"I firmly believe it's the most socially valuable product on television," Rob Sharenow, senior vice president of nonfiction programming at A&E network told a Fairmont Hotel ballroom filled with people who nodded sympathetically, but then he was preaching to the choir -- or to people who wanted to do business with panelists up on stage, anyway.
"Who did more for a gay child struggling with their identity than Pedro did?" Sharenow asked rhetorically. He was referring to Pedro Zamora, the AIDS activist who became a pop-culture icon when he was cast on MTV's THE REAL WORLD: SAN FRANCISCO and died not long after that edition of the reality series wrapped.
Soap fans used to say these same types of statements about daytime soap operas. We still do on occassion but not as much these days. For example, in the late 1980s soaps were at the forefront of talking about AIDS and telling both entertaining and educational stories. I have to admit that Sharenow has a point about Pedro from THE REAL WORLD. He certainly had an impact on me.
Do you think daytime (or other) soaps are or have the potential to be the most socially valuable product on television?
DAYTIME SOAP OPERAS
