The Wide World of Soap Operas

For the better part of my life, I have either watched or read up on a few different soap operas. Mostly Days of our Lives. I'm not an avid watcher anymore and I get most of my updates online now. Besides working full-time, there are just too many other things that I need to be doing other than watching these stories. Although, I do enjoy catching an episode every now and then.

Getting my priorities straight was tough for me because I was a DAILY soap addict for many years. I just HAD to watch or the world was going to come to an end. But it wasn't just Days of our Lives. It was Another World, General Hospital, Sunset Beach, Bold and the Beautiful, bits and pieces of The Young and the Restless as well as All My Children. In addition, let's not forget Dallas and Falcon Crest, which took up every Friday night for many years as well.

I will say though that I've always been very impressed with the actors and actresses on soap operas. They are highly talented. In fact, many Hollywood stars got their start on soaps operas. But in particular, I'm referring to the actors that are considered the soap veterans that either grew up on soaps or have been on a soap for 20 years or longer.

Wow! That's a long time to have a steady job. Let alone an acting job. Working on soaps may seem glamorous, but Soap Stars work very long days. They have to memorize HUGE amounts of material on an almost daily basis. They work for a lot less than the typical Hollywood star but they are very passionate about their work. They are less prone to be tabloid fodder since for the most part many soap actors lead very stable home and family lives. Not exactly the jet set life of the rich Hollywood elite.

Recently, I read and watched several news reports about the recent attack on Drake Hogestyn and his family by a whacked out lunatic. Poor Drake. He has played the character of John Black on Days of Our Lives for nearly 20 years and is a superb actor and just a wonderful human being in general. I know this from years of reading his interviews, etc. You can tell I am a fan, can't you?

Well, back to the story. Apparently, he was at home up on a ladder minding his own business and bam, this dude just walked onto his property and stormed at him and his family. Luckily, (like in true John Black form) Drake and his son apprehended the man and called the cops before anyone in his family got hurt.

Wow! It was crazier than some of the plots lately on Days of our Lives. Which has become more like the Days of our Tragedies and the Days of our Firings. Yikes! More thoughts on this later.