Talk:Soap opera/Archive 1

Deletion of The Flying Doctors
I have deleted reference to Australian series The Flying Doctors from this page because it was a drama series where each episode has a self-contained story and one-off guest stars, so not a soap opera. I moved the details from the deleted text into the new page I created for this series, then added lots more info. MinorEdit 21:36, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

renamed Soaps in Australia to Australian Soap Operas
I have renamed "Soaps in Australia" to "Australian Soap Operas" because the section is not really about what soaps are shown in Aust, what soaps are popular in Aust, and where in schedules they appear. The section mainly described Australian PRODUCED soap operas no matter where they are shown. It should be noted that we do get UK and US soaps here; the original section name would have been accurate only if the section described where, when and how those international soaps are shown in Aust, but it does not do that. MinorEdit 01:11, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

"All My Children" picture
Is there any particular reason why the "All My Children" picture is continually being removed? I don't want to start an edit war or anything, so I thought it would be better to simply ask why it is being removed before I revert the picture. Cyclone49 08:39, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I think the person who originally uploaded the pic is now deleting it from the soap opera page (though not actually deleting the pic itself from wikipedia) because someone complained about him/her uploading it, making some sort of reference to copyright violation. However I can't see what the problem is or how this pic is any different from the many other screen caps all over wikipedia. The soap opera page has several screen caps, and the Coronation Street page even more. If we can have the odd tiny screen cap from these show and others (like Big Brother Australia) I don't see why we can't have a single AMC pic. MinorEdit 10:42, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

Neighbours Image
Why is neighbours the only UK soap with an image not to have the title screen as its image? I'm not complaining, but out of consistency, wouldn't it be better to have a title page for neighbours too? If people want to look at Lara barely clothed, they can do it on the Neighbours article. Timsheridan 20:46, 23 September 2005 (UTC)


 * There is a Neighbours title image on Neighbours, and it should be placed over here instead of the bra picture. Mike H (Talking is hot) 23:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Post Modern Soap Operas
Someone should include a listing of "post modern" soap operas that don't come on in the daytime; i.e. Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Party of Five, The O.C., etc...


 * There's a whole section called "American soaps: for the evening, too." Mike H. That's hot 10:21, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Another slab of deleted text
I removed the long rambling slab of text. Some bits might be useful - though these sorts of descriptions might be better on entries for the individual shows. Even a quick skim through the first para reveals a duplication with discussion of Luke and Laura's exploits that have already been mentioned elsewhere on this page. It also contains POV stuff. Asa01 04:22, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

- In order to really understand how some of the most popular soap operas have survived for twenty, thirty, forty and in Guiding Light's case, fifty years, one must analyze some of the most popular daytime storylines. One popular storyline would be Billy Clyde burying his ex-prostitute and wife, Estelle alive on All My Children. One Life To Live went all the way with Todd Manning and Margaret Saybrooke, when Marty was brutally raped by Todd Manning and then he turns around and saves her life after a car accident. General Hospital took Luke and Laura on several adventures of being trapped in a mall all night, searching for statutes to bring down a mobster, saving the world from the evil Cassadines, bringing down Frank Smith in Puerto Rico and being on the run for almost twenty years. Days of Our Lives took us on several mysteries with Vivian Alamain buring her nephew's wife alive, stealing her nemesis' embroyo and implanting it into herself, and Marlena Evans becoming possess by the Devil. The Young and the Restless has taken us through character driven,plot devices such as Katherine's battle with alcoholism, Victor's plane crash, Dru learning to read, Sheila's rampage to destroy Lauren and the business wars between the Abbots and Newmans. As the World Turns did their best story with Barbara Ryan, the good girl that was always the victim of ex-husband James. Barbara quickly lost her good girl routine after being in a boat explosion and being nearly burned to death. After months of reconstructed body surgery, Barbara vowed revenge on everyone that ever done her wrong and went on a rampage to get revenge. -   - Soap Villains and Psychos are the best. All My Children's most evil was Billy Clyde Tuggly. Billy Clyde was a pimp that prostituted Donna and Estelle. He tried to bury Estelle alive, killed her lover Benny Sago, kidnap Dixie, "killed Tad" in a bridge explosion, and caused his daughter to suffer a miscarriage after falling down a flight of stairs. All My Children's Ray Gardner raped and stalked sweet Ruth Martin, tried to blow up Ruth's family house, sexually abuse his daughter Jenny, through his son, Tad out of a moving car, abused his ex-wife Opal and tried to kill Estelle. - Ironically, villains can be heros at time. Billy Clyde proves this after saving Estelle from being killed by Ray. Yet some villains are never heros, such as Days of Our Lives' evil Stephano Dimera. This man has tortured everyone in Salem. He has kidnap almost every character in town. He has kidnapped Marlena several times, he's "died nine times," he's tried to kill Roman, John, Bo, and several others several times. He planted a brain chip in Hope Brady and John Black's head to make them into his mercenaries. He wiped out John's memory and implanted Roman Brady's memories in his head. He held Marlena and Roman on an island for years. He kidnap Carrie and Mickey. He has also turned all of his children, Peter, Kristen, Tony, and Lexie as evil as he was.

Slab of deleted text
I have just deleted the text included below. Seems to be way too much detail on individual shows that should be put into the individual articles on those shows (if anywhere). It all seemed to swamp this article, which had previously been quite manageable and useful. Asa01 06:16, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Today, Desperate Housewives is a huge, successful primetime soap opera. Yet, there would not be a Desperate Housewives, if not for the popular Dallas. Dallas is the most famous soap opera of all time. The show reached its peak in the early 80s, as the 1981 season ended with a shot, "Who Shot J.R." The "Who Shot J.R." episodes were some of the most watched episodes in television history. Over 80 million people in the United States and 300 million around the world stuck glued to the television sets to find out "Who shot J.R." The episodes were so popular that even President Ford could not deal with the suspense. He tried to convince one of the actors of Dallas to tell him "Who shot J.R," while playing golf. On November 26, 1981, America discovered that it was Kristen Shephard, J.R's psychotic, sister-in-law that pulled the trigger. Ellie Ewing had three sons; J.R., the eldest, scheming villain of the show; Gary, the alcoholic; and Bobby, the sweet, heroic son. J.R. was married to Sue Ellen, who he cheated on with 81 other women. Bobby was married to Pamela, who was the daughter of the Ewings' rivals, the Barnes. Gary was the black sheep that was married to Valene, a country girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Lucy was the youngest of the clan. She was the product of Gary and Valene and raised by the Ewings after J.R. forced Valene out of Lucy's life.

Each season, Dallas dealt with storylines of love, romance, scheming, backstabbing, affairs, intrigue, and shocking cliffhangers. Cliffhangers that kept fans on the edge of their seats included: Pamela's fall and miscarriage, Sue Ellen's car crash while pregnant with John Ross, J.R. getting shot, Bobby getting shot, Cliff's alcoholic overdose, and Pamela's fiery car crash.

From 1978-1991, Dallas kept millions of fans on the edge of their seats. The show was so successful that it led to a popular spinoff, Knots Landing.

Knots Landing was a spinoff of Dallas that took the recurring characters of Val and Gary Ewing from Dallas to Knots Landing, California. Val and Gary had enough of J.R.'s constant scheming against them, so Bobby built a cul-de-sac in Knots Landing and Miss Ellie bought a house for Gary and Val's wedding present. In Knot's Landing, Gary and Val faced new problems, such as multiple marriages, cheating, and alcoholism. Yet they found faithful friends in Karen and Sid, Ginger and Jeff, and Laura and Richard. Much like mother soap, Dallas, Knots Landing had its lead vixen in Abby. Donna Mill's Abby, the sister of Sid, joined the soap during its second season as she schemed, manipulated and stirred up tons of trouble in Knots. Abby's schemes included multiple illegal business transactions, stealing, lying, cheating, and stealing Gary from Valene and then stealing money from Gary. Abby's belief, "When it comes down to choosing between men and money...money always wins." For 14 seasons, Knots Landing took us through many love stories, triangles, shootings, adventure, murder mysteries, cheating, lying, deceit, social issues and lots more.

Falcon Crest was Jane Wyman's baby. Falcon Crest starred Ronald Reagan's first wife, Jane Wyman. Oscar winner Jane Wyman played a power hungry vixen, Angela Gioberti Channing. Angela's family, the Giobertis ran a wine company, Falcon Crest in the Napa Valley of California. For seasons, Angela tried every trick in the book to hang on to complete control of Falcon Crest as it nearly fell into the hands of many of what she considered "outsiders," such as her nephew Chase, her son Richard and her feisty grand-daughter-in-law Melissa Aggretti Gioberti.

Each season Falcon Crest would end in the top of the line season finales, including a fiery plane crash nearly killing the entire cast, an earthquake hitting the Napa Valley, Julia's attempts to kill her family, yet she killed her cousin's.

Falcon Crest was one of the few primetime soaps that dealt with constant action, adventure and danger, especially the mob and underworld organizatons. For seven seasons, Falcon Crest utilized suspense to keep its large fan base on the edge of their seats every Friday night on CBS. Yet, in 1989, almost the entire cast had left the show. Almost all of the most popular characters had been killed off, such as Chase, Melissa and even Maggie. The show was not as highly rated as Dallas and Dynasty, yet there is still a fan base of Falcon Crest fans that will always remember, as Jane Wyman quoted, "To you Falcon Crest and long may you live."

The only ABC hit soap opera of the 1980s was Dynasty, a soap opera that dealt with oil, money, power, glamour, and the rich. The soap was based in Denver, Colorado with the rich and powerful Carringtons. Blake and his wife Krystal struggled to survive a happy marriage with constant outside interferences from Blake's scheming and conniving ex-wife, Alexis. Dynasty distinguished itself by dealing with glamour. Dynasty was also one of two of the four popular soaps to utilized popular black characters. Knots Landing brought in black characters in the mid 80s. Dynasty created a role, Dominique Deveraux, played by Diahann Carroll and her husband played by Billy Dee Williams.

Although Dynasty managed to hit the number one spot against rival, Dallas, on occasions, it did not last as long. In 1989, Falcon Crest did not go out alone, as Dynasty joined it in cancellation. Primetime soaps were the huge thing of the early and mid 80s, but the popularity faded in the late 80s as comedies became huge, such as NBC's Thursday night line up, the Cosbys, Golden Girls, and Roseanne.

Query about modern US shows
This article in Soaps for the evening too lists several shows that it described as "soap operas". I know that Melrose Place, the only one of these shows that I have watched more than a couple of episodes of, is indeed absolutely a soap opera. However I have seen three or four scattered episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and it seemed to me that, though in general the character development occured episode-to-episode and eps definitely could not be screened out of sequence, really the stories were self-contained to the episode. Is this assumption correct? And what about Dawson's Creek, Sex and the City, Queer As Folk, The O.C. and Desperate Housewives? Self contained stories or on-going narratives? Asa01 20:35, 2 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Sex and the City is not a soap opera, it's sitcom without a studio audience. Many US sitcoms have episodes that seem to connect later on in the run of the series (Friends for example).--Attitude2000 03:12, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

The new point form format
The new point form format is horrible. The changes seem to make the article much more US-centric as well. I am changing it back - the earlier format was much better. Asa01 06:03, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Please do change it back. Some of the changes with the points aren't even correct, and omit a lot of important information about how soaps started. Mike H. That's hot 06:06, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Yeah glad you agree. Lots of detail got omitted in that change. Also the point form format made it seem like all soaps have that particular list of attributes. Not the case at all. The poiht form info seemed to only describe US daytime dramas, not all the other types of soaps. Asa01 06:16, 1 December 2005 (UTC)


 * What? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.126.83.4 (talk) 13:52, 5 April 2007 (UTC).

More radio history please
As this article deals almost exclusively with TV Soaps, perhaps a separate article is needed to discuss radio soaps, as they establised the form. What was the first radio soap opera? What was the first BIG radio soap opera? Which series established the conventions/cliches? And so on. "Blue Hills" from Australia deserves a mention. Design 05:21, 22 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I think some of the big early radio soap operas were Today's Children and Ma Perkins. The Guiding Light came later. I know that for certain things, such as what occupations were featured with characters, Irna Phillips' The Road of Life pioneered the use of a hospital as a setting and a doctor as a main character, which would be used later in radio and on many TV shows. Mike H. That's hot 01:48, 18 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I have added a section on the UK radio soap The Archers into the radio history section (first broadcast in 1951 and still going strong). It duplicates some of the info in the UK soaps section, but as the world's longest running radio soap it deserves an entry in the history section (which seems very US-biased) as well. Monique34 14:20, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Soap Opera or Not?
Is Gilmore Girls a soap opera?

Depends on who you ask =)

There's actually established conventions for what a soap opera is -- Star Trek [mentioned below] is NOT a soap opera, because it is not necessary to watch episodes in order; most episodes are tied up neatly before the next episode. There are no significant dangling threads throughout a season, no big season-end cliffhangers. Every soap opera could be ended with "To be continued..." at the end, but commonly has a run-down (by narration or clips a little longer than a montage...) at the end of an episode of all the episode's cliffhangers to remind you to look forward to the next episode ["Will Billy find his lost cocker spaniel? Will Wilma sleep with Barney?  Are Joe and James going to get married, or are they really first cousins?"]. Star Trek does have the dramatic pauses at commercial breaks, but that's common in most concurrent TV series. What is a missing soap opera, and notable in its own way, is Soap. It is a parody of the genre, and closely follows soap opera convention. It was a weekly soap, played in the evening. It only ran for 4 seasons, but its use of many-threaded plots running concurrently and poking fun at the convention of testing non-mainstream subject matter on the audience (such as having gay characters, or a character abducted by aliens...) make it worthy of mention. It had to exaggerate soap opera cliche and technique to poke fun at soap operas. If you can comfortably tune in mid-season to a single episode, and not need to call your next door neighbor to find out what happened to Babbi's illegitimate pregnancy after all, it's not a soap opera. The Crisses (talk) 22:15, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Deletion: Longevity
DELETED TEXT: "Something that sets US soaps apart from most of their UK and Australian counterparts is longevity. Of the nine soaps currently on the air, seven have been around for more than 35 years, four for more than 40 years, and two for more than 50."

REASON: I feel it is redundant to state this in these terms. The article lists show duration throughout. It is also like weighing apples with oranges as UK and Australian soaps (apart from a few shortlived examples in earlier decades) are all evening soaps, and so are not really comparable to US daytime soaps. As I have tried to explain in the article, Aust and UK soaps seem to occupy the middle-gound between US daytime and evening soaps. Not as cheap and studio bound and slow moving as daytime dramas, but still on video and not quite as slick or as fast moving as US evening soaps. And with this middle-ground theory indeed the program duration seems to fit into the middle-ground. Of the Aust and UK soaps (made for the evening) few have been around for as long as the US daytime serials, but many have longer runs than US evening soaps. Asa01 02:31, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Time Magazine image
A "deletion proposal" tag was placed on this page regarding the Time Magazine image back on February 25. The discussion has long since disappeared (the link goes nowhere). The image has obviously not been deleted so presumably the tag should be too. I don't know if it's proper to do so, yet. The Image page itself currently contains no reference to IFD. 23skidoo 21:10, 8 March 2006 (UTC)


 * The picture ended up meeting all the fair use requirements, and nobody contested keeping it. I removed the tag. Mike H. That's hot 21:12, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Demographics
I think there should be a point about how the key demographics for soap operas are women, yet other demographics watch as well. I'd type something up, but I don't want to just go all willy-nilly adding things that people may not agree with.--Attitude2000 03:18, 2 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Definitely note teen demographics, which has kept Days of our Lives and Passions afloat, and originally held viewer interest for Dark Shadows and Love is a Many Splendored Thing (see article). Older demographics are mainstays of CBS soaps, and helped do in Another World. I don't know of many solid male demographics for soaps, except for The Edge of Night. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 03:32, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Needs Splitting
I don't know if this has been brought up before, but it just came to me: this article needs to be split up. You have American soaps, European Soaps, Austrailian Soaps, History, Primetime, Spoofs, and anything else I can't think of.--Attitude2000 18:22, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't really like splitting the articles into "American soap opera," "British soap opera," etc etc. If you can give a good argument as to why it should be split, maybe I would be persuaded. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 18:26, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * When I started to put on the template for "this page should be splitted," that put it over the suggested page size. --Attitude2000 20:52, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Lost in the cleanup
I was doing a cleanup and thie following bit seemed like an orphan just stuck in an inappropriate place in the article. It was previously, and inappropriately, pasted at the end of the evolution of US soaps. Where can it go? Asa01 19:50, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

DELETED BIT: "The grand-daddy of supernatural soaps, however, is Dark Shadows (1966-1971) which featured the vampire Barnabas Collins, the witch Angelique and various other ghosts and goblins, friendly and malevolent. Dark Shadows has the distinction of being the only long-running soap to have every one of its episodes released for home video (including a reconstruction of the one episode of its 1,225 that is lost), first on VHS and currently in progress on DVD."


 * It needs to be reworded somewhat...possibly changed to note that soap operas before Dark Shadows weren't at all telling the stories they did. The "evolution" place seems to be right, though. Or near "Golden Age". Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 19:51, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * OK it has been reinstated into "The Golden Age of American television" which seems to fit given that section looks at the niches of classic soaps. Asa01 22:57, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

comic strip soaps
I've only skimmed the article, but I didn't see any discussion of the comic strip soaps (Apartment 3-G, Mary Worth, and so forth). Surely a section of some kind is in order? john k 12:01, 8 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Comic Strip-ceratinly they can be looked upon as Soap OPera-with their sterotypical long winded storylines and implausable plot holes-two I can name are: {not suprisingly both were started by the same artist}
 * Terry and the Pirates young westener goes to the mysterious Asia/Orient with treasure map left to him by deceased grandfather and on the way picks up a devoted servant who speaks barely passable English, a friendly US secret service spy and assorted rogues and villians. It even has the comic relief of a nearly 100 year old friend of Terry from the 7th U.S. Cavalry of General Custer day who is tramping around the Orient {interestingly he looks like comic actor Al St. John!!}
 * Steve Canyon young/blond western US Air Force pilot goes through fantasy adventues with a devoted wife who suffers from amenisa and has fantastic adventures of her own without rembering them; a troubled stepson, the stepson's girlfriend with impossibly long hair who is last seen in a wheelchair with perment brain damage-and who was kidnapped by her stupid gambling brother to an unknown fate {the girlfrinds crooked brother who despite having a tire flare going off in his face somehow manages to kidnap his helpless sister again-nothwithstanding the fact he couldn't have kiddnapped her a second time since he would have been permenently blinded(!); a rich spoiled woman who wants Steve but never gets him; a daring woman pilot who secretly loves Steve Canyon but is trapped in a loveless marraige to a bullying owner of her airplane-until she "crowns" him with a heavy lamp after he tries to kill Steve Canyon sidekick {he is last seen being taken away in a comatose state-and probably dies that way since he is never seen again in the comic strip!}; another woman who's sweet on Steve {who doesn't know it!}-she has been in love with him since she was a seventeen year old teenager who first saw Steve in 1947! {She also appears as a stock charatcher whenever Canyon has one of his famous "dreams"; A new Air Force sidekick to Colonel Canyon; various villians-such as a evil twin of Steve's wife who always tries to kill Steve Canyon-but fails and is seen in a cliffhanger ending as "dying" {being blown up on a exploding gasoline barge or in a tunnel with only two exits-one leades to a bottomless pit and the other is an open vent when oil explodes} yet she always manages to impossibly survive to the next time she tries to kill Canyon; and yes-the Russians whose nefarious world plans to take over the world are ALWAYS RUINED by S. Canyon and company. {The LASt epsiode of this comic had Steve Canyon defeating world Terrorists on board an ocran liner!!}.

There's a ton of what are more or less serial strips, and have at least occasionally been described as soaps - Mary Worth, Apartment 3G, Judge Parker, Rex Morgan, M.D., Gil Thorp, For Better Or For Worse, Gasoline Alley, Funky Winkerbean, Brenda Starr, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Phantom, Dick Tracy, Prince Valiant... john k 19:59, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * And I oughtn't have forgotten Mark Trail... john k 20:02, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Comic strip serials already existed separate to soap operas; they are not a type of soap opera. Soap operas a radio and television serials with storylines and episodes and cliffhangers. This is like claiming that the old Buck Rogers serials are actually soap operas. They aren't. Or that the Doctor Who series is a soap opera. It isn't either. Just because something is presented in a serialised form that alone does not make it a soap opera. Asa01 22:15, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Strips like Mary Worth, Rex Morgan, Judge Parker, and Apartment 3G, at least, are frequently described as "soaps". Some of the others (particularly the superhero/adventure strips) perhaps don't qualify, but certainly those do.  The Toonopedia frequently refers to such strips as "soap opera strips," for instance.  Are you really saying that there's no such thing as a soap opera strip? Wikipedia's own articles often call them that! john k 22:23, 9 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Note also that King Features, which syndicates many of aforementioned strips, specifically calls them "soap opera comic-strips". john k 22:25, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Well if you think it warrants it, add a section to this article and link to those comic strips. The term soap opera can of course be loosely applied at times: eg. a melodramatic feature film might be derisively called soap opera, because some of its story might seem resemblant of parts of a soap opera, but that does not mean that that film really is a soap opera. I suspect that might be partly coming in to play in describing these comics as soap operas. But like I said, add it in. Asa01 23:20, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have never heard a feature film described as a soap opera. These comic strips have similar subject matter to televised or radio soap operas, but also a similar form, in that they are serials.  Obviously, no feature film can be a serial, and thus fails on the basis of that.  And note that this is not a derisive description of these strips, but the actual description used by the organization which syndicates them.  "Soap opera strip" is the conventional way to refer to strips like Apartment 3G.  I'm not sure exactly where the borders are, but certainly the term is very commonly employed. If King Features itself calls them "soap opera strips," I'm rather puzzled at how we can say that they're not really soaps.  john k 00:20, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have already said you should go ahead and add the section, so I do not know why you are continuing to argue your point. Asa01 01:00, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, if you continue to make tendentious claims, I'm going to continue to argue about them.  Especially as your approval seemed rather grudging. At any  rate, a) I'm not sure where to put such a section; and b) I'm not sure I know enough to actually write a decent section on the subject.  I know enough to know there should be a section, but not necessarily enough to write one.  Perhaps a stub will do for now. john k 01:57, 10 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Just look at Dick Tracy-at first crude; then a mixture of implasable stories/plot holes up to 1940's/1960's; {although occasianly in late 1930's epsiode such as the "Blank" and the 1940's -such as "P.S.Tone" there were interesting story lines}. And now-just compare the comic relief of B.O.Plenty and Gravel Gertie when they were first drawn-as to how they are drawn now--just not the same.
 * Funky Winkerbean-certainly a soap opera comic: {7/26/2007}
 * Was Lisa Going to survive her cancer? {YES/NO/YES/NO....}
 * Was Lisa adopted son Darin going to find out who his mother is? {YES/NO/YES/NO/YES...}
 * Was Darin going to get a copy of his birth certificate?{YES/NO/YES/NO/YES...}
 * Was Darin and Lisa finally meet before she dies? {As they say in the end...TUNE IN TOMORROW!!}
 * Same old pattern-years ago-Funky had a sequence where a kitten nearly dies in a accident-will the kitty survive?(YES/NO/YES/No/YES...}{CAT survived}


 * Soap Opera is Doctor Who:
 * Somehow the Doctor always survives despite his limited reencaration-until a new characher comes along; {his assistants are hang for about a dozen epsiodes until they are killed off or go their seperate ways.
 * Somehow The Master always survives-desite the fact during the Fifth Doctor series his attempt at reencaration over his limited life cycles casused the "Master" to shrink into nothingness-yet he just keeps coming back again and again...!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.186 (talk) 17:50, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

New Site For External Links
Hello Fellow Soap Enthusiasts,

Today was my first day using Wikipedia and I found out that users are not supposed to post links to their own external sites. The moderator suggested I bring it up here so some of you could post the links instead if you like them.

There are two articles that are very relevant to people searching for soap opera information. They are:

Please check them out and I'm sure you will agree that they would be valuable additions to the Wikipedia.

Soap Operas: Silly Suds Or Social Conscience- Examines the Value of Soap Operas to Society

Sex On Soap Operas This article explores the quantity and quality of sex on soap operas and looks at how men and women perceive sex on soaps differently. (cites over 40 sources)

Thank you, Matthew

www.MatthewGrantOnline.com 00:03, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

I thought the Soaps and society page was interesting so I added it back. Hope it makes the cut! Anthonyd 02:44, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

I have deleted these pages from wikipedia. They are clearly article spam pages. The author wrote 10 articles on a topic (soap operas) and added 3 boxes of google adwords to profit from it. If this is allowed then wikipedia will be irrelevant as there will be thousands of sites with 10 articles on every topic listed in external links of every page. beano33 12:46, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

-

I'm not going to bother adding the links back in and getting into one of those cases where they appear and disappear every day. However, the record needs to be set straight. The content on my soap pages is not in any way "article spam." As is stated on the soap opera pages themselves, the material was produced as part of an academic thesis beginning in 1992 (long before anyone ever dreamed up the word "wikipedia" or dreamed of making money online) with an update in 2006.

Just because one adds advertising to content doesn't make the content spam. If that were the case, then the websites of every major newspaper in the country would have to be considered "article spam." They aren't and neither is my material.

www.MatthewGrantOnline.com 04:34, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Horribly US Centric
This article is horribly US centric, especially considering the relative importance of soaps to UK audiences. They're huge in the UK, and not so popular in the US. Trip: The Light Fantastic 17:46, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Need for Current American daytime network television schedule?
I think that in the context of the subject "soap opera", it is helpful to have the well-constructed table that shows the usual US soap opera schedule, but the inclusion of just about every exception to the schedule in the paragraphs that follow seem excessive.

I suggest: move all the specific exceptions to the corresponding soap opera's article page, and then add a line here that says something to the tune of "local schedules may vary, for further information on the schedule of a particular soap opera, visit its corresponding article."

I think this info is valuable for the soap in question, but this level of detail slows down the "soap opera" article here. Any thoughts? Doc502 17:32, 23 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that the exceptions should be moved into the articles on the individual shows. I also thing that the table of Current American Writing, Producing, and Directing Team clogs up the page too much, and these elements should also be moved into the articles on each of these individual shows. This is a general article about the genre. We don't need the specific groupings of writers here. Format 01:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Just came across the article and agree that the table of writers etc is cumber some & info that should be on individual pages, would also suggest removing sheadule as it increases the US centric tone of the article. --Nate 13:29, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree and have removed it. It looks ridiculous in a general article, which needs only to define and illustrate the genre.--Shantavira|feed me 12:43, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I just moved the crew table off the page. Not appropriate for a general article about the genre - these crew lists should only appear on the individual pages for each of those shows. Format 19:28, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup
I went ahead and combined the references. Other ways that this article could be improved: Thanks, Elonka 23:38, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Many of the items under "See also" should be deleted. See WP:SEEALSO
 * The "Parodies" section needs to be whittled down to only include notable parodies. As a rule of thumb, the parody should be something that's mentioned in the article that's being linked to.  If it's not mentioned there, it's probably not notable enough to mention here.
 * Find a way to move some of the other items that are currently in "External links," up into actual references.

Frame rates
Are current soap operas using a higher rate of capture than most syndicated TV shows? A marked difference I see is that that the movement in them always appears to be smoother than other shows.
 * Might be connected to the use of video (in the US 30fps but with two fields) rather than film (24 fps). UK serial Family Affairs for much of its run used a special technique that removed every other video frame in post production, giving the movement/action a film look. I have heard All My Children in the US does this too. Format 19:19, 12 July 2007 (UTC)


 * It's the difference between full video of 50 or 60 Hz verses progressive encoded video of 25 or 30 Hz.


 * Progressive encoding gives a steady freeze frame but sacrifices framerate to achieve it. This is not an issue for film conversions as they are only 24 Hz in the first place but for TV shows/music videos progressive encoding is generally detrimental to the experience.


 * Evanh (talk) 20:41, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Longest running actors?
I really don't think this list needs to be in the article at all, but considering like 60 or so actors have reached that 20-year threshold, I've decided to cut the list off for American soap actors at 35 years. That's a bit more special of a milestone than 20, which it seems a lot of people can get to these days. I'm personally in favor of just removing the lists completely, though, and I want opinions. Mike H. Celebrating three years of being hotter than Paris 09:29, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Howard's Way
What about the 1980's UK soap 'Howard's Way'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.197.36 (talk) 09:25, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

English Tenures
I think we should only have people that have been with the show for over 29 years in the longest cast spot like America. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.115.121 (talk) 23:52, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

engrish
dunno about you, but there are certain words that exist just for the sake of it and few people actually use them in speaking... like the word "sentiments" which i uncovered skimming through this article :) why not just say feelings, emotions or whatevers? i hope nobody will oppose to the changing of these words with their more widely used counterparts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.81.59.2 (talk) 18:26, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Alias???
How come Alias is a Soap opera? --Shadyyy (talk) 11:07, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Longrunning actor lists
This article is bloated enough, I don't feel it needs these trivial lists of long-running performers. A sentence within the text might say "Some performers have worked continuously in the genre for decades, like Helen Wagner..." but even then I question the notability within the context of this article. The individual sopa articles would be more appropriate places to note longrunning performers (and I'm sure they already do). &mdash; TAnthonyTalk 17:12, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Absolutely agree. No need for the long lists. (The Australian list is spectacularly pointless.) This acticle is to describe the concept of soap opera, not to house a fan-site type repository of lists about the actual serials themselves. Format (talk) 19:20, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
 * FYI, someone has created List of longest-serving soap opera actors and I have updated it with the debated-over information from this article, and then removed that information from this article here (and provided links to the new list). &mdash; TAnthonyTalk 17:50, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Added globalize tag
Added globalize tag - almost exclusively content from Anglophone world at the moment Andrewferrier 08:14, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Tags
I think the three tags seems to be overkill.

I am not sure which parts of the article contain original research. (Much of it is well-referenced). Maybe the occasional would have been better used where OR was a problem?

Same goes for POV tag. The tag say see talk page for discussion. Where is that discussion?

And as for globalize, well it is true there is little from outside anglophole world. But is a big ugly tag the way to fix that problem? Format (talk) 19:17, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I do not see evidence for the tags remaining so I am removing them. Format (talk) 18:10, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Overlong list of spoofs
Below moved here from article:


 * Within the story of Australian soap opera Prisoner two characters in the 1985 season became addicted to daytime serial Days of the Week and would eagerly discuss plot twists within the fictional show.
 * On British television, comedian Victoria Wood had a long-running spoof soap entitled Acorn Antiques on her sketch show (loosely based on ITV's Crossroads).
 * In the United States, Carol Burnett frequently ran a soap opera spoof on her show, called As the Stomach Turns, modeled in name after As the World Turns. Dramatic coincidences and missed cues (parodying a time in which soap operas were broadcast live) were seen frequently, as well as the melodramatic welling of organ music, which was a staple on American serials until the 1970s.
 * David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks featured a soap opera called Invitation to Love, of which clips were shown occasionally.
 * A frequent staple of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was a soap opera spoof involving unsuspecting members of the studio audience called The Edge of Wetness, the title of which is a takeoff on The Edge of Night.
 * Futurama frequently features scenes from an almost all-robot soap, called All My Circuits. The robot Calculon is the show's star.
 * The U.S. comedy team of Bob and Ray produced regular spoofs of many different radio programs, and later of several television programs, all presented on their long-running (1946-1987) radio programs. The best-known, which included a new episode with a cliffhanger ending daily, was Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife, a play on the radio soap Mary Noble, Backstage Wife.
 * In the episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends entitled "Berry Scary", the plot twists in the episode resemble those in a spoof of The Young and the Restless entitled The Loved and the Loveless.
 * Australian sketch comedy series Fast Forward featured the recurring Dumb Street skit, which parodied soap operas in general, but in particular the then current shows Neighbours, Home and Away, E Street and A Country Practice. Fast Forward also featured Rampant Stupidity a recurring skit which spoofed melodramatic series in the Dallas and Dynasty mold.
 * "Moody's Point", a soap spoof appearing on several episodes of The Amanda Show.
 * U-Pick Live ' s "As The World Picks" segments.
 * Queer as Folk's show-within-a-show Gay as Blazes which humorously parodies Queer as Folk itself.
 * The Muppet Show parodied medical serials such as General Hospital and The Doctors in the skit Veterinarians' Hospital.
 * Tootsie centered around a fictional soap opera Southwest General, a spoof of General Hospital.
 * SCTV featured the soap opera parody Days of the Week (an obvious reference to Days of our Lives). The intricate storyline, which ran as a recurring segment on the sketch show, featured such soap opera clichés as amnesia, terminal illness, the return of long-lost relatives, disastrous weddings, and court-room trials.
 * Sitcom Moesha featured an episode that parodied The Young and the Restless. Entitled The Mo' and the Restless, this episode spoofed Y&R even to its opening.
 * On the sitcom The Parkers one episode consisted of a Dallas/Dynasty parody.
 * "Palm Beach", a skit on Saturday Night Live which lampooned the 2000 US Presidential election, featured an opening titles sequence that parodied that of The Young and the Restless.
 * Sunset Beach featured a parody within itself. During one of the Thanksgiving episodes, the soap did a nod to VH1's Pop-Up Video by conveniently pointing out to viewers that a turkey baster used to baste a turkey wasn't the same one used in a storyline where one of the characters was impregnated by a turkey baster.
 * The musical comedian and parodist Spike Jones recorded the spoof track "None But The Lonely Heart (A Soaperetta)" in the 1940s.
 * In the That '70s Show episode entitled "Vanstock", an out-of-work Red becomes addicted to soap operas and has a dream in which he and his wife play roles on a soap called Point Place. The soap parody pokes fun at stereotypically "cheap" production (boom microphones peeking into the camera shot), "cheesy" soap dialogue and crying, and organ music.
 * Red: Oh, Kitty. What have I become?
 * Kitty: I don't know! You're not the man I married! And I'm not Kitty!


 * In the Red Dwarf episode "Kryten", Kryten watches a soap named Androids, a parody of Neighbours.
 * The Sally Field/Kevin Kline comedy Soapdish was a soap opera parody with a soap-within-a-soap, The Sun Also Sets.
 * The 1990s sitcom Martin featured references to Pam and Gina's favorite soap opera, "All My Young'ns", whose title is spoofed from All My Children.
 * In the music video for the Queen song I Want to Break Free the band are dressed in a manner inspired by the dress and aesthetic of Coronation Street.
 * In the television show The Simpsons there is a recurring soap opera called Search For the Sun, including such satirical situations as a man entering a room dressed as a reverend, followed by a naked blonde woman, who was in the middle of love making, saying "Father McGraff, I thought you were dead!" while trying to cover her naked body, to which he replies "I was."
 * The radio show The Cumberland Sausage Show, on the British commercial station CFM Radio, parodies British soap operas with 'Thongsbury', their very own soap named after a fictional Cumbrian town.
 * On Blue Collar TV, an episode featured a segment of "White Trash Days of our Lives".
 * In 1958, the American composer Douglas Moore wrote the soap opera parody "Gallantry" which centered around love between an anesthetist and a patient. In keeping with the style of the early soaps, the opera is introduced as being sponsored by "Lochinvar soap" and "Billy Boy wax".
 * madTV parodied Korean soap operas with their sketch "Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive", starring Bobby Lee.
 * In an episode of South Park in which Eric Cartman tries to find out who his father is, the episode ends with melodramatic narration ("Who is Eric Cartman's father?"), close-ups of each character and organ music, before the narrator says "the answer on a new episode of South Park in four weeks", to which Eric replies "son of a bitch".
 * In the series Friends, in a recurring storyline, Joey gets a role in Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Spoof scenes from the soap featuring Joey in this role are shown in a number of Friends episodes.
 * "Trapped in the Closet" from R.Kelly is a song series that has soap opera traits.
 * In Ballykissangel, Fitzgerald's pub gets satellite television installed and some of the regulars become addicted to a South American soap - despite not understanding a single word of dialogue.
 * In Buffy the Vampire Slayer bad boy vampire Spike is a frequent watcher of Passions and becomes very upset when he misses it.
 * In Sunset Beach the character of Annie Douglas Richards summises that her life is becoming 'like a soap opera', this led to numerous 1960's soap opera inspired sequences entitled Search For Dignity, the title being a nod to Search for Tomorrow.
 * On the final episode of The Elephant Show, Sharon, Lois & Bram did a parody of All My Children entitled All My Doctors.
 * In 1994, Anthony Geary & Genie Francis were invited to make a cameo as their General Hospital roles as Luke & Laura Spencer on Roseanne. In return, Roseanne Barr was cast to briefly play Jennifer Smith on GH. That same year, One Life to Live's Robert S. Woods, John Loprieno, & Clint Ritchie made a cameo as Bo, Cord, and Clint. Roseanne was watching an episode of OLTL while she visualized being involved in a storyline with those particular OLTL characters.
 * The writers of The OC created a fictional show called "The Valley", which was basically the in-show equivalent of The O.C.. Characters frequently made ironic (and perhaps self-mocking) comments about "The Valley" and its fictional reality TV counterpart, "Sherman Oaks: The Real Valley" obviously referring back to the show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and its bold claim to be real.
 * An episode of talk show Jerry Springer was dubbed "Gays of Our Lives" and dealt with several young people from the same small town, some of which were gay.
 * One episode of The Golden Girls centered around the women of the house suffering from the flu, and during an argument over who would get to watch which TV show, Blanche (Rue McClanahan) wanted to watch Another World. This was somewhat ironic as McClanahan had actually appeared as Caroline Johnson (1970-1971), a nanny with eyes for the father of the kids she was supposed to watch over, on Another World.
 * A 2008 episode of The Big Gay Sketch Show featured a sketch parodying the 1980s prime time soap opera, Dynasty, in which the sketch referenced several plotlines of the serial as well as parodying other characteristics of the show including the use of blurry cameras to hide the actress' aging, stunt doubles during the on-screen catfights and shoulder pads as fashion accessories.
 * In September 2008 Kraft Canada debuted a web-based soap opera parody series called As the Cookie Crumbles, set in a tea-house in fictional Glamora County.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Format (talk • contribs) 06:44, October 6, 2008 (UTC)

Novels as Sopa Operas?

 * How about popular novels as "Soap Operas"? ANy canidates?? All of James Michner's semi-fictional/faction novels for example would be Number one in my listing! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.83.126.88 (talk) 13:11, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Holidays
Are soap operas aired on holidays? --88.76.224.94 (talk) 17:15, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
 * In the US, soaps don't usually air on holidays such as Christmas, they do on other holidays. In the UK though, soaps dominate all the holiday schedules. Australian soaps take a six/eight-week break at the end of each year, but air on every other holiday throughout the year. AJ21SW (talk) 19:21, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

The Archers
Since this seems to be the longest running soap opera - been broadcast continually since 1950, and still features some of the original cast, shouldn't it be mentioned here? The Archers definitely deserves a mention
 * It has a mention in the UK section. Feel free to expand on it if you wish. AJ21SW (talk) 18:28, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Big Banners from 2009
These two big banners have been added:

However I do not see any discussion about what the problems might be. It makes it difficult to address particular problems on such a long article as this, if the problem areas are not pointed out. It would help a lot if contentious things needing a reference could be marked. And which are the problem links? I really want to remove the banners because they aren't really helping in my opinion. Format (talk) 20:37, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

' Most UK soap operas focus on working-class communities.'
 Most UK soap operas focus on working-class communities.

Is this true?


 * Coronation Street certainly was once about working-class inhabitants of a back-street but has been gentrified over the years (which is a little difficult to believe of a Salford back street).


 * Brookside was set on a new build middle-class cul-de-sac and the characters from the start were either the working-class on the way up (The Grants, The Corkhills, The Taylors) or middle-class on the way down (The Collins, The Huntingdons, The Jordaches) and a lot of the dynamic revolved around the conflicting cultures among people who were all now 'lower middle class'.


 * Emmerdale is mostly about farm-hands and such so I suppose it is a little about the agrarian working-class.


 * Hollyoaks looks pretty posh whenever I've caught it, although I have to admit I have probably only seen a cumulative 5 minutes.


 * Crossroads had a working-class culture as far as I remember but that was axed a hell of a long time ago.


 * Eldorado was certainly not working-class.


 * The Archers is a rural set soap like Emmerdale, however it certainly isn't working class, Emmerdale might be about a few farm hands but the Archers is full of annoying society people. I would say the Archers is feudal.

I've never seen Eastenders so you'll have to forgive me.

I think the above statement may have been true in the 1960s when Corrar was first started and Yorkshire/Lancashire set kitchen sink dramas were all the rage (particularly in film form - A kind of Loving, Billy Liar, A taste of Honey etc). I don't think it is so much the case now. Mtaylor848 (talk) 18:14, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It is still a very true statement. Only a select few characters in each soap aren't working class, Emmerdale has a couple of rural estates which house the wealthy inhabitants of the village but it still sticks to it's roots by way of the central farming family (currently headed by John Barton) and long-running typically Yorkshire characters such as Zak Dingle. Coronation Street hasn't changed too much from it's beginnings fifty years ago, of course most characters now own their own houses, and some run their own businesses, most notably a factory situated on the Street in which the owner does not live in the area but in a swanky apartment near the city - but most can still be described as working class. What's more working class than a bunch of factory workers?


 * EastEnders even more so. Very few have money, with the exception of the key Mitchell and Beale families, both of which have built up their business ventures over several years. Your perception of Hollyoaks as posh couldn't be more wrong, it is undeniably considered quite a glamourous soap along the same lines of the American soap operas because of it's young, good-looking cast and it's ability to go ahead with more 'playful', unrealistic plots and storylines generally derided by the others - but it still centers around a small village, and a nearby college which some of the characters attend.


 * Crossroads, as you mention it, was set in a motel. Need I say more. Ooh, Fruity    Ooh, Chatty  19:46, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

It's all your opinions really and mine if I were to give it. You needs refs to back it all up, with producers agreeing with label, plenty of critics giving the label... As the latter view on Hollyoaks doing unrealistic plots, it's tosh just look at the acclaim for daring to do relevant plots to today's British society.. The Times and The Guardian, said it used to be like that, it all changed, among many other glossier rags, along with the producers saying this. It is glamorous, but still working life along side of student life. RAIN the ONE  (Talk) 19:52, 27 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I would say that it is true that Coronation Street, the Emmerdale village, and the EastEnders square are generally speaking working class communities. Most of the residents of those areas work in the businesses of the same area: driving cabs, pulling pints behind the bar, on a market stall, managing the laundrette. Not many barristers or surgeons living on Albert Square really. In these shows of course it is a rather fanciful, romanticised version of working class. But then all soaps are fanciful, so it is almost a moot point. I actually have the Bowles chapter that this article references: it does seem to suggest UK shows are more working class when compared to US soaps. Author states that in UK serials the characters "turn to crime to pay the rent rather than as part of a high powered corporate takeover strategy." I do not think it is a very contentious claim myself. Format (talk) 07:31, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Certainly UK soap operas are MORE working class than foreign counterparts, in Dallas they were all oil millionaires and in Neighbours they're all well to do. In Coronation Street for instance they have had doctors and teachers move on to the street and many of the residents are sole traders of businesses on the street (the dynamic is very unlikely but who's getting picky). I know that in 40 years our perceptions of 'working class' has changed, I am most of my friends own cars and houses yet we all do traditional working-class jobs. I think they have moved away from this trend. Coronation Street is no longer a working class kitchen sink drama. Brookside was never about the working classes (although exhibited class-conflict and was very politicised with characters such as Bobby Grant). El Dorado deliberately tried to distance itself from the 'working class' scene and was very aspirational and The Archers is portrays a upper-class rural society I don't think even exists anymore.

In comparison to dramas (such as Cold Feet etc) which are generally upper-middle class, yes soaps are still a little more about normal people, however I would say the trend has moved away certainly in the soaps I have watched.Mtaylor848 (talk) 09:01, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I have just modified the article along the contours of this discussion. Indeed the Bowles chapter referenced by the article as the source of this claim, suggests that UK soaps tend to be more working class in comparison to US serials, not that they are set in working class communities per se. Format (talk) 00:02, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

2010 Daytime Airhog Awards
Rank 	Actor (Character) 	Show 	Total Episodes Appeared 1.	Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri)	General Hospital (ABC)	234 2.	Steve Burton (Jason Morgan)	General Hospital (ABC)	224 3.	Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Forrester)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	210 4.	Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos)	General Hospital (ABC)	205 5.	James Scott (E.J. Dimera)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	199 6.	Laura Wright (Carly Jacks)	General Hospital (ABC)	196 7.	Rebecca Budig (Greenlee Smythe)	All My Children (ABC)	195 8.	Julie Marie Berman (Lulu Spencer)	General Hospital (ABC)	189 9.	Michael Easton (John McBain)	One Life to Live (ABC)	182 10.	Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	181 11.	Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady Hernandez)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	176 12.	Kristen Alderson (Starr Manning)	One Life to Live (ABC)	174 Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	174 14.	Eric Braeden (Victor Newman)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)	172 15.	Galen Gering (Rafe Hernandez)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	171 16.	Molly Burnett (Melanie Layton Kiriakis)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	170 17.	Trevor St. John (Todd Manning)	One Life to Live (ABC)	168 18.	Crystal Chappell (Dr. Carly Manning)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	166 19.	Jonathan Jackson (Lucky Spencer)	General Hospital (ABC)	162 20.	Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)	159 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.26.21.217 (talk) 23:22, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

2009 Daytime Airhog Awards
Rank 	Actor (Character) 	Show 	Total Episodes Appeared 1.	Steve Burton (Jason Morgan)	General Hospital (ABC)	208 2.	Arianne Zucker (Nicole Walker)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	207 3.	Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater)	All My Children (ABC)	206 4.	Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos)	General Hospital (ABC)	200 Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	200 6.	Laura Wright (Carly Jacks)	General Hospital (ABC)	194 7.	James Scott (E.J. DiMera)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	192 8.	Vincent Irizarry (Dr. David Hayward)	All My Children (ABC)	191 9.	Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	190 10.	Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart Slater)	All My Children (ABC)	187 11.	Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	184 12.	Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	181 13.	Trevor St. John (Todd Manning)	One Life to Live (ABC)	173 14.	Brandon Barash (Johnny Zacchara)	General Hospital (ABC)	170 Tyler Christopher (Nikolas Cassadine)	General Hospital (ABC)	170 Susan Lucci (Erica Kane)	All My Children (ABC)	170 17.	Sarah Brown (Claudia Zacchara)	General Hospital (ABC)	169 18.	Bradford Anderson (Damien Spinelli)	General Hospital (ABC)	167 Ingo Radamacher (Jasper Jacks/Jax Jacks)	General Hospital (ABC)	167	Darnell Williams (Chief [[Jesse Hubbard)	All My Children (ABC)	167 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.26.21.217 (talk) 23:30, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

2008 Daytime Airhog Awards
Rank 	Actor (Character) 	Show 	Total Episodes Appeared 1.	Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	224 2.	Steve Burton (Jason Morgan)	General Hospital (ABC)	222 3.	(Greenlee Smythe) Rebecca Budig and Sabine Singh	All My Children (ABC)	220 (Rebecca Budig, 211 / Sabine Singh, 9) 4.	Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos)	General Hospital (ABC)	203 Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart)	All My Children (ABC)	203 6.	Julie Marie Berman (Lulu Spencer)	General Hospital (ABC)	200 7.	Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater)	All My Children (ABC)	197 8.	Brandon Barash (Johnny Zacchara)	General Hospital (ABC)	194 9.	Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	193 10.	Bradford Anderson (Damian Spinelli)	General Hospital (ABC)	190 11.	Melissa Claire Egan (Annie Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	189 Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos Jacks)	General Hospital (ABC)	189 13.	Sarah Joy Brown (Claudia Zacchara)	General Hospital (ABC)	183 14.	Eric Braeden (Victor Newman)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)	177 15.	Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	176 16.	Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)	175 17.	Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones)	General Hospital (ABC)	173 Megan Ward (Kate Howard)	General Hospital (ABC)	173 19.	Trevor St. John (Todd Manning)	One Life to Live (ABC)	171 Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman)	The Young and the Restless (CBS)	171 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.26.21.217 (talk) 23:53, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

2007 Daytime Airhog Awards
Rank 	Actor (Character) 	Show 	Total Episodes Appeared 1.	Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart Slater)	All My Children (ABC)	233 2.	Lindsay Hartley (Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald)	Passions (NBC)	228 3.	Steve Burton (Jason Morgan)	General Hospital (ABC)	222 4.	Laura Wright (Carly Corinthos)	General Hospital (ABC)	220 5.	Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater)	All My Children (ABC)	215 6.	Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	213 7.	Eric Martsolf (Ethan Crane)	Passions (NBC)	209 Cameron Mathison (Ryan Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	209 9.	Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos)	General Hospital (ABC)	206 10.	Julie Berman (Lulu Spencer)	General Hospital (ABC)	205 11.	Michael Easton (John McBain)	One Life to Live (ABC)	203 Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth Webber)	General Hospital (ABC)	201 13.	Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady)	Days of Our Lives (NBC)	192 14.	Emily Harper (Fancy)	Passions (NBC)	190 15.	Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester)	The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	189 Greg Vaughan (Lucky Spencer)	General Hospital (ABC)	189 17.	Galen Gering (Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald)	Passions (NBC)	187 18.	Kelly Monaco (Samantha McCall)	General Hospital (ABC)	184 19.	Jacob Young (J.R. Chandler)	All My Children (ABC)	179 Melissa Claire Egan (Annie Lavery)	All My Children (ABC)	178 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.26.21.217 (talk) 23:59, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

What, no radio?
Someone mentioned it above, but there's a serious lack of Old Time Radio here. The genre was first developed on radio, after all. I'm only familiar with American radio, but I know that daytime soaps were very popular. The husband/wife team of Anne & Frank Hummert started producing soaps as early as 1933, and were a soap opera factory, producing many shows over the years in an assembly line-like process. How can you have a Soap Opera page without dealing with the originators? There must be someone out there who cares enough to do the writing. MarkinBoston (talk) 02:34, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

This article looks kind of horrible...
Excuse me, but this article looked kind of like a trainwreck until I cleaned it up. I have listed several mistakes:

There is no space between a comma and a statement in the first paragraph.

In the first paragraph, "uk", (supposed to be UK), is not capitalized.

Sorry --John Smith 23:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by ObiwanLostToBarney (talk • contribs)

History of ...
Where is the history (radio shows, which was first tv show, which was first sponsored by soap?) Who are Clara Lu and Em from 1931 mentioned by BBC? Rmhermen (talk) 16:06, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Latin América?
Latin America's melodramas are extremely important in the history of the genre. Where are they here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.174.88.159 (talk) 22:13, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I cannot believe there is not one single mention of Latin American soap operas, which are not only influential worldwide (e.g. Maria La Del Barrio's influence in Europe and Asia, but also often have higher primetime ratings in the U.S. than English-language television programming). Cumbiagermen (talk) 23:05, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

How come first US network TV soap opera not mentioned?
Surely Faraway Hill deserved a mention somewhere in the article? Suddenly There Is a Valley (talk) 10:22, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Procter&Gamble
I think a small excerpt on the name origins of the term "Soap opera" would be informative. Being that many of them were sponsored by Procter & Gamble, which is a company that manufacturers soap. I mean if we can get a citation on it of course. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.208.74.79 (talk) 20:42, June 14, 2013 (UTC)

Origin of the genre
Why does this section start with radio? (Lever Brothers as far as I know) first came up with the concept of a Soap Opera; long, long before Marconi sent voices through the either. There are contempery bill posters on display in Port Sunlight, advertising the Uniliver's Soap Opera long, long before  mains electricity... ',--Aspro (talk) 15:32, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

Soap or Drama Series?
Is there a reference for this statement: “… RTÉ wanted a drama series for its Sunday night lineup rather than a soap opera, On Home Ground (2001–2002), The Clinic (2002–2009) and RAW (2010–2013) replaced the agri-soaps of the previous decades.“ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laura howard ie (talk • contribs) 20:46, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

Soap or Drama Series?
Is there a reference for this statement: “… RTÉ wanted a drama series for its Sunday night lineup rather than a soap opera, On Home Ground (2001–2002), The Clinic (2002–2009) and RAW (2010–2013) replaced the agri-soaps of the previous decades.“ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laura howard ie (talk • contribs) 20:47, 14 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Soap opera. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Attempted to fix sourcing for http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060330/us_nm/leisure_world_dc
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110921201707/http://www.rte.ie/radio1/driftwood/1016346.html to http://www.rte.ie/radio1/driftwood/1016346.html

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Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 14:00, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

Korean soap opera
I'm surprised that there is no section on South Korean soap opera. There is a lot of it, and it is increasingly popular in some other countries, such as Taiwan.Bill (talk) 02:38, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

TV Series aka Soap Operas
The following TV series could be looked upon as "Soaps" depending on your point of view:
 * Every sequel series of Star Trek {orginal series} {including MOVIES}
 * The Sopranos-everyone's favortie gangster family.
 * Any other canidates?

I AGREE ON TV SERIES AS SOAPS!!!

"Link to Centennial (TV miniseries)-{When TNT showed this series for 3 months straight for hours on end-it killed any chance of me being a Soap Opera fan!!}
 * Another canidates would be the mini-series Centennial (novel) and any other mimi-series based on novels-or based on movies-such as MASH.

Surely Downton Abbey should be included here as well? It seems to meet much of the criteria for a soap opera. Thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Divemast (talk • contribs) 23:41, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Soap opera. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100123212146/http://www.soapoperadigest.com/soapstarstats/susanseaforthhayesbio/ to http://www.soapoperadigest.com/soapstarstats/susanseaforthhayesbio/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160812112840/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/daytime-emmy-nominations-young-and-the-restless-tv-pop-1201738398/ to http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/daytime-emmy-nominations-young-and-the-restless-tv-pop-1201738398/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120707002638/http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/news/3265 to http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/news/3265
 * Added tag to http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189641462&path=%21burg

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Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 15:24, 4 June 2017 (UTC)