Standing in line at the supermarket a few days ago, the trash mags caught my eye. Don’t judge me — you know you read the headlines to pass the time. Scanning one of the soap opera weeklies, I noticed they had an article with the low-down on The Vampire Diaries.
Wha…? Why would they have a story about a show that isn’t a soap taking up precious cover space? Instantly, I became irrational. I’ve always been a fan of the vamp genre, so of course I would watch this show. You know you’re still looking for the next Buffy, just like the rest of us. I wouldn’t watch a soap opera.
My feelings of irrationality became erratic — those people are crazy; it is most definitely not a soap opera. Oh, I think I hate myself for watching a soap opera. Then — then! — realization hit me, and rational thoughts started to creep back in.
Maybe, just maybe, The Vampire Diaries has some similarities to a soap opera. There is a sappy love story, soon to be a love triangle. There’s a damaged family (or two), suffering loss and handling it in their own ways. The characters are young — a big draw for most soaps — especially the new-fangled nighttime ones, like 90210 and Gossip Girl.
Admittedly, I’ve traveled down the path of daytime and nighttime soaps in the past, and none of them are all bad. Especially Dark Shadows, though I remember the 1991 revival better than the original (’cause I was actually born). Now we have another (possible) vampire-based nighttime soap, following in the footsteps of a cult favorite, while also borrowing from Buffy, Angel, Twilight, True Blood, Moonlight, and Being Human … and probably many more.
So even if The Vampire Diaries is a soap opera, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Right? I am right … right?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Sep 30, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
