that soaps would be exceedingly dull if they mirrored real life.
If they made a soap of my Xmas day afternoon it would consist of gentle snores punctuated by the occasional "pass the Quality Street"

[pastafreak]

//...a baby gets divorced...//

Love it!!! ;-)
Certainly on the cards to happen...sometime. :-)

[anaxcrosswords]

To their credit, soap writers are actually quite clever. Whatever major storyline is going on, somewhere in the background is a “Will they, won’t they?” saga involving two characters, and that creates the emotional draw which I guess attracts more female than male viewers.
At the start of a relationship I was in some years ago, my girlfriend was addicted to Home & Away. We worked together, and always got back home just in time for her to catch the day’s episode. To begin with I think I simply tolerated it, but I fell into the trap of beginning to care about characters.
Some months on, my girlfriend uttered the fatal words: “I think they’d make a nice couple”. It told me all I needed to know about soaps.

[Barsel]

With me I think it's a habit. I only watch 2 soaps but I've watched them from the beginning and I wonder if perhaps I might now be addicted to them. Some of the time they are drivel but occasionally they have lighthearted scenes that make me smile or laugh, so I will keep watching just in case something happens to .....

[Matheous-2]

Well, I am surprised at your supportive responses! Thank you for that.....
In response to the footie thing- No, I really do not like football either!

I prefer factual documentaries and a bit of 'reality TV' etc. Not forgetting a bit of comedy, wildlife, science, history and so on....

[elliemay1]

Now what makes you watch the drivel that is 'reality TV'?

[-SharonA-]

I love Corrie, it is the only bit of escapism I have. I must admit some of the storylines stretch the imagination and there are lots of inaccuracies. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[bhg481]

There is no such thing as "reality TV". No-one but no-one behaves normally when a TV camera is pointing at them.

[elliemay1]

^ That's why I called it drivel

[Mrsspagnoli57]

Matheous-2. Why indeed??? Each to their own, naturally, but the height of drivel to me. The more worrying thing is that many men watch them too. Corrie/Eastenders/Emmerdale/Doctors.......et al, all put the 'G' in garbage.

[Matheous-2]

Realty TV although obviously regarded as 'drivel' here too, I still feel it's a notch above the 'soaps'.....In response to 'camera awareness' - they can be extremely small & unobtrusive to a point where many could easily forget about them, especially if present over a period days or even longer....IMO.
That might be an interesting programme! - The making of an RTV series.....?

[Mrsspagnoli57]

Hubby convinced that eventually we will have 'Celebrities on the Toilet' a game show 'on the run'