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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not understand the appeal of soaps?

56 replies

ChaosTulyReigns · 12/04/2011 22:10

They just seem miserable and completely contrived.

Obviously I'm probably not one to properly comment as I haven't ever watched one for longer than a microsecond, but am already turned off after that period of time, so my comments are not founded from extensive research.

What are the plus points?

OP posts:
YouaretooniceNOT · 12/04/2011 23:40

I know somebody whiom attended red brick college at Oxford and loves Corrie!! so there!!

burntsienna · 13/04/2011 02:42

At one time I used to enjoy the soaps, but they are shite now - and there's a reason for that.

Back in prehistoric times they used to be on twice a week - yes, just 2 episodes, and this was the way it was for years. Then someone had the terrible idea of adding a third episode, all the others copied and before we knew where we were, they were on every bloody night. You cannot maintain such a high standard of writing, acting and storylines at that pace, and as a result they have become repetitive and ridiculous.

I am so glad I weaned myself off them.

Chil1234 · 13/04/2011 03:36

Soaps are a series of cliffhangers. Watch a couple of episodes and you might watch a third just to see what happens next in the storyline - however contrived or ridiculous it may be. It's the same as league football..... if you've never followed a team you don't get the appeal. But watch a team a few times, learn a few players' names and get interested in where they are in the XYZ competition and the same 'what happens next?' thing happens so you keep watching to find out.

Like all right-thinking individuals, I'm an Archers fan. A soap where nothing much happens, several times a week but we love it anyway.

FunnysInTheGarden · 13/04/2011 09:30

who said that soaps were for stupid people?

Olifin · 13/04/2011 10:10

I think soaps are for for bored people but I think that of TV generally. I can think of a lot more interesting things to do than watch TV; with the exception of films. I like a good film occasionally. There is so little on TV that is of any interest, IMO.

YouaretooniceNOT · 13/04/2011 10:20

I think soaps are for for bored people but I think that of TV generally.

ME TOO!!!

Asinine · 13/04/2011 10:20

I was interested in toonice's comment, saying that Easterenderseastenders made her feel better to see people with worse problems than her. That would explain why it's popular. I find it difficult to watch because they all talk very aggressively to each other, even a normal conversation sounds like a fight. I don't like the dcs to see it because of that, but MIL thought that was strange (she is a big fan).

Olifin · 13/04/2011 10:26

Glad it's not just me YouaretooniceNOT.

I say that as someone who used to watch a LOT of TV, as a teenager, a student, a twenty-something. I used to tune in to any old shit but I feel differently about it now and I don't miss it at all.

Eastenders is utterly grim and dysfunctional not to mention ridiculous.

mrsoliverramsay · 13/04/2011 10:31

I used to watch soaps but sort of grew out them. I have no problem with people who watch them. I detest TV snobbery. I can watch Question Time then switch over to Kerry Katona. I watch what interests me. My mother, however, is obssessed with soaps. She still watches Home and Away and Neighbours as well. She explained that watching soaps was the most interesting thing she did all day so I assume that for a lot of people it's just boredom.

thebestisyettocome · 13/04/2011 10:33

I don't watch Eastenders but do like to dip into Corrie and Emmerdale when I can. I think TV should offer something for everybody and I think people who are snobby about TV are hilarious. Episodic stories for the masses have been around for a very long time. Think penny dreadfuls for example.

meditrina · 13/04/2011 10:52

Dickens, I suppose, was an early and literary example of the appeal of a serial.

I don't see any problem with the genre per se.

How well the current crop of soaps uses the conventions of the genre for long lasting story telling is another matter. I've a long-standing Corrie habit and enjoy the easy familiarity with characters I've been watching for decades. I don't like soaps which rattle through characters and story lines suddenly (something which has weakened Corrie recently IMHO), nor the rate of sensational story lines. But the suspension of disbelief to look into the "lives" of others is, at root, the same as all other story-telling forms, and it's just personal taste whether you like any particular one, or none at all.

MooMooFarm · 13/04/2011 11:03

They are all crap! I stopped watching them as soon as I left home around 15 years ago now. What really annoys me is that my (lovely) mum regularly comes round and moans about some ridiculour character or storyline in a soap.

mum: 'ooh you know that one, that girl with the baby in eastenders'..

me: 'I don't watch soaps'

mum: 'but you know who I mean, that girl with the baby, the one with the dark hair'

me: 'I don't know who she is, I've not watched soaps for years'.

mum: 'oh you must know who I mean, she's always on the telly - anyway the story is ridiculous, that poor girl - I want to shout a the telly'

me: 'well stop bloody watching it then!'.

To be repeated next week.....

MaundyBra · 13/04/2011 18:12

YANBU - it's the time involved that I don't get. My mum spends half her life recording and watching Corrie and Eastenders - it must add up to about 7 or 8 hours a week with all her other things she watches. There are so many better things to waste time on (like MN!)

Mirage · 13/04/2011 20:59

MooMooFarm,are you one of my SIL's? MIL does exactly the same thing despite me telling her for the past 17 years that we never watch soaps.When she comes to stay the whole evening has to be structured around Corrie,Emmerdale and EastEnders.And she buys magazines about what is going to happen in them too.

MooMooFarm · 13/04/2011 21:02

Ha you've got me wondering now! May have to google your previous MN posts to check Grin

usualsuspect · 13/04/2011 21:03

You can just slob out on a sunday morning and watch the Emmerdale omnibus ..if you wanted too like I do

twooter · 13/04/2011 21:22

As a student, I was in CUNAS - Cambridge univ neighbours appreciation society. Until I had children, especially when living alone, I would regularly do the neighbours- homeand away-emerdale-corrie- eastenders-brookie run, with hollyoaks added in at some point.

Now, I watch no soaps, and look down on those who do!

usualsuspect · 13/04/2011 21:23

I miss Brookside Sad

mumutd · 13/04/2011 21:24

YANBU, I can't stand them. When I visit my parents I have to endure them, well I find other things to do, I just don't get them.

YouaretooniceNOT · 13/04/2011 21:26

I loved/miss Early Doors - stopped making them after a few series.

MooMooFarm · 13/04/2011 21:26

Ha! You've just reminded me that I used to watch the Hollyoaks repeats on a Sunday morning years ago - but I always had a hangover so maybe that doesn't count?

goodbyemrschips · 13/04/2011 21:27

I miss Brookside too.

usual....did you read about Terry Sullivan today?

usualsuspect · 13/04/2011 21:28

Barry Grant Sad

usualsuspect · 13/04/2011 21:28

yes I did Shockgoodbyemrschips

goodbyemrschips · 13/04/2011 21:34

It was Terry was'nt it?

I liked Terry he was the nice guy. Barry was the bad guy.

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