In the world of soaps, women’s issues take front-burner status
15 April - 34 minsIrna Phillips created the cliff-hanger in broadcast storytelling and perfected the serial drama, first in radio, then on television. She mentored the creators of All My Children, One Life to Live, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. The latter two remain on television today. Phillips also created the television vixen, an archetype first seen on soap operas that still endures.
Agnes Nixon and married couple William and Lee Phillip Bell worked for Phillips in Chicago. Nixon was head writer of The Guiding Light. In 1962, she wanted to do a cancer storyline, about how uterine cancer is curable if caught in time. Doctors said women proactively asked for Pap smears afte...
Series Episodes
Behind the curtain at ‘Days of Our Lives’: The lights, the sets, the pink coat
19 mins
13 May Finished
