but then soap opera is popular - which also baffles me!

Storytelling has always been popular - why be baffled? Actually that's Popular in the sense of its genereal appeal too; it's a hearty catharthis which most people find entertaining on various levels, like when David Essex turns up as wife-murdering Eddie Moon in EastEnders. Most people I know watch at least one, apart from several Righteous Radicals who feel that it's somehow beneath their dignity to do so, much less admit to it. Each to their own.