Saturday, April 29, 2006

Guilty As Charged

I have, for the most part, never been one to get caught up in watching soap operas. But I did watch Dallas in its first run--up to the point when Bobby came back from the dead and it turned out that the last 3 years had been a dream. That was beyond riduculous and I have ever after referred to that particular folly as "doing a Dallas." This could be pulled off in a sci-fi or supernatural story, but Dallas was supposed to be subject to the laws of the world as we know it, People. They really lost me there.
I also watched Knots Landing. There were a few good mysteries going on, and that's what hooked me, rather than the romantic drama.
Now they are rerunning a rather odd soap opera in the Dark Shadows vein on the sci-fi channel. Passions is the most melodramatic, campy drama that I've seen in years, which is precisely why I like it. Case in point:
A woman and her daughter are trapped in a fire. A terrible, horrible fire that in real life should have charred them both to cinders. But all the fire trucks have been diverted to a warehouse fire or some such and it will take them at least 20 minutes to get there. Yet when Miguel finally can stand no more and breaks through a window to save Charity, who has been trapped under a burning ceiling support beam, the only thing wrong with her is smoke inhalation and some black smudges on her face. However, she is comatose from smoke inhalation. And the wicked witch Tabitha is on the way to the hospital to off her. Tabitha is not a soap-opera bitch-witch, she is an actual spell-casting black magic witch.
The premises are ridiculous. The lines are awful. The plot is so full of holes that you might mistake it for a Swiss cheese.
Now you see why I get such a kick out of this show?
If you get the sci-fi channel, give it a try. You might enjoy it too!

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