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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1981)
1861 '£Z V-’dV '-^upsjniix uorjeijeg aiiz 'SfiDOj i iiMW^wfWBtr.ra igi Soaps linK all types ot people By Charlie Mustachia T Battalion Reporter uning in tomorrow has be come the national pastime of today. Over 55 million Americans watch soap operas on television, Joe Saltzman, associate mass media editor of USA Today magazine, said. Soap opera viewers are even ly distributed between urban and rural areas and live in all regions of the nation. They typically have a high school edu cation and earn annual incomes between $10,000 and $22,000. Housewives, students, blue- collar workers, professors, doc tors, entertainers, writers and politicians are among the soap- aholic public. Soap operas have become more popular than ever ex pected. “Years ago people watched TV for entertainment and soap operas were for kooky, bored housewives," Saltzman said. Now, he explained, there is a new generation which accepts TV as part of life — soap operas included. Soaps aren't only for watch ing either. They're for talking about. Soap operas are conver sation stimulants and admitting that you watch them is like mak ing a statement about yourself. Saltzman said soap operas are a big business because they make money. The average half- hour soap brings in about $31.2 million a year in revenue. Be cause it costs an average $6.2 million to produce, the profits are big, he said. In a time when many prime time shows don't last six months, soap operas, most of which have been on the air at least 12 years, should be taken seriously, Saltzman said. And the realization that soaps are here to stay is sparking changes in soap opera story lines. Ten years ago extra- and pre marital sex were enough to in terest viewers. Now abortion, alcoholism, drug addiction, in cest and venereal disease are present. Not that we need a reason, but why do we watch the soaps? Agnes Nixon, creator of "All My Children," asked a group of Duke University students why they watch soaps. One male stu dent replied, "It's the only con stant in our lives." A Northern Illinois Universi ty study showed 30 percent of soap opera viewers watch be cause the characters are "so dumb." Nearly 14 percent said they watch because soap opera problems make their own seem trivial. Time magazine pointed out a few traits that separate soap opera situations from ordinary life and its problems. For inst ance, there are more doctors than patients to treat, amnesia is a plague, characters barely ever swear and time often stands still. Last month on "General Hos pital," Diana Taylor lay dead on her kitchen floor for over a week our time, but just over a day soap time. Although alcoholism rates as the most highly encountered personal problem in soap oper as, pregnancy is a close second. The pill is discarded in most soaps and women turn up pre gnant in what seems like hours after a sexual encounter. Then, during pregnancy, the time warp strikes again. Soap- land mothers are pregnant any where from four to 20 months and children, after birth, grow up to be voluptuous blonds or tall, dark and handsone men overnight. Although soap opera plots are getting spicier, at a hint of viewer disapproval, producers change the plot immediately. Obviously this is done for advertising purposes. As their name indicates, soap operas were originally intended to be salesmen, and this reputation is upheld by producers. Dr. Emily Davidson, Texas A&M University psychology professor, said college students' schedules allow them to watch soap operas more often than people who work all day. If watching soap operas is a typical student activity, then Texas A&M students are cer tainly typical. Some Aggies frequently re treat to the dark confines of the TV viewing rooms in the brows ing library on the second floor of the Memorial Student Center. From early morning to mid- afternoon these rooms resemble a soap opera heaven for college soap-aholics. It is not unusual for the group of viewers to become hostile when classic demonic characters betray good guys. Essence magazine's B.M. Campbell said, "If you want to hear some hairy rap, just listen to a bunch of women discussing Erica ('All My Children')." In the TV viewing rooms. Eri ca-types get cussed out regular ly. "If I didn't get mad, it wouldn't be fun," said one soap watcher. The students seem to care ab out the characters on and off the screen. When a soap opera char acter recently let out the secret of her pregnancy, yells shook the walls of the browsing library. "But wouldn't you think she'd use some kind of birth control or something?" said one student. Another replied, "Oh, she's pregnant in real life too." D< elighted sighs filled the room and a jubilant "You're kid ding" came from a shy-looking guy in the back row. "Did you hear. Beau and Pat ('One Life to Live') broke up?" "No, they didn't?" screamed a forlorn follower. Soap watchers are selective in accepting new characters. Gain ing acceptance can be difficult. "Look, it's Noah Drake, the new doctor," a female student said. 'They ('General Hospital' producers) are trying to have him take over feff Weber's char acter — but he's NOT Jeff mate rial." The viewing rooms are not without the usual TV cynics. As advertisements for various COUPON! 75 PASIAS S 1" OFF on our GIANT PIZZA Sf 50 1 OFF on our LARGE PIZZA $1 00 I OFF 0 on our MEDIUM PIZZA i 0 z “There’s no pizza like Pasta’s Pizza! We guarantee it!” 807 Texas Ave. • 696-3380 PIZZA SPAGHETTI LASAGNA Not valid with any other coupon or on delivery pizza. ICOUPONl Coupon Expires May 1, 1981 night time sit-coms flashed on the screen during a commercial break, one viewer said, 'Televi sion gets worse and worse." Then she remembered her fa vorite soap. "With the excep tion of 'General Hospital' of course," she added. But the true test of soap opera popularity came when technical difficulties caused an interrup tion. Loud cries escaped from even the most composed viewers. Television stations are accus tomed to receiving calls from irate viewers when "special re ports" interrupt soaps. CBS affiliates across the coun try dealt with busy switch boards when coverage of the hostages' return interrupted a heated scene in "The Guiding Light" recently. The MSG doesn't have the only public television domin ated by soap watchers. Mont- f omeiy Ward salesperson De- bie Cecil said the television de partment in which she works is frequently a refuge for "little old ladies who cone in to watch their soap while their cars are getting fixed." Cecil said, "They ask if they can turn the TV up or if we'll turn it to their favorite soap opera." The snack bar in Ward's is located across from the televi sion department, Cecil said, making it convenient for soap watchers to catch a glimpse on their lunch breaks. X riday is known as the best day of the week in soapland. It is the day when soap characters air dirty laundry. Lines like, "This is something I've been keeping from you for 15 years, Warren," or "It's time you learned the truth about your future son-in- law, Julia" are typical of Friday cliffhangers, usually resolved on the following Monday. Tueadays, on the other hand, feature non-action events, such as dinner parties and baptisms. "Nothing ever happens on Tuesday," Campbell said. "If I weren't a dedicated soap opera watcher. I'd skip Tuesdays." The advent of the night time or prime time soap operas has changed some aspects of day time soaps. People Weekly magazine said "the man you love to hate" is one of the in novations brought to daytime soaps from J.R. Ewing. Because many American soap-aholics cannot tune in ev ery day, some newspapers and radio stations print and broad cast weekly soap opera updates. To the truly dedicated soap watcher, Saltzman has a few words of advice: "Remember that in 'The Days of Our Lives' as we 'Search for Tomorrow,' knowing we all have 'One Life to Live' and that we all share a 'Love of Life,' we hope to find a 'Guiding Light' as we hurtle to ward the 'Edge of Night' 'As the World Turns.'" 5* ^ r,*'* *z*^*X;^*tf t'*. ^,;y, Alvarez Yairi Handmade Guitars with Lifetime Warranty Yairi, to *2,100°° Some Order, Some Stocked Reasonably priced at Keyboard Center KcyboARd Center ^ MANOR EAST MALL Master Card 713/779-7080 BRYAN, TX 77801