Sunday, February 19, 2006

Someone with soap opera experience explain this to me:

What the hell is The Thorn Birds about? And why was it filled with actors in bad age makeup? How couldn't people tell that Richard Chamberlain was gay? And why did the lead character allow a priest to yank her chain around so much?

Thank you. So confused now, but I don't want to watch the miniseries again because it made my head hurt so much from the bad dialogue, bad acting and sheer awfulness of the stories.

Edited to add: What the hell is Maurice from Northern Exposure doing on this miniseries with a shitty Aussie accent?

5 comments:

Eva said...

Sadly the best theory I can come up with for why folks would watch it is the shere train-wreck drama of it. It looks pretty terrible.

In other news, we should sit down and watch Dark Shadows at some point. I'm guessing you'd find it hysterical. :)

QuietlyGoingMad said...

Not only is he in this miniseries, but he also graces the screen during One Tree Hill these days. FYI.

K. said...

So the Thorn Birds. I am old, so I actually saw it. It's about a girl named Meggie (i think that was her name) and she meets the town priest when she is a little girl and later when she is grown up and married she and the priest fall in love and spend years fighting their mutual desire for each other, then she gets pregnant and has a son but the priest doesn't kn0w its his, I believe until the end. And then he dies. It is cheesy, but if you like 80's melodrama (stuff like Lace) it's actually pretty good.

And at the time no one had a clue Richard Chamberlain was gay. He didn't ping my gaydar at all. Then again, I was about 7.

Viv said...

Eva -- I'm down with the idea of Dark Shadows. That was apparently the shit for all the gothy girls in high school.

Keidra -- Oh, I'm familiar with the book, but I'm not that familiar with the plot. I read it only for the sex scenes when I was a teenager.

Anonymous said...

Did this question come up because Oxygen has been showing the TBs like every other DAY?!!. I was watching some of it last night, actually. When I first saw it as a pre-teen, it was basic overwrought soap opera/tragedy. And no, I had no idea that Richard Chamberlain was gay either, but then you really didn't have anything to compare it to (if I remember correctly, this aired before Rock Hudson contracted AIDS). But he was pretty hot then... Anyway, watching it now it seems like the story is really about how the anger/betrayal/unrequited love of women is equivalent of a storm that will destroy everything it its wake, including the women themselves (and I think the fire that consumed Drogheda was a metaphor for that rage). Meggie, Mary Carson, Fee (Meggie's mom) were all scorned and bitter in the end. It was only Jessie that was able to break the cycle by finally believing she was worthy to be loved (by her man and her mom) and with her burgenoning acting career. Also, I just turn it on to listen to the score. I've always loved the theme song. All hail Henry Mancini!!!

BTW: Yes, I need a life.