we must be really loyal to a show to watch some of the same stuff happening again. I know I am.
Like I said in another topic, soap audiences are some of the loyalest audiences ever. Viewers are known to stick with their shows for decades. And even if they leave for a time, they often come back. (As hard as it might be for some to believe, for about 8 years in the late '70s and early '80s I barely thought about DS. All of my stuff was packed away in the back of a closet, never touched - and when I thought of the show, it was simply as a fond memory. It wasn't until the fall of '85, when I happened to notice that DS was syndicated in my area, that I checked out an episode. And even then I refused to get back into it at first. But every time I had time off from work, I'd tune in. And I guess that was my "mistake" because just over four months from the time I tuned into that first ep I found myself buying a VCR and taping the show every day. And now look at me! Apparently, no matter how hard we might fight, DS is in our blood and refuses to be denied.
)
When it comes to any soap repeating plots or elements of plots, though, the circumstances are rarely exactly the same. There's generally a twist or two that makes things different.