tv-anywhere.net

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Do British Soaps Make The Nation Depressed?

I am not a soap watcher. I find the whole thing a rather dull and an unproductive way of spending an evening after working hard during the day. Why would I want to watch a bunch of fictional characters live their lives on one road with all the apparent problems they face. This isn’t a film, it isn’t going to end. You’re going to spend your whole life watching someone else’s life. Turn the TV off, and go and enjoy your own life. The soaps are on week in, week out. What I ask is what is their purpose? They sure as hell don’t make people feel good about themselves. Instead I think it teaches people all the wrong things, go to the pub every night, have a few drinks, have a row, have an affair with the person across the road, and escape to the airport in a black cab.

I had a mate once who lived their life according to the schedule of the soaps, you name it, she watched it. Coronation Street, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale. The lot. Sometimes she would leave work excited to get home to spend the entire night watching soaps from the week. The saddest part of this story is when Sky+ was created, she started recording the soaps, so she never missed another episode. The key to this little anecdote is ‘I had a mate’, ‘had’ being the operative word.