DisclaimerohwaitIjustlikediggingholes
I'd like to apologise for my previous post. My allegations about Satan being the instigator of neighbours was quite biased and unfounded in its nature. I don't hate neighbours...
...Actually, you know what?
I think that on this one point I'm going to stop being such a left-wing pinko and actually say that yes, I really despise soaps. I might take a perverse pleasure in watching them, but only because in my mind I'm picking apart every nanosecond of second-rate trash they're throwing at me.
Soapies are an evil construct of an evil society to promote evil ideas in soon-to-be evil people. Just think about what kind of culture soapies are promoting - an isolated, introspective and melodramatic community with semi-likeable characters involved in dubious behaviour. I liken it to a community in which every single member has a tabloids' worth of events happen to them each day. An uber-dramatic society if you will.
Of course, if this happened in real life, knowing Australians, we'd probably cope by adjusting our social norms. By this I mean if Neighbours was real, you could easily expect the following conversation to occur regularly between friends:
"So hows the baby?"
"Oh it's orright. By that I mean, well it's in a better place now. My father-in-law ran over it with a lawnmower to take revenge for my sabotaging his prize-winning petunias. Luckily he's in a coma now due to the fact that my ex-wife ran into him with our SUV after he killed our firstborn. Of course, that drove her a little, y'know, cuckoo, so she's just gone and driven that brand new wedding present of a car off the cliff. Pity really, I could've gotten a hell of a trade in for it. Anyway yeah, so if you'll pardon the pun you can see that we're now separated, and I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to continue on with the family business. I can remember, it was just last week my secretary shagged my father-in-law to try and get me fired! Ah, good times. I'm going to have to have her 'removed', but y'know, you gotta do what you gotta do. Meanwhile, this hurricane that's bearing down on us is gettin' a bit stormy, I probably better get back to try and ... oh wait, there she goes. Wassat? nah, don't worry about it, I was just going to go home and try and batten down the hatches but I just saw the house fly past the bar - mind if I crash at your place tonight mate? Yeah no worries. Don't worry, I won't try any of those shennanigans like when I was going through my "phase" a year back... Heh heh. Yeah. Ah well. Then tomorrow I guess I'll try and dig my car out of the mangroves, I've got a hunch that perhaps because our car wasn't retrievable that my wife might still be alive, trapped with a bubble of air beneath the surface, y'know? I might also see if the house is retrievable. At least, I'm pretty sure the priceless treasure-map that my grandfather passed down to us should be retrievable. Just a hunch. Ah well, whatever happens happens I guess."
"Yep, these things do happen."
-Fin-
...Actually, you know what?
I think that on this one point I'm going to stop being such a left-wing pinko and actually say that yes, I really despise soaps. I might take a perverse pleasure in watching them, but only because in my mind I'm picking apart every nanosecond of second-rate trash they're throwing at me.
Soapies are an evil construct of an evil society to promote evil ideas in soon-to-be evil people. Just think about what kind of culture soapies are promoting - an isolated, introspective and melodramatic community with semi-likeable characters involved in dubious behaviour. I liken it to a community in which every single member has a tabloids' worth of events happen to them each day. An uber-dramatic society if you will.
Of course, if this happened in real life, knowing Australians, we'd probably cope by adjusting our social norms. By this I mean if Neighbours was real, you could easily expect the following conversation to occur regularly between friends:
"So hows the baby?"
"Oh it's orright. By that I mean, well it's in a better place now. My father-in-law ran over it with a lawnmower to take revenge for my sabotaging his prize-winning petunias. Luckily he's in a coma now due to the fact that my ex-wife ran into him with our SUV after he killed our firstborn. Of course, that drove her a little, y'know, cuckoo, so she's just gone and driven that brand new wedding present of a car off the cliff. Pity really, I could've gotten a hell of a trade in for it. Anyway yeah, so if you'll pardon the pun you can see that we're now separated, and I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to continue on with the family business. I can remember, it was just last week my secretary shagged my father-in-law to try and get me fired! Ah, good times. I'm going to have to have her 'removed', but y'know, you gotta do what you gotta do. Meanwhile, this hurricane that's bearing down on us is gettin' a bit stormy, I probably better get back to try and ... oh wait, there she goes. Wassat? nah, don't worry about it, I was just going to go home and try and batten down the hatches but I just saw the house fly past the bar - mind if I crash at your place tonight mate? Yeah no worries. Don't worry, I won't try any of those shennanigans like when I was going through my "phase" a year back... Heh heh. Yeah. Ah well. Then tomorrow I guess I'll try and dig my car out of the mangroves, I've got a hunch that perhaps because our car wasn't retrievable that my wife might still be alive, trapped with a bubble of air beneath the surface, y'know? I might also see if the house is retrievable. At least, I'm pretty sure the priceless treasure-map that my grandfather passed down to us should be retrievable. Just a hunch. Ah well, whatever happens happens I guess."
"Yep, these things do happen."
-Fin-
posted by Luke at 5:13 PM
11 Comments:
Hey that all happened on Neighbours last week Luke. You been watchin'?
*rofl*
All too true......
scrubs is just another soapie...i felt the need to point that out
...but so's black books (you can argue but you know it's true! it's a show based around all the little things that happen in that shop and so it is a soapie)
come to think of it any tv series that focuses on the menial things that happen in the day to day life of fictional characters could be called a soapie. House is a soapie and i know you like that show. so leave the soapie watchers alone and let then be what they are.
i think with soapie watchers there are severel levels. there are those who are well and truley hooked and watch things like the Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, and Passions (these shows have been on the same story line for the last goodness-knows-how-many-years)
then there are people who watch Home and Away, Neighbours etc where the story line does move relativley fast compared to the group above.
then there is the O.C. Desperate Housewives, Greys Anatomy, Medium, Lost, House (just to name a few)
even the Simpsons could be considered a soapie (by some) because it does focus on one family and how they fit into their society, by representing the mundane way they live their lives they are amusing thousands. they are, what is considered to be, the all american family.
Homer is stuck in a dead end job, his incompetence provides easy comedy as everyone always expects the idiot of the family to break any moment that may have been significant by acting like a fool, completely by accident of course.
Marge is a housewife who very rarely feels the need to step out of her role as a caregiver, she tends to be the conscience of the family, usually stopping the rest of the family before they go too far.
Bart is a problem child who never fails to give the family grief and teaches children that it's alright to be disrespectful to their elders. Lisa is a smart child and tends to accept whatever is thrown at her because she feels she has very little choice and will more then likely grow up to be just another Marge Simpson.
and Maggie is just someone to break the silence with a sucking noise.
Described that way they are not interesting or entertaining at all, yet they are adored by countless people.
So yes Luke, while soapies may be annoying you can't sit there and pay out on any of them cause you're bound to be hooked to at least one.
lol, then we can get into the semantics of what makes a soapie. I guess the biggest difference is budget and setting. I thought about it - what's the difference between mcleod's daughters and neighbours? What makes the first a drama and the latter a soapie? All I could come with is the reasons mentioned above...
Anyway. To counter, the simpsons is a satirical sitcom, House is a medical drama and Black Books is a very high-quality sitcom.
So to that end, I don't serially watch any soapie. The closest I've come is one episode of the OC and about 6 episodes of desperate housewives. Make of it what you will, I know the Lord has forgiven me ;)
it also depends on how you define a soapie. i'd say it was any adictive tv series :p
No, sitcoms follow their own genre. Usually people love shows that don't stick to the rules of the genre too closely, but the most successful sitcoms are the ones that follow the letter of the sitcom law.
Take for instance, Frasier. A sitcom revolves around no more than 7 main characters (Frasier, Niles, Martin, Ros and Daphne), has a few interesting secondary characters (Kenny and the Star Trek guy at KACL), introduces new characters that are of paramount importance for a single episode and can then disappear forever, or reappear if they prove to be popular, and all the action takes place in no more than 4 main settings, with others only shown a few times a season for the sake of storyline (Frasier's apartment, KACL, Niles' apartment).
Other successful sitcoms, due to their rule adhering are Seinfeld and the Nanny.
In reagrds to soapies, just turn off the television and go and read a book for goodness sake. Don't waste your time picking apart what is already falling apart.
wv: okupfy (like occupy maybe?)
Level 3.
After I did my big spiel, I forgot to mention that Frasier was a spin off and therefore has a couple of extra rules added to it.
You can tell a spin off is successful when it outdoes it's mother series (like Frasier and Daria, but Daria isn't a sitcom per say)
Level 3
Uni students analyse pointless stuff too much.
The end.
:-)
Hehe, too bad that my sister (Tiph) isn't a uni student, eh Matt?
Well I think she could make a case for an honourary doctorate!
Does it hurt to get an honourary doctorate? As in more than it hurts to carry crying 11 month old twins for an hour or so? Because if it doesn't hurt that much, I might consider it. Then again, that might mean having to go to uni and be a freaky uni student, and I think I'd rather stay out of that demographic. I'll leave that to you Nicola :P:P
Level 3
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