S is for Soap Operas
This month I'm participating in the A to Z Challenge. My theme is the 80s. Today's letter is:
It may be impossible to believe, especially if you've been stranded at home with nothing but daytime TV in the past few years, but at one time, soap operas were event TV. This was an era before we voted people off islands or followed middle-aged housewives around with cameras. It was the era of Bo and Hope...
And Victor and Nikki...
And, of course, the most popular soap opera couple of all time--the couple that put the words "soap opera super couple" on the map: Luke and Laura.
The best thing about soaps? They brought people together. Viewers couldn't tweet while they watched. They just watched it and talked about it the next day.
Soap operas actually date back to the days of radio, making their way to TV in the 1940s. Initially, the shows were designed to take place exclusively within the confines of a studio, making it easier to air five episodes a week, 52 weeks a year.
In the late 70s/early 80s, soaps began to up the ante, leaving the studio to travel to exotic locations. Interestingly, as its audience began to shrink because women were filling the workforce, soap operas reached a height of popularity they had never seen before (or since). Who was watching these soaps?
Yep, teens. Tweens. I can't speak for all of us, but I personally became interested when my babysitter (along with the rest of the world) made this wedding must-watch TV:
Luke and Laura got off to a rocky start. He raped her in a disco--which would have been a huge scandal but some of us had no idea about all of that. We just knew this couple was getting married and the world cared. So we cared, too. Plus, Genie Francis was beautiful.
After they got married, Luke and Laura had a whole epic adventure that involved her wearing a dark wig and pretending her name was Lucy. I'll be darned if I can remember what all that was about, but people seemed to love it.
For the rest of the 80s, soaps enjoyed a loyal fan base made up of teens, as well as adults with VCRs. There were supercouples...
And future stars...
And by the 90s, the whole thing had pretty much started a slow downward slide. It's a slide that is likely permanent. But we'll always have all the soap opera actresses now starring on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Did you ever watch daytime soap operas?
It may be impossible to believe, especially if you've been stranded at home with nothing but daytime TV in the past few years, but at one time, soap operas were event TV. This was an era before we voted people off islands or followed middle-aged housewives around with cameras. It was the era of Bo and Hope...
And Victor and Nikki...
And, of course, the most popular soap opera couple of all time--the couple that put the words "soap opera super couple" on the map: Luke and Laura.
The best thing about soaps? They brought people together. Viewers couldn't tweet while they watched. They just watched it and talked about it the next day.
Soap operas actually date back to the days of radio, making their way to TV in the 1940s. Initially, the shows were designed to take place exclusively within the confines of a studio, making it easier to air five episodes a week, 52 weeks a year.
In the late 70s/early 80s, soaps began to up the ante, leaving the studio to travel to exotic locations. Interestingly, as its audience began to shrink because women were filling the workforce, soap operas reached a height of popularity they had never seen before (or since). Who was watching these soaps?
Yep, teens. Tweens. I can't speak for all of us, but I personally became interested when my babysitter (along with the rest of the world) made this wedding must-watch TV:
Luke and Laura got off to a rocky start. He raped her in a disco--which would have been a huge scandal but some of us had no idea about all of that. We just knew this couple was getting married and the world cared. So we cared, too. Plus, Genie Francis was beautiful.
After they got married, Luke and Laura had a whole epic adventure that involved her wearing a dark wig and pretending her name was Lucy. I'll be darned if I can remember what all that was about, but people seemed to love it.
For the rest of the 80s, soaps enjoyed a loyal fan base made up of teens, as well as adults with VCRs. There were supercouples...
And future stars...
And by the 90s, the whole thing had pretty much started a slow downward slide. It's a slide that is likely permanent. But we'll always have all the soap opera actresses now starring on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Did you ever watch daytime soap operas?
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