Oh No They Didn't!

Wherever my Mother is, I can tell you she's ticked off. Being a stay at home mom, my mother's life was sometimes not her own. Her days were filled with caring for her family and running a household. Her time was not hers, EXCEPT for two definite occasions, and smart people learned that valuable lesson very early. Her weekly beauty shop appointment and her daily soap operas were holy rituals that were never to be missed.

Somewhere, up in Heaven, my mother is sitting in a comfy chair, with her coffee in a beautiful china cup, and a fresh box of chocolates by her side. She is also fighting mad at what has become of her beloved "programmies".

I understand television is trying to attract younger viewers. They're trying to appeal to the college crowd, and that's understandable. Young viewers are the target audience because of their disposable income. It's not that they have MORE of it, it's just that they tend to DISPOSE of it more often than the older generation does. We realize the importance of putting that extra income aside to use for the really fun things in life...hip replacements, angioplasties, biopsies, and don't forget the extra meds you'll be needing. Yeah, we oldsters know how to plan a party, don't we?

While I don't really watch soap operas, I do keep the television tuned to the same channel my mother watched for years. (What? The dogs like the noise..really!) Since I have the soaps tuned in, I can't help but overhear some of the plot and let me tell you, Toto, we are NOT in Kansas, anymore.

Oh, there's still the always popular "amnesia" plot, the kidnapping plot, the evil witch who's breaking up everyone's marriage plot, and the cheating husband plot. But, today's soaps also include eye poppers like graphic sex scenes between both straight AND gay characters.

There's nothing wrong with these latest storylines. In a lot of ways they do reflect real life and for the most part, I'm okay with them, up to a POINT. A line was definitely crossed the other day on one of the oldest soap operas on television. I'm talking about that Grande Dame of Soap Operadom..The Guiding Light.

Reva Shayne, a character who became notorious in her youth as the Town Tramp of Springfield (you know there's ALWAYS one), has aged and her character has survived adventures too numerous to mention. I realize her character is vital to the soap opera, but is it too much to ask for her to age gracefully? In a believeable fashion, while she embraces her age and enjoys the wonderfulness that middle age has to offer?

Apparently it IS too much to ask, since it was announced recently that Reva is pregnant! Quite a trick for someone who, not too long ago, shared her adventures in menopause with her sympathetic viewers who were experiencing the same thing.

Seriously, this woman is older than ME and, some genius decided it would be a good idea to have her experience the joys of labor, delivery and motherhood all over again, at OUR age? I can honestly tell you, that when the doctor delivered the news, my own uterus sat straight up and said, "Oh No, She Didn't!"

That did it for me. I'll be turning the television off before Guiding Light comes on, although it would be fun to see if Reva manages to find a walker with a support strap for her pregnant belly.