Why Coronation Street is the best!
OK, 'tis lunchtime, so I shall post and eat (my rye bread with caraway seeds...yuck).
Coronation Street (aka Corrie) is the best "soap" in the entire world, IMHO. Why, you ask? Well, luv, sit down an' have a cuppa with me and I will enlighten you.
First of all: longevity. This show has been on since 1960. Continuously. That is one long running show! And one of the really cool side benefits of that is that there is a never-ending amount of back story and defunct characters to learn about. And you never know who is going to turn up again (but not in a Bobby Ewing wasn't really dead way). Plus there are several characters on the show that have been on for decades (a couple since the original 13 episodes).
Secondly: the people are real. They are not these Hollywood fakes that inhabit all American soap operas, with the perfect bodies, hair, tans etc. They're not called Thorn, Storm, Britney, etc. These people are real people. Some of them are heavyset. Some of them are bald (and not in that Michael Jordan way). Some of them aren't very attractive. But they look like people you actually know. Also, they are working class people. I'm sure there is deep, sociological meaning in the fact that the biggest soaps in the USA have been the ones that focus on seriously rich people: Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest. Well, Alexis Colby may eat caviar for breakfast. Nobody I know does. These are people that I might know. In fact, if I understand anything about NW England, it sounds a lot like Detroit - heavily industrial and now there aren't a lot of jobs. Gritty and rough and tumble.
Third: it's a fun cultural exchange. When I first started watching it, I really had to struggle to understand what they were actually saying. I taped it as I watched it, so I could go back and get the lines I missed. It's really like a whole different language, between the accent and the local slang.
Fourth: it treats serious topics with respect (like recently when Sally made Rosie take the morning after pill) but yet it still has a sense of humor.
So, if you don't already watch, check it out! 7 pm eastern time on the CBC!
The Big Seester
Coronation Street (aka Corrie) is the best "soap" in the entire world, IMHO. Why, you ask? Well, luv, sit down an' have a cuppa with me and I will enlighten you.
First of all: longevity. This show has been on since 1960. Continuously. That is one long running show! And one of the really cool side benefits of that is that there is a never-ending amount of back story and defunct characters to learn about. And you never know who is going to turn up again (but not in a Bobby Ewing wasn't really dead way). Plus there are several characters on the show that have been on for decades (a couple since the original 13 episodes).
Secondly: the people are real. They are not these Hollywood fakes that inhabit all American soap operas, with the perfect bodies, hair, tans etc. They're not called Thorn, Storm, Britney, etc. These people are real people. Some of them are heavyset. Some of them are bald (and not in that Michael Jordan way). Some of them aren't very attractive. But they look like people you actually know. Also, they are working class people. I'm sure there is deep, sociological meaning in the fact that the biggest soaps in the USA have been the ones that focus on seriously rich people: Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest. Well, Alexis Colby may eat caviar for breakfast. Nobody I know does. These are people that I might know. In fact, if I understand anything about NW England, it sounds a lot like Detroit - heavily industrial and now there aren't a lot of jobs. Gritty and rough and tumble.
Third: it's a fun cultural exchange. When I first started watching it, I really had to struggle to understand what they were actually saying. I taped it as I watched it, so I could go back and get the lines I missed. It's really like a whole different language, between the accent and the local slang.
Fourth: it treats serious topics with respect (like recently when Sally made Rosie take the morning after pill) but yet it still has a sense of humor.
So, if you don't already watch, check it out! 7 pm eastern time on the CBC!
The Big Seester
posted by The Big Seester | 12:23 PM
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