TV wouldn’t be TV without soap operas
6 May - 29 minsWithout soaps, we wouldn’t have melodramas or reality shows. Without soaps, we wouldn’t have many of the TV tropes and shows we love to stream and binge-watch. Cliffhangers, serials, vixens — in television storytelling, all come from soaps.
Network television would not exist if not for the financial success of soap operas, according to Elana Levine, author of Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History. During the 1970s, Levine said soaps brought in 75% of the networks’ revenue.
“Soaps were a legitimate kind of pop culture sensation. As a result, the networks are able to charge more for those ad slots,” she said. “It’s a way to reach young people in particular for a t...
Series Episodes
Meet Irna Phillips: The Queen of Daytime
Meet the Chicago woman who birthed the soap opera, first for radio in the 1930s and then TV in the 1950s.
21 mins
8 April Finished
