Back in the Day Soapies

Posted in Wabona,What's going On on April 2nd, 2013 By Wabona

As a young girl, I was a big soapie lover. I loved all the soap operas from Days of Our Lives to Backstage. I must admit that in the 1990′s and early 2000′s my favourite soap operas were the South African ones. I just could not miss an episode of Generations and Isidingo. The backstabbing and intrigue made these shows unmissable.

Generations was more of a fantasy to me while Isidingo was the realistic one. I think the best part of these soap operas was the scheming and villains. The women villains were amazing. It was shocking how these women were so wicked and just did not care. They were conniving, manipulative, sneaky and at times murderous. Cherel de Villiers and Ntsiki Lukele were classic women villains and can never be replaced. In addition, they were stand out characters such Derek Nyathi, Archie Moroka, Phillippa de Villiers and Georgie Zamdela.

How do these shows look today? Well, I must say not that great. Frankly South African soap operas are just boring. There is not much going on and at times it feels as if the script is non-existent. As far as I know, Cherel de Villiers  is still around but not as menacing. Isidingo bores me and Generations is just ridiculous. There are times when I watch it to laugh.

However, Generations sometimes has moments of brilliance. Last year, it was with the Zodwa saga. This saga made Generations  a hot topic and it trended for a couple months. The storyline was epic because it was so extreme from the seduction to the phantom pregnancy. This took me back to the good old Generations . Right now, my brothers and I are just watching Generations because of their latest villain Sello. He is everything a viewer could wish for. He is arrogant, scary, demented, dirty and downright cruel. It has been a pleasure watching this thug from rhino smuggling to prostitution to human-trafficking. Unfortunately for us this storyline has come to an end but was good while it lasted. Or has it? I really want him to come back with his Miami Vice (80s Drama, if you don’t know) shirts and his general DIY take on being a thug. He never has any henchmen, he does it himself. Very refreshing to see thugs that work for their crimes.

It is so sad that we have little glimmers of hope in South African soap operas at the moment. I have heard that Muvhango is good but have not had a chance to watch it. Well, I do hope that these soap operas do improve because I have been missing them of late. The way they used to be in back in the day.

Well these are my 2 cents. What do you think?

Phumu23 (@rebelleface23)

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