What are the ingredients that make a Soap Opera a Soap Opera?

The characters must turn their backs to the person they're talking to, then turn around again in some dramatic fashion in the event of a conversation.

Most, if not all, marriages must end in divorce. And there should be lots of them (marriages, that is).

Characters should be expected to return from the dead.

Those are a just a few off the top of my head. :lol:

*Edited to add a couple more:

If a couple is in love, they will never a) get together or b) stay together.

At the end of a scene, the characters will stare off into space or to the person they're talking to while the scene fades to black and dramatic music plays in the background.

What makes a villian a villian in Soap Operas?

Well a good soap rivarly is one in which the two chracters hate each other for generations and have a long history. A good villian is one who stops at nothing to get what they want but will never hurt their family or close friends and has some redeeming qualities. Nothing soap fans hate more than a villian with no redeeming qualities.

Good villians are ruthless and evil but also humor-filled and outrageous.

A soap opera must have-

Core Families- Two or more main families that are the focus of the show and have been for years or more.

Soap families must also focus on different socio-economic backgrounds and deal with issues of relevance to real life.

Murder
Backstabbing
Fights
Villians
Cliff hangers at the the end of episodes.

When a woman turns 50, she must where a turban and high-heeled furry slippers. -- And if she takes a nap during the day, she must where an eye mask.

Haha.