Soaps

Soap operas never fail to amaze me. I grew up watching General Hospital, along with most of the other ABC soap operas, because that's the station my Mother watched when I was a kid. I missed Luke and Laura's wedding because I got home too late from school that day, and it was before VCRs. Still, through the years I have seen more weddings, disasters, relationship hook-ups and break-ups than I could count, and that's even though I went for a good 15 years without watching. I started watching GH again just over a year ago, and I have no shame in admitting that I have been hooked ever since. Still, they have done a few things that just make me shake my head.

First, in less than a year, I have seen at least two kids instantly grow up from about the age of 10 to a ripe, beautiful, dramatic storyline worthy 17. The latest is Luke's daughter Lulu, who was about ten years old the last time I saw her, but who suddenly reappeared at her brother's wedding as a beautiful, angry at her father 17 year old. And of course Lucky, the oldest of Luke and Laura's kids, is old enough that he would have had to have been born before Luke and Laura ever got together. But whatever.

The other thing they keep doing is replacing the actress who plays Carly. I wasn't watching when the original Carly was on the show, so for me the second Carly was the original. She left about six months ago and was replaced with someone else, right in the middle of a dramatic storyline. I didn't like her at first, because I hate the way soaps replace actors even when they've been playing their characters for years and have earned a loyal fan base. But I got used to her. And suddenly? She's gone too, and Carly is being played by someone else. It just makes me shake my head.

Of course, the fact that the Edward Quartermaine that I grew up watching died a long time ago and his role was recast with someone who seems way younger makes me shake my head so much that my eyes should be loose and out of their sockets by now.

Anyway, as much as it infuriates me sometimes, I really do love this show. Alexis and Rick, Nikolas and Emily, Jason and Sam, Lucky and Elizabeth - I love them all. Even though half of those couples are currently broken up. But I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they find their way back to each other. Or until they sleep with someone else and get pregnant or catch their lovers sleeping with someone else. Ahh, the glory of soaps.