Ok so- it's the weirdest thing.  Happy weekend, by the way, my friends.

I hate soap operas.  Nothing against them really, but the whole daytime TV genre just never hooked me, ya know? 

Once in a while I would watch the Daytime Emmy Awards to see if Susan Lucci finally nabbed one.  Other than that, the entire gala was lost on me because I had no idea what was going on.  Almost no one looked familiar and maybe one or two actors I had seen, but only because I was flipping through the channels on an afternoon I was home sick from school.

My mother used to be a fan of General Hospital, and while she definitely didn't watch it religiously- she could tell you what was going on. 

Sonny forever!!!  (Lol- Actually, I have no clue who Sonny is, I just remember my mother talking about him.)

Anyway!!  One day not so long ago (maybe 6 months?) I was flipping through the channels, and I came across this show on NBC, 2pm Eastern time.  There was an attractive spanish lady lying in a hospital bed talking to her devoutly Catholic mother about how she might be pregnant with her own child and with another woman's.

Say what?!

Naturally, that's something you want to understand the process of.  I certainly couldn't figure it out, and I'm not dumb by any stretch of the imagination.  So I kept watching, waiting to see how this was possible.  Now of course I was, at this time, naive to the ways of the daytime world, and didn't realize that it would take days... no weeks, to get an answer.

For those of you unfamiliar like I was- the reason Soap Operas go on for years and YEARS (All My Children has been running for about 30 years now) is because the writers can recycle a single script for WEEKS.  They take the same dialogue and just change it up a little bit, and theoretically, you'll be watching the same episode for days on end.

They're clever though- they hook you by adding just a little something new to the end of each one, and you'll sit there watching, just as I did.

It took a month before I figured out a few things about this show, Passions.  First off, it's only a baby in the world of soaps- having debuted 6 years ago- it has not even come close to having the following that Days of Our Lives or As the World Turns enjoys. 

And yet- there was still so much I was behind on!!  I had no clue what they were talking about, but thanks to the repetitive nature of the series, I was able to figure it out sooner than I thought.

(Oh, and by the way-Theresa, that lady in the hospital bed... had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend but was also acting as a surrogate mother for another woman, and had been implanted with the embryos- for those of you as curious about that medical anomalie as I was.)

Anyhow- this show was and is ridiculous.  The acting is bad, the writing is bad, the major things that happen are completely unbelievable, and yet ever since that day I watch Passions  Monday through Friday without fail.  If I'm not home, I tape it.

Even when I'm watching it I laugh at how absurd the entire thing is.  Honestly, it has been at least half a year and I don't think the show has even made that much progress since I first tuned in.

Maybe these writers aren't that bad after all- I mean, they have me watching, and countless others, too.

And yeah, I laugh at the actors but anyone who is an aspiring actor knows they would give their right arm for a role on a soap. 

*sigh*  If any of you out there watch Passions, then shout to me.

This will make no sense to anyone who doesn't, but that's ok- Passions people, come on now- you want Theresa with Ethan and you want Gwen on her ass in the cold, am I right? 

Nope! Sorry..... not a fan but I enjoyed the commentary just the same. Too funny. Guess this process is starting to bleed into the MOVIE genre' as well with all the "recycled" movies we've been seeing in the past few years. Maybe we should all turn off our sets and refuse to go to movies until HOLLEYWOOD comes up with something origional! Course that means we should all just sell our T.V.s NOW. Have a GREAT WEEKEND!

Daytime soaps are very addictive but I haven't watched in years since we don't have a TV.

I watched Another World for years and years! (My mom watched it when I was little). When it went off the air is when Passions started, but I never watched. I was really mad! I still miss those people!
Also... About the chain story... I LOVE your idea! If you make it they will come... . I would anyway! XOXOXO

Oh Jess! I needed a good laugh! I hate soap operas too... always have. I do have fond memories (now they are fond, back when, they were irritating) of my grandmother trying to get me to watch her soaps with her when I would visit her. There I'd be, wearing some old baggy clothes for the job of repainting my grandfather's bedroom, and while I'm balancing atop an old rickety stepladder, she'd holler from the living room, "Gayle! Gayle! Come see this show with me! General Hospital is just starting!" I'd come in, trying not to get any paint on her furniture, and tell her I was busy painting, and how (choke, choke) sorry I was that I couldn't watch her soaps with her. Chores. Yep, ya' gotta love 'em! Saved me more than once. Grandma was a funny old lady. I sure do miss her, and her funny ways.

I'm afraid "Passions" isn't at the top of my TV list. I would have to agree though, that one's indefatigable addiction to the daily suspense is something to be pitied, at best. "Get a life" is the first thought that comes to mind as general counsel to those afflicted by the tendency to watch. Once addicted though, I understand the difficulty in modifying the behavior, as I myself have fallen to similar pastime fairly recently.
So, Jess, I wish you well in your effort to curtail such a mindless activity . . . (You ARE trying to curtail it . .are you not?)

Hell no I'm not trying to curtail it! Not until Theresa and Ethan are together, damnit!