Kathryn Knight
My Secret Addiction
Time to confess to my guilty pastime! I’m addicted to a soap opera—Days of our Lives—and while it’s not truly a secret, it’s not something I tend to announce at social events. After all, many people discount soaps as silly and often absurd melodrama, and yes, certain storylines can veer in that direction…but it would be nearly impossible to weave a serial drama that has aired every weekday for 50 years and not occasionally ask viewers to suspend belief. I’m okay with that.
I started watching for a simple reason–my mother watched it every day on NBC. The earliest clear memory I have of watching with her takes place in the family room of the first house we owned, which we moved into when I was about 5 years old. Of course, the trials and tribulations of adult relationships was not particularly interesting to a preschooler. But I did find one character I could identify with: Hope Williams, who was also a little girl. She had beautiful black hair and cute dresses.
Once I was in school, I only saw episodes sporadically, either during the summer, school vacations, or when I was home sick. Still, because a single day can stretch out into weeks in soap opera time, it was never too difficult to figure out what was going on. Then the Betamax was invented in the mid-seventies, and by the time I was in high school, my mom and I were taping the show so we could watch together at the end of the day. As a college student, I was hooked enough to take “my show” into consideration when planning my class schedule.
When I was 25, my mom lost her battle with cancer. It was a terrible time in my life, and nothing was normal for a long time. But suddenly Days of Our Lives had renewed sentimental value–a connection to my mother, and our memories. To this day, some of the characters we enjoyed together are still on regularly. Twenty years after her passing, the show serves as a daily reminder of my beautiful mom.
When my boys were babies, we’d snuggle up on the couch at 1 p.m. and drift into naptime as the drama played out quietly on the television. It was my favorite part of the day. And it is still my sacred quiet time these days, if my schedule permits. Plus, now that I’m a romance author, I can label it as research; after all, writing romance is about creating chemistry between two characters, and then keeping them apart as the tension builds. Sounds a lot like the soaps, right? Supercouples like Bo and Hope, Steve and Kayla, John and Marlena, and Carrie and Austin certainly didn’t travel an easy road to be together. If they did, it wouldn’t be very interesting! So cue the familiar hourglass, and give me my daily dose of conflict, secrets, and betrayals, along with the eventual “true love conquers all” scenes that keep fans like me watching!
Now that I’ve bared my guilty pleasure—what’s yours?
26 COMMENTS
Great post, Kathryn. I remember my mom watching Young and the Restless every day at 12:30. Funny the things that can bring back childhood memories.
Thank you all so much for the support and kind words, and for sharing your “guilty” pleasures. Big props to Casi for starting such a great series.
Loved this post! Mine is The Bachelor now, but i used to love General Hospital when i was in High School.
I watched General Hospital years ago. 🙂 I guess my guilty pleasure is… I can’t think of anyone other than drinking too much creamer in my coffee.
I was a General Hospital fan, for many years. I got hooked in college because of my dormies. Luke and Laura…that storyline drug on forever! At some point, after I had kids, I drifted away from television, and have stayed away except for sports and local news. Guilty pleasures: Packers football and Cardinals baseball. 🙂
Our Gal Sunday was the soap opera of the day when I was young. That was before TV, when radio brought entertainment and news into our lives. One of my characters in an earlier novel than Two Hearts in Time, is added to Our Gal Sunday. I’m sorry to hear how you lost your mom, and don’t for a minute consider reliving your time with her a guilty pleasure. By the way, I had a writing instructor at OU who watched a soap opera regularly. He said it is a good way to understand how storytelling works.
Great post, Kathryn. I had a long comment all typed and the capcha critter ate it, so I’ll just say my guilty pleasure these days is reading since I rarely have time for it anymore.
Thanks so much everyone for coming by and for your kind words! I love the post-apocalyptic stuff too…fan of TWD and maybe I should try The Lost Ship?
Interesting! I was addicted to Dark Shadows,, the original. I rushed home from school to watch Barnabas Collins. Guilty secret #`100
Long ago Days fan, myself. It’s been a few years, but the character’s names and challenges all come back to me.
I never caught onto a soap except for Dark Shadows back in the 60s. I guess if I had to name a series that I’m hooked on now, it would be Castle.
What a beautiful story. I never watched Days of our Lives. Years ago, I watched All My Children, General Hospital, and Young and the Restless. I even skipped school in the 8th grade to watch the very first episode of Y&R. Fell in love with Greg and Snapper, who are no longer on the show. I quit watching years ago, but still see flashes of the show when walking through the waiting room at work, and I flash back to those long years ago when I was addicted to the show. My secret addiction now is apocalyptic books, movies, or TV series. I love shows like The Walking Dead & The Last Ship, and at times, I can be a real couch potato. I love television, sometimes to the detriment of my writing. But hey, I can always call it research. Right?
Aww, great post, Kathryn. I was addicted to As the World Turns until it went off the air. My sympathies on your mom. My dad died when I was 18 and it was very hard. We used to watch football together, so maybe that explains why I still like to watch (my husband is so glad).
Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my mother’s death and I spent most of the day reminiscing about the past. We enjoyed watching “Another World” together and during the years of the Oprah Show would chat on the phone about the day’s guests. So many memories! Thanks for the lovely post, Kathryn 🙂
How good that you have this connection to your mother via these memories of watching this show together. I can’t really say I have any guilty pleasures (besides chocolate, like Andrea) but I do enjoy watching Neighbours, the only ‘soap’ I watch, and have even got my husband addicted to it!
Great post. Okay, Days could definitely be considered research!
What a wonderful memory, Kathryn. My Mom’s favorite soap was The Young and the Restless. Everything stopped when Y & R came on!
I used to love Days of Our Lives 🙂 Nice post.
So glad I’m not the only one! Oh, and wine is a guilty pleasure as well, I’m with you on that! Love that some of you watch or listen to British soaps. I learned that they are called “soap operas” because when they first began airing on the radio, they targeted housewives, obviously, and the commercials were all for soap!
Kathryn, I can sympathize completely with your addiction. I’m also addicted to a soap, but it’s a British one called “Coronation Street”. Like you and your mom, my daughter and I watched it together for years. One of our favorite memories (and a sheer delight) was when we caught an episode while vacationing together in Scotland! I never miss it and I still record it for her as it beams to our antenna across Lake Ontario, from Toronto!
Kathryn, it’s lovely that you have a daily reminder of your mom. My only guilty pleasure is chocolate…oh, and wine! But I have a friend in CA, a fellow writer, who listens every day to The Archers, a British radio soap that’s been going since WWII. No joke. It has a very catchy theme song, too, to which I used to bounce my baby (now 31)
Love this story and memories, Kathryn. My mom wasn’t much of a soap opera watcher, but she did instill her love of romance books in me – and was the first one to urge me to try writing them. I lost my mom to cancer a year and a half ago, but she was around to celebrate my first few published books.
Thanks for sharing!
Kathryn, I still watch General Hospital from time to time, LOL. The soaps have been on so long, we can’t help but have memories attached. I felt so sad when ABC discontinued All My Children and One Life To Live––almost like a death in my extended family.
Truth be told, I’ve pull a lot of inspiration from the soaps as well. I think my writing will always be influenced from iconic characters born from the soaps 🙂
What wonderful memories you shared with you mom and now comfort you in her absence. For me it was Dark Shadows. I’d come home from school and watch the show, though my mom worked, we always discussed what happened on the show. She wasn’t much off a vampire fan, but knew I was. She’s been gone since 1997, but the memories live on.
That is fun! I had tiny tv in my dorm room, one of the only ones with a tv, so I ended up hooking half the floor on Days of Our Lives since that’s what was it was tuned to at 1:00, lol. All of us piled in around a screen about the size of a laptop!
It’s nice that you have those memories with your mother. I remember in college when at a certain time, all the girls would rush down to the lobby tv to watch their favorite soaps. This was before tvs were allowed in individual rooms. They were sprawled on couches, chairs, and brought their pillows to sit on the floor. Fun times.