Why Is What Happens In Soaps Considered News?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59857385
My dislike of soaps is well known and I rarely join into threads about them but isn't it a sad indictment of society that these shows amuse and addict so many supposedly "intelligent" people? So much so that the comings and goings are considered news? Are the lives of so many so empty that they must indulge in this depressing drivel?

[jno]

weekend newspapers, especially tabloid ones, often have fluffier stories on their front pages than would be the case during the week.

[lankeela]

Aren't soaps just the modern day equivalent of books by Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Catherine Cookson and the like? Would you call them drivel? Just because we choose to watch the progress of the characters rather than just read about them doesn't make them any less relevant and they often have storylines that reflect society.

[lankeela]

I think I should probably have said Dickens rather than Shakespeare but you know what I mean!

[Cloverjo]

I don’t watch Eastenders but I LOVE Danny Dyer. I watch The WAWW [london accent required] because of him.
I’m not surprised he’s leaving EE. I’ve seen him the West End and he’s brilliant

[royfromaus]

Silly me, I thought a question required one of these...


?

[ToraToraTora]

Lankeela, I don't think you could call any of the works of those authors soaps. They wrote clear self contained stories, perhaps the odd sequel. Perhaps characters returned for new stories but soaps lasting decades where every possible bad thing happens in an area about half a square mile? Where nothing good happens? No comparison.

[emmie]

i don't watch soaps, life can be depressing enough without adding to it.

[barry1010]

You say you don't watch soaps, TTT, but claim to know a lot about them.

Good things do happen in Corrie (it's the only soap I watch). People recover from cancer, addictions, serious injury; they survive domestic violence, rape and other trauma; they find love in later life, have babies that are wanted, reach their goals and ambitions, win big money prizes, have a rollicking good laugh with their friends and family.
There is voluntary work, charitable causes, community and society.

[dave50]

Soaps have become a constant deluge of violence, misery and despair with hardly any humour that's why my wife and I stopped watching them a few years ago. Any trailer on TV advertising what's coming up on any soap confirms our decision was correct.

[ToraToraTora]

barry: "You say you don't watch soaps, TTT, but claim to know a lot about them." - I don't have to they are reported like news, I see trailers etc, sometimes I can't dive for the remote quick enough to turn them off. I do have some knowledge from about 18 years ago, one of my wives watched them.

[barry1010]

dave, they highlight the traumas in trailers because that is what drives the viewing figures up.

The good thing about any tv programme is that nobody is forced to watch it.

[ToraToraTora]

barry: "dave, they highlight the traumas in trailers because that is what drives the viewing figures up. " - yes and that is what I find so sad, millions of people want to watch bad/sad/ugly things happen to other people on a several hours a week basis.

[pat2604]

Barry 9.33

Which is why I only watch Corrie. Particularly for the humou.

/Good things do happen in Corrie (it's the only soap I watch). People recover from cancer, addictions, serious injury; they survive domestic violence, rape and other trauma; they find love in later life, have babies that are wanted, reach their goals and ambitions, win big money prizes, have a rollicking good laugh with their friends and family.
There is voluntary work, charitable causes, community and society./

[pat2604]

stopped watching EastEnders years and years ago. All they do is shout andcscream at each other in horrible voices. In hate that accent and I'm a Londoner, but a suff Londoner!!

[Teapots1]

I've always put it down to being nothing more than a habit. Because the writing and acting is appalling. And I'm sorry to say this but many people who do watch it are brainwashed in my opinion.

[jno]

Lankeela, yes, Dickens is good - he wrote a lot of his books as serials at first and you had to buy the following edition of the mazine to find out what happened next. They were only gathered into book form later.

There was a story about hundreds of people gathering around a ship arriving in New York from London, desperately asking passengers if Little Nell was still alive.

[pat2604]

And if all the actors are rubbish, teapot, just look at the list I posted. Also, a lot of actors in soaps have gone on to bigger and better things. Some are rubbish, I agree, but there's a lot of talent too. If you don't watch soaps then don't assume. And don't be rude to those that do. I think a lot of TV is total rubbish, but don't thinking brain is superior to those who watch.

[pat2604]

And I'm certainly not brainwashed!!

[Teapots1]

A handful have gone on to better things, because they found that corrie was wrecking their chances and future of working with good writers and other good actors. The rest just like the easy option of bad acting and a nice steady income. The latter who have been with corrie that long no one else wants them.