Favourite Soap Opera show.
So you will have undoubtedly read my about my intense dislike of Soap Operas in previous posts. Rest assured, I will not be rehashing these thoughts.
In situations like this where one must choose something they do not believe in or decide on something they have no love for I often say to myself; "What would Brett Michaels do?". Actually, I have never said that but hey it's my blog and it could all be lies!
So I have a choice and it's not really a Soap Opera. However before I full admit to cheating once more let us see if I can shoehorn this in.
Set in a hospital - check!
Doctors (good looking) - check!
Nurses (also good looking) - check!
Tormented characters - check!
Perfect, righteous characters - check!
Death - check!
Sadness & Loss - check!
Drug addictions - check!
Tangled love lives - check!
Huge set piece disasters - check!
10 key elements to build an Opera made of Soap.
The series ran for years (1994 - 2009) and gave us some major Hollywood stars. It merged together all the elements needed for a great drama and somehow mixed this with elements of Soap Opera without detrimentally affecting the storyline. Throughout the years we saw love lives grow, love lives shattered, people killed off, key characters battle their own demons, be it drink, drugs or illness. There were episodes set in other countries such as the Democratic (I smirk at this title!) Republic of Congo and went on to help raise awareness of key issues affecting the people there including civil war.
The series focussed on other major issues such as AIDS or Racism helping to raise awareness and inform the audience whilst not patronising them.
When the series ended (and one major star returned - no spoilers as always) it was a truly sad episode. Perhaps in some ways a historical episode, meaning that it will be preserved as one of the great TV shows ever created - perhaps?
I still remember a key scene from a key episode leading to the almost total demise of a main character. It involved a stabbing in the hospital and the affects and aftermath. It was truly an epic episode and filled with heart rendering and sad moments. It also for me highlighted the dangers that hospital staff face every day and reminded me that they do not get enough thanks and recognition for the work they do.
Wikipedia has a great page on this superb series http://bit.ly/ciXJEz.
Was it a Soap Opera, Casualty and Holby City; one would assume aspire to reach the heights that this ground breaking drama reached. So in essence, if they are classed as Soap Operas then this series must fall into the same category. I cannot help but feel it deserves a much better place than amongst these - STOP IT - I promised to to recover old ground!
http://youtu.be/ICMm2xvqkF8
WARNING - http://youtu.be/LZ98ke7ma3s - SPOILER ALERTS
Soap Opera - phew - I think I got away with it...
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