To a kid like me, television was everything. I watched things I loved, things I hated. Basically I watched anything. Every moment I was in charge of the television I was at my happiest. Unfortunately with two older sisters, I didn't have much time where I was in charge. The biggest problem was my eldest sister Sarah. She was a die-hard soap opera fan. She religiously watched channel 7 from12:30 to 4:30. Usually, since she was in college and I was in grade school, I'd get home before her and have an hour or two of Gilligan’s Island or Good Times reruns until Sarah took over. But during summer vacation, Sarah would commandeer the TV for the full run of ABC soaps: Ryan’s Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital & Edge of Night. So what did I do? I watched anyway. Sarah’s TV was better than no TV.
After a while I got used to these shows: their slow pacing, outlandish plot lines, heavy-handed acting style, and larger than life characters. I got to know All My Children’s Billy Clyde Tuggle, Phoebe Tyler, Jessie Hubbard, Angie Baxter , Tad Martin and Erica Kane. I also got to know Sarah. Before this I didn't know much about my eldest sister. We were eight years apart and had nothing in common. But as she began to talk me through the show, revealing her favorite villains and heroes, I learned a lot about her. She talked to the TV just like I did. She hated the good-looking people and adored the ugly villains just like me. We'd make jokes about the gaping holes in storylines, and I started to realize that I liked my sister. She began fixing us little snacks for our watching time together. We started watching other shows together--even at nighttime when the set was mine. Remington Steele, Greatest American Hero and Moonlighting were three of our favorites. We'd share their catchphrases as our inside jokes.
When Sarah died I lost a lot of things. But what surprised me was how much I missed all those inside jokes. Each time one of her beloved ABC soaps is canceled, I feel another twinge of loss. I'm a nostalgic guy anyway when it comes to TV, and I see the death of soaps as one more pathetic casualty of reality television. But with the death of All My Children, General Hospital is the only show still on ABC that Sarah and I watched together. Once it inevitably gets cancelled, it'll be up to me alone to remember the strange, subtle way these shows introduced me to who my sister really was. How she saw the world was reflected in every laugh, groan and sarcastic word she directed at the TV screen. I learned so much about her. I never want to forget. I guess that's why I wrote this.
When Sarah died I lost a lot of things. But what surprised me was how much I missed all those inside jokes. Each time one of her beloved ABC soaps is canceled, I feel another twinge of loss. I'm a nostalgic guy anyway when it comes to TV, and I see the death of soaps as one more pathetic casualty of reality television. But with the death of All My Children, General Hospital is the only show still on ABC that Sarah and I watched together. Once it inevitably gets cancelled, it'll be up to me alone to remember the strange, subtle way these shows introduced me to who my sister really was. How she saw the world was reflected in every laugh, groan and sarcastic word she directed at the TV screen. I learned so much about her. I never want to forget. I guess that's why I wrote this.
