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What defines a soap opera? ›

The soap opera is characterized by a permanent cast of actors, a continuing story, emphasis on dialogue instead of action, a slower-than-life pace, and a consistently sentimental or melodramatic treatment.

Origin and history of the genre

The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre is Painted Dreams, which premiered on WGN radio Chicago, on October 20, 1930.

Daytime serials became popular, and household products were advertised to the female audience. These 15-minute serials had advertising that consisted mostly of soap products; thus, they became known as “soap operas.” There were nearly 40 sponsored soaps on the airwaves by the end of 1938.

These events and themes are unique to the soap opera genre and have remained constant throughout its evolution. There are several unique features of the soap opera genre. Its most distinguishing feature is that they never begin and are never-ending.

: a serial drama performed originally on a daytime radio or television program and chiefly characterized by tangled interpersonal situations and melodramatic or sentimental treatment. b. : a series of real-life events resembling a soap opera. 2. : the melodrama and sentimentality characteristic of a soap opera.

As of 2024, William Roache holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-serving actor in a television soap opera, having played Ken Barlow on Coronation Street since 1960.

"GH" is both the longest-running scripted drama and the longest-running American soap opera currently in production.

While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $88,500 and as low as $39,500, the majority of Soap Opera Actor salaries currently range between $46,000 (25th percentile) to $63,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $74,500 annually across the United States.

Currently, there are only three surviving soap operas on broadcast television: General Hospital, (which airs on ABC), The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, (which both air on CBS). In September 2022, Days of Our Lives moved from NBC to its streaming platform Peaco*ck.

What was the first radio soap opera? ›

Radio's first soap opera aired over WGN-AM Chicago, Ill., on June 16, 1930. Clara, Lu, and Em was a series that began as a sorority sketch by three friends: Louise Starkey (Clara), Isobel Carothers (Lu) and Helen King (Em). Stories centered around three Midwestern housewives who shared a duplex.

These Are My Children is an American television soap opera, or novella, that ran on NBC from January 31 to March 4, 1949. The show was broadcast live from WNBQ in Chicago, Illinois, airing 15 minutes a day, five days a week, at 5 p.m. EST. It is widely credited as the first soap opera broadcast on television.

The Bold & The Beautiful is down 12% in total viewers (2.9m v. 3.3m) and down 12% in women 18+ (2.1m v. 2.39) while The Young and the Restless is down 5% in viewers (3.4m v. 3.6m) and down 6% in women 18+ (2.4m v.

Many other ancient civilizations also used early forms of soap. Soap got its name from an ancient Roman legend about Mount Sapo. Rain would wash down the mountain mixing with animal fat and ashes, resulting in a clay mixture found to make cleaning easier.

The soap opera effect is the colloquial name for a visual effect caused by motion interpolation on television sets that some people find undesirable. Motion interpolation is a process done by high refresh displays where generated frames are inserted between the original frames of a video.

Also called daytime drama, soap, and soaper. Television soap operas are long-running serials concerned with everyday life. The serial is not to be confused with the series, in which the main characters and format remain the same from program to program but each episode is a self-contained plot.

Referred to by the godfather of zombie movies, George Romero, as “a soap opera with a zombie occasionally,” The Walking Dead doesn't focus much on the famous monster. Despite being set in a zombie apocalypse, the show is primarily centered on a group of survivors and their personal drama.

A soap opera is a television or radio program that airs in episodic series. This means that each episode continues telling a story, which, in turn, tells more of the last episode's story. A single story on a soap opera can be told for weeks, months, or sometimes even years.