Blab On Watching Soaps Then and Now

I absolutely love General Hospital. Spoiler alert, I’m going to show my age by saying that I’ve been watching GH since I was little, when it first came on in 1963. Well, I didn’t exactly watch it on purpose, but my mom and nana did and I was always with them so it became embedded in my brain, especially the theme song. So I carried on the tradition and still do. However, I did miss a few years of it while I was working or living life or something. I also watched All My Children and One Life to Live, which I don’t want to talk about because I am still very pissed that they were ripped away from me.

Anyway, I think I fell in love with soaps for the reason most people do, it’s a great mental escape. I can spend an hour embroiled in other people’s drama instead of dealing with my own. The best part about watching soaps today is DVR and On Demand. Back in the day, if the stupid news butted into your show at the most pivotal time—at the moment that was about to happen that had been building up for a year—you just lost out. End of story. But, now, aside from being able to fast forward through commercials, if your show is interrupted, you can just jump on On Demand or any number of websites and watch the whole show, interruption free. Yay!

But I still hate the butt-ins. The only time the news should break into a show is if the world is coming to an end. I think politics and local fender benders on the highway or to tell me it’s raining outside should wait until the evening news. It’s just not fair, dammit!