My Soap Operas

Now on Netflix

In my entire life, I can’t say that I’ve ever been hooked on soap operas. For most of my adult life, I worked, so watching soaps never entered into any sort of equation in my life. In those days, we were generally not able to record shows on our televisions, and there was no such thing as the Internet. The shows were on in the mornings, and that’s when I was at work.

The only person I ever knew who watched soaps was my great-grandmother Neddie. As she got older, she would visit my grandparents and later my family, who all lived in different time zones. She would get confused. Religiously, she sat in a rocker and watched her soaps at specific times during the day. When these shows aired on different channels and at different times, she would get terribly confused. The confusion she experienced was so great she mixed her shows up and wondered why an actor or actress on The Edge of Night was now on Search for Tomorrow.

My mother never watched soaps, and I never caught the bug.

That has all changed.

Recently, I began watching foreign films on Netflix. Netflix will offer up more of what they think you are interested in watching based on your viewing habits. This last week I started noticing all these Korean shows being suggested. They were not movies but had lots of episodes. I was up for that.

The first one I started watching is called Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Turns out it is the story of a young woman who is autistic and became a lawyer. It interested me because I’ve wondered if I am not also somewhere on the autism spectrum. Sometimes I think I am and others not. It wouldn’t change anything about my life seeing as how I’m 68 years old, but it might explain some of the difficulties I’ve experienced along the way. Anyway, I got interested in the show. I was also interested to see what Koren people are interested in. One of the episodes spoke of a woman who defected from North Korea and her efforts to ensure her daughter had a good life. So, these are some of the shows I’ve been watching lately.

Yesterday, Netflix offered up another series. It’s called Crash Landing on You. This one is about a spoiled South Korean heiress who gets caught in a wild wind while para-gliding and ends up crashing into the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone. It is on the 38th parallel North and is 2 ½ miles wide and 160 miles long. It splits North and South Korea and came into existence in 1953, after the Korean war. Nobody goes there. Nobody.

My father was stationed in South Korea near the DMZ in 1969. Our neighbor Phil was in the Korean War. Neither of them ever talked to me about their experiences. The only bit I know about it is from watching MASH.

What I think is being pointed out is these North and South Koreans seem to feel they are related. Closely. Life in the north is harsh. Life in the south is more like what we know. But, in both cases, this is what people are accustomed to.

I listen to the first show with English voiceovers and English subtitles. The one about the heiress is in the original Korean with English subtitles. Both are fine. Who knows, I might someday try to learn a little Korean.

I realized yesterday that I, too, now have soaps to watch in my retirement. I believe I am hooked.

It costs me $9.99 each month for Netflix. That’s probably two cups of coffee where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. I think it is worth it.

P.S. I was just telling my husband about this article. I was curled up in his chair, getting ready to watch episode 10 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo and he called. He told me that these shows are called soap operas because they were first sponsored by laundry detergents. He remembered a time when he was in the 7th grade, and they were in a bowling alley. Some lady came shrieking down the lanes, “Franny killed Ellie! Franny killed Ellie!” Dennis thought something terrible had just happened. It was from a soap opera.