This past month, we've had two instances where people have made comments about soaps or soap fans that have angered various people. I wanted to have my say on both of them.
The first was how on 6/23/2012, The Hollywood Reporter had a commentary on the Daytime Emmy Awards by Bill Higgins. Within the second paragraph he stated "it may be comparable to attending an awards show for porn stars--if you're not fluent with the genre, it just looks like a gathering of attractive people wearing black tie on a sunny afternoon." Okay, well then… Honestly one of the thing I love about watching soaps is that they are OUR stars. I love knowing about performers and how wonderful they are before anyone has heard about them. And the actors who made being in soaps their life's work acting in the genre for decades have my respect. This is one of the things I love most about the genre. By making this comment, he also disrespected people he should know by name even if he didn't ever watch a soap opera in his life. When it comes to the publicist not knowing people's names, that says more about the publicist than the stars, and who knows how far ahead they were hired. If they only started three weeks earlier that is a lot of information to learn. An iPad with G3 if Wifi wasn't available would have provided everything one would need when it comes to names as all this information is online.
The second was from a foodie website called The Braiser and is an interview with Carla Hall from 7/19/2012. She says "…But soap fans [and] new fans have really come to enjoy the show, and I think it’s because it’s a party in the kitchen and it reminds people of what it’s like to entertain, you know?" Well Carla I wish you had declined from answering that question or answered it in a different way. She had to have known there would be a backlash to that statement. Earlier in her comment, she mentions change and how soap fans were passionate. The "were" part kind of frustrated me I must admit. Using the word "were" denotes that people don't care anymore. I think people care, they just don't care to waste their time to complain to someone who cannot change the situation and bring soap operas back on the air.
Some people who watch or watched soaps may view The Chew, that's their choice. Someone who used to watch soaps, may enjoy it, or someone who never watched ABC daytime dramas. That is a different audience. It is like how some ABC soap fans have turned on "The Talk" on CBS since One Life to Live ended. That behavior horrifies a good number of CBS and/or P&G soap fans as The Talk replaced As the World Turns on the network.
While I believe in freedom of speech, as I know there is a lot I write on here that may offend people, I think that sometimes it is better to be quiet than look foolish. In both cases, the person writing or speaking seemingly didn't think about how they may offend their readers. It is one thing to be controversial to stir up debate, and quite another to just make a foolhardy comment, which frustrates others.
Hopefully we won't have such comments to complain about anytime soon. I wish people would learn there is no point to raise the ire of soap fans. We have long memories, but sometimes silence belies the anger. Most of the time, I just let it go and just think these people don't deserve my complaints as they won't listen anyway. Sometimes though like tonight, I feel the need to vent it out of my system.
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