Italian+Soap-operas

Nowadays people have a lot of pastimes, but one in particular is cheap and relaxing, that is watching TV. People are used to watch TV, especially they are really fond of series: series like soap operas for women, or scaring TV film for brave man. Series are really watched by everybody, young and elderly people, both in Italy and all over the world.

Among the most beloved soap-operas there are certainly ‘Vivere’, ‘Un Posto al Sole’ and ‘Centovetrine’. All these soap-operas deal with love, sex, betrayals, money and domestic conflicts. Every episode follows the precedent with regard to the contents and every character crosses other characters’ stories, in order to form a homogeneous product. Spectators look forward to the successive episode and imagine the evolution of the vicissitudes, moreover, they love the actors and they identify them with the characters that they act. Another important aspect of these soap-operas is the fact that there are some actors that act since the first episode, on the contrary, other actors sometimes disappear to let new people in or because of reasons that are connected to the screenplay.

As regards detective series we will mention only two or three important titles of the most famous programmes: "Distretto di Polizia", "Carabinieri" and "La Squadra". They deal with policemen, who have to face several crimes; for example, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, tangle and sometimes homicides. Of course, love stories, misunderstanding and subterfuges are the background of the more important cases. These detective series are funny and the topics they deal with are always of the present-day; moreover, the sympathy and the spontaneity of the characters count very much. The episodes are broadcasted above all at evening.

There are some series that are broadcasted all over the world, giving the chance even to far away from each other countries to have something in common; it is a sort of common legacy which joins together the countries. In Italy, because people like very much TV series, besides italian ones, a lot of foreign one are being broadcasted; like italian series they can be divided in categories and genres; but even more interesting is to divide them by the kind of public which watches them. First of all, there are TV series called soap operas, whose public is almost composed of woman; Beautiful, is a good example for this kind of soap operas, which are largely seen by the women italian public; the series is about a rich family who deals with love, money, sex, deceits, etc. Then, there are series almost dedicated to a male public, because of the plot they portray; often this kind of series are about killers and murders; an example is CSI, the famous series in which detective are asked to find the killer by the clues they are able to find out. Then thee are series watched by woman and men, young and elderly people, and those series are for example the ones that deals with the hospital world; a famous one is "Doctor House", which like the other series I mentioned is watched by a large public.

In conclusion, here in Italy certain TV programmes (both Italian and foreign) are watched by young and elderly people. What about Australia? Which are your favourite soap-operas?

By Claudia, Sonia e Katia