Guilty Pleasure

BACKGROUND TO MY GUILTY PLEASURE
I'm a pretty big fan of The Soup (with Joel McHale). I've actually been watching the show so long I sometimes have a senior moment and refer to it as 'Talk Soup', for which my younger friends mock me.

[insert sad face here]

One early evening, my wife demands I stop doing dishes to watch The Soup (how dare she watch it without me?). I can't complain, but it's got to be something outrageously hilarious for her to ask me to stop washing dishes.

My mind was blown when I saw James Franco of all people on some random soap opera.

I happen to also be a fan of James Franco (I find his intermittent lisp endearing) and all of his shenanigans (such as the all too brief video series, "Acting with James Franco").

There's no good reason for James Franco to be on a soap opera; and he's practically laughing as he delivers his lines. Marie and I have no choice but to agree with Joel McHale and assume that he lost a bet.

MY GUILTY PLEASURE
Soap operas. That's right, I said it. I enjoy watching soap operas, and I blame James Franco. My curiosity was piqued after seeing that clip on The Soup.

I'll admit that I used to watch soap operas with one of my (three!) older sisters, but that was mainly to mock her (love ya, sis!). So I do have some background on which to judge the new generation of soap opera writers, actors and crew.

The CHARACTERS are just as archetypal, trite and carnal as ever, motivated by a gross exaggeration of the seven deadly sins, of course. The quality of the ACTORS has somehow gone down as many of them habitually stumble over their lines and stutter. If it were only one actor doing this, I could let it slide as him/her just plain old acting.  But trust me, this is not the case.  The WRITING is, as much as I hate to admit it, quite entertaining.  The plot arcs are just as over the top as ever.  The dialogue is still mostly exposition, but often sultry (sorry - I'm a sucker for sultry dialogue).

Considering I'm known as a "*story snob," it might strike you as odd that I would watch something so horrible. Indeed, indeed. But it's like watching a train wreck. You just can't pull yourself away from it! And eventually you get sucked in and it becomes an amusement.

I don't go out of my way to watch soaps, and because I'm only a casual watcher the story arcs are more twisted and ridiculous, and they'd be even more confusing if it wasn't for all that exposition they throw in there.

So, in conclusion, "Damn you, James Franco, and damn whoever you lost that bet to that put you on whatever that soap opera was that piqued my curiosity into soap operas! But, guiltily, thank you as well, because I do enjoy them, but I don't want to! Damn you!"

*Interchangeable with: literary or writing.