TV drama serials (or soap operas), creative as they can be in their story arcs, are at times predictable – in the sense that when, say, a many-membered family seems to be very happy, we know that something unhappy is going to happen to at least one of them, which gradually affects them all. At some point, we might feel sick and tired of the ups and downs, and opt out of watching further.
However, while what depicted might seem larger than life or highly dramatised, it is still true to life – in the sense that the ups and downs in life will indeed alternate, one after another, unceasingly. In fact, ups and downs will alternate not just within this life, but from life to life too… due to the nature of all experiences being impermanent and unsubstantial… till the drama that is Samsara ends, when we realise the truly happily ever after that is Nirvana.