Friday, February 19, 2010

Soaps: UK v Thailand

It's Friday, so trivia time again, courtesy Wikipedia’s home page. 25 years ago today, the first episode of EastEnders was broadcast on BBC1. I am not a fan of soaps. I think I saw one episode of EE which involved a lot of shouting in a pub. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Coronation Street, or Crossroads, or Neighbours… although I did see one or two episodes of Brookside on Channel 4 in the 80s. Actually I’d quite like to see an early episode of ‘Coro’ now. Must be a fantastic slice of social history. It’s been going since before I was born – apparently it’s up to episode 7,274. And one of the original actors, Ken Barlow, is still in it!

Thai TV seems to be non-stop soap operas, full of bitchy hi-so (high society) women, swaggering playboys and neverending, tear-jerking suspense. "But Thais likes it that way", says director Kasidin Saengwong. "They want to be able to cry. That's why we spend 30 minutes on a farewell scene". One soap, The Air Hostess Wars, created an uproar when it depicted short-skirted air stewardesses brawling in the aisles over the affections of the pilot. Real stewardesses launched a petition saying it was demeaning and tried to get it pulled. Then the Ministry of Culture stepped in. Finally the producers promised to tone it down and lower the hemlines. All good fun.

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