The End of the Soap Opera

I do not know what it says about our culture that with a thousand televsion channels that the major networks are all cutting soap operas out of the schedule. This is not a life shattering problem but it does signify an end ....to something.

I grew up in the heyday of soaps. I can remember coming home from kindergarten after a half day ...and sitting down to eat my chicken noodle soup while my Mom watched Love of Life. When I was in high school the girls in our group watched Guiding Light and I can still tell you the plot lines of Phillip, Beth, Mindy and Rick. I remember the Fourth of July episodes and one always wanted to be at the Bauer barbecue. These shows reflected the culture, and the cultural changes, sometimes following, sometimes leading.

My mother, in her eighties, has found the death of the soap operas disheartening. Nearly blind she more listened than watched but she did value the shows. I have to wonder how it feels to have shows you watched for fifty years end with the explanation there is no market anymore.

These shows are just shows and if any show is worth getting upset over is a question that I cannot answer. I do know that I feel the passing with a tug of nostalgia as well. The soap operas featured commercials which are in the brain forever. Do you remember the Ancient Chinese secret, The quicker picker upper, and Ivory snow. I can still remember the commercials.

In the last couple of years we have let go of the Bauer, Lewis and Spaulding families on GL and the Hughes family on ATWT. ABC fans will have the same loss later this year. It is a passing that I regret.