First of all, to those who are fond of watching such tv dramas, whether local or foreign, I'm sorry and please don't hate me for writting this.. it's just an OPINION..
Soap Operas, melodramas, teleserye, fantaserye, what ever!
I suppose, almost every Filipino households are very fond of them, especially those who are included between the above average and poverty line. It's main viewers are often housewives, or even wives who just got home from office at evenings, mga kasama sa bahay (i'm not comfortable in calling them as house maids), and children. According to one of the local TV stations, these melodramas are really for those at home who have nothing more to do after cleaning the house, washing the dishes, doing their laundries or even after a hard day of work from the office. It is as if a "reward" for them. Having been raised in a typical Filipino family, I grew up with the people in our house watching such shows one after the other. It is already a part of our culture that many of us, through the years, have embraced. As a child, you don't have the right to watch what channel you want when the clock strikes at the time of the melodrama that everybody in the house waits for, or else, you'll be scolded or worst, be spanked by your mom in the buttocks! You cannot go outside for they won't allow you to play with your friends nor turn on the tv in the other room, they'll tell you that you're just wasting electricity! You have no other choice than to watch with them and go with the flow. Sometimes, it's even unfair, because after they watch and the TV is all yours, they'll tell you that you have to turn it off because the TV was running for almost the whole day!
Ok, I'll admit it, there was a time when I got hooked on to these TV melodramas. But it was THEN.. When I was still in grade school, When all the story plots of these series are very unique, when every new series looks new with the new casts and all. But again, it was way back THEN. If you'll notice nowadays, almost all other these melodramas have the same plots, the same conflicts,(Family members lost, Plastic surgery, Family Wealth, Rivalry, ETC.!) and ALSO, same OLD casts.. (Parang ang sarap sabihin, "Wala na bang iba???") Also include here the never ending COINCIDENCES that occurs one after the other that leaves the audience dropped-jaw! Not to mention the Foreign Melodramas On my own point of view, they are far more better than ours.Sad but true. It all started from the phenomenal Mari-MAr!!!!(AWW!)I could remember my whole neighborhood going crazy over it!) Followed by different Spanish teleseries dubbed into our own language. Then when a network launched the Asian Novelas (Be it Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Korean, NAME IT!!) And it never stopped till' now! It was like a disease that has taken over the whole country!
Sometimes, when I sit down infront of the couch, with everyone at home (our kasama sa bahay, my two little brothers and my mom), I just wanna laugh at them whenever I see them moved by the drama scene from what they are watching! (for crying out loud! It's just a darn melodrama..) There was even a time that during our supper, they were talking about something/someone, that I thought it was the person we knew of, and I tried to join in with their conversation and suddenlly, they just laughed at me because I thought and talked of the wrong person(now the laugh was on me).
At times, I thought why does the story of the melodrama have to long, and very complicated. In some stories, even impossible. Why can't it be just as short as it can possibly be, or why can't the conflicts be solved by a simple conversation and agreements between the antagonist and the protagonist! This is the point where I thought of Soap Operas very irritating! They make the story LONG when they can make it SHORT! They make it COMPLICATED when they can make it so SIMPLE! Come to think of it? Isn't it irritating??
Anyway, this is just about my point of view, I'm sorry if you think I'm so rude in saying these things. But admit or not, I know you've observe that some of what I had said are true right? But mind you, I respect those people who are addicted on them. This is a democratic world right? And I think, I do understand why these soap operas keep on coming through the years. They have survived every breaking news that there was, or problems in our society that had occured. Maybe that's it! They are there to give entertainment to the people who needs time out from this very tiring world! Especially, our fellowmen! No wonder, they keep on embracing these Soap Operas, melodramas, teleserye, fantaserye, what ever!
FACT: Why is it called "SOAP opera"? Soap from the fact that they were originally often sponsored by soap manufacturing companies.



