[Randallw]

I would guess they can be called soap operas because they have multi story arcs and characters and events in one episode turn up again in another episode, and you watch to see what happens to someone from a previous episode. Unlike "non-soap operas" where each episode is unconnected to a previous one except they have the same cast. I like Star Trek, but I have to admit at least with the old series the crew goes from planet to planet and nothing they did before has any relevance to later episodes. With NG you at least had the occasional "Worf" episode developing his character.

edit: second thought. Also with a soap opera you might miss a few episodes and when you watch it again the characters keep referring to something that changed the show, and you might think to yourself "hang on, did i miss something important?". Whereas a non-soap opera you miss a few episodes and come back and its like you didn't miss a thing. By the way I don't watch "soap operas" so I'm just going on what I think the term means.

[ March 07, 2004, 01:20: Message edited by: Randallw ]