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AIBU?

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Original poster

To give up on the 'soaps'

94 replies

Unicorn1981 · 26/09/2016 09:32

Seriously I am watching EE, Emmerdale and Coronation Street. The latter I still quite like but they are all pretty boring with the same predictable storylines. Thing is I've been watching them so long it's like a habit! Has anyone stopped watching and not missed them?

OP posts:
Gottagetmoving · 26/09/2016 13:04

I watch Corrie and Eastenders but none of the others. I think I am addicted to EE because I think the storylines are really far fetched and the interactions between characters is always hostile and angry but I keep having to watch. I have no idea how the characters manage to live in London on working in a corner shop/pub/launderette wages? Or why they always buy clothes from the market....even wedding outfits?
I think I need to stop watching.....Grin

LittleLionMansMummy · 26/09/2016 13:08

Gave up on EE as I just found it so depressing and couldn't stand all the shouting and violence. There's enough of that in real life. Still love Corrie - they do comedy characters brilliantly and there's always something light hearted running alongside the more serious storylines.

stitchglitched · 26/09/2016 13:08

I stopped watching them all over 2 years ago, I used to be obsessed but I just lost interest and found I didn't miss them. DP watches EE so I will occasionally see it if it's on and I'm in the room but thats it.

stitchglitched · 26/09/2016 13:11

Meant to say that Corrie was the one I loved but the quality nosedived so dramatically a couple of years ago, lazy predictable writing and lack of attention to detail and the character histories. Kevin forgetting he'd lost a child was one low point. I agree it jumped the shark, its a shame.

R4 · 26/09/2016 13:12

Come over to radioland. We've had our fair share of ridiculous stories, inconsistencies and shark-jumping in The Archers but ... we've just got rid of our editor (hurray!) to EE (sorry. Actually, not sorry at all) and are already seeing some signs of return to normality.
Since it's on the radio, you can always do other things (cooking, ironing, whatever) at the same time so it's not quite so bad in the there's-fifteen-minutes-of-my-life-I'll-never-get-back stakes.

Twooter · 26/09/2016 13:16

I used to watch about 3 hours a night - neighbours, home and away, holly oaks, corrie, emerdsle, eastenders and brookie. Gave up cold turkey 13 years ago and delighted to have time to actually do other stuff. Admittedly I was living by myself at the time, so it was 'company '.

wasonthelist · 26/09/2016 13:19

YANBU Stopped watching this nonsense years ago and weaned myself off The Archers too - any time spent watching/listening is a total waste of life.

TaterTots · 26/09/2016 13:19

I have no idea how the characters manage to live in London on working in a corner shop/pub/launderette wages? Or why they always buy clothes from the market....even wedding outfits?

Haven't you just answered your own question?

mollie123 · 26/09/2016 13:21

still catch Neighbours sometimes - for the sheer insanity of the storylines and because I like Dr Karl and Susan (if they left - so would I)
given up on Corrie after many years but do dip in occasionally to see if it has improved (it hasn't)
the archers - hate what it has become and the obsession with dreary Helen but may rejoin if there is more proper Archers stuff in it Smile

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 26/09/2016 13:24

I made a conscious decision years ago not to get involved in soaps. I realised how much time I was losing watching something about characters I don't really care about. I don't miss them one bit.

R4 · 26/09/2016 13:24

mollie You've just missed the Flower and Produce show!

Greyponcho · 26/09/2016 13:27

Haven't watched them for 4 years now (EE, Corrie, emmerdale, hollyoaks...) & don't miss them one little bit.
I think once you give them up you wonder why you spent so much time watching them when you did...

leccybill · 26/09/2016 13:41

Gave up on Corrie when Hayley died.

Caught it a week or so ago for first time- it all just seemed so old-fashioned and stuck in a time warp. Also, the actress playing Bethany is clearly much older than the character so it's very unbelievable.

With the advent of Netflix and Amazon Prime etc, there's so much high quality programming out there- why would I want to watch the small-time goings-on in a Northern town where nothing really happens?

Gottagetmoving · 26/09/2016 13:42

Haven't you just answered your own question
Ha,...I see what you mean....but even the better off characters get their clothes from the market. I was more meaning how they paid their rent and can afford to eat in the cafe and drink in the pub every day?

TaterTots · 26/09/2016 13:46

Yeah, the 'Wot we gonna do? We ain't got no money!' storylines where they can somehow still afford to have a fry-up in the caff and a drink in the Vic annoy me.

DoreenLethal · 26/09/2016 13:48

Do people still watch this nonsense?

AndYourBirdCanSing · 26/09/2016 13:55

I gave up Emmerdale a s Corrie a couple of years ago which felt fantastically liberating. I have always watched EE but have just decided this weekend to stop having realised that I actually find it bloody boring. It has gone majorly downhill and I actually can't be bothered anymore

BabooshkaKate · 26/09/2016 14:45

Yes, I used to watch Neighbours, EastEnders and Hollyoaks. I now don't watch anything.

With neighbours, I started doing a hobby in the afternoon when I'd usually watch it. With HO I went on holiday, then was sick and didn't watch it for a month and didn't recognise lots of characters and found that I didn't care. EE just kind of dropped off, I think I was bored of the ludicrous storylines mixed in with the mindnumbing blandness.

DramaInPyjamas · 26/09/2016 14:55

I used to watch them all religiously, even the crappy stuff like Eldorado, River City, Family Affairs and Night & Day!
There was a Welsh one called Tiger Bay and a weird one called Springhill(?) back in the 90's that I quite liked.

Nowadays it's just Corrie and Eastenders. And I haven't seen either of them since the beginning of 2016.
I can't watch Eastenders as I don't have a TV licence atm, and I'll watch Corrie again when they get rid of Fiz!

I would like to watch Home & Away and Neighbours again from the beginning.

MargotLovedTom · 26/09/2016 15:04

Joe Wicks was lining his room with tin foil last time I watched EastEnders Grin, stopped watching Emmerdale when Matthew King was killed and I gave up on Corrie just after Carla left. Have never bothered with any of the others (apart from Neighbours feat. Kylie and Jason when I was at school!).
Don't miss them tbh.

SallyGardens · 26/09/2016 15:22

I gave up on them 15 years ago when DC1 was a baby. Never regretted it.

RegTheMonkey1 · 26/09/2016 15:28

Gave up all soaps about 10 years ago, and don't miss them at all. It doesn't have free up a lot of time!

Original poster
Unicorn1981 · 26/09/2016 22:30

Ha ha. Thanks for all your comments. They made me laugh. I just found while I was watching them I was looking at my phone or generally drifting off. I guess I'm worried I'll miss a big storyline but nothing has happened in any of them for ages. I think I'll siphon Emmerdale off to start with as it is utterly rubbish imho. I haven't watched any of them tonight. Caught up on cold feet instead.

OP posts:
Velvetdarkness · 26/09/2016 22:42

I watched EE avidly for years. I'd record it and never missed an episode. I stopped watching about six or so months ago and haven't missed it at all.

e1y1 · 26/09/2016 22:49

I only watch Emmerdale - well, being from West Yorkshire you have to Grin.

I have watched them all on and off over the years, but they're on so often now; some of them twice in a night!