Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993 TAG: 9301110216
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LOSING AN OLD FRIEND
SOME YEARS back, someone told me (or I read somewhere, I forget) that a good way to cope with stress is to set aside an inviolate period of time each day for something you really, really like. Just give yourself an hour, say, to sew or jog or read or whatever. That little gift of time, someone said, will make Jill a happy girl and Jack a happy boy.Sounded good to me. So I started setting aside 3 to 4 p.m. weekdays and took up watching "Santa Barbara" on NBC.
By golly, it worked! After we got our VCR, I even taped episodes when I couldn't be home in the afternoons, thus continuing to receive my hour inviolate, even when not from 3 to 4 p.m.
So you'll understand why now, this week, I'm in crisis mode: "Santa Barbara" has been canceled. Friday is its last day.
Eight and a half years! Down the drain. No more Mason, no more Julia, nor more Capwells vs. Lockridges. No more absurdly conspicuous consumption in sunny California.
This week's TV Guide points out that 8 1/2 years isn't long, "by soap standards," but that the show's 23 Emmys is "staggering." That means there's been some good acting, some good writing (some really stinky writing, too), and some other good stuff.
But to no avail. Because, unfortunately, 23 seems also to have represented the total number of the show's viewers. I'm the "SB" representative for the Southeastern United States. I know this because whenever I've mentioned "my" show to anyone else, the response has been, "I've never heard of that one. When's it come on?"
Well, never now.
Oh sure, the actors will turn up on other shows. A lot of them already have. (TV Guide reports that only one current cast member, Margarita Cordova - she plays the maid - is a member of the original cast.) But they won't be the same. They won't be those folks I know anymore, and I'll misss 'em.
At this point, we could introduce an argument on the relative merits of watching soap operas at all. But we're not going to do that. We're going to assume the merits of soap operas, purely on the basis of that aforementioned inviolate hour each day. And proceed directly to the problem of: What am I gonna do now?
What, indeed. I think the only answer is: Find another show.
Now, choosing another soap opera is no easy matter. I've looked at some of the others and none has called out, "Give me your tired and weary hour!"
Consequently, I'm seeking advice. Which soap opera would you recommend, and why?
This is not a test, despite that question's phrasing, but an honest plea for help. I really want to know. What's the best one going? I want something with adults in it, and not just a bunch of teen-agers. Something like "The Doctors" used to be. If you remember that one, your age is showing. But that was a soap opera!
Write me and let me know what you think. The address is P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke VA 24010. If you make your argument interesting enough, I might even put it in the paper.
Monty S. Leitch is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.