Cleaned Out

In life things are always in transition. There never is that status quo, because things are always moving and changing, so when something comes into being we ought not to be surprised, nor should we when something else fades away, no matter how big it is or seems to be. I'm presently thinking of soap operas. This is something I like the idea of much more so than I like the thing itself. I admire the formidable task of generating five hours of scripted programming a week. I have an affection for them and all their trappings, silly though they can be.

Regrettably, soap operas are heading out. I have recently read of two long-running series being cancelled, and on the same day. That's got to be something of a death knell coming as it does on the heels of several others getting axed in recent months, some of them being older than television itself. It's a real sea change, no doubt about it. Within a few years, there will be none left at all, no matter what they say about those shows that remain the strongest.

I understand why, and it's partly of course that they play to bored housewives who probably haven't existed in large numbers for decades, but they are worlds better than the shows that are likely to replace them. It's the money. They are awfully expensive compared to the relatively budget-less talk shows that will undoubtedly supplant them, and they no longer draw remarkably better ratings. It's a shame. I don't begrudge the decision based on money, but I'm sorry that the money points towards mediocre bicker-fests and not the more respectable (!) soaps.

Maybe I should watch them while I can, something like Costner's character in 'Dances With Wolves'. There's a quality about them that's difficult to define. Soaps may be a relic from a different era, but it's a style of acting that is very compelling and which will be utterly absent from the earth when those shows are over. The actors who populate them seem to remain in that circuit instead of moving on to presumably more lucrative endeavors, and yet they seem quite talented at making something of the material they are given.

As I said, life in constantly in transition, and taste does seem cyclical. Perhaps soaps will come back for the sake of nostalgia or irony or some other reason. I hope they do, because we're better off with them. There are actually likeable people in them, and they can triumph over the villains. No one talks over anyone, everyone listens and every says things that are based on some kind of thought that took place beforehand. These are things absent on the group talk shows, and too often in life. I do hope soaps come back.