Driving home today I was flipping stations on the radio and stopped when I heard the Beatles, "Hey Jude". Beautiful song. Beautiful, simple melody, with lyrics that touch on universal themes. I can't help singing along. It never grows old.
That's what it takes to make a timeless song. A simple melody that carries you along and lyrics that touch your heart.
Take a sad song and make it better…
don’t be afraid…
let her into your heart…
begin to make it better.
A simple song about life.
The past couple of years I've seen soap operas resort to more and more stunts in order to grab the viewers attention and hope they'll stick around. Tornadoes, explosions, and train wrecks of the literal variety as opposed to the figurative kind where a show seems to be falling apart at the seams.
The latest trend seems to be to cast a well-known primetime or film actor for a limited story arc, which makes it difficult to truly invest in their character's story because the viewer knows they won't be sticking around for very long.
But all we want is a simple melody that touches the heart.
A simple story of
love
family
forgiveness
redemption
hope.
These are the elements of our everyday lives and we are pulled into the story as our favorite characters experience these things.
Consider the stories you remember as your favorites, the ones you're thinking of when you say "Why don't they write 'em like that anymore?".
A love lost ... forgiveness granted ...love regained. A family shattered by mistrust comes together in a time of crisis, forgives, and is restored. Despair slowly gives way to faith and hope and reaches out to grant it to another. Uncertainty and fear seek answers and explanations, discovering those who are always there to offer support whether those answers are ever found or not.
This is life. These things can be found at the root of every successful soap story and every memorable character. The rest is just window dressing.
I wish soaps would be more concerned with the stories and pay less attention to the drapes.
I just wish the drapes would match the floor!
ReplyDeleteBroadway is doing the same thing with movie actors taking the theater roles from all those future Tony winners waiting tables.
Stunts are stunts, and yes, that is why I am moving more to the web series. Instead of warmed-over, no follow through, the web is providing the content and drama of quality programming.