schmaltz tv

one of the most noteworthy things that my tita two taught me when i was a child was not only how to pronounce my b's and v's properly by the time i was eight, but she also paved the way for my fixation with american primetime soaps. it was the 80's, the decade of big hair, flowery dresses and oversized hats. unlike the plots of the action series which were easy to discern for my prepubescent mind, my tita two untangled the interwoven narratives of our regular viewing habits in the san sebastian house. falcon crest, dallas, dynasty and knots landing stories were mostly about greed, money and the american dream. the men were rich and determined, the women were feisty and glamorous. the good girls cry all the time, the bad seeds triumphed episodes after episodes. the scenarios were incredulous. it was trashy tv, period. but i considered them an early education in the art of malevolence that seemed to be the norm in actuality. out of the four shows, i was only able to get a grip of knots landing. i mostly read about dallas and dynasty in the magazines. in falcon crest, i got engulfed with one dynamic love-hate character. i'm getting reacquainted with the role at this juncture as falcon crest is being rerun in one of our digital channels. yes, watching those soaps was a cursory undertaking frowned upon by highbrow society. but what is shallow and easy to the eye is somewhat enjoyable. i feel the same way with situational comedies, furnish me with my cherished sitcoms and i would easily relax and have a ball.