"Life is like Friday on a soap opera. It gives you the illusion that everything is going to wrap up, then the same old shit starts up on Monday."
~Stephen King, Duma Key
Luke And Laura's Wedding Day, November 17th, 1981
I Just Can't Cope Without My Soap
PT One
Oh boy, this is difficult to admit. I... ahem... am older than the daytime drama General Hospital. LOL. I was born on June 29th, 1962, while General Hospital debuted on ABC on April 1st, 1963. As I type this we are both fifty, but that will all change in just a couple months, much to my dismay. Something I am not particularly dreading, it is what it is, but when put into the context of being slightly older than daytime's longest running soap opera, my poor brittle bones and my wee arthritic joints begin to alternate between laughing at me for even letting it be a passing concern, and yelling at me with pain for not giving the situation the proper respect! LOL.
Life is, after all, a soap opera!
And I am so glad it is!
Say what you want about soap operas, you will not budge me from my opinion that the artists who work all the magic to bring those characters to us for an hour each Monday through Friday are some of the hardest working performers around! Plots that take us to romantic destinations, or the edge of our seat drama, or perhaps to the very edge of dark places everyone carries around, soap operas touch we fans on a much different level that movies or regular TV offerings. You can literally watch someone grow up, watch them go through their own real life personal dramas, and we can sometimes find something in the story telling that will make us feel a whole lot less along in our own struggles. It's might sound strange if you haven't been a fan of this entertainment genre, but if like me you have seen yourself in a character on a soap, even just a little bit, you know exactly what I mean!
I have found a great deal of comfort from "my stories" over the last fifty years! LOL. "My stores" makes me sound like a little old lady, but I guess there is no shame in that, at my age I kinda am, and I think of it as a badge! Hey, considering all the comfort soaps have brought me, I am only to happy to step up and say THANK YOU! I was happy that I could retreat to another room during my father's wake brunch, when the family decided to fight over the contents of his desk! Or be grateful that as I laid in bed, too sick to lift me head for 6 months, there was familiar voices on the TV to help me feel like I wasn't alone, friends where near by. Even a decade or so ago, when I was so sad that Anhedonia had me beaten down, I knew that at 2:00 PM, on ABC Channel 7 (KGO), General Hospital would be on to let me step out of the pain for an hour, and relax in someone else's world for a while.
It's therapeutic. It's comforting. It's a larger than life refreshing flight of fancy... for an hour. The perfect amount of time. On Monday, when the daytime TV week resumes again, I can just forget for a moment that there is yet another nut job in the world, think Kim Jung Une, who has a massive weapon pointed at the mainland of the United States, specifically the coast I live on! No, I get to find out who sent LuLu and Dante a cheap copy of the Ice Princess! I get to see if Patrick Drake will finally tell Sabrina he loves her, or at the very least would like to date her, LOL. And ooh... check it out... Laura is back, engaged to Scotty Baldwin, but on the run with Luke! That seems like old times to me! YAY! And while all this is happening, lovable Lucy Coe is planning the Nurse's Ball once again! Will she end up in her underwear again this year? Well I certainly hope so, it's been a Nurse's Ball tradition forever!
Beginning this week, General Hospital will be celebrating half a century of the lives of the citizens of Port Charles, New York, and I can admit I am having a great time watching all the returns of wonderful characters of the past. Frisco, Robert Scorpio, Nicholas Cassadine, Scott Baldwin, Audrey Hardy, Lucy Coe, Heather Webber, Anna Devane, basically all my favorites over the years are home for the anniversary, and the story telling has never been better, thanks to Producer Frank Valentini and Writer Ron Carlivarti, who came on-board at General Hospital after the sudden cancellation of ABC's One Life To Live in 2012. ABC also ordered the cancellation of All My Children, the networks other soap, on the same day, which led to a backlash from irate fans, such as myself, and the determination to keep General Hospital alive, not just on life support.
And we did it! We petitioned. We tuned in. We sent letters. We asked major corporations to join us in our passion to keep our soaps alive, and to our delight we got strong support from Hoover! They listened. I wish there had been more support, but I am not dwelling on things. General Hospital made it! And while I am not sure how much longer we will have this beloved soap around, I am not going to think about it's eventual end. There is no time for it. I would rather just take that one hour gift, Monday through Friday and escape into the intrigue. The romance. The humor... OMG... the humor is so good! And be grateful for the familiar voices, and faces, that help me feel less alone.
I love my stories, and I am not ashamed to admit it!
Here, for a little fun, is the General Hospital rap song from 1981. Go have a listen... go ahead... you know you want to! It's so much FUN!
General Hospi-TALE ~ The Afternoon Delights...
Lyrics (Should You Feel The Need To Burst Into Song)
Rock it hard, rock it steady
Pick yourself up and
Get yourself ready
Wave your arms
Let me hear you yell
Were gonna rap about
General Hospital
It started out
In Port Charles town
Where Frank Smith's mob
Used to hang around
No one could prove
That he was a crook
Till Luke stole his
Little black book
It had names and
Numbers all in code
So Luke and Laura
Had to hit the road
They had to find
The left-handed boy
Watch their step
They had to be coy
The gold involved
Was worth so much
Others wanted it
Like Sally and Hutch
But there's one thing
I must confess
Sally was a man
Who wore a dress
Luke kept his cool
He ain't no fool
He set them both up cold
Well Sally died
Hutch survived
And no one got the gold
Paging Dr. Noah Drake
To ICU to treat a
Case of heartbreak
They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy
My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
My hands start shaking
My knees start aching
I just can't cope
Without my soap
General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction
Monica likes
To have her fun
That is why
She had a son
She told Rick
He was the dad
Soon found out
That he'd been had
There's one thing
That you can give me
That Leslie can't
And that's passion
Alan was the
Father, of course
And he won't give
Monica a divorce
Rick wants to
Get Leslie back
Heather's having
An insane attack
I'll get Diana Taylor
She's not crazy
Uh uh, no never
She just wants to
Get Dr. Jeff Webber
Jeff wants Annie
For his wife
But he might have to
Wait all of his life
Cause good girls don't
And Annie won't
And you all know
What I mean
Amy Vining likes to blab
Richard Simmons
Helps fight flab
Susan's having Alan's baby
Noah wants Bobbi
For his lady
Well, Luke got another job
The Quartermaines are
The brand new mob
Laura's the receptionist
What's missing now
Is the Ice Princess
Yes, Luke Spencer, please
Diamonds, not gold
Are in it this time
Scorpio, the house
Of Cassadine
On and on
And on it goes
How it ends up
Nobody knows cause
They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy
My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
If I don't find out
It blows my mind out
I just can't cope
Without my soap
General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
You're my inspiration
General Hospital
Gonna stay tuned
To this station
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Tell me what's going on
Did you see it today
General Hospi-Tale
Tell me what's going on
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
I love my General Hospital
General Hospital...
It's my addiction...
I will be posting about my love of soaps all through the month of April, as we get closer and closer to the reboots of One Life To Live and All My Children on April 29th!
Stay Tuned!
Mood: Happy
~Me :)
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