Soaps and The New Year

Here it is, at the end of another year. A time for looking forward and also a time for looking back. I find myself looking back on the changes brought by 2009. I must admit that one of the saddest was the passing of Guiding Light. Yes, you read that correctly, I am lamenting the passing of America's longest running Soap! I don't even watch Soaps, but I used to watch and still occasionally read up on my favs. By far, Guiding Light was always my favorite. I fell in love with the above pictured Grant Aleksander as Phillip Spaulding long before DH came into my life.

Though my adult devotion to the Soaps has been luke-warm, my dear grandmother (Ma Jones), who died several years ago, was a die hard Soap fan. It was known far and wide that you didn't interrupt her "Shows". She would even say less-than-positive things about any newscaster or President who saw fit to interrupt her daily visits in Genoa City (The Young and the Restless), LA (Bold & Beautiful), Oakdale (As the World Turns) and the final stop being in Springfield (Guiding Light). Honestly, even if the world were ending, it would have been well advised to do so before the beginning of her Shows or afterward...otherwise, she was NOT participating!

I am not sure what exactly I find so sad about the slow, winding down of the Soap Opera genre. Maybe it is the nostalgia that comes with seeing much beloved brands pass away (Pontiac comes to mind). I guess it is just seeing something that was so intrinsic to my childhood era end. My Mother and her friends watched Soaps. It was the background noise of our home every afternoon. As I became a teen, and into my college years, it became a shared experience among my friends. Who remembers where they were when Luke and Laura got married (the 1st time)? Were you huddled around the TV at home, or in a dorm room or sharing it with friends in the Student Center? Oh, and then there was the wide spread popularity of VCRs...to record and watch it later. No, I am not kidding!

Soaps always have beautiful people, with beautiful homes, and of course, beautiful clothes. The idea for my Christmas Wedding was inspired by Tom and Margo's (As the World Turns) Christmas wedding in 1983. Oh, and don't forget, no one ever ages poorly on Soaps...how cool is THAT? And now the news is, not only have we seen the death of Guiding Light in September of 2009, but 2010 will bring the execution date during September for As the World Turns, as well. I am just glad Ma Jones isn't here to see that...it would have killed her.

RIP, Oakdale....