The 'Light' is Out

I'm currently unemployed and living in Miami. Yes, I know, the basis for my blog is that I'm an aspiring dancer in NYC, but sometimes, you need a break! I came down to Miami to clear my head, get focused and spend some time working out the thoughts and ideas in my head. (Trust me, it's harder than it sounds...I think a lot).




Anyways, there isn't much else for me to do except run, take Pilates, stalk on facebook, and watch TV. I'm very good at all of those, but especially the later! I don't know about anyone else, but I grew up on soap operas. I didn't go to pre-school or day care, so my mid mornings were spent folding laundry with my mom watching 'the soaps'! Over the last 21 years I have watched each soap out there for at least a week, and of course the best part is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going on. Someone just got married, had a baby, died, came back from the dead, suffered a head injury, got married while having a baby and suffering from a head injury, or went to the beach! Though I mock, it's easy to get sucked in, if not because you grow sympathetic for the characters, for the fact that they make your life look far more normal in comparison!

One of my favorites just aired its last episode this morning. Guiding Light was one of those shows that I taped while in class and rushed back to watch, or 'just happened' to be on while I was on the elliptical at the gym. Now, it's to be expected that a tidy wrap-up occurs. We as dedicated viewers expect nothing less. The bad guys reform, the good guys get the girl, the whore settles down and true love re-unites the main characters. The series finale of Guiding Light did all that, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a little...hokey. They would have been much better off with the 'implied' instead of actually forcing in your face. And I'm sure everyone out there knew/wanted Reva and Josh to end up together, but did they really have to fast forward a year to give us the dramatic effect that it just might... not... happen? Lame! They should have taken a note from Sunset Beach, my former guilty pleasure of a soap opera, fully equipped with an earthquake and a tsunami, even a prime time event, but they knew how to end it. Subtle, sweet, happy for all involved...a tidy wrap up, without all the schmaltz and return of characters people haven’t heard from or seen in 15 years!



With all that said, the truth of the matter is that a daytime entity is no longer on the air. What will possibly replace it? More reality television? No, we're not that desperate! Or, are we?

(Picture courtesy of cbs.com)