SHOULD CHRISTIANS WATCH SOAP OPERAS PODCAST
This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy soap operas then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.
Will Melanie give him a chance?
Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.
***Update – 9/22/2019 – see the end of this blog post for the update
The other day, my husband sent me this link to an article stating that the soap opera, The Guiding Light, will be canceled after 72 YEARS ON THE AIR…this soap opera pre-dates television (I’m assuming it started as a radio show)! He sent me the article because he knows that I used to watch soap operas – but I’ve never watched The Guiding Light.
A few years ago, I blogged about soap operas here.
After I wrote that blog post (I was mostly talking about The Young And The Restless on that post) I stopped watching soap operas. I got into a time crunch and the soap operas didn’t make my TO DO list.
I started watching soap operas in high school because I was bored. I lived in a remote rural area. During the summertime, there was really no place to go. My mom didn’t drive, my dad was at work all day, I had no money, and I had no car to drive. I spent my summer days walking around the neighborhood, reading books, and watching soap operas! Since I read books so quickly – I practically inhaled them, I got most of my titles from the bookmobile that came to town every two weeks. I also fondly remember watching General Hospital while Luke and Laura fell in love and out of love. I recall watching All My Children when Greg and Jenny fell in love and evil forces strove to keep them apart. I also remember Jessie Hubbard and Angie getting together and falling in love. I’d get freaked out when these storybook romances would end, but watching these stories gave me something to do during those boring hot summer days. To top it off, I’d spend the rest of my day reading romance novels. It’s hard for me to get into the soaps nowadays, I guess, because the stories never end. They go on and on…imagine, a 72-year-old story like The Guiding Light?
I’ve sometimes dreamed of having a Christian soap opera on the air where people can talk about finding faith and forgiving others.
Do any of you watch soap operas now, or did you used to watch them? If so, which ones did you watch? Why do you like them? How long have you been watching the soaps? Do you think Christians should watch soap operas? I’ll start by saying I don’t see anything wrong with watching them as long as you don’t get too carried away…it’s kind of like, reading a secular novel or watching a movie. It’s entertainment and overall, soaps aren’t any better or worse than a lot of the other secular entertainment out there.
I enjoyed the soaps because they were entertaining and I’d get caught up in the characters’ lives. Sometimes they were placed in perilous situations and I just wanted them to get rescued! If they were hurt and in the hospital, I wanted them to recuperate and get better! But, if they died, it’s possible they could come back from the dead later! LOL!
Feel free to answer these questions and to throw in any other opinions you have about soap operas. I’m kind of anxious to hear what others have to say!
***Update 9/22/2019 – There have been two soap opera style shows on Hallmark Channel. These “soap operas” are clean and Christians can watch them without getting offended. The shows to which I’m referring are Chesapeake Shores and Cedar Cove (which is now off the air).
This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy soap operas then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.
Will Melanie give him a chance?
Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.
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I catch a glimpse of Y& R now and again. there’s only one storyline I follow lol! I think books are much better entertainment.
My love/hate affair with soaps started over 30 years ago when Scotty knocked Luke overboard on GH. Since then, I’ve watched all the ABC soaps, and have dabbled with the ones on NBC and CBS from time to time (won’t even talk about the nighttime soaps). I always seem to tune in during sweeps when some dramatic action is taking place.
But I’ve given up on the soaps because I hate what they’ve done to them, especially GH (or “Sopranos Lite” as I call it). The writing and acting has taken a turn for the worse and the legacy characters are being pushed aside for these kids who (for the most part) have no clue.
Oh, but to answer your question, there’s nothing wrong with watching soaps as long as they don’t become an addiction or priority over the real things that matter in life. Some of the stories over the years have been extremely powerful and can impact society in a positive way.
I used to watch. My mom and I got hooked on Ryan’s Hope and General Hospital while at my great grandmother’s in Arkansas where she only got a couple of stations and ABC was one of the clearest.
We watched for years, and like you as a teen got caught up in the Luke and Laura saga. My hubby even got into it back then when he was my boyfriend. My parents still watch GH.
We, the hubby and I, got out of watching them when we lived in Germany for nearly two years and all we got was Armed Forces Network and GH was about six months behind.
After that we never bothered and if I land on a soap now I find them rather stupid with the same old same old stuff going on, just with different people or even at times the same ones. Plus some of them have changed the way they film and it just seems odd to me.
I find them rather trashy too and slightly bothered if a Christian says they are into them, but I am also all about free choice and if you feel free enough in your walk with Christ to watch, then go for it. I agree with you in that it is a form of entertainment, not all that unlike a movie or other television program or secular books. I just lost all interest in them years ago.
In 1979 my sister introduced me to All My Children when I was a teen. Over the years I’ve watched faithfully to not so faithfully (for lack of a better word). Right now I will catch glimpses of AMC and a few others if I’m bored. Remember Ryans Hope? That was a part of our AMC watching schedule back then. I did get a hoot out of Passions until they put it on cable. It was so fake and overly dramatic that it actually made me laugh and relieved stress. Well, I feel that people of faith need to guard their hearts in every area of their lives and if watching soap operas finds them lacking in their faith or walk, then they should turn the channel or better yet, turn the tube off. I could not say watching soaps is bad either way because look what we’re watching on prime time! Is there a difference? I get so disgusted by some of the shows on television that I often turn to PBS! I guess I am always curious about AMC at times and I enjoy playing catch up when I have the time. I don’t get hooked so to say because years ago I would have hated to miss an episode…or recorded it to watch when I got home! lol I think it’s all about where your heart is overall and what your personal walk is telling you specifically. I don’t like watching all the stuff that goes against my faith but then it’s a double standard because I still watch at times. Then I shake my head and wonder why am I watching this ridiculous stuff that is so full of the world!! Does that make me a hypocrite? I guess some would say yes and others no….or maybe it depends! I just know that if I felt that I needed to stop, then I would! I would love to see an all faith one! Now that would be wonderful. I think a network tried that years ago but it was only offered on their network on cable. Perhaps I need to detox on what little of it I do watch. But that would have to go for regular television also. We can always find things we should not do, listen to, watch, say, etc. Thanks for letting me share.
Jodi wrote:
Remember Ryans Hope? That was a part of our AMC watching schedule back then.
My response:
Yes, I remember Ryan’s Hope, although I never watched it. I remember it went off the air when I was in high school. I might have been a junior or a senior when this happened. It came on right before All My Children – during that 12:30-1:00 time slot. After Ryan’s Hope went off the air, Loving started coming on. Remember that one? I started watching that one in the eleventh or twelfth grade and it went off the air, maybe, 12 – 15 years ago, give or take? Loving was replaced by The City. The City was replaced by Port Charles. Right now, I believe, that network has NO SOAPS on during that 12:30-1:00 time slot!