Soap opera

:Soap Opera redirects here. For the album by The Kinks, see Soap Opera.

Soaps in the United States

The American soap opera The Guiding Light started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s when Irna Phillips was in dispute with Procter & Gamble, The Guiding Light has been heard or seen every weekday since it started, making it the longest story ever told. Other American soaps that have been telecast for more than thirty years (and are still in rotation) include As the World Turns, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, One Life to Live, All My Children, and The Young and the Restless. Due to the shows' longevities, it is not uncommon for multiple actors to play a single character over the span of many years. It is also not uncommon for a single actor to play several characters on other shows over the years. Actors such as Robin Mattson, Roscoe Born and Michael Sabatino have played no less than six soap roles.

Related Topics:
The Guiding Light - Radio drama - 1937 - Irna Phillips - Procter & Gamble - As the World Turns - General Hospital - Days of Our Lives - One Life to Live - All My Children - The Young and the Restless - Robin Mattson - Roscoe Born - Michael Sabatino

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the USA, the shows purely known in the vernacular as soap operas are broadcast during daytime. In the beginning, the serials were broadcast as fifteen-minute installments each weekday. In 1956, the first half-hour soaps debuted, and all of the soaps broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. When the soap opera hit a fever pitch in the 1970s, popular demand had most of the shows, one by one, expanded to an hour in length (one show, Another World, even expanded to ninety minutes for a short time). More than half of the serials (and all of the pre-'80s hour-long serials on the air today) expanded to the new time format by 1980. Today, eight out of the nine American serials air sixty-minute episodes each weekday.

Related Topics:
1956 - 1960s - 1970s - Another World - 1980

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA soap opera Port Charles used the practice of running 13-week "story arcs", in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc.

Related Topics:
USA - Port Charles - Story arc

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Golden Age of American television

Many soaps, in the beginning of television, found their niches in telling stories in certain environments. The Doctors and General Hospital, in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital. As the World Turns dealt heavily with Chris Hughes's law practice and the travails of his wife Nancy who, when she tired of being "the loyal housewife" in the 1970s, became one of the first older women on the serials to become a working woman. The Guiding Light dealt with Bert Bauer (Charita Bauer) and her endless marital troubles. When her status moved to that of the caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were then put on display. Search for Tomorrow told the story, for the most part, through the eyes of one woman only: the heroine, Joanne (Mary Stuart). Even when stories revolved around other characters, she was almost always a main fixture in their storylines. Days of Our Lives first told the stories of Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. In later years, the show branched out and told the stories of their five children.

Related Topics:
The Doctors - General Hospital - Hospital - As the World Turns - 1970s - The Guiding Light - Charita Bauer - Search for Tomorrow - Mary Stuart - Days of Our Lives

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American soaps: for the evening, too

Prime time serials were just as popular as those in daytime. The first real prime time soap opera was Peyton Place (1964-1969), based in part on the original 1957 movie (which was itself taken from the 1956 novel). The structure of the series (its episodic plots and running story arcs) would set the mold for the prime time serials of the 1980s when the format reached its pinnacle.

Related Topics:
Peyton Place - 1964 - 1969 - 1957 - Movie - 1956 - Novel - 1980s

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most successful prime time serials of the 1980s included Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. The primetime soaps of the 1990's focus on younger people such as Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and Dawson's Creek. In the late 1990's and early 2000's, cable is where a lot of the new primetime soaps could be found, like Sex and The City and Queer As Folk. Currently, the primetime soap seems to be making a comeback with The O.C. and Desperate Housewives. Housewives is the first primetime soap since the 1985-1986 season to been in the top ten for the overall season.

Related Topics:
Dallas - Dynasty - Knots Landing - Falcon Crest - Beverly Hills 90210 - Melrose Place - Dawson's Creek - Sex and The City - Queer As Folk - The O.C. - Desperate Housewives

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Certain other shows that did not officially fit the category of prime time serials, such as Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, E.R., The West Wing, Friends, and Cheers, also started to have soap opera themes.

Related Topics:
Hill Street Blues - St. Elsewhere - E.R. - The West Wing - Friends - Cheers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The soap opera's distinctive open plot structure and complex continuity was eventually adopted in major American prime time television programs. The first significant one was Hill Street Blues, produced by Steven Bochco, which featured many elements borrowed from soap operas such as an ensemble cast, multi-episode storylines and extensive character development over the course of the series. The success of this series soon gave rise to a variety of other serious drama and science fiction series which took much the same elements to structure their own storylines.

Related Topics:
Prime time - Television programs - Steven Bochco - Ensemble cast - Science fiction

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Characteristics of American soaps today

While U.S. soaps stay true to the original soap opera ideal to a large extent, many storyline and filming techniques set them apart from soap operas in other countries.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More recently, two American soap operas (Passions and Days of Our Lives) currently involve some supernatural or science fiction element in one of their ongoing storylines. This can include, for instance, an alien character or a vampire character (most infamously seen on Port Charles). Often, these characters are isolated in only one of the ongoing storyline "threads", which can seemingly allow a fan to ignore them if they do not like that element, a form of krypto-revisionism.

Related Topics:
Passions - Days of Our Lives - Port Charles - Krypto-revisionism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American soap operas since the 1980s have shared many common visual elements that set them apart dramatically from other shows:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Overhead spotlighting, or back lighting, is often placed directly over the heads of all the actors in the forground, causing an unnatural shadowing of their features along with a highlighting of their hair. Back lighting was always a standard technique of film and television lighting, though it was mostly abandoned in the mid-to-late eighties due to its somewhat unnatural look. The technique has nevertheless persisted in soap operas.
• The rooms in a house often use deep stained wood wall panels and furniture, along with many elements of brown leather furniture. This creates an overall "brown" look which is very noticeable, and which is supposed to be associated with the wealth of the characters portrayed.
• The video quality of a soap opera is usually lower than comparable prime time television shows of the time, due to the lower budgets and quicker production times involved. This is due to the fact that the shows are recorded on videotape and not on film like primetime productions.

Current American daytime television schedule

The daytime serials in America air five days a week, Monday through Friday. Local affiliates have the right to air the serials whenever they wish, but this is how the networks schedule them. All times are Eastern local time* (subtract one hour for all other time zones).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: *Guiding Light airs at 10 a.m. in some markets in the East, while some local CBS affiliates do not air it at all.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: *In some markets, Days of our Lives and Passions air on NBC affiliates with a one-hour difference either earlier or later (this stemmed from a 1990s agreement that many affiliates switch the timeslots of Days of Our Lives and Another World, which previously occupied the slot Passions now holds).

Related Topics:
Days of our Lives - Passions

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: *The scheduling of other soaps is at the discretion of your local station, so check your local listings for exact times in your area.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 12:30 PM1:00 PM1:30 PM2:00 PM2:30 PM3:00 PM3:30 PM

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ABCLocal ProgrammingAll My Children One Life to Live General Hospital

Related Topics:
ABC - All My Children - One Life to Live - General Hospital

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CBSThe Young and the Restless The Bold and the Beautiful As the World Turns Guiding Light

Related Topics:
CBS - The Young and the Restless - The Bold and the Beautiful - As the World Turns - Guiding Light

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NBCLocal ProgrammingDays of Our Lives Passions Local Programming

Related Topics:
NBC - Days of Our Lives - Passions

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~