Finding Clues in Port Charles

I am totally hooked on General Hospital.  For those of you living on the other side of the planet, General Hospital is a soap opera -- a telenovela, to my Spanish friends.  It is a television program euphemistically classified as Daytime Drama.  Soaps, as they are called here in the States, are generally considered trash TV.  They are melodramatic and over the top.

Generally, people start with one soap, and then tend to get hooked on the others being aired on that same channel.  Yes, I've also bled into One Life to Live and All My Children.  When I worked at home there was time to have the TV on for three hours a day.  But keeping up with 15 hours a week of TV shows is like having a part time job, so I had to quit.  These days, I don't have time to watch any TV.  I barely have time to sit down to watch a movie with the boyfriend anymore.  And yet, I can't seem to tear myself away from GH.  Like I said, I'm hooked.



There was a time when I actually scheduled my work around General Hospital.  I used to work in restaurants, and generally starting time for the night shift starts at 4pm.  I always made it clear when I took the job that I would not be able to begin until 4:15.  GH ends at 4, and it would take me a few minutes to get to work.  Surprisingly, my employers agreed.  That's just crazy!  For years, I took my afternoon nap during GH.  The soundtrack to my dreams was Luke and Laura battling it out with the Cassadines, and the Quartermaines squabbling over coffee.  I trained myself to listen for the closing credits, at which time I would jump off the couch and off to work.

Then, someone invented the VCR.  Since that day I haven't missed an episode.  Sad, huh?  I didn't realize how bad it was until last year when my daughter lived with me.  There had been some problem with the DVR, and I was griping about that one episode I had missed. "That one????" She asked, derisively.  OK, yeah.  Soap operas are written so that you can miss whole weeks ... years, even, and still know what's going on.  And yet, I feel compelled to watch every single episode.  These days, it's what I do on Sunday afternoons while I wash dishes and do laundry.  Come to think of it, that's what women have always done while they watch soaps.  It's why they call them soaps.  

As a graduate student in the school of life, General Hospital has taught me a lot about people.  Soap operas are not afraid to be ridiculously far-fetched.  They will take an idea and play it out to the point of absurdity.  There was the time when Lucy Coe was a vampire slayer, and little Robin Scorpio once had an alien living in the shed in the backyard.   When I first started watching it, Luke and Robert were trying to keep Helena Cassadine (at that time played by none other than Elizabeth Taylor!) from freezing the entire planet with the Ice Princess.

People sometimes die on soap operas, but then they get over it and come back on the show later.  I love that!  Duke Lavery died a total of four times before it actually took.  Edward Quartermaine died once, then it turned out he had just run away to some South Sea Island.  Lucky, Luke's son, died in a fire once.  I cried for days over that one!  He's back now, too.  Turns out Helena captured him and held him prisoner (the non-Elizabeth Taylor Helena).

So if soaps are so ridiculous, why do I love them so much?  Well, partly because they are ridiculous.  They are pure entertainment for me.  More than that, though, I have become attached to these characters.  I've known most of them their whole lives.  I've watched them grow up and overcome incredible odds.  When I first started watching the show, Luke and Laura were still young -- not the grey geezers they are today.  I've known Robin Scorpio since she first came to town at seven years old, and have watched her survive HIV to become a world class doctor.   I've known Jason Morgan since he was a young Jason Quartermaine living in the West Wing.  I love that on soap operas people have children but never have to actually care for them.  They show up for breakfast fully dressed with hair and makeup.  No one ever sits down (why is that?)

And yet I've learned a lot about human nature from watching GH over the past 30 years.  From Alan and Monica, I've learned how a marriage can survive infidelity and stay strong in spite of repeated betrayals.  From Carly, I've learned to be fearless in standing up for what I believe in, even if everyone else thinks I'm being ridiculous.  From Luke, I've learned to follow my own path no matter where it may lead me.  More recently, I've learned from Maxie to accept who I am and to work with what I've got.  Maxie has always been very shallow and self-centered; but she knows that about herself and freely admits it.  In spite of that, I've watched her grow into a young woman with a big heart. 

Of course, I mostly learn from General Hospital what not to do; soaps wouldn't be entertainment if everyone acted rationally!  And let's not forget all the hair and makeup tips.  As a recluse living in my own world, I would probably never know how to dress properly if it hadn't been for General Hospital giving me fashion advice.

So, I know why I watch GH, but why in the world am I wasting your time with it this morning?  Because I want you to know two things:  First, don't let anyone pick your fun.  We all need entertainment; you find yours wherever you are led to find it.  Second, although TV may indeed contain a lot of trash, we can still learn a lot about life from television.  There are clues to life everywhere ... even in Port Charles.