Monday, May 23, 2011

New Location for a Soap Opera

I've always wondered why the soap opera production companies never thought to set a soap at a school. I mean, seriously, it is the ideal location!

I'm not basing this purely on my current job, by the way. I've just been talking with my mother (we spend many evenings commiserating over long days after dinner), and the stuff that goes on in educational institutions is just completely wild.

If I worked at one of my pre-professional jobs (Chuck E. Cheese, Wal-Mart, Water Country, and so on), I'd be sharing thought-provoking adventures experienced at work on this blog. Like, all the time. There's kind of a vow of silence necessary when you assume the proverbial white color, though, and it's even more pronounced when you're dealing with children, who are more than entitled to confidentiality.

The thing is, kids are also entitled to drama. Surviving the backbiting and clumsy attempts at fights and ratting out the kid you hate for having beer at a party and stuff ... that's vintage kid stuff.

It's expected.

Adults? You'd think they could be held to a higher standard ...

I once worked at a school--and just to be crystal clear, this is not my current place of employment--where an entire department got together at least once a week to toke up. If I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I mean, how hypocritical is it to say, "Don't do drugs" and then relish in showing off your water bong skills? And we're talking people you'd never imagine that are the biggest potheads ... crazy.

I know I'm kind of talking in circles here, but since I can't elaborate, just think about the possibilities of a legitimate soap opera (hell, a prime-time soap opera) that took place at a public school. All the dirt, all the drama, all the gossiping and rumors, all the substance abuse ... and I'm talking about the adults.

General Hospital, eat your heart out!

5 comments:

  1. Not to mention the whole "female teacher having sex with male students" thing. It seems to be a popular storyline at several schools in the news recently. I like the storyline about how teachers' union dues are spent on political donations to the Democrat party. I'd watch that one. ;-)

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  2. It's not nice to antagonize me when I'm sick ;-)

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  3. Good point. High school pretty much takes all the teenage drama, all the adult drama, and mixes it into one big bowl.

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  4. They did this in Canada. It's called the "DeGrassi" franchise. Check it out.

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  5. We have them in the UK. Grange Hill, Byker Grove are ones from the past, but there are always some new ones for teens and pre-teens. We've even had one set in an orphanage.

    Try looking at CBBC for some shows on iplayer. You may not be able to watch them in the states, but it won't hurt to try.

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