Soap Bubbles

September 19, 2006 - 1:32 PM by Allison

Israel’s got every form of pop culture, including its most outrageous form, the soap opera. And where there are soap operas, there are rabid soap opera fans, especially for the popular South American incarnation, the telenovella — a season-long mini-series, kind of a maxi-series.

I come home from work every night excited to see what tonight’s show will reveal. If you have ever watched American soaps, it takes months and years for the storyline to ever come to some sort of conclusion. Here every day there is something exciting going on. Every day I know that the show will end on a cliffhanger but I also know that within two days I will see the conclusion of the cliffhanger. I get totally engrossed in what I am watching that sometimes I talk to the TV.

Israeli soaps have a definitive beginning and a definitive ending for the season. These shows do not continue for years and years but rather just one season. When I first made aliyah I worked really weird hours and was home in the afternoon to catch “Michaela” – my first introduction to Israeli Telenovela’s. I started watching in the end of the season and I remember watching the last episode with astonishment- the bad guys had been killed. I was so confused- what happens now to the show? Until I realized that the show was over. I was so disappointed but now I LOVE watching these types of shows.

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