Soap opera
A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality.[1] The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers.[2] The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.
For other uses, see Soap opera (disambiguation).
BBC Radio's The Archers, first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera.[3] The longest-running existing television soap is Coronation Street, which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960.[4] Guiding Light, which began on radio in 1937, transitioned to television in 1952, and ended in 2009, holds the record for the longest-running soap opera of any kind.
According to Albert Moran, one of the defining features that make a television program a soap opera is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode".[5] In 2012, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Lloyd wrote of daily dramas:
Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several concurrent narrative threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent to each other. Episodes may feature some of the show's storylines, but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are broadcast each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely conclude all their storylines at the same time. When one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger, and the season finale (if a soap incorporates a break between seasons) ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for the start of a new yearly broadcast.
Evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode and present all storylines. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger.
In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as "TV's richest market", noting the loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series into hour-long broadcasts in order to maximize ad revenues.[7] The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs.[7] The issue's cover notably featured its first daytime soap stars, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives,[8][9] a married couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press at large.[10]
Origin and history of the genre[edit]
The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre is Painted Dreams,[11][12] which premiered on WGN radio Chicago, on October 20, 1930.[12] It was regularly broadcast in a daytime time slot, where most listeners would be housewives; thus, the shows were aimed at – and consumed by – a predominantly female audience.[2] Clara, Lu, 'n Em would become the first network radio serial of the type when it aired on the NBC Blue Network at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931.[13] Although it did not make the move until February 15, 1932, Clara, Lu 'n Em would become the first network serial of the type to move to a weekday daily timeslot, and so also became the first network daytime serial.[13]
New Zealand[edit]
Television[edit]
Pioneering series Pukemanu[81] aired over two years (1971–72) and was the NZBC's first continuing drama. It followed the goings-on of a North Island timber town.[82] Close to Home is a New Zealand television soap opera that ran on TVNZ 1 from 1975 to 1983. At its peak in 1977 nearly one million viewers tuned in twice weekly to watch the series co-created by Michael Noonan and Tony Isaac (who had initially only agreed to make the show on the condition they would get to make The Governor).[83] Gloss is a television drama series that screened from 1987 to 1990. The series is about a fictional publishing empire run by the Redfern family. Gloss was NZ's answer to US soap Dynasty, with the Carrington oil scions replaced by the wealthy Redferns and their Auckland magazine empire. It was a starting point for many actors who went on to many productions in New Zealand, Australia and around the world including Temuera Morrison, Miranda Harcourt, Peter Elliott, Lisa Chappell, Danielle Cormack and Kevin Smith. Many of them would go on to star in Shortland Street, which has been New Zealand's most popular soap since its debut in 1992. It airs on TVNZ 2.
Radio[edit]
Radio New Zealand began airing its first radio soap You Me Now in September 2010. It is available for podcast on its website.
Home video release[edit]
Due to the massive number of episodes typically produced for a long-running soap opera (into the tens of thousands for some) and the fact many episodes are lost over time, home video release (in VHS, DVD or Blu-ray) of daily soap operas is generally considered impractical and impossible beyond occasional retrospective releases or highlights. A notable exception is the 1966–1971 series Dark Shadows, which has had its entire run of 1,225 episodes (with an audio recreation of its sole missing episode) released to home video. In the case of American "primetime soap operas" this generally does not apply as typically such series produce far fewer episodes (generally on par with that of other genres), allowing home video release.
In motion pictures, the 1982 comedy Tootsie has the lead character impersonating a woman in order to gain acting work on a long running television soap opera. Several scenes parody the production of soaps, their outrageous storylines and idiosyncratic stylistic elements.
The 1991 comedy Soapdish stars Sally Field as an aging soap opera actress on the fictional series The Sun Also Sets who pines over her own neuroses and misfortunes, such as her live-in boyfriend who leaves her to go back to his wife, and the incidents of backstabbing and scheming behind the scenes, some of which are more interesting than the stories on the program.
Another 1991 comedy, Delirious, stars John Candy as a soap opera writer who, after a head injury, has a dream experience of being in his own creation. The dream experience is an increasingly outrageous exaggeration of soap opera plot elements.
On television, several soap opera parodies have been produced: