Soap opera

For other uses, seeSoap opera (disambiguation).

Asoap opera,daytime drama,orsoapfor short, is typically a long-runningradioortelevisionserial,frequently characterized bymelodrama,ensemble casts,andsentimentality.The term "soap opera" originated fromradio dramasbeing sponsored by soap manufacturers.The term was preceded by "horse opera",a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.

BBC Radio'sThe Archers,firstbroadcastin 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera.The longest-running existing television soap isCoronation Street,which was first broadcast onITVin 1960.Guiding Light,which began on radio in 1937, transitioned to television in 1952, and ended in 2009, holds the record for the longest-running soap opera of any kind.

According to Albert Moran, one of the defining features that make a television program a soap opera is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Eachepisodeends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode ".In 2012,Los Angeles Timescolumnist Robert Lloyd wrote of daily dramas:

Although melodramatically eventful, soap operas such as this also have a luxury of space that makes them seem more naturalistic; indeed, the economics of the form demand long scenes, and conversations that a 22-episodes-per-season weekly series might dispense with in half a dozen lines of dialogue may be drawn out, as here, for pages. You spend more time even with the minor characters; the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous.

Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several concurrentnarrative threadsthat may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent to each other. Episodes may feature some of the show's storylines, but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are broadcast each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely conclude all their storylines at the same time. When one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differingstages of development.Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort ofcliffhanger,and theseason finale(if a soap incorporates a break between seasons) ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for the start of a new yearly broadcast.

Evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode and present all storylines. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger.

In 1976,Timemagazine describedAmerican daytime televisionas "TV's richest market", noting the loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series into hour-long broadcasts in order to maximise advertising revenues.The article explained that at that time, manyprime timeseries lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs.The issue's cover notably featured its first daytime soap stars,Bill HayesandSusan Seaforth HayesofDays of Our Lives,a married couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press at large.

Origin and history of the genre

The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre isPainted Dreams,which premiered onWGNradio Chicago, on October 20, 1930.It was regularly broadcast in a daytime time slot, where most listeners would be housewives; thus, the shows were aimed at – and consumed by – a predominantly female audience.Clara, Lu, 'n Emwould become the firstnetworkradio serial of the type when it aired on theNBC Blue Networkat 10:30 p.m.Eastern Timeon January 27, 1931.Although it did not make the move until February 15, 1932,Clara, Lu 'n Emwould become the first network serial of the type to move to a weekday daily timeslot, and so also became the first network daytime serial.

Plots and storylines

The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations".Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in a particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. "Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by whatSteve Nealehas described as 'chance happenings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations,deus ex machinaendings.' "These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, fromEastEnderstoDallas.

In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, the characters are frequently attractive, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working-class environments.Many of the soaps produced in those two countries exploresocial realiststorylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedic elements, often affectionate comic stereotypes such as the gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare.UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting "reality" or purport to have a "realistic" style.UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on the exotic appeal of the stereotypes connected to the location. As examples,EastEndersfocuses on the tough and grim life in the East End of London;Coronation Streetand its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of "northern straight talking".

If we want to blend an actor back into a show, there's always a way. You can generally find a way to twist and manipulate something. You rarely see a dead body, but hey, even if you do, he or she can always come back to play the evil identical twin.

Marlena Laird in 1992, during her time as aline producerand director forGeneral Hospital.

Romance,secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperbackromance novels.Soap opera storylines weave intricate, convoluted and sometimes confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on the unfolding story. Crimes such as kidnapping, assault (sometimes sexual), and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story.

Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the "romantic quality" of criminal and/oroligarchlife.

In soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings andtwins(including theevil variety) of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency.

As incomic books– another popular form of linearstorytellingpioneered in the US during the 20th century – a character's death isnot guaranteed to be permanent.OnThe Bold and the Beautiful,Taylor Hayes(Hunter Tylo) was shown toflatlineand have a funeral. Once Tylo reprised her character in 2005, aretconexplained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma.

Stunts and complex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place off-screen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict without complex movements, multiple takes, and post-production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post-production work was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post-production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets.

United States

Daytime serials on television

Publicity photo ofRosemary PrinzasPenny HughesfromAs the World Turns

The firstdaytime TVsoap opera in theUnited StateswasThese Are My Childrenin 1949, though earlier melodramas had aired in the evenings as once-a-week programs. Soap operas quickly became a fixture of American daytime television in the early 1950s, joined bygame shows,sitcomrerunsand talk shows.

In 1988,H. Wesley Kenney,who at the time served as theexecutive producerofGeneral Hospital,said toThe New York Times:

I think people like stories that continue so they can relate to these people. They become like a family, and the viewer becomes emotionally involved. There seem to be two attitudes by viewers. One, that the stories are similar to what happened to them in real life, or two, thank goodness that isn't me.

— H. Wesley Kenney

Many long-running US soap operas established particular environments for their stories.The DoctorsandGeneral Hospital,in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital.As the World Turnsdealt heavily with Chris Hughes' law practice and the travails of his wifeNancywho, tired of being "the loyal housewife" in the 1970s, became one of the first older women on the American serials to enter the workforce.Guiding Lightdealt with Bert Bauer (Charita Bauer) and her alcoholic husband Bill, and their endless marital troubles. When Bert's status shifted to caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were showcased.Search for Tomorrowmostly told its story through the eyes ofJoanne Gardner(Mary Stuart). Even when stories revolved around other characters, Joanne was frequently a key player in their storylines.Days of Our Livesinitially focused on Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. The show later branched out to focus more on their five children.The Edge of Nightfeatured as its central character Mike Karr, a police detective (later an attorney), and largely dealt with organized crime.The Young and the Restlessfirst focused on two families, the prosperous Brooks family with four daughters, and the working-class Foster family of a single working mother with three children. Its storylines explored realistic problems including cancer, mental illness, poverty, and infidelity.

In contrast,Dark Shadows(1966–1971),Port Charles(1997–2003) andPassions(1999–2008) featured supernatural characters and dealt withfantasyandhorrorstorylines. Their characters included vampires, witches, ghosts, goblins, and angels.

The American soap operaGuiding Light(originally titledTheGuiding Lightuntil 1975) started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creatorIrna Phillipswas involved in a dispute withProcter & Gamble,Guiding Lightwas heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 to 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium.

Originally, serials were broadcast as 15-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956,As the World TurnsandThe Edge of Night,both produced byProcter & Gamble Productions,debuted as the first half-hour soap operas on theCBStelevision network. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s, most soap operas had expanded to an hour in length by the end of the decade (Another Worldeven expanded to 90 minutes for a short time from 1979 to 1980). More than half of the serials had expanded to one-hour episodes by 1980. As of 2012, three of the four U.S. serials air one-hour episodes each weekday; onlyThe Bold and the Beautifulairs 30-minute episodes.

Soap operas were originally broadcast live from the studio, creating what many at the time regarded as a feeling similar to that of a stage play. As nearly all soap operas were originated at that time fromNew York City,a number of soap actors were also accomplished stage actors who performed live theater during breaks from their soap roles. In the 1960s and 1970s, new serials such asGeneral Hospital,Days of our Lives,andThe Young and the Restlesswere produced inLos Angeles.Their success made the West Coast a viable alternative to New York-produced soap operas, which were becoming more costly to perform. By the early 1970s, nearly all soap operas had transitioned to being taped.As the World TurnsandThe Edge of Nightwere the last to make the switch, in 1975.

Port Charlesused the practice of running 13-week "story arcs,"in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc. According to the 2006 Preview issue ofSoap Opera Digest,it was briefly discussed that allABCshows might dotelenovelaarcs, but this was rejected.

Though U.S. daytime soap operas are not generallyrerunby their networks, occasionally they are rebroadcast elsewhere; CBS and ABC have made exceptions to this, airing older episodes (either those aired earlier in the current season or those aired years prior) on major holidays when special event programming is not scheduled or because of last-minute deferrals of scheduled episodes to the following day because ofbreaking newscoverage. (Temporary production stoppagescaused by theCOVID-19 pandemicsimilarly resulted in CBS and ABC airing older reruns ofThe Young and the Restless,The Bold and the BeautifulandGeneral Hospitalduring the Spring and Summer of 2020 in order to ration first-run episodes and, eventually, to fill airtime after the programs ran out of new episodes to broadcast;Days of Our Lives,which produces its episodes roughly eight months ahead of their initial broadcast, did not resort to airing older episodes during this time as it had a larger first-run episode backlog.) Early episodes ofDark Shadowswere rerun onPBSmember stations in the early 1970s after the show's cancellation, and the entire series (except for a single missing episode) was rerun on theSci-Fi Channelin the 1990s. AfterThe Edge of Night's1984 cancellation, reruns of the show's final five years were shown late nights onUSA Networkfrom 1985 to 1989. On January 20, 2000, adigital cableandsatellitenetwork dedicated to the genre,Soapnet,began re-airing soaps that originally aired on ABC,NBCand CBS.

Newer broadcast networks since the late 1980s, such asFoxandcable televisionnetworks, have largely eschewed soap operas in their daytime schedules, instead runningsyndicated programmingand reruns. No cable television outlet has produced its own daytime serial, althoughDirecTV'sThe 101 Networktook over existing serialPassions,continuing production for one season; whileTBSandCBN Cable Networkrespectively aired their own soap operas,The Catlins(a primetime soap that utilized the daily episode format of its daytime counterparts) andAnother Life(a soap that combined standard serial drama with religious overtones), during the 1980s. Fox, thefourth "major network",carried a short-lived daytime soapTribesin 1990. Yet, other than this and a couple of pilot attempts, Fox mainly stayed away from daytime soaps, and has not attempted them since theirascension to major-network status in 1994(it did later attempt a series of daily prime time soaps from 2006 to 2007, which aired on newly created sister networkMyNetworkTV,but the experiment was largely a failure after disappointing ratings).

Due to the masses of episodes produced for a series, release of soap operas to DVD (a popular venue for distribution of current and vintage television series) is considered impractical. With the exception of occasional specials, daytime soap operas are notable by their absence from DVD release schedules (an exception being the supernatural soap opera,Dark Shadows,which did receive an essentially complete release on both VHS and DVD; the single lost episode #1219 is reconstructed by means of an off-the-air audio recording, still images, and recap material from adjacent episodes).

Performers

SeeList of longest-serving soap opera actors

Soap opera performers in the United States are typically divided into two main groups: primary characters (sometimes referred to as "contract players" – as their portrayers signed contracts of employment – or leading characters) and secondary characters (sometimes referred to asrecurringcharacters). These two groups of characters make up the vast majority of the people who appear on any given soap. There are also characters who appear only for a short time as dictated by a specific storyline, and even characters who may only get a first name and no fleshed-out character history with little dialogue (these are sometimes referred to as "under-5s" since they receive under five lines of dialogue in each episode).

Due to the longevity of these shows, it is not uncommon for a single character to be played by multiple actors. The key character ofMike KarronThe Edge of Nightwas played by three actors.

Conversely, several actors have remained playing the same character for many years, or decades even.Helen Wagnerplayed Hughes family matriarchNancy Hugheson American soapAs the World Turnsfrom its April 2, 1956, debut through her death in May 2010. She is listed in theGuinness Book of World Recordsas the actor with the longest uninterrupted performance in a single role. A number of performers played roles for 20 years or longer, occasionally on more than one show.Rachel AmesplayedAudrey Hardyon bothGeneral HospitalandPort Charlesfrom 1964 until 2007, and returned in 2009.Susan LucciplayedErica KaneinAll My Childrenfrom the show's debut in January 1970 until it ended its network television run on ABC on September 23, 2011.Erika SlezakplayedVictoria Lord#3 onOne Life to Livefrom 1971 until the show ended its network television run on ABC on January 13, 2012, and resumed the role in its short-lived online revival on April 29, 2013.

Other actors have played several characters on different shows.Millette Alexander,Bernard Barrow,Doris Belack,David Canary,Judith Chapman,Keith Charles,Jordan Charney,Joan Copeland,Nicolas Coster,Jacqueline Courtney,Augusta Dabney,Louis Edmonds,Don Hastings,Larry Haines,Vincent Irizarry,Lenore Kasdorf,Teri Keane,Lois Kibbee,John Loprieno,Lori March,Maeve McGuire,Robert Mili,James Mitchell,Lee Patterson,Christopher Pennock,Antony Ponzini,William Prince,Rosemary Prinz,Louise Shaffer,Mary Stuart,Richard Thomas,Diana van der Vlis,Mary K. Wells,Lesley WoodsandMichael Zaslow,among many others, have all played multiple soap roles.

Evolution of the daytime serial

For several decades, most daytime soap operas concentrated on family and marital discord, legal drama and romance. The action rarely left interior settings, and many shows were set in fictional, medium-sizedMidwesterntowns.

Social issue storylines were typically verboten when soaps were starting, due to heavy network-imposed censorship at that time, but writer and producerAgnes Nixonintroduced these storylines slowly but surely, first in 1962 when the matriarch ofThe Guiding Light,Bert Bauer, developeduterine cancer(as the actress,Charita Bauer,had been diagnosed with the same illness in real life). The storyline encouraged many women to getpap smearsand the CBS mailroom in New York City received a then-record amount of fan mail wishing Bauer (both Bert and Charita) well. Nixon would go on to tell many socially relevant storylines on her soapsOne Life to LiveandAll My Childrenin the late 1960s and into the 1970s.

Exterior shots were slowly incorporated into the seriesThe Edge of NightandDark Shadows.Unlike many earlier serials that were set in fictional towns,The Best of EverythingandRyan's Hopewere set in a real-world location, New York City.

The first exotic location shoot was made byAll My Children,toSt. Croixin 1978. Many other soap operas planned lavish storylines after the success of theAll My Childrenshoot. Soap operasAnother WorldandGuiding Lightboth went to St. Croix in 1980, the former show culminating a long-running storyline between popular characters Mac, Rachel and Janice, and the latter to serve as an exotic setting forAlan SpauldingandRita Bauer's torrid affair.Search for Tomorrowtaped for two weeks inHong Kongin 1981. Later that year, some of the cast and crew ventured toJamaicato tape a love consummation storyline between the characters of Garth and Kathy.

During the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the evening drama series that were gaining high ratings, daytime serials began to incorporate action and adventure storylines, more big-business intrigue, and an increased emphasis on youthful romance.

One of the most popular couples wasLuke Spencer and Laura WebberonGeneral Hospital.Luke and Laura helped to attract both male and female fans. Even actressElizabeth Taylorwas a fan and at her own request was given a guest role in Luke and Laura's wedding episode. Luke and Laura's popularity led to other soap producers striving to reproduce this success by attempting to create supercouples of their own.

With increasingly bizarre action storylines coming into vogue, Luke and Laura saved the world from being frozen, brought a mobster down by finding his black book in a left-handed boy statue, and helped a princess find her Aztec treasure inMexico.Other soap operas attempted similar adventure storylines, often featuring footage shot on location – frequently in exotic locales.

During the 1990s, the mob, action and adventure stories fell out of favor with producers, due to generally declining ratings for daytime soap operas at the time. With the resultant budget cuts, soap operas were no longer able to go on expensive location shoots overseas as they were able to do in the 1980s. During that decade, soap operas increasingly focused on younger characters andsocial issues,such asErica Kane's drug addiction onAll My Children,the re-emergence ofViki Lord'sdissociative identity disorderonOne Life to Live,andStuart Chandlerdealing with his wife Cindy dying ofAIDSonAll My Children.Other social issues includedcancer,rape,abortionandracism.

Several shows during the 1990s and 2000s incorporated supernatural and science fiction elements into their storylines in an attempt to boost their ratings. One of the main characters on the earlier soap operaDark ShadowswasBarnabas Collins,a vampire, andOne Life to Livefeatured an angel named Virgil. Both shows featured characters who traveled to and from the past. In 1995,Days of our Livesfeatured a storyline in which fan favorite characterMarlena Evanswas possessed by the devil, and in 1998,Guiding Lightfeatured a cloning storyline involving legacy characterReva Shayne.

Traditional grammar of daytime serials

Modern U.S. daytime soap operas largely stay true to the original soap opera format. The duration and format of storylines and the visual grammar employed by U.S. daytime serials set them apart from soap operas in other countries and from evening soap operas. Stylistically, UK and Australian soap operas, which are usually produced for early evening timeslots, fall somewhere in between U.S. daytime and evening soap operas. Similar to U.S. daytime soap operas, UK and Australian serials are shot on videotape, and the cast and storylines are rotated across the week's episodes so that each cast member will appear in some but not all episodes. UK and Australian soap operas move through storylines at a faster rate than daytime serials, making them closer to U.S. evening soap operas in this regard.

American daytime soap operas feature stylistic elements that set them apart from other shows:

• A construct unique to U.S. daytime serials is the format where the action will cut between various conversations, returning to each at the precise moment it was left. This is the most significant distinction between U.S. daytime soap operas and other forms of U.S. television drama, which generally allow for narrative time to pass, off-screen, between the scenes depicted.On occasion, a character or characters involved a conversation earlier in that act may appear in a different setting later in the same act.
• In U.S. daytime soap operas, scenes often end with apregnant pauseand a close-up on the character. There will be no dialogue for several seconds, while the music builds before cutting to a commercial or a new scene. This kind of segue is referred to in the industry as a "tag".
• The traditionalthree-point lightingset-up routinely used infilmmakingandtelevision productionis also used on daytime soap operas, sometimes with accentuatedback lightingto lift actors out of the background. This is useful in programs like soap operas, which are shot on videotape in small interior sets. The backlight is frequently more subtle on filmed productions shot on location and in larger sets.
• Domestic interiors are often furnished with stained wood wall panels and furniture, and items of brown leather furniture. This is to give a sumptuous and luxurious look suggesting the wealth of the characters. Daytime serials often foreground other sumptuous elements of set decoration; presenting a "mid-shot of characters viewed through a frame of lavish floral displays, glittering crystal decanters or gleaming antique furniture".
• Few U.S. daytime soap operas routinely feature location or exterior-shot footage (Guiding Lightbegan shooting many of its scenes outdoors in its final two seasons). Often an outdoor locale is recreated in the studio. Australian and U.K. daily soap operas invariably feature a certain amount of exterior shot footage in every episode. This is usually shot in the same location and often on a purpose-built set, with new exterior locations for particular events.
• The visual quality of a soap opera is usually lower than prime time U.S. television drama series due to the lower budgets and quicker production times. This is also because soap operas are recorded on videotape using amulti-camera setup,unlike prime time productions that are usually shot on film and frequently use thesingle-camerashooting style. Because of the lower resolution of video images, and also because of the emotional situations portrayed in soap operas, daytime serials make heavy use ofclose-upshots. Programs in the United States did not make the full conversion tohigh-definition broadcastinguntil September 2011, whenThe Bold and the Beautifulbecame the last soap to convert to the format;One Life to Livewas an exception to this, as it continued to be produced and broadcast instandard definition– albeit in the16:9aspect ratio– until the end of its run on ABC in January 2012.
• Soap operas have idiosyncraticblockingtechniques. In one common situation, a romantically involved couple starts a conversation face to face, then one character will turn 180° and face away from the other character while the conversation continues. This allows both characters to appear together in a single shot, and with both of them facing the audience. This is unrealistic in real life and is not frequently seen in film or on television outside U.S. daytime serials, but it is an accepted soap opera convention, sometimes referred to as a "two shot West".
• Because of the escapist tone of the genre and due to the large number of cast members employed by each program (usually totaling around 30 to 35 actors for hour-long soaps, and 15 to 25 for those lasting a half hour), daytime soap operas have traditionally listed all contract cast members (as well as recurring and guest actors) during theclosing credits,instead of theopening title sequence.Until the 1990s, these series listed only a few of the principal actors at the end of the episode in certain episodes airing on Monday through Thursdays. Because of the aforementioned reasons, an extended credit sequence featuring a complete list of the show's cast members, listed alongside the characters they portray, typically airs at least once per week (usually on the Friday show; although since the 2000s, most soap operas, withGeneral Hospitalas one of the few exceptions, have randomized the day the cast list is shown).The Young and the Restlessbecame the first American daytime soap to include the names of its contract actors in the opening credits in 1999 (although due to the large number of actors on contract with the show at one time, it utilizes different versions of the title sequence with a randomized list of about nine actors, increased from the seven listed in each version until 2017);The Bold and the Beautifullisted its entire main cast (as well as some actors appearing on a recurring basis) from 2004 to 2017, withGeneral Hospitalfollowing suit from 2010 to 2013. (As of 2021,The Young and the Restlessis the only American daytime soap opera that lists the names of its main cast during both its opening titlesandextended closing credit sequence.)

Decline

Statistics and trends

Soap opera ratingshave significantly fallen in the U.S. since the 2000s. As of September 2022, only four daytime soap operas –General Hospital,Days of Our Lives,The Young and the RestlessandThe Bold and the Beautiful– are still in production with three airing on two broadcast networks and one on streaming, down from a total of 12 soaps broadcast during the 1990–91 season and a high of 19 in the 1969–70 season. This marks the first time since 1953 that there have been only four soap operas airing onbroadcast television.The Young and the Restless,the highest-rated soap opera from 1988 to the present, had fewer than 5 million daily viewers as of February 2012, a number exceeded by several non-scripted programs such asJudge Judy.Circulations of soap operamagazineshave decreased and some have even ceased publication.Soapnet, which largely aired soap opera reruns, began to be phased out in 2012 and fully ceased operations the following year.TheDaytime Emmy Awards,which honor soap operas and other daytime shows, moved from prime time network television to smaller cable channels in 2012, then failed to get any TV broadcast at all in 2014, 2016, and 2017.

Several of the U.S.'s most established soaps ended between 2009 and 2012. The longest-running drama in television and radio history,Guiding Light,barely reached 2.1 million daily viewers in 2009 and ended on September 18 of that year, after a 72-year run (including radio).As the World Turnsaired its final episode on September 17, 2010, after a 54-year run.As the World Turnswas the last of 20 soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble, the soap and consumer goods company from which the genre got its name.As the World TurnsandGuiding Lightwere also among the last of the soaps that originated from New York City.All My Children,another New York–based soap, moved its production out to Los Angeles in an effort to reduce costs and raise sagging ratings; however, both it andOne Life to Live,each with a 40-year-plus run, were cancelled in 2011.All My Childrenaired its network finale in September 2011, withOne Life to Livefollowing suit in January 2012.BothAll My ChildrenandOne Life to Livewere briefly revived online in 2013, before being cancelled again that same year.In 2019, production ofDays of Our Liveswas put on "indefinite hiatus" and all of the cast's contracts were terminated, raising concerns within soap publications that cancellation would ensue,though the show was later renewed through September 2021.In 2022, NBC announced thatDays of Our Liveswould be moved exclusively to its streaming service,Peacock,making NBC the first of the big three networks not to air any daytime soap operas.

In March 2024,CBS Studios,NAACP Venture,in partnership withP&G Studiosannounced that a new soap opera forCBStitledThe Gatesis in development and will be the first soap opera sinceGenerationsto feature anAfrican Americancast.

On April 12, 2024, CBS renewedThe Talkfor a 15th and final season, with the show concluding in December 2024.Three days later, on April 15,The Gates(now titled "Beyond the Gates") was greenlit by CBS and is slated to premiere in January 2025, likely to take the time slot ofThe Talk,meaning it will be the first new daytime soap opera to premiere on a major broadcast network sincePassionsin 1999.

Causes

As women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined.New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soap operas with their mothers, leaving the shows' long and complex storylines foreign to younger audiences. As viewers age, ratings continue to drop among young adult women, the demographic group for which soap opera advertisers pay the most.Those who might watch in workplace breakrooms are not counted, asNielsendoes not track television viewing outside the home. The rise of cable and theInternethas also provided new sources of entertainment during the day.The genre's decline has additionally been attributed toreality televisiondisplacing soap operas as TV's dominant form of melodrama.An early term for the reality TV genre wasdocu-soap.A precursor to reality TV, the televised 1994–95O. J. Simpson murder case,both preempted and competed with an entire season of soaps, transforming viewing habits and leaving soap operas with 10 percent fewer viewers after the trial ended.

Daytime programming alternatives such astalk shows,game shows,andcourt showscost up to 50% less to produce than scripted dramas,making those formats more profitable and attractive to networks, even if they receive the same or slightly lower ratings than soap operas. A network may even prefer to return a time slot to its local stations to keeping a soap opera with disappointing ratings on the air, as was the case withSunset BeachandPort Charles.Compounding the financial pressure on scripted programming in the 2007–2010 period was a decline in advertising during theGreat Recession,which led shows to reduce their budgets and cast sizes.In addition to these external factors, a litany of production decisions has been cited by soap opera fans as contributing to the genre's decline, such as clichéd plots, a lack of diversity that narrowed audience appeal, and the elimination of core families.

Current

Soap	Network	Premiered	Switched to color	Expanded to hour	First HDTV broadcast
The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS	March 23, 1987	From the start	N/A	September 7, 2011
Days of Our Lives	Peacock	November 8, 1965	From the start	April 21, 1975	November 8, 2010
General Hospital	ABC	April 1, 1963	October 30, 1967	January 16, 1978	April 23, 2009
The Young and the Restless	CBS	March 26, 1973	From the start	February 4, 1980	June 27, 2001

Former

Soap	Network	Premiere	Finale	Switched to color	Expanded to hour	First HDTV broadcast
All My Children	ABC	January 5, 1970	September 23, 2011	From the start	April 25, 1977	February 3, 2010
Another World	NBC	May 4, 1964	June 25, 1999	June 1966	January 6, 1975	N/A
As the World Turns	CBS	April 2, 1956	September 17, 2010	August 21, 1967	December 1, 1975	N/A
The Best of Everything	ABC	March 30, 1970	September 25, 1970	From the start	N/A	N/A
The Brighter Day	CBS	January 4, 1954	September 28, 1962	N/A	N/A	N/A
Capitol	CBS	March 29, 1982	March 20, 1987	From the start	N/A	N/A
The City	ABC	November 13, 1995	March 28, 1997	From the start	N/A	N/A
The Clear Horizon	CBS	July 11, 1960	June 15, 1962	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dark Shadows	ABC	June 27, 1966	April 2, 1971	August 11, 1967	N/A	N/A
The Doctors	NBC	April 1, 1963	December 31, 1982	October 17, 1966	N/A	N/A
The Edge of Night	CBS/ABC	April 2, 1956	December 28, 1984	September 11, 1967	N/A	N/A
The First Hundred Years	CBS	December 4, 1950	June 27, 1952	N/A	N/A	N/A
First Love	NBC	July 5, 1954	December 30, 1955	N/A	N/A	N/A
From These Roots	NBC	June 30, 1958	December 29, 1961	N/A	N/A	N/A
Full Circle	CBS	June 27, 1960	March 10, 1961	N/A	N/A	N/A
Generations	NBC	March 27, 1989	January 25, 1991	From the start	N/A	N/A
Golden Windows	NBC	July 5, 1954	April 1, 1955	N/A	N/A	N/A
Guiding Light	CBS	June 30, 1952	September 18, 2009	March 13, 1967	November 7, 1977	N/A
Hawkins Falls	NBC	June 7, 1950	July 1, 1955	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hidden Faces	NBC	December 30, 1968	June 27, 1969	From the start	N/A	N/A
How to Survive a Marriage	NBC	January 7, 1974	April 17, 1975	From the start	N/A	N/A
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing	CBS	September 18, 1967	March 23, 1973	From the start	N/A	N/A
Love of Life	CBS	September 24, 1951	February 1, 1980	March 13, 1967	N/A	N/A
Lovers and Friends/For Richer, For Poorer	NBC	January 3, 1977	September 29, 1978	From the start	N/A	N/A
Loving	ABC	June 26, 1983	November 10, 1995	From the start	N/A	N/A
Miss Susan	NBC	March 12, 1951	December 28, 1951	N/A	N/A	N/A
Never Too Young	ABC	September 27, 1965	June 24, 1966	N/A	N/A	N/A
The Nurses	ABC	September 27, 1965	March 31, 1967	N/A	N/A	N/A
One Life to Live	ABC	July 15, 1968	January 13, 2012	From the start	January 16, 1978	December 6, 2010(EDTV)
Our Five Daughters	NBC	January 2, 1962	September 28, 1962	N/A	N/A	N/A
Passions	NBC	July 5, 1999	September 7, 2007	From the start	From the start	N/A
Port Charles	ABC	June 1, 1997	October 3, 2003	From the start	N/A	N/A
Portia Faces Life	CBS	July 5, 1954	March 18, 1955	N/A	N/A	N/A
Return to Peyton Place	NBC	April 3, 1972	January 4, 1974	From the start	N/A	N/A
Ryan's Hope	ABC	July 7, 1975	January 13, 1989	From the start	N/A	N/A
Santa Barbara	NBC	July 30, 1984	January 15, 1993	From the start	From the start	N/A
Search for Tomorrow	CBS/NBC	September 3, 1951	December 26, 1986	September 11, 1967	N/A	N/A
The Secret Storm	CBS	February 1, 1954	February 8, 1974	September 11, 1967	N/A	N/A
Somerset	NBC	March 30, 1970	December 31, 1976	From the start	N/A	N/A
Sunset Beach	NBC	January 5, 1997	December 31, 1999	From the start	From the start	N/A
Texas	NBC	August 4, 1980	December 31, 1982	From the start	From the start	N/A
These Are My Children	NBC	January 31, 1949	February 25, 1949	N/A	N/A	N/A
Three Steps to Heaven	NBC	June 27, 1960	March 10, 1961	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tribes	Fox	March 5, 1990	July 13, 1990	From the start	N/A	N/A
Where the Heart Is	CBS	September 8, 1969	March 23, 1973	From the start	N/A	N/A
A World Apart	ABC	March 30, 1970	June 25, 1971	From the start	N/A	N/A
The Young Marrieds	ABC	October 5, 1964	March 25, 1966	N/A	N/A	N/A

The primetime serial

Serials produced for prime time slots have also found success. The first prime time soap opera wasFaraway Hill(1946), which aired on October 2, 1946, on the now-defunctDuMont Television Network.Faraway Hillran for 12 episodes and was primarily broadcast live, interspersed with short pre-recorded film clips and still photos to remind the audience of the previous week's episode.

The first long-running prime time soap opera wasPeyton Place(1964–1969) on ABC. It was based in part on theeponymous 1957 film(which, in turn, was based on the 1956novel).

The popularity ofPeyton Placeprompted the CBS network to spin off popularAs the World TurnscharacterLisa Millerinto her own evening soap opera,Our Private World(originally titled "The Woman Lisa" in its planning stages).Our Private Worldwas broadcast from May to September 1965. The character of Lisa (and her portrayerEileen Fulton) returned toAs The World Turnsafter the series ended.

The structure ofPeyton Place,with its episodic plots and long-running story arcs, set the mold for the prime time serials of the 1980s, when the format reached its pinnacle.

The successful prime time serials of the 1980s includedDallas,its spin-offKnots Landing,Dynasty,andFalcon Crest.These shows frequently dealt with wealthy families, and their personal and big-business travails. Common characteristics were sumptuous sets and costumes, complex storylines examining business schemes and intrigue, and spectacular disaster cliffhanger situations. Each of these series featured a wealthy, domineering,promiscuous,and passionateantagonistas a key character in the storyline – respectively,J. R. Ewing(Larry Hagman),Abby Cunningham(Donna Mills),Alexis Colby(Joan Collins), andAngela Channing(Jane Wyman). These villainous schemers became immensely popular figures that audiences "loved to hate".

Unlike daytime serials, which are shot on video in a studio using the multi-camera setup, these evening series were shot on film using asingle camera setup,and featured substantial location-shot footage, often in picturesque locales.Dallas,its spin-offKnots Landing,andFalcon Crestall initially featured episodes with self-contained stories and specific guest stars who appeared in just that episode. Each story was completely resolved by the end of the episode, and there were no end-of-episode cliffhangers. After the first couple of seasons, all three shows changed their story format to that of a pure soap opera, with interwoven ongoing narratives that ran over several episodes.Dynastyfeatured this format throughout its run.

The soap opera's distinctive open plot structure and complex continuity was increasingly incorporated into American prime time television programs of the period. The first significant drama series to do this wasHill Street Blues.This series, produced bySteven Bochco,featured many elements borrowed from soap operas, such as anensemble cast,multi-episode storylines, and extensive character development over the course of the series. It and the laterCagney & Laceyoverlaid the police series formula with ongoing narratives exploring the personal lives and interpersonal relationships of the regular characters.The success of these series prompted other drama series, such asSt. Elsewhereand situation comedy series, to incorporate serialized stories and story structure to varying degrees.

The prime time soap operas and drama series of the 1990s, such asBeverly Hills, 90210,Melrose Place,Party of Five,The O.C.,andDawson's Creek,focused more on younger characters. In the 2000s, ABC began to revitalize the prime time soap opera format with shows such asDesperate Housewives,Grey's Anatomy,Brothers & Sisters,Ugly Betty,Private Practice,and more recentlyRevenge,Nashville,Scandal,Mistresses,and formerlyRinger,which its sister production companyABC Studiosco-produced withCBS Television StudiosforThe CW.While not soaps in the traditional sense, these shows managed to appeal to wide audiences with their high drama mixed with humor, and are soap operas by definition. These successes led to NBC's launching serials, includingHeroesandFriday Night Lights.The upstart MyNetworkTV, a sister network of Fox, launched a line of prime time telenovelas (a genre similar to soap operas in terms of content) upon its launch in September 2006, but discontinued its use of the format in August 2007 after disappointing ratings.

On June 13, 2012,Dallas,a continuation of the1978 original seriespremiered on the cable network,TNT.The revived series, which was canceled after three seasons in 2014, delivered solid ratings for the channel, only losing viewership after the show's most established star,Larry Hagman,died midway through the series. In 2012,Nick at Nitedebuted a primetime soap opera,Hollywood Heights,which aired episodes five nights a week (on Monday through Fridays) in a manner similar to a daytime soap opera, instead of the once-a-week episode output common of other prime time soaps. The series, which was an adaptation of the Mexican telenovelaAlcanzar una estrella,suffered from low ratings (generally receiving less than 1 million viewers) and was later moved to sister cable channelTeenNickhalfway through its run toburn offthe remaining episodes.

In 2015, Fox debutedEmpire,a prime time musical serial centering on the power struggle between family members within the titular recording company. Created byLee DanielsandDanny Strongand led byOscarnomineesTerrence HowardandTaraji P. Henson,the drama premiered to high ratings. The show is strongly influenced by other works such asWilliam Shakespeare'sKing Lear,James Goldman'sThe Lion in Winterand the 1980s soap operaDynasty.Also in 2015,E!introducedThe Royals,a series following the life and drama of a fictional English Royal family, which was also inspired byDynasty(even featuringJoan Collinsas the Queen's mother). In addition, ABC debuted a prime time soap operaBlood & Oil,following a young couple looking to make money off the modern-dayWillistonoil boom, premiering on September 27, 2015.

List of primetime serials

Soap	Network	Premiere	Finale	Number of seasons	Number of episodes
2000 Malibu Road	CBS	August 23, 1992	September 9, 1992	1	6
90210	The CW	September 2, 2008	May 13, 2013	5	114 (List of episodes)
American Heiress	MyNetworkTV	March 13, 2007	July 18, 2007	1	65 (List of episodes)
Army Wives	Lifetime	June 3, 2007	June 9, 2013	7	117 (List of episodes)
Bare Essence	NBC	February 15, 1983	June 13, 1983	1	11
Beacon Hill	CBS	August 25, 1975	November 4, 1975	1	13
Berrenger's	NBC	January 1, 1985	March 16, 1985	1	12
Beverly Hills, 90210	Fox	October 4, 1990	May 17, 2000	10	293 (List of episodes)
Blood & Oil	ABC	September 27, 2015	December 13, 2015	1	10 (List of episodes)
Brothers & Sisters	ABC	September 24, 2006	May 8, 2011	5	109 List of episodes)
Central Park West	CBS	September 13, 1995	June 28, 1996	2	21 (List of episodes)
Dallas(1978)	CBS	April 2, 1978	May 3, 1991	14	357 (List of episodes)
Dallas(2012)	TNT	June 13, 2012	September 22, 2014	3	40 (List of episodes)
Dark Shadows(1991)	NBC	January 13, 1991	March 22, 1991	1	12 (List of episodes)
Dawson's Creek	The WB	January 20, 1998	May 14, 2003	6	128 (List of episodes)
Deception	NBC	January 7, 2013	March 18, 2013	1	11 (List of episodes)
Desire	MyNetworkTV	September 5, 2006	December 5, 2006	1	65 (List of episodes)
Desperate Housewives	ABC	October 3, 2004	May 13, 2012	8	180 (List of episodes)
Devious Maids	Lifetime	June 23, 2013	August 8, 2016	4	49 (List of episodes)
Dynasty(1981)	ABC	January 12, 1981	May 11, 1989	9	220 (List of episodes)
Dynasty(2017)	The CW	October 11, 2017	September 16, 2022	5	108 (List of episodes)
Empire	Fox	January 7, 2015	April 21, 2020	6	97 (List of episodes)
Falcon Crest	CBS	December 4, 1981	May 17, 1990	9	227 (List of episodes)
Faraway Hill	Dumont Television Network	October 2, 1946	December 18, 1946	N/A	N/A
Fashion House	MyNetworkTV	September 5, 2006	December 5, 2006	1	65 (List of episodes)
Flamingo Road	NBC	May 12, 1980	May 4, 1982	2	38 (List of episodes)
Filthy Rich	Fox	September 21, 2020	November 30, 2020	1	10 (List of episodes)
Friday Night Lights	NBC	October 3, 2006	February 9, 2011	5	76 (List of episodes)
GCB	ABC	March 4, 2012	May 6, 2012	1	10 (List of episodes)
Glitter	ABC	September 13, 1984	December 25, 1984	1	14
Gossip Girl	The CW	September 19, 2007	December 17, 2012	6	121 (List of episodes)
Grand Hotel	ABC	June 17, 2019	September 9, 2019	1	13 (List of episodes)
Grey's Anatomy	ABC	March 27, 2005	Ongoing	20	421 (List of episodes)
Harold Robbins' The Survivors	ABC	September 22, 1969	September 17, 1970	1	15 (List of episodes)
Hollywood Heights	Nick at Nite/TeenNick	June 18, 2012	October 5, 2012	1	80 List of episodes
If Loving You Is Wrong	Oprah Winfrey Network	September 9, 2014	June 16, 2020	5	102 (List of episodes)
King's Crossing	ABC	January 16, 1982	February 7, 1982	1	10
Knots Landing	CBS	December 29, 1979	May 13, 1993	14	344 (List of episodes)
Malibu Shores	NBC	March 9, 1996	June 1, 1996	1	10
Melrose Place(1992)	Fox	July 8, 1992	May 24, 1999	7	226 (List of episodes)
Melrose Place(2009)	The CW	September 8, 2009	April 13, 2010	1	18 (List of episodes)
A Million Little Things	ABC	September 26, 2018	May 3, 2023	5	87
Mistresses	ABC	June 3, 2013	September 6, 2016	4	52 (List of episodes)
Models Inc.	Fox	June 29, 1994	March 6, 1995	1	29
Monarch	Fox	September 11, 2022	December 6, 2022	1	11
Nashville	ABC/CMT	October 10, 2012	July 26, 2018	6	124 (List of episodes)
North Shore	Fox	June 14, 2004	January 13, 2005	1	21
Our Private World	CBS	May 5, 1965	September 10, 1965	1	38
Our Kind of People	Fox	September 21, 2021	January 25, 2022	1	12
Pacific Palisades	Fox	April 9, 1997	July 30, 1997	1	13 (List of episodes)
Paper Dolls	ABC	September 23, 1984	December 25, 1984	1	14
Party of Five	Fox	September 12, 1994	May 3, 2000	6	142 (List of episodes)
Pasadena	Fox	September 28, 2001	November 2, 2001	1	13
Peyton Place	ABC	September 15, 1964	June 2, 1969	5	514
Private Practice	ABC	September 26, 2007	January 22, 2013	6	111 (List of episodes)
Queens	ABC	October 19, 2021	February 15, 2022	1	13
Push	ABC	April 6, 1998	August 6, 1998	1	8
Revenge	ABC	September 21, 2011	May 15, 2015	4	89 (List of episodes)
Ringer	The CW	September 13, 2011	April 17, 2012	1	22 (List of episodes)
Riverdale	The CW	January 26, 2017	August 23, 2023	7	137 (List of episodes)
Saints & Sinners(2007)	MyNetworkTV	March 14, 2007	July 18, 2007	1	65 (List of episodes)
Saints & Sinners(2016)	Bounce TV	March 6, 2016	May 22, 2022	6	49 (List of episodes)
Savannah	The WB	January 21, 1996	February 24, 1997	2	34 (List of episodes)
Scandal	ABC	April 5, 2012	April 19, 2018	7	124 (List of episodes)
Secrets of Midland Heights	CBS	December 6, 1980	January 24, 1981	1	8
Star	Fox	December 14, 2016	May 8, 2019	3	48 (List of episodes)
The Catlins	Superstation TBS	April 1, 1983	May 31, 1985	N/A	555
The Colbys	ABC	November 20, 1985	March 26, 1987	2	49 (List of episodes)
The Hamptons	ABC	July 27, 1983	August 24, 1983	1	5
The Haves and Have Nots	OWN	May 23, 2013	July 20, 2021	8	196 (List of episodes)
The Monroes	ABC	September 12, 1995	October 19, 1995	1	13
The O.C.	Fox	August 5, 2003	February 22, 2007	4	92 (List of episodes)
The Oval	BET	October 23, 2019	Ongoing	1	25 (List of episodes)
The Round Table	NBC	September 18, 1992	October 16, 1992	1	9
The Royals	E!	March 15, 2015	May 13, 2018	4	40 (List of episodes)
The Yellow Rose	NBC	October 2, 1983	May 12, 1984	1	22 (List of episodes)
This Is Us	NBC	September 20, 2016	May 24, 2022	6	106 (List of episodes)
Titans	NBC	October 4, 2000	December 18, 2000	1	13
Watch Over Me	MyNetworkTV	December 6, 2006	March 6, 2007	1	66 (List of episodes)
W.E.B.	NBC	September 13, 1978	October 5, 1978	1	5
Wicked Wicked Games	MyNetworkTV	December 6, 2006	March 6, 2007	1	66 (List of episodes)

Telenovelas

Thetelenovela,a shorter-form format of serial melodrama, shares some thematic and especially stylistic similarity to the soap opera, enough that the colloquialismSpanish soap operahas arisen to describe the format. The chief difference between the two is length of series; while soap operas usually have indefinite runs, telenovelas typically have a centralstory arcwith a prescribed ending within a year or two of the show's launch, requiring more concise storytelling.

Spanish-language networks, chieflyUnivisionandTelemundo,have found success airing telenovelas for the growing U.S. Hispanic market. Both produced and imported Latin American dramas (as well as imported Turkish dramas since the 2020s) are popular features of the networks' daytime and primetime lineups, sometimes beating English-language networks in the ratings.

Online serials

Someweb seriesare soap operas, such asDegrassi: In SessionorVenice: The Series.In 2013, production companyProspect ParkrevivedAll My ChildrenandOne Life to Livefor the web, retaining original creatorAgnes Nixonas a consultant and keeping many of the same actors (Prospect Park purchased the rights to both series months after their cancellations by ABC in 2011, although it initially suspended plans to relaunch the soaps later that same year due to issues receiving approval from acting and production unions).Each show initially produced four half-hour episodes a week, but quickly cut back to two half-hour episodes each.In the midst of (though not directly related to) a lawsuit between Prospect Park and ABC, the experiment ended that same year, with both shows being canceled again.

Turkey

Main article:Turkish television drama

As of 2017,Turkeyis the second largest exporter of television soap operas. In 2016, Turkish TV exports earned $350 million, making it the second largest drama exporter in the world behind the United States.Turkish soap operas have a large following acrossAsia,theBalkans,Eastern Europe,Latin America,theMiddle East,andAfrica.

United Kingdom

See also:List of longest-serving soap opera actors

Soap operas in the UK began on radio and consequently were associated with the BBC. It had resisted soaps as antithetical to its quality image, but began broadcastingFront Line Familyin April 1941 on itsNorth American shortwave serviceto encourage American intervention on Britain's behalf inWorld War II.The BBC continues to broadcast the world's longest-running radio soap,The Archers,which first aired in May 1950, and has been running nationally since 1951.It is currently broadcast onBBC Radio 4and continues to attract over five million listeners, or roughly 25% of the radio listening population of the UK at that time of the evening.

In the UK, soap operas are one of the most popular genres, with most being broadcast during prime time. Most UK soap operas focus on everyday, working-class communities, influenced by the conventions of thekitchen sink drama.The most popular soap operas in the United Kingdom areCoronation Street,EastEnders,Emmerdale,Hollyoaks,Doctors,and the Australian producedNeighboursandHome and Away.The first three of these are consistently among the highest-rated shows on British television.Such is the magnitude of the popularity of the soap genre in the UK that all television serials in the country are reputedly enjoyed by members of theBritish Royal Family.King Charles IIIhimself made cameo appearances in two of the UK's biggest serials during his time asPrince of Wales:Coronation StreetandEastEnders,the latter alongside his wifeQueen Camilla(thenDuchess of Cornwall), in 2000 and 2022 respectively. Major events inBritish cultureare often mentioned in the storyline, such as theHome Nations' participation at theWorld Cupand the death ofPrincess Diana.Since 1999,The British Soap Awardshas been televised onITV.

A scene fromEastEnderson Christmas Day 1986, watched by 30.15 million viewers. The story, in whichDen Watts(Leslie Grantham) served his wifeAngie(Anita Dobson) withdivorce papers,was the highest-rated soap episode in British history, and the highest-rated program in the UK during the 1980s. Only the 1966 World Cup Final and the funeral of Princess Diana rank higher in the all time ratings.

The 1986Christmas Dayepisode ofEastEndersis often referred to as the highest-rated UK soap opera episode ever, with 30.15 million viewers (more than half the population at the time).The figure of 30.15 million was actually a combination of the original broadcast, which had just over 19 million viewers, and the Sunday omnibus edition with 10 million viewers. The combined 30.15 million audience figure makes the aforementioned Christmas Day 1986 episode ofEastEndersthe highest-rated single-channel broadcast in the history of UK television. Overall it ranks third behind the1966 FIFA World Cup Final(32.3 million viewers) andPrincess Diana's funeralin 1997 (32.1 million viewers) which were transmitted on bothBBC OneandITV.

Television

An early television serial wasThe Grove Familyon the BBC, which produced 148 episodes from 1954 to 1957. The programme was broadcast live and only a handful of recordings were retained in the archives. The UK's first twice-weekly serial was ITV'sEmergency - Ward 10,running from 1957 until 1967.

In the 1960s,Coronation Streetrevolutionised UK television and quickly became a British institution. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running television soap opera and was listed inGuinness World Records.The BBC also produced several serials:Compactwas about the staff of a women's magazine;The Newcomerswas about the upheaval caused by a large firm setting up a plant in a small town;United!contained 147 episodes and focused on a football team;199 Park Lane(1965) was an upper class serial, which ran for only 18 episodes. None of these serials came close to making the same impact asCoronation Street.Indeed, most of the 1960s BBC serials were largelywiped.

During the 1960s,Coronation Street'smain rival wasCrossroads,a daily serial that began in 1964 and aired on ITV in the early evening.Crossroadswas set in aBirminghammotel and, although the program was popular, its purported low technical standard and bad acting were much mocked. By the 1980s, its ratings had begun to decline. Several attempts to revamp the program through cast changes and, later, expanding the focus from the motel to the surrounding community were unsuccessful.Crossroadswas cancelled in 1988 (a new version ofCrossroadswas later produced, running from 2001 until 2003).

A later rival toCoronation Streetwas ITV'sEmmerdale Farm(later renamedEmmerdale), which began in 1972 in a daytime slot and was set in ruralYorkshire.Increased viewership resulted inEmmerdalebeing moved to a prime-time slot in the 1980s.

Pobol y Cwm(People of the Valley) is aWelsh languageserial that has been produced by the BBC since October 1974, and is the longest-running television soap opera produced by the broadcaster.Pobol y Cwmwas originally broadcast onBBC Walestelevision from 1974 to 1982; it was then moved to the Welsh-language television stationS4Cwhen it opened in November 1982. The program was occasionally shown onBBC1in London during periods of regional optout in the mid- to late 1970s.Pobol y Cwmwas briefly shown in the rest of the UK in 1994 onBBC2,with Englishsubtitles;it is consistently the most watched programme each week on S4C.

1980s

Daytime soap operas were non-existent until the 1970s because there was virtually no daytime television in the UK. ITV introducedGeneral Hospital,which later moved to a prime time slot. In 1980,Scottish TelevisiondebutedTake the High Road,which lasted for over twenty years. Later, daytime slots were filled with an influx of Australian soap operas such asThe Sullivans(aired on ITV from 1977),The Young Doctors(from 1982),Sons and Daughters(from 1983),A Country Practice(from 1982),Richmond Hill(from 1988 to 1989) and eventually,Neighbourswas acquired by the BBC in 1986, andHome and Awayaired on ITV beginning in 1989. These achieved significant levels of popularity;NeighboursandHome and Awaywere moved to early-evening slots, helping begin the UK soap opera boom in the late 1980s.

The dayChannel 4began operations in 1982 it launched its own soap, theLiverpool-basedBrookside,which would redefine soaps over the next decade. The focus ofBrooksidewas different from earlier soap operas in the UK; it was set in a middle-class new-build cul-de-sac, unlikeCoronation StreetandEmmerdale Farm,which were set in established working-class communities. The characters inBrooksidewere generally either people who had advanced themselves from inner-citycouncil estates,or the upper middle-class who had fallen on hard times. ThoughBrooksidewas still broadcast in a pre-watershedslot (8.00 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. on weekdays, around 5.00 p.m. for the omnibus on Saturdays), it was more liberal than other soaps of the time: the dialogue regularly included expletives. This stemmed from the overall more liberal policy of the channel during that period. The soap was also heavily politicised.Bobby Grant(Ricky Tomlinson), a militant trade-unionist anti-hero, was the most overtly political character. Storylines were often more sensationalist than on other soaps (throughout the soap's history, there were two armed sieges on the street) and were staged with more violence (particularly,rape) often being featured.

In 1985, the BBC'sEastEndersdebuted and became a near instant success with viewers and critics alike, with the first episode attracting over 17 million viewers. The Christmas Day 1986 episode was watched by 30.15 million viewers and contained a scene in whichdivorce paperswere served toAngie Watts(Anita Dobson) by her husband,Queen ViclandlordDen(Leslie Grantham).

A notable success in pioneering late-night broadcasting, in October 1984,Yorkshire Televisionbegan airing the cult Australian soap operaPrisoner,which ran from 1979 to 1986. It was eventually broadcast on all regions of the UK in differing slots, usually around 23:00 (but never before 22:30 in any region), under the titlePrisoner: Cell Block H.It was probably most popular in the Midlands whereCentral Televisionconsistently broadcast the serial three times a week from 1987 to 1991. Its airing in the UK was staggered, so different regions of the country saw it at a different pace. The program was immensely successful, regularly achieving 10 million viewers when all regions' ratings per episode were added together. Central bowed to fan pressure to repeat the soap, of which the first 95 episodes aired. Then, rival stationChannel 5also acquired rights to repeat the entire rerun of the program, starting in 1997. All 692 episodes have since been released on DVD in the UK.

1990s

In 1992, the BBC madeEldoradoto daily alternate withEastEnders.The programme was heavily criticised and only lasted one year. Nevertheless, soap operas gained increasing prominence on UK television schedules. In 1995, Channel 4 premieredHollyoaks,a soap with a youth focus which initially aired only once weekly, but became week-daily in November 2003. When Channel 5 launched in March 1997, it debuted the soap operaFamily Affairs,which was formatted as a week-daily soap, airing Monday through Fridays.

Brookside'spremise evolved during the 1990s, phasing out the politicised stories of the 1980s and shifting the emphasis to controversial and sensationalist stories such as child rape,sibling incest,religious cults and drug addiction, including the infamous 'body under the patio' storyline that ran from 1993 to 1995, and gave the serial its highest ratings ever with 9 million viewers.

Coronation StreetandBrooksidebegan releasing straight-to-video features. TheCoronation Streetreleases generally kept the pace and style of conventional programs episodes with the action set in foreign locations. TheBrooksidereleases were set in the usual locations, but featured stories with adult content not allowed on television pre-watershed, with these releases given '18' certificates.

Emmerdale Farmwas renamedEmmerdalein 1989. The series was revamped in 1993 with many changes executed via the crash of a passenger jet that partially destroyed the village and killed several characters. This attracted criticism as it was broadcast near the fifth anniversary of theLockerbie bombing.The storyline drew the soap its highest ever audience of 18 million viewers. The revamp was a success andEmmerdalegrew in popularity.

Throughout the 1990s,Brookside,Coronation Street,EastEndersandEmmerdalecontinued to flourish. Each increased the number of episodes that aired on a weekly basis by at least one, further defining soap operas as the leading genre in British television.

2000s

Since 2000, new soap operas have continued to be developed. Daytime serialDoctorsbegan in March 2000, precedingNeighbourson BBC One and had since become the BBC's flagship daytime series.The series was cancelled in October 2023, with the final episode set to be screened in December 2024.In 2002, as ratings for the Scottish serialHigh Road(formerlyTake The High Road) continued to decline, BBC Scotland launchedRiver City,which proved popular and effectively replacedHigh Roadwhen it was cancelled in 2003. The long-running serialBrooksideended in November 2003 after 21 years on the air, leavingHollyoaksas Channel 4's flagship serial. In 2023, it was announced thatHollyoakshad been removed from Channel 4's early evening schedule, but would remain onE4and Channel 4's on demand service and would upload episodes to YouTube.

A new version ofCrossroadsfeaturing a mostly new cast was produced byCarlton Televisionfor ITV in 2001. It did not achieve high ratings and was cancelled in 2003. In 2001, ITV also launched a new early-evening serial entitledNight and Day.This program too attracted low viewership and, after being shifted to a late night time slot, was cancelled in 2003.

Family Affairs,which was broadcast opposite the racierHollyoaks,never achieved significantly high ratings leading to several dramatic casting revamps and marked changes in style and even location over its run. By 2004,Family Affairshad a larger fan base and won its first awards, but was cancelled in late 2005. In 2005, formerHollyoaksproducerSean O'Connormoved toFamily Affairs,and planned a revamp including a new name and a younger, more glamorous cast, although these plans did not come to fruition due to the show's a xing.

In 2008, ITV premieredThe Royal Today,a daily spin-off of popular 1960s-based dramaThe Royal(itself a spin-off ofHeartbeat), which had been running in a primetime slot since 2003. Just days later, soap operaparodyprogrammeEcho Beachpremiered alongside its sister show, the comedyMoving Wallpaper.BothEcho BeachandThe Royal Todayended after just one series due to low ratings. Radio soap operaSilver Streetdebuted on theBBC Asian Networkin 2004. Poor ratings and criticism of the programme led to its cancellation in 2010.

Format

UK soap operas for many years usually only aired two nights a week. The exception was the originalCrossroads,which began as a week-daily soap opera in the 1960s, but later had its number of weekly broadcasts reduced.

In 1989,Coronation Streetbegan airing three times a week. In 1996, it expanded to four episodes a week.

Brooksidepremiered in 1982 with two episodes a week. In 1990 it expanded to three episodes a week.

EastEndersincreased its number of episodes a week in 1994 andEmmerdaledid so in 1997.

Family Affairsdebuted as a weekdaily soap in 1997, producing five episodes a week its entire run.

In 2004,Emmerdalebegan airing six episodes a week.

In a January 2008 overhaul of the ITV network, the Sunday episodes ofCoronation StreetandEmmerdalewere moved out of their slots.Coronation Streetadded a second episode on Friday evenings at 8:30 p.m.Emmerdale'sTuesday edition was extended to an hour, putting it in direct competition withEastEnders.In July 2009, the schedules of these serials were changed again. On 23 July 2009,Coronation Streetmoved from the Wednesday slot it held for 49 years, to Thursday evenings.Emmerdalereverted to running just one 30-minute episode on Tuesday evenings and the other 30-minute installment was moved to Thursday evenings.Coronation Streetlater returned to a Wednesday slot, to air Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 19:30 and 20:30.Emmerdaleairs at 19:00 every weeknight, and 20:00 on Thursdays.

Later,Coronation Street(which began airing two episodes on Monday nights in 2002) produced five episodes a week.

It was announced in June 2016 that starting late 2017,Coronation Streetwould air six episodes a week.

Doctorsaired five episodes a week until 2022, and four episodes from 2022 onwards, and is the only soap without a weekend omnibus repeat screening.Hollyoaksproduces five episodes a week. The importedNeighboursscreens as five new episodes a week. As of 2019,EastEndersproduces four episodes a week.

UK soap operas are shot on videotape in the studio using a multi-camera setup. In their early years,Coronation StreetandEmmerdaleused16 mm filmfor footage shot on location. Since the 1980s, UK soap opera have routinely featured scenes shot outdoors in each episode. This footage is shot on videotape on a purpose-built outdoor set that represents the community that the soap focuses on.

HollyoaksandFamily Affairswere taped onhigh-definition video,and used thefilmizingprocess.

Australia

SeeList of longest-serving soap opera actors

Australia has had quite a number of well-known soap operas, some of which have gained cult followings in the United Kingdom,New Zealandand other countries. The majority of Australian television soap operas are produced for early evening or evening timeslots. They usually produce two or two and a half hours of new material each week, either arranged as four or five half-hour episodes a week, or as two one-hour episodes.

Stylistically, these series most closely resemble UK soap operas in that they are nearly always shot on videotape, are mainly recorded in a studio and use amulti-camera setup.The original Australian serials were shot entirely in studio. During the 1970s occasional filmed inserts were used to incorporate sequences shot outdoors. Outdoor shooting later became commonplace and starting in the late 1970s, it became standard practice for some on-location footage to be featured in each episode of any Australian soap opera, often to capitalise on the attractiveness and exotic nature of these locations for international audiences.Most Australian soap operas focus on a mixed age range of middle-class characters and will regularly feature a range of locations where the various, disparate characters can meet and interact, such as the café, the surf club, the wine bar or the school.

Early serials

The genre began in Australia on radio, as it had in the United States and the United Kingdom. One such radio serial,Big Sister,featured actressThelma Scottin the cast and aired nationally for five years beginning in 1942. Probably the best known Australian radio serial was the long-running soap operaBlue Hills,which was created byGwen Meredithand ran from 1949 to 1976. With the advent of Australian television in 1956, daytime television serials followed. The first Australian television soap opera wasAutumn Affair(1958) featuring radio personality andBlue HillsstarQueenie Ashtonmaking the transition to television. Each episode of this serial ran for 15 minutes and aired each weekday on theSeven Network.Autumn Affairfailed to secure a sponsor and ended in 1959 after 156 episodes. It was followed byThe Story of Peter Grey(1961), another Seven Network weekday series aired in a daytime slot in 15-minute installments.The Story of Peter Greyran for 164 episodes.

The first successful wave of Australian evening television soap operas started in 1967 withBellbird,produced by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation.This rural-based serial screened in an early evening slot in 15-minute installments as a lead-in to the evening news.Bellbirdwas a moderate success but built up a consistent and loyal viewer base, especially in rural areas, and enjoyed a ten-year run.Motel(1968) was Australia's first half-hour soap opera; the daytime soap had a short run of 132 episodes.

The 1970s

The first major soap opera hit in Australia was the sex-melodramaNumber 96,a nighttime series produced byCash Harmon TelevisionforNetwork 10,which debuted March 1972. The program dealt with such topics ashomosexuality,adultery,drug use, rape within marriage andracism,which had rarely been explored on Australian television programs before. The series became famous for its sex scenes and nudity and for its comedic characters, many of whom became cult heroes in Australia. By 1973,Number 96had become Australia's highest-rated show. In 1974, the sexed-up antics ofNumber 96prompted the creation ofThe Box,which rivaled it in terms of nudity and sexual situations and was scheduled in a nighttime slot. Produced byCrawford Productions,many critics consideredThe Boxto be a more slickly produced and better written show thanNumber 96.The Boxalso aired on the Ten Network, programmed to run right afterNumber 96.For 1974Number 96was again the highest rating show on Australian television, and that yearThe Boxoccupied the number two spot.

Also in 1974, theReg Grundy Organisationcreated its first soap opera, and significantly Australia's firstteensoap opera,Class of '74.With its attempts to hint at the sex and sin shown more openly onNumber 96andThe Box,its high school setting and early evening timeslot,Class of '74came under intense scrutiny from the Broadcasting Control Board, who vetted scripts and altered entire storylines.

By 1975, bothNumber 96andThe Box,perhaps as a reaction to declining ratings for both shows, de-emphasised the sex and nudity shifting more towards comedic plots.Class of '74was renamedClass of '75and also added more slapstick comedy for its second year, but the revamped show's ratings declined, resulting in its cancellation in mid-1975. That year Cash Harmon's newly launched second soapThe Unisexersfailed in its early evening slot and was cancelled after three weeks; the Reg Grundy Organisation's second soapUntil Tomorrowran in a daytime slot for 180 episodes.

A feature film version ofBellbirdentitledCountry Townwas produced in 1971 by two of the show's stars, Gary Gray and Terry McDermott, without production involvement by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Number 96andThe Boxalso released feature film versions, both of which had the same title as the series, released in 1974 and 1975 respectively. As Australian television had broadcast in black and white until 1975, these theatrical releases all had the novelty of being in colour. The film versions ofNumber 96andThe Boxalso allowed more explicit nudity than could be shown on television at that time.

In November 1976The Young Doctorsdebuted on theNine Network.This Grundy Organization series eschewed the adult drama ofNumber 96andThe Box,focusing more on relationship drama and romance. It became a popular success but received few critical accolades. A week laterThe Sullivans,a carefully produced period serial chronicling the effects of World War II on aMelbournefamily, also debuted on Nine. Produced by Crawford Productions,The Sullivansbecame a ratings success, attracted many positive reviews, and won television awards. During this periodNumber 96re-introduced nudity into its episodes, with several much-publicised full-frontal nude scenes, a cast revamp and a new range of shock storylines designed to boost the show's declining ratings.Bellbirdexperienced changes to its broadcast pattern with episodes screening in 60 minute blocks, and later in 30 minute installments.

Bellbird,Number 96andThe Box,which had been experiencing declining ratings, were cancelled in 1977. Various attempts to revamp each of the shows with cast reshuffles or spectacular disaster storylines had proved only temporarily successful.The Young DoctorsandThe Sullivanscontinued to be popular. November 1977 saw the launch of successful soap opera/police proceduralseriesCop Shop(1977–1984) produced by Crawford Productions forChannel Seven.In early December 1977Channel Tendebuted the Reg Grundy Organisation producedThe Restless Years(1977–1981), a more standard soap drama focusing on several young school leavers.

The Seven Network, achieving success withCop Shopproduced by Crawford Productions, had Crawfords produceSkyways,a series with a similar format but set in an airport, to compete with the Nine Network's popular talk showThe Don Lane Show.Skyways,which debuted in July 1979, emphasised adult situations including homosexuality, marriage problems, adultery,prostitution,drug use and smuggling, crime, suicide, political intrigue, andmurder,and featured some nudity. Despite this, the program achieved only moderate ratings and was cancelled in mid-1981.

The 1980s

The Reg Grundy Organisation found major success with the women's-prison dramaPrisoner(1979–1986) on Network Ten, and melodramaticfamily sagaSons and Daughters(1982–1987) on the Seven Network. Both shows achieved high ratings in their original runs, and unusually, found success in repeats after the programs ended.

Grundy soapThe Young Doctorsand Crawford Productions'The Sullivanscontinued on the Nine Network until late 1982. Thereafter Nine attempted many new replacement soap operas produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation:Taurus Rising(1982),Waterloo Station(1983),Starting Out(1983) andPossession(1985), along withPrime Time(1986) produced by Crawford Productions. None of these programs were successful and most were cancelled after only a few months. The Reg Grundy Organisation also createdNeighbours,a suburban-based daily serial devised as a gentle family drama with some comedic and lightweight situations, for the Seven Network in 1985.

Produced in Melbourne at the studios ofHSV-7,Neighboursachieved high ratings in Melbourne,BrisbaneandAdelaide,but not inSydney,where it aired at 5.30 p.m. placing it against the hit dating game showPerfect Matchon Channel 10. The Seven Network's Sydney stationATN-7quickly lost interest inNeighboursas a result of the low ratings in Sydney. HSV-7 in Melbourne lobbied heavily to keepNeighbourson the air, but ATN-7 managed to convince the rest of the network to cancel the show and instead keep ATN-7's own Sydney-based dramasA Country PracticeandSons and Daughters.

After the network cancelledNeighbours,it was immediately picked up by Channel Ten, which revamped the cast and scripts slightly and aired the series in the 7.00 p.m. slot starting 20 January 1986. It initially attracted low audiences; however, after a concerted publicity drive, Ten managed to transform the series into a major success, turning several of its actors into major international stars. The show's popularity eventually declined and it was moved to the 6.30 p.m. slot in 1992. In January 2011 it moved toElevenand ended after 8,903 episodes on 28 July 2022. In November 2022,Amazon Freeveerevived the show with an order of 400 episodes to begin airing in 2023. It is Australia's longest-running soap opera.

The success ofNeighboursin the 1980s prompted the creation of somewhat similar suburban and family or teen-oriented soap operas such asHome and Away(1988–present) on Channel Seven andRichmond Hill(1988) on Channel Ten. Both proved popular, howeverRichmond Hillemerged as only a moderate success and was cancelled after one year to be replaced on Ten byE Street(1989–1993).

Nine continued trying to establish a successful new soap opera, without success. After the failure of family dramaFamily and Friendsin 1990, it launched the raunchier and more extremeChancesin 1991, which resurrected the sex and melodrama ofNumber 96andThe Boxin an attempt to attract attention.Chancesachieved only moderate ratings, and was moved to a late-night timeslot. It underwent several revamps that removed much of the original cast, and refocused the storylines to incorporate science-fiction and fantasy elements. The series continued in a late night slot until 1992, when it was cancelled due to low ratings despite the much-discussed fantasy storylines.

Australian soaps internationally

Several Australian soap operas have also found significant international success. In the UK, starting in the mid-1980s, daytime broadcasts ofThe Young Doctors,The Sullivans,Sons and DaughtersandNeighbours(which itself was subsequently moved to an early-evening slot) achieved significant success. Grundy'sPrisonerbegan airing in the United States in 1979 and achieved high ratings in many regions there, however, the show ended its run in that country three years into its run.Prisoneralso aired in late-night timeslots in the UK beginning in the late 1980s, achieving enduring cult success there. The show became so popular in that country that it prompted the creation of two stage plays and a stage musical based on the show, all of which toured the UK, among many other spin-offs. In the late 1990s, Channel 5 repeatedPrisonerin the UK. Between 1998 and 2005, Channel 5 ran late-night repeats ofSons and Daughters.During the 1980s, the Australian attempts to emulate big-budget U.S. soap operas such asDallasandDynastyhad resulted in the debuts ofTaurus RisingandReturn to Eden,two slick soap opera dramas with big budgets that were shot entirely on film. Though their middling Australian ratings resulted in the shows running only for a single season, both programs were successfully sold internationally.

Other shows to achieve varying levels of international success includeRichmond Hill,E Street,Paradise Beach(1993–1994), andPacific Drive(1995–1997). Indeed, these last two series were designed specifically for international distribution. Channel Seven'sHome and Away,a teen soap developed as a rival toNeighbours,has also achieved significant and enduring success on UK television.

The 1990s and beyond

Something in the Air,a serial examining a range of characters in a small country town ran on the ABC from 2000 to 2002.

Attempts to replicate the success of daily teen-oriented serialsNeighboursandHome and Awaysaw the creation ofEcho Point(1995) andBreakers(1999) on Network Ten. These programs foregrounded youthful attractive casts and appealing locations but the programs were not long-running successes andNeighboursandHome and Awayremained the most visible and consistently successful Australian soap operas in production. In their home country, they both attracted respectable although not spectacular ratings in the early 2000s. By 2004,Neighbourswas regularly attracting just under a million viewers per episode– considered at that time a low figure for Australian prime time television. By March 2007, the Australian audience forNeighbourshad fallen to fewer than 700,000 a night. This prompted a revamp of the show's cast, its visual presentation, and a move away from the recently added action-oriented emphasis to refocus the show on the domestic storylines it is traditionally known for.During this periodNeighboursandHome and Awaycontinued to achieve significant ratings in the UK. This and other lucrative overseas markets, along with Australian broadcasting laws that enforce a minimum amount of domestic drama production on commercial television networks, help ensure that both programs remain in production. Both shows get higher total ratings in the UK than in Australia (the UK has three times the total population of Australia) and the UK channels make a major contribution to the production costs.

It has been suggested that with their emphasis on the younger, attractive and charismatic characters,NeighboursandHome and Awayhave found success in the middle ground between glamorous, fantastic U.S. soaps with their wealthy but tragic heroesand the more grim, naturalistic UK soap operas populated by older, unglamorous characters.The casts ofNeighboursandHome and Awayare predominantly younger and more attractive than the casts of UK soaps, and without excessive wealth and glamour of the U.S. daytime serial,a middle-ground in which they have found their lucrative niche.

Neighbourswas carried in the United States on theOxygencable channelin March 2004; however it attracted few viewers, perhaps in part due to its scheduling opposite well-established and highly popular U.S. soap operas such asAll My ChildrenandThe Young and the Restless,and was dropped by the network shortly afterwards due to low ratings.

headLandmade its debut on Channel Seven in November 2005, the series arose out of a proposed spinoff ofHome and Awaythat was to have been produced in conjunction withHome and Away'sUK broadcaster,Channel 5.The idea for the spin-off was scuttled after Five pulled out of the deal, which meant that the show could potentially air on a rival channel in the UK; as such, Five requested that the new show be developed as a standalone series and not be spun off from a series that it owned a stake in. The series premiered in Australia on November 15, 2005, but was not a ratings success and was cancelled two months later on January 23, 2006. The series broadcast onE4and Channel 4 in the UK. Nickelodeon'sH₂O: Just Add Waterappeared in July 2006 on Network Ten. Since Connie considered this mention as a torrid soap opera, this was mentioned in theSteven Universeepisode "Love Letters".

After losing the UK television rights toNeighboursto Five, the BBC commissioned a replacement serialOut of the Blue,which was produced in Australia. It debuted as part of BBC One's weekday afternoon schedule on 28 April 2008but low ratings prompted its move toBBC Twoon 19 May 2008.The series was cancelled after its first season.

Neighbours'continued low ratings in Australia resulted in it being moved to Ten's new digital channel,Elevenon January 11, 2011.However, it continues to achieve reasonable ratings onChannel 5in the United Kingdom, and as of March 2013 still reportedly achieved significant international sales.

Neighbourswas cancelled due to Channel 5, the UK broadcaster of the show, deciding to drop the programme – the money they were paying for the rights was providing the majority of its funding. It ended on 29 July 2022. Months after its series finale,Fremantle Australia,the programme's production company, announced on 17 November 2022, that production on the programme will restart in 2023 after the company agreed on a deal withAmazon Freevee.Amazon Freevee will air the programme for free in the UK and the US while Network 10 will retain the rights to the programme.

New Zealand

Television

Pioneering seriesPukemanuaired over two years (1971–72) and was theNZBC's first continuing drama. It followed the goings-on of a North Island timber town. Close to Homeis a New Zealand television soap opera that ran onTVNZ 1from 1975 to 1983. At its peak in 1977 nearly one million viewers tuned in twice weekly to watch the series co-created by Michael Noonan and Tony Isaac (who had initially only agreed to make the show on the condition they would get to makeThe Governor).Glossis a television drama series that screened from 1987 to 1990. The series is about a fictional publishing empire run by the Redfern family. Gloss was NZ's answer to US soapDynasty,with the Carrington oil scions replaced by the wealthy Redferns and their Auckland magazine empire. It was a starting point for many actors who went on to many productions in New Zealand, Australia and around the world includingTemuera Morrison,Miranda Harcourt,Peter Elliott,Lisa Chappell,Danielle CormackandKevin Smith.Many of them would go on to star inShortland Street,which has been New Zealand's most popular soap since its debut in 1992. It airs onTVNZ 2.

Radio

Radio New Zealandbegan airing its first radio soapYou Me Nowin September 2010. It is available for podcast on its website.

Canada

Relatively few daily soap operas have been produced on English Canadian television, with most Canadian stations and networks that carry soap operas airing those imported from the United States or the United Kingdom. Notable daily soaps that did exist includedFamily Passions,Scarlett Hill,Strange Paradise,Metropia,Train 48and the international co-productionForeign Affairs.Family Passionswas an hour-long program, as is typical of American daytime soaps; all of the others ran half-hour episodes. Unlike American or British soap operas, the most influential of which have run for years or even decades, even daily Canadian soap operas have run for a few seasons at most. Short-run soaps, including49th & MainandNorth/South,have also aired. Many of these were produced in an effort to comply withCanadian contentregulations, which require a percentage of programming on Canadian television to originate from Canada.

Notable prime time soap operas in Canada have includedRiverdale,House of Pride,Paradise Falls,Lance et Compte( "He Shoots, He Scores" ),Heartland,Loving Friends and Perfect Couples,andThe City.TheDegrassifranchiseof youth dramas also incorporated some elements of the soap opera format.

On French-language television inQuebec,thetéléromanhas been a popular mainstay of network programming since the 1950s. Notable téléromans have includedRue des Pignons,Les Belles Histoires des pays d'en haut,Diva,La famille Plouffe,and the soap opera parodyLe Cœur a ses raisons.

India

Main article:Indian television drama

Unlike the season-based production in most countries, most of Indian television fiction tends to be regular-broadcasting soap opera. These started in the 1980s, as more and more people began to purchase television sets. At the beginning of the 21st century, soap operas became an integral part of Indian culture. Indian soap operas mostly concentrate on the conflict between love and arranged marriages occurring in India, and many includes family melodrama. Indian soap operas have multilingual production.

Many soap operas produced in India are also broadcast overseas in the UK, Canada, the United States, and some parts of Europe, South Africa, Australia and South East Asia. They are often mass-produced under large production banners, with companies likeBalaji Telefilmsrunning different language versions of the same serial on different television networks or channels.

Europe

Remakes of Australian serials

The Australian serialThe Restless Yearswas remade in theNetherlandsasGoede tijden, slechte tijden(which debuted in 1990) and in Germany asGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten(which has aired since 1992): both titles translate to "good times, bad times". These remakes are still airing, but have long since diverged from the original Australianstorylines.The two shows are the highest-rated soap operas in their respective countries.

A later Australian serial,Sons and Daughters,has inspired fiveremakesproduced under license from the original producers and based, initially, on original story and character outlines. These areVerbotene Liebe(Germany, 1995–2015);Skilda världar(Sweden,1996–2002);Apagorevmeni agapi(Greece,1998);Cuori Rubati(Italy,2002–2003) andZabranjena ljubav(Croatia,2004–2008). BothThe Restless YearsandSons and Daughterswere created and produced in Australia by the Reg Grundy Organisation.

Another Australian soap opera reformatted for a European audience wasE Streetwhich ran onNetwork 10in Australia from 1989 to 1993. Germany produced 37 episodes ofWesterdeich( "Westside" ) in 1995 using scripts from 1989 episodes ofE Street.It was also remade in Belgium asWittekerke( "Whitechurch" ) and ran from 1993 to 2008.

Norway

TheNorwegiansoap operaHotel Cæsaraired onTV 2from 1998 to 2017, and is the longest-running television drama inScandinavia.Popular foreign soaps in the country includeDays of Our Lives(broadcast on TV6 (Norway),The Bold and the Beautiful(TNT (Norway) andHome and Away(TV 2), all of which are subtitled.

Netherlands

Serials have includedGoede tijden, slechte tijden(1990–present),Onderweg naar Morgen(1994–2010) andGoudkust(1996–2001). In 2016Goede tijden, slechte tijdenspin-offNieuwe Tijdenstarted airing, but was ultimately cancelled by broadcaster RTL in 2018.Linear viewership forGoede tijden, slechte tijden,the country's most prominent soap opera, has decreased in recent years. However, due to a rising viewership on streaming platforms, RTL has decided to continue producing the show throughout the 2022/2023 television season.U.S. daytime serialsAs The World TurnsandThe Bold and the Beautifulhave aired in the Netherlands;As the World Turnsbegan airing in the country in 1990, withDutchsubtitles.

Germany

In the 1980s, West German networks successfully added American daytime and primetime soap operas to their schedule beforeDas Ersteintroduced its first self-produced weekly soap withLindenstraße,which was seen as a German counterpart toCoronation Street.Like in other countries, the soap opera met with negative reviews, but eventually proved critics wrong with nearly 13 million viewers tuning in each week. Even though the format proved successful, it was not until 1992 beforeGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeitenbecame the first German daily soap opera. Early ratings were bad as were the reviews, but theRTLnetwork was willing to give its first soap opera a chance; ratings would improve, climbing to 7 million viewers by 2002. Not long afterGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten,Das Erste introducedMarienhof,which aired twice a week.

After successfully creating the first German daily soap, production company Grundy Ufa wanted to produce another soap for RTL. LikeGZSZ,the format was based on an Australian soap opera fromReg Watson.But RTL did not like the plot idea about separated twins who meet each other for the first time after 20 years and fall in love without knowing that they are related. The project was then taken to Das Erste, which commissioned the program, titledVerbotene Liebe,which premiered on January 2, 1995. With the premiere ofVerbotene Liebe,the network turnedMarienhofinto a daily soap as well. In the meanwhile, RTL debuted the Grundy Ufa–producedUnter unsin late 1994.

ZDFstarted a business venture withCanadaand co-produced the short-lived seriesFamily Passions,starring actors such asGordon Thomson,Roscoe Born,Dietmar Schönherrand a youngHayden Christensen.The daytime serial premiered on December 5, 1994, lasting 130 episodes. After its cancellation, the network debutedJede Menge Leben.Even after a crossover with three soaps,Freunde fürs Leben,Forsthaus FalkenauandUnser Lehrer Doktor Specht,the soap was canceled after 313 episodes.Sat.1tried to get into the soap business as well, after successfully airing the Australian soap operaNeighbours,which was dropped in 1995 due to thetalk showphenomenon that took over most of the daytime schedules of German networks. The network first tried to tell a family saga withSo ist das Leben! Die Wagenfelds,before failing withGeliebte Schwestern.RTL IImade its own short-lived attempt withAlle zusammen – jeder für sich.

The teen soap operaSchloss Einsteindebuted on September 4, 1998, focusing on the life of a group of teenagers at the fictional titular boarding school nearBerlin.As of July 2014, the series has produced over 815 episodes during the course of 17 seasons, a milestone in German television programming, and was renewed for an 18th season to debut in 2015.

In 1999, after the lasting success ofGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten,Marienhof,Unter unsandVerbotene Liebe,ProSiebenairedMallorca – Suche nach dem Paradies,set onthe Spanish island with the same name.After nine months, the network canceled the program due to low viewership and high production costs. Even though ratings had improved, the show ended its run in a morning timeslot. The soap opera became something of a cult classic, as its 200-episode run was repeated several times onfree-to-airandpay television.

In 2006,Alles was zähltbecame the last successful daily soap to make its debut, airing as a lead-in toGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeitenand also produced by Grundy Ufa. Since Germany started to produce its owntelenovelas,all soap operas faced declines in ratings.Unter unswas in danger of cancellation in 2009, but escaped such a fate due to budget cuts imposed by the show's producers and the firing of original cast member Holger Franke, whose firing and the death of his character outraged fans, resulting in a ratings spike in early 2010. AfterUnter unswas saved, Das Erste planned to make changes to its soap lineup.Marienhofhad to deal with multiple issues in its storytelling, as well as in producing a successful half-hour show. Several changes were made within months, howeverMarienhofwas canceled in June 2011.Verbotene Liebewas in danger of being cancelled as well, but convinced the network to renew it with changes that it made in both 2010 and 2011; the soap was later expanded to 45 minutes afterMarienhofwas canceled, and the network tried to decide on whether to revamp its lineup.

WhileGute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten,Unter unsandAlles was zähltare currently the only daily soaps on the air afterVerbotene Liebehas been cancelled and aired its last episode in June, 2015 due to low ratings, the telenovelasSturm der LiebeandRote Rosenare considered soaps by the press as well, thanks to the changing protagonists every season.

Belgium

Leah Thys, actress in the Belgian soapThuis.At the back Peter Rouffaer is visible.

InBelgium,the two major soap operas areThuis( "Home" ) andFamilie( "Family" ), both prime time soap operas. Soap operas have been very popular inFlanders,the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.Familiedebuted in late 1991, and with more han 6,700 half-hour episodes, it has the highest episode total of any soap in Europe outside of the United Kingdom. The highest-rated soap opera isThuis,which has aired on "één"since late 1995.Thuisis often one of the five most-watched Belgian shows and regularly garners over one million viewers (with 6.6 million Flemings in total).

During the 1990s, foreign soap operas such asNeighboursandThe Bold and the Beautifulwere extremely popular, the latter having achieved a cult status in Belgium and airing in the middle of the decade during prime time. Both soaps still air today, along with other foreign soaps such asDays of Our Lives,Australia'sHome and Awayand Germany's "Sturm der Liebe".Vitayaunsuccessful attempted to air the Dutch soap opera "Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden"in 2010. Other foreign soaps that previously aired on Belgian television includeThe Young and the Restless,EastEnders(both on VTM), "Port Charles" (at één, then known as TV1) and "Coronation Street" (on Vitaya). "Santa Barbara"aired during the 1990s on VTM for its entire run.

In the early 2000s, the only teen soap opera on Belgian television wasSpring( "Jump" in English), which aired on the youth-orientedKetnetand produced over 600 15-minute episodes from late 2002 until 2009, when it was cancelled after a steady decline in ratings following the departures of many of its original characters.

Italy

The most successful soap opera in Italy is the evening seriesUn posto al sole( "A Place Under the Sun" ), which had aired onRai 3since 1996 (whose format is based on the Australian soap operaNeighbours). Several other Italian soaps have been produced such asRicominciare( "Starting Over" ),Cuori rubati( "Stolen Hearts" ),Vivere( "Living" ),Sottocasa( "Downstairs" ),Agrodolce( "Bittersweet" ) andCentovetrine( "Hundred Shop Windows" ).

The most popular Italian prime-time soap opera,Incantesimo( "Enchantment" ), which ran from 1998 to 2008, became a daytime soap opera for the final two years of its run, airing five days a week onRai 1.The same happened withIl paradiso delle signore(Woman's Paradise), aperiod drama,which ran from 2015 to 2017 in prime time, and became a daytime period soap opera from 2018.

Ireland

Television

In the early years ofRTÉ,the network produced several dramas but had not come close to launching a long-running serial. RTÉ's first television soap wasTolka Row,which was set in urbanDublin.For several years, bothTolka RowandThe Riordanswere produced by RTÉ; however, the urban soap was soon dropped in favor of the more popular rural soap operaThe Riordans,which premiered in 1965.Executives from Yorkshire Television visited during on-location shoots forThe Riordansin the early 1970s and in 1972, debutedEmmerdale Farm(nowEmmerdale), based on the successful format of the Irish soap opera. In the late 1970s,The Riordanswas controversially dropped. The creator of that series would then go on to produce the second of his "Agri-soap"trilogyBracken,starringGabriel Byrne,whose character had appeared in the last few seasons ofThe Riordans.Brackenwas soon replaced by the third "Agri-soap"Glenroe,which ran until 2001. As RTÉ wanted a drama series for its Sunday night lineup rather than a soap opera,On Home Ground(2001–2002),The Clinic(2002–2009) andRAW(2010–2013) replaced the agri-soaps of the previous decades.

In 1989, RTÉ decided to produce its first Dublin-based soap opera since the 1960s.Fair City,which is set in the fictional city of Carrickstown, initially aired one night a week during the 1989–90 season, and similar to its rural soaps, much of the footage was filmed on location – in a suburb of Dublin City. In 1992, RTÉ made a major investment into the series by copying the houses used in the on-location shoots for an on-site set in RTÉ's Headquarters in Dublin 4. By the early 1990s, it was airing two nights a week for 35 weeks a year. With competition from the UK soap operas, RTÉ expandedFair Cityto three nights a week for most of the year and one night a week during the summer in 1996, later expanding to four nights a week and two nights during the summer. Until the early 2000s, the series produced four episodes a week, airing all 52 weeks of the year.Fair Cityairs Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8.00 p.m.GMTonRTÉ One;however, after rival network TV3 movedCoronation Streetto Thursday night, the Wednesday night episode ofFair Citybegan airing at 7:30 p.m. each week.

TG4produce the Irish language soapRos na Rún( "Headland of the Secrets" or "Headland of the Sweethearts" ); set in the fictional village ofRos Na Rún,located outsideGalwayand nearSpiddal,it centres on the domestic and professional lives of the town's residents. It is modeled on an average village in the West of Ireland, but with its own distinct personality – with a diverse population that share secrets, romances and friendships among other things. While the core community has remained the same, the look and feel ofRos Na Rúnhas changed and evolved over the years to incorporate the changing face of rural Ireland. It has an established a place not only in the hearts and minds of the Irish speaking public, but also the wider Irish audience. The program has dealt with many topics, includingdomestic violence,infidelity,theft,arson,abortion,homosexuality, adoption, murder, rape, drugs,teen pregnancyandpaedophilia.It runs twice a week for 35 weeks of the year, currently airing Tuesday and Thursday nights.Ros na Rúnis the single largest independent production commissioned in the history of Irish broadcasting. Prior to TG4's launch, it aired on RTÉ One in the early 1990s.

Although Ireland has access to international soaps (such asCoronation Street,Emmerdale,EastEnders,Home and Away,HollyoaksandNeighbours),Fair Citycontinues to outperform them all, and is Ireland's most popular soap opera, with the show peaking at over 700,000 viewers.

January 2015Red Rockhas broadcast on TV3. Red Rock airs twice a week on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The series is base in a fishing village in Dublin. The soaps centres around the local Garda station but also includes stories from the village.

Radio

RTÉ Radioproduced its first radio soap,Kennedys of Castleross,which ran from April 13, 1955, to 1975.In 1979 RTÉ long running TV soap The Riordans moved to Radio until December 24, 1985.In the mid-1980s, RTÉ debuted a new radio soap,Harbour Hotel,which ran until the mid-1990s. The network later ran two short-lived radio soaps,Konvenience KornerandRiverrun,which were followed in 2004 byDriftwood.RTÉ does not run any radio soaps, howeverRTÉ Radio 1continues to air radio dramas as part of its nighttime schedule.

France

• Rue Carnot(1984–1987): Aired onCanal+.
• Sous le soleil(1996–2008): Aired onTF1.
• Les vacances de l'amour(1996–2007): Aired onTF1.Third series and first soap opera in theHélène et les Garçonsfranchise.
• Plus belle la vie(2004–2022): Shown onFrance 3on Monday to Friday evenings.
• Cœur Océan(2006–2011): Aired onFrance 2.
• Baie des flamboyants(2007–2008): Aired onFrance Ô.
• Foudre(2007–2011): Aired onFrance 2.
• Seconde Chance(2008–2009): Aired onTF1.
• Cinq Sœurs(2008): Aired onFrance 2.
• Paris 16^e(2009): Aired onM6.
• Les Mystères de l'amour(since 2011): Broadcast byTMC.Fourth series and second soap opera in theHélène et les Garçonsfranchise.
• Les Flamboyants:(2011–2012): A spin-off ofBaie des flamboyants,aired onFrance Ô.
• Sous le soleil de Saint-Tropez(2013–2014): A spin-off ofSous le soleil,aired onTMC.
• Cut!(2013–2019): Aired onFrance Ô.
• Demain Nous Appartient(since 2017): Shown onTF1on Monday to Friday evenings.
• Un si grand soleil(since 2018): Broadcast byFrance 2.
• OPJ, Pacifique Sud(since 2019): Broadcast byFrance Ô.
• Ici Tout Commence(since 2020): Shown onTF1on Monday to Friday evenings.

Greece

InGreece,there have been several soap operas.

ANT1

An early serial wasSti skia tou hrimatos( "Money Shadows" ), which ran from 1990 to 1991. September 1991 saw the debut ofLampsi( "the Shining" ), from creator Nicos Foskolos. The series would become Greece's longest-running soap opera. After the success ofLampsicame the short livedTo galazio diamandi( "Blue Diamond" ) andSimphonia siopis( "Omertà" ).Lampsiwas canceled in June 2005 due to declining ratings. It was replaced byErotas( "Love" ), a soap that ran from 2005 to 2008. After that series ended, ANT1 abandoned the soap opera genre and focused on comedy series and weekly dramas.

Greece's second longest-running soap isKalimera Zoi( "Goodmorning Life" ), which ran from September 1993 until its cancellation in June 2006 due to low ratings.

MEGA

Mega Channel began producing soap operas in 1990 with the prime time serialI Dipsa( "The Thirst" ), which ran for 102 episodes. Other daytime soaps have includedParalliloi dromoi(1992–1994) and its successorHaravgi( "Daylight", 1994–1995), both of which were cancelled due to low viewership; as well as the serialsApagorevmeni Agapi( "Forbidden Love" ), which ran from 1998 to 2006;Gia mia thesi ston Ilio( "A Spot Under the Sun" ), which ran from 1998 to 2002;Filodoxies( "Expectations" ), which ran from 2002 to 2006; andVera Sto Deksi( "Ring on the Right Hand" ), which ran from 2004 to 2006 and proved to be a successful competitor toLampsi,causing that show's ratings to decline.

Ta Mistika Tis Edem( "Edem Secrets" ), which was created by the producers ofVera Sto Deksi,debuted in 2008 and has eclipsed that show's success. Its ratings place it consistently among the three highest-rated daytime programs.

ERT

YENED (which was renamed ERT2 in 1982) was responsible for the first Greek soap operasI Kravgi Ton LikonandMegistanes.ERT also produced the long-running soapO Simvoleografos.Since 2000 and with the introduction of private television, ERT produced additional daily soap operas, which includedPathos( "Passion" ),Erotika tis Edem( "Loving in Eden" ) andTa ftera tou erota( "The Wings of Love" ). These failed to achieve high ratings and were canceled shortly after their premiere.

ALPHA

Alpha producedKato apo tin Acropoli( "Under the Acropolis" ), which ran for 2½ years.

In 2022, Alpha produce a new soap operaParadeisosbased on the Italian soapIl Paradiso Delle Signore.

Cyprus

Weekday shows

The first daytime soap opera produced by a Cyprus channel was LOGOs TV'sOdos Den Ksehno( "'Don't Forget' Street" ), which ran from January to December 1996. It was followed byTo Serial,which also ran for one year from September 1997 to June 1998.

CyBCcreated the third weekdaily soap,Anemi Tou Pathous( "Passion Winds" ), running from January 2000 to June 2004, which was replaced byI Platia( "The Square" ) from September 2004 to July 2006.Epikindini Zoniran from 2009 to 2010, and was cancelled after 120 episodes.Vimata Stin Ammomade its debut in September 2010 until 2014 and was followed byHalkina Hronia(2017-2022).

Sigma TVfirst commissioned the weekdaily comedic soapSto Para Pente,which aired from September 1998 to June 2004, and was the longest weekday show in Cyprus television history, before it was surpassed bySe Fonto Kokkino,which ran from September 2008 to July 2012 and then byGalateia(2016-2020). Other Sigma TV weekday shows includeAkti Oniron(which ran from 1999 to 2001),Vourate Geitonoi(which ran from 2001 to 2005, and was the most successful weekday series, achieving ratings shares of up to 70% of all television households in the country),Oi Takkoi(which ran from 2002 to 2005),S' Agapo(which ran from 2001 to 2002),Vasiliki(which ran from 2005 to 2006),Vendetta(which ran from September 2005 to December 2006),30 kai Kati(which ran from 2006 to 2007),Mila Mou(which ran from September 2007 to January 2009),7 ouranoi ke dinnefa alites(2012-2015) andGalateia(2016-2020)

ANT1 Cyprusaired the soapI Goitia Tis Amartiasin 2002, which was soon canceled.Dikse Mou To Filo Soufollowed from 2006 to 2009, along withGia Tin Agapi Sou,which ran from 2008 to 2009 and itself was followed byPanselinos,which has aired 2009 to 2011.

Weekly shows

The longest-running weekly show on Cyprus television isIstories Tou Horkou( "Villages Stories", which premiered on CyBC in March 1996 and ran until its cancellation in June 2006; it was revived in September 2010 but was cancelled again in March 2011 due to very low ratings), followed byManolis Ke Katina( "Manolis and Katina", which ran from 1995 to 2004). The most controversial of these series wasTo Kafenio( "The Coffee Shop" ), which premiered on CyBC in 1993 as a weekly series, before moving to MEGA Channel Cyprus six years later in 1999 as a weekday show and then moved to ANT1 Cyprus in 2000, which canceled the show one year later. There were plans to move the show back to CyBC as a weekly series in 2001, with the original cast, however, this plan was never realised. The most successful weekly shows in Cyprus currently are ANT1'sEleni I Porni( "Eleni, The Whore" ), which premiered in October 2010 and CyBC'sStin Akri Tu Paradisou( "At The Heaven's Edge" ), which premiered in 2007. The most successful weekdaily soap wasAigia Fuxia,which aired on ANT1 Cyprus from 2008 to 2010.

Finland

Esko Koveroas Ismo Laitela in the TV series Salatut elämät

The Finnish soap opera,Salatut elämät(Secret Lives), has achieved popularity in Finland since its 1999 debut onMTV3.It focuses on the lives of people along the imaginary Pihlajakatu street inHelsinki.The show has also spawned several Internet spin-off series and a film based on the show that was released in 2012 and the sequel film released in 2014.

Another Finnish soap opera,Rantabaari(The Beach bar), started airing onMTV Subin 2019. It focuses on the lives of the people working at the titular beach bar (later pizzeria) called Trissa, located in Taivallahti inHelsinki,and their friends and family. Rantabaari is the sister series of Salatut elämät and features some characters who formerly appeared at Salatut elämät.

Other soap-like shows in Finland are YLE showsUusi päivä(which has aired from 2010 to 2018) andKotikatu(which ran from 1995 to 2012), however these programs did not adhere to a five-episode-a-week schedule.

Middle East

UAE - KSA

AL Mirath (also known as Al Meerath or Inheritance) is the world's first Arabic soap opera. It premiered on MBC 1 andShahid VIPon March 1, 2020. The series is a melodramatic saga that delves into the social, economic, and cultural aspects of life in Saudi Arabia. It revolves around the intense rivalry between two families, the Bahitanis and the Khawatnis, and includes elements of romance, secrets, and schemes.

AL Mirath has been a highly successful series. Initially, it was commissioned for 250 episodes. Due to its popularity, the series continued with additional seasons, and by 2023, it had produced 750 episodes.

Egypt

In February 2022, MBC launched the first Egyptian daily soap opera,Downtown West El Balad.In Cairo, two brothers became enemies after the death of their father because the eldest son was excluded from the inheritance. 190 episodes have already been produced.

Latin America

InLatin America,for many years, primetime (as well as part of daytime) programming, for the most part, has been traditionally composed of telenovelas. However, throughout the years, there have been cases where a number of television programs tended to "mix" the concepts of television series and telenovela, such as, for example, a telenovela that lasted several seasons to end. With this "overlap", many people consider that these shows could be more accurately described as "soap operas". With this being said, the two most notable Latin American examples of TV programs that could fit on the definition of a "soap opera" areChiquititas(in bothArgentinaandBrazil) andMalhação(only in Brazil).

Chiquititaswas first broadcast in Argentina byTelefein 1995 and soon became a national hit, especially among children. In regards to the audience, all eight seasons (the final season ended in 2006) ofChiquititasguaranteed the first place in the Argentine TV ratings for Telefe. Throughout the years,Chiquititashad a number of spin-offs not only in Argentina, but also in Brazil,MexicoandPortugal.In 1997,Silvio Santos,founder and owner of the Brazilian television networkSBT,seeing the good ratings ofChiquititasin Argentina, decided to make a partnership with Telefe, and thus, SBT started to broadcastChiquititasin Brazil, but in the format of "remake",with the use of thePortuguese languageinstead ofSpanish,with the use of dubbing when singing the soundtrack songs (unlike the Argentine version, on which the actors themselves sung the songs), with a Brazilian cast and with slight modifications in regards to its plot (the Brazilian version was set in the city ofSão Pauloinstead ofBuenos Aires,although many scenes of the Brazilian adaptation were actually filmed at the same Telefe studios in Buenos Aires where the Argentine version was also recorded, due to the aforementioned partnership between Telefe and SBT). The Brazilian version ofChiquititas,which lasted five seasons and ended in 2001, was successful in the ratings as well, in a slightly smaller scale compared to the Argentine version, and despite the success ofMalhação(see below), the soap opera was one of the most known TV programs of the late 1990s in Brazil, enough to putChiquititasalso in the imaginary of many Brazilian children (a proof of this is that the casting process for the third season ofChiquititasin 1999 reunited about 15,000 children in the city of São Paulo alone, a record number not seen even in any Brazilian telenovela). In 2013, SBT decided to make a second adaptation ofChiquititas,which lasted two seasons (the final season ended in 2015), but unlike the first version, which resembled more like its Argentine counterpart, the second version, produced only by SBT, is different not only because the soundtrack is entirely sung by the actors themselves (as well as on the Argentine version, on which the actors did not dub the songs, but unlike the first Brazilian adaptation). Despite the fact that the ratings of the 2013 version ofChiquititaswere smaller, the soap opera was not considered a failure by the critics. SBT executives evaluated the ratings as being "satisfactory", and some fans consider the 2013 version to be a small "revival" of the 1997 version ofChiquititas.

Malhaçãohas been transmitted byRede Globoon almost every week since 1995 and has become the most successful Brazilian soap opera in the ratings. On each one of the 27 seasons shown as of 2021, the soap opera stayed in the first place on the ratings (like the Argentine version ofChiquititas). Moreover,Malhaçãoalso had a number of spin-offs being produced in Brazil. However, unlikeChiquititas,Malhaçãois more focused on teenagers, with more mature issues liketeenage pregnancy,sexual relationshipsand the use of illicitdrugsbeing discussed on its plot. Another interesting topic is thatMalhaçãois considered by some fans as being the "entrance door" to many rookie actors who obtain the first opportunity of working on Rede Globo, because history has shown that a good acting inMalhaçãoincreases the possibility of being "promoted" to the primetime telenovelas (also broadcast by Rede Globo). In fact, estimates indicate that hundreds of actors participate in the casting process ofMalhaçãoeach year, proving that many aspiring actors want to appear in this soap opera to further progress their careers.

Internet and mobile soap opera

Main article:Mobile soap opera

With the advent ofinternet televisionand mobile phones, several soap operas have also been produced specifically for these platforms, includingEastEnders: E20,a spin-off of the establishedEastEnders.For those produced only for the mobile phone, episodes may generally consist of about six or seven pictures and accompanying text.

On September 13, 2011,TG4launched a new 10-part online series titled,Na Rúin(an Internet spin-off ofRos na Rún). The miniseries took on the theme of amystery;the viewer had to read Rachel and Lorcán's blogs as well as watch video diaries detailing each character's thoughts to solve the mystery of missing teenage character Ciara.

In 1996, a canadian artificial intelligence researcher namedChris McKinstrycreated the online soap operaCR6which was an accronym forClickable Reality,despite its obscurity it got some media attention at the time and featured talent such asBrendan Fehr,the website had shown that at least 8 episodes of CR6 were released. It remains an early example of aweb-seriesbut despite the seemingly positive media buzz for the show according to McKinstry, he lost over 1 million dollars on the show and CR6 was considered a failure, McKinstry would take his own life in 2006. However thanks to its historical context it has amassed a cult following from lost media searchers.

Home video release

Due to the massive number of episodes typically produced for a long-running soap opera (into the tens of thousands for some) and the fact many episodes are lost over time, home video release (in VHS, DVD or Blu-ray) of daily soap operas is generally considered impractical and impossible beyond occasional retrospective releases or highlights. A notable exception is the 1966–1971 seriesDark Shadows,which has had its entire run of 1,225 episodes (with an audio recreation of its sole missing episode) released to home video. In the case of American "primetime soap operas" this generally does not apply as typically such series produce far fewer episodes (generally on par with that of other genres), allowing home video release.

Parodies

In motion pictures, the 1982 comedyTootsiehas the lead character impersonating a woman in order to gain acting work on a long running television soap opera. Several scenes parody the production of soaps, their outrageous storylines and idiosyncratic stylistic elements.

The 1991 comedySoapdishstarsSally Fieldas an aging soap opera actress on the fictional seriesThe Sun Also Setswho pines over her own neuroses and misfortunes, such as her live-inboyfriendwho leaves her to go back to his wife, and the incidents of backstabbing and scheming behind the scenes, some of which are more interesting than the stories on the program.

Another 1991 comedy,Delirious,starsJohn Candyas a soap opera writer who, after a head injury, has a dream experience of being in his own creation. The dream experience is an increasingly outrageous exaggeration of soap opera plot elements.

On television, several soap operaparodieshave been produced:

• The Carol Burnett Show(1967–1978) featured a recurring skit, "As the Stomach Turns",that spoofed the American soap operaAs the World Turns.
• The first season of the children's television seriesThe Electric Companyfeatured a recurring sketch, "Love of Chair",spoofing classic soap operas. The title was based on the long-running soap operaLove of Life,and its announcerKen Robertswas also the announcer onLove of Life.
• Two of the most famous U.S. parodies were the seriesMary Hartman, Mary Hartman(1976–1977) andSoap(1977–1981), the latter of which was a weekly sitcom/soap opera parody.
• The cult Australian prison soap operaPrisoner(1979–1986) included a spoof television soap that the inmates were occasionally seen watching called "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow".In one episode, specially recorded audio can be heard in which two characters from the fictional soap opera play out a ludicrous script which clearly pokes fun at the heightened melodrama of daytime soap operas.
• British soap operaBrookside(1982–2003) included an in-universe soap opera parody of itself called "Meadowcroft Park"whichBrooksidecharacters referenced and were occasionally seen watching. The soap was set on a newly built housing estate in Chester and real scenes, even a "Part two" caption, were produced for airing on the character's houses TV's. Notably,Meadowcroftwas also the originalworking titleofBrookside.
• Fresnowas a 1986 Americanminiseriesspoof of the prime time serials of the period.
• The recurring "Acorn Antiques"skit on the UK'sVictoria Wood As Seen On TV(1985–1987) was modeled onCrossroadsand other British soap operas of the 1970s. In 1992, Wood included a new soap parody for the one-off programmeVictoria Wood's All Day BreakfastcalledThe Mallwhich was set in a shopping centre. Wood played Connie who was a send up ofPolly Perkinscharacter Trish Valentine in failed BBC soapEldoradowhich was still airing at the time.
• Let The Blood Run Free(1990–1994) was an Australian parody of medical drama series.
• The 1990–1991 ABC dramaTwin Peakswas a prime time series that poked fun at the genre. Episodes during the series' first season also included a fictional soap within the stories, titledInvitation to Love.
• Shark Bay(1996) was an Australian parody of glamorous beachside soap operas. It featured many actors who had appeared in Australian soap operasSons and Daughters,Prisoner,Home and AwayandNeighbours.
• The 2000–2001WBsitcomGrosse Pointewas a self-parody of creatorDarren Star's behind-the-scenes experiences producing nighttime soaps, in particularBeverly Hills, 90210.
• South African comedianCasper de Vriesproduced the soap opera parodyHaak en Steek(which ran from 2003 to 2004), based on South African soaps likeEgoli: Place of Gold.
• The now-cancelled ABC soap operaOne Life to Livewould often poke fun at the genre as well, even featuring a soap within the soap calledFraternity Row,which many ofOne Life to Live'scharacters had either worked on or watched. Months after ABC announced in April 2011 that it would cancelOne Life to Live,the series featured a storyline in whichFraternity Rowitself was cancelled, leading the character ofRoxy Balsom(Ilene Kristen) to desperately try and save the series, to no avail. A special episode that aired on December 19, 2011, featured the cast ofOne Life to Liveacting out an episode ofFraternity Rowin a dream of Roxy's; the episode poked fun at bothOne Life to Liveand the entire genre itself, featuring many soap opera stereotypes such as overacting, outrageous story lines, bad casting and incestuous relationships; it also parodied some storylines featured on the real-world soap. The second-to-last episode ofOne Life to Liveshowed characters watching the final episode ofFraternity Rowand exposing the show's last big secret: the series' main heroine and protagonist, Lorraine King Vonvaldenburg Baxter Beumont, was really a man.
• Second City TVfeaturedThe Days of the Week:"Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Sunday. These are...The Days of the Week."
• The ABC comedy dramaDesperate Housewives(which ran from 2004 to 2012) was a semi-satirical nighttime series that took many elements from the genre.
• The Fox broadcast showFuturamahas a recurring spoof ofAll My ChildrencalledAll My Circuits.
• TheAdult Swimanimated seriesTender Touches,which premiered in 2017, is a parody of soap operas.

See also

• Asadora
• British Soap Awards
• Indian soap opera
• List of radio soap operas
• List of soap operas
• List of American daytime soap opera ratings
• "Love in the Afternoon"
• Mobile soap opera
• Philippine drama
• Radio theater
• Soap Opera Update
• Soap Opera Weekly
• Soaps in Depth
• Soaplife
• Soap opera rapid aging syndrome
• Supercouple
• Thai television soap opera
• Armenian soap operas

References

Bibliography

• Ang, Ien.Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination,Methuen, 1985.ISBN978-0-416-41630-5
• Bowles, Kate (25 July 2020)."Soap opera: 'No end of story, ever'".In Cunningham, Stuart (ed.).The Australian TV Book.Routledge.ISBN978-1-000-24791-6.
• Geraghty, Christine.The Aesthetic Experiencein Women and Soap Opera: A Study of Prime Time Soaps, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991.ISBN0-7456-0489-7
• Mercado, Andrew.Super Aussie Soaps,Pluto Press Australia, 2004.ISBN1-86403-191-3
• Timeline of daytime soaps

External links

• Soap Opera overview – Museum of Broadcast Communications
• SoapHub – Portal for US soap operas
• SoapCentral – Portal for US soap operas
• Soapdom – Portal for US soap operas
• SoapOperaDigest – Portal for US soap operas
• Soaps – Portal for US soap operas
• Soaps of the Past page on MySpace(US soap operas)
• What's on TV – Portal for UK soap operas
• The Aussie Soap Archive – Classic Australian soap operas
• The Soap ShowInterviews and news on UK and Australian soaps
• US soap operas overview, news and recaps
• SoapOperaDaily - Portal for US & UK soap operas