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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Buffy:''' ''How bored ''were'' you last year?''
'''Giles:''' ''I watched ''[[Passions]]'' with Spike. [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|Let us never speak of it again]].''|''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', "Real Me"}}
The [[Daytime Drama Queen]] is a predominantly American trope. If you want to show a character as sad, pathetic and in dire need of a life, show him watching and caring about the events of a [[Soap Opera]]. The most popular soap to care about seems to be ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'', though a [[Soap Within a Show|fictional, parodic soap]] works just as well.
This trope is mainly applied to unemployed men. Since they can't work, they have nothing better to do than stay at home and watch daytime soaps, and since watching soaps is [[Double Standard|generally seen as a female pastime]], a man who does so is seen as having lost everything. May be slightly more positively portrayed as a [[Real Men Wear Pink|hard man's only soft spot]]. Expect any character who mocks him for it to watch the show for five minutes and straight away get just as hooked on it.
In Britain, watching soaps is more acceptable, and since soaps tend to be broadcast during [[Prime Time]], daytime drama queens just don't show up so often on the European side of [[The Pond]]. In Australia, this type of character does appear occasionally, but tends to be shown as addicted to American rather than Australian soaps due to their more over-the-top nature. In Latin America this type of character is virtually absent since soaps are, in most countries, pretty much the only kind of dramatic production locally produced; and given that in Hispanic culture soap operas are so far on the [[Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness|serious side of the scale]] that they are [[Serious Business]], such a character would be seen as too aware for his own good, or a shot in the network's foot.
It's possible that this trope will [[Dead Horse Music Genre|die]] out in America and become a [[Forgotten Trope]] in the next{{when}} decade. Five of the nine American daytime serials airing have been canceled since 2007 (''[[Passions]]'', ''[[Guiding Light]]'', ''[[As the World Turns]]'', ''[[All My Children]]'', and ''[[One Life to Live]]''). Only ''[[Days of Our Lives]],'' ''[[The Young and The Restless]],'' ''[[The Bold And The Beautiful]],'' and ''[[General Hospital]]'' remain, and many say they're on their last legs anyway.
See also [[Explaining the Soap]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* When not being a psychotic gunslinger, Revy of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' likes watching soap operas.
== [[
* Quite a few ''[[Spider-Man]]'' [[Villains Out Shopping|villains like soap operas]], particularly Shocker and Rhino.
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* In ''[[Crocodile Dundee]] II'', it becomes obvious that Mick needs to get out and have some new adventures when he reveals that he actually cares what happens in ''[[Days of Our Lives]]''.
* Chiun, Remo's Sinanju sensei in ''Remo Williams'', is addicted to his soap opera, considering it to be high culture, saying, "It concerns family, love, honor and courage, all that is noblest in the human spirit."
* ''Mr. Mom:'' Michael Keaton goes from high-powered automotive executive to homemaker after being left go. Part of his transition is shown by having him originally scoff at daytime dramas only to become more and more involved in their storylines as he spent more time as a househusband.
* In ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', Roy Neary has ''Days of our Lives'' on when he's building the model of Devil's Tower in his living room, though he doesn't seem to really be watching it.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In [[Lamb:
* David Sedaris is, or at least used to be, a daytime drama queen, which is [[Self-Deprecation|frequently played for comedy]] in his essays.
* ''[[Matilda (
* [[Animorphs
== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* Averted with Spike on ''[[
** Giles, in his year off between being a librarian and running the Sunnydale magic store, watched with him.
* In an episode of ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[Becker]]'', the title character was called for jury duty, and over the course of a week or so became addicted to the soap opera that was playing in the waiting room.
* [[House (TV series)|House]] claims to be an ardent fan of the series' [[Show Within a Show]], ''Prescription: Passion''. Since the show is a [[Medical Drama]], he probably watches it for [[
* House's [[Epileptic Trees|alternate universe twin]], [[Scrubs|Dr Cox]], has a similar habit of watching ''Days of our Lives'', along with Laverne - who, being a middle-aged black female, is rather more in the traditional demographic.
* Ignacio on ''[[Ugly Betty]]'' seems to have nothing else to do but hang around watching telenovelas.
** It's a [[Shout
* Julius on ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]'' gets hooked on ''[[The Young and The Restless]]'' when he is at home from work with the gout. Once he returns to work, he tapes the episodes.
* In ''[[The West Wing]]'' the President was sick and ended up watching a soap, making remarks like "Don't any of these people have jobs?" and "That woman has changed her clothes a lot for one afternoon". When it switched to a Springer/Lake type show, he hopes none of the guests vote.
* In one episode of [[Psych]] "Lights, camera, homicidio" we found out that pretty much everyone is a fan of a daytime drama, a telly novella called 'Explosion Gigantesca de Romance'. Shawn's the only one not addicted, and he ends up starring in it as 'Chad'.
* On ''[[3rd Rock
* In a rare female example of this trope, Amy Matthews on ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' is shown to be one to highlight her boredom with being a housewife. This prompts Eric to convince her to get out and do something. Later in the episode, Cory becomes this after getting fired from the work-study program.
* On ''[[Modern Family]]'', Jay Prichett decides to watch a Colombian telenovela with his wife, Gloria, who was born and lived most of her life in that country, grudgingly as an attempt to acclimate to her cultural climate. Jay ends up getting interest in the program while Gloria deals with other matters.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In an episode of ''[[Outland (
* When a teacher's strike suspends school on ''[[The Simpsons]]'', lowlife bully Jimbo spends the extra time watching the soaps with his mom: "I just can't believe Starr would stoop to that...right in the middle of Montana and Dakota's wedding!"
* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Oil On Candace", [[Animal Superhero|Perry the Platypus]] is shown to sit on the couch, eat snacks, and weep over soaps when his family isn't home.
* In an episode of ''[[As Told
{{quote|
* Really Really Big Man from ''[[
== [[Real Life]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
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