Daily Soap Sagas
Storytelling and listening to stories which served as favourite pass time are part of every culture. The liking towards it is because of basic sense of curiosity, as to what happens in it or when it happens and soon. Before printing came into existence story telling was popular. This story telling in a different, visual format and appeal, today has become very popular on television in most of the countries.
Long winding stories which are of different kinds family dramas, love stories, comedies, suspense stories and stories which project social issues are shown on television daily in parts or episodes are called daily soap sagas. These stories through television, because of its visual impact, quickly caught the attention of people. The ideas emerged as a form of popular entertainment in west and started in India with ‘Doordarshan’. These stories are called ‘soaps’ since they become interesting as they proceed with twist and turns and do take a long —long tint to finish.
Soap sagas or serials as we know are popular source of entertainment in every house since these are made in most of the regional languages too. With the arrival of new channels, there are more serials to choose from. In India, it started with stories depicting certain social problems, historical epics and mythology, Quality work, in terms of acting, scripting, direction and presentation awed the audience. People looked forward to watching television every day, and slowly today it has become part of our routine. The daily dose of serials has become part of our lives, especially for those people sitting at home, like house wives and old people who have more time to spare.
The serial format-in parts or episodes for a stipulated time are shown daily. Stories when shown this way generates interest and maintains the curiosity level of the audience. People are eager to know about the new situations everyday. A competition between channels though has affected the quality of stories today. Some of the stories are predictable- family dramas with problems depicting marital discord, extramarital affairs, rivalry in business, gossips and so on. The stories are not fit to be viewed by all members of the family. The story and scripts are fiddled with-changed according to the response of the people or popularity (by assessing the viewer ship ratings).
The best thing about serials on T.V. is they reach a wider audience and has made some of the characters a household name. Today, some of the T.V. actors are celebrities because of their work in serials and the image it has created. Every home has at least two-three people who watch daily soap sagas and one comes across ladies discussing stories and situations during social gatherings. Some people are so glued to the soaps that they finish all other work earlier or forget about it.
The daily sagas on TV have changed the ways of home entertainment. Some have raised some important issues and others have entertained us and some are continuing with stories crossing generations.
