What killed the daytime soap?

[Schmo]

Why has the daytime soap opera become virtually extinct since 2000?

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by Schmo

Why has the daytime soap opera become virtually extinct since 2000?

Actually Soap Opera's (or daytime dramas) were in decline way before the year 2000. I commented in a thread concerning the history of soaps:


I took a quick look at the numbers, 65% of network soap operas premiered prior to 1970, 80% premiered prior to 1980. The 1980's was in fact a period of steep decline, only 5 new soaps were introduced with only 3 lasting longer than 3 years and only one was on the air by January of 1996. The 50's produced 5 soap operas that lasted longer than 25 years, the 60's produced 4, the 70's 2, the 80's 1. The genre peaked in the 1960's after that it was a steady decline.

The most obvious reason for the disappearing soap is cost, it's cheaper to put on a talk show, a game show or extend the morning program an additional hour than producing an hour long soap opera. Woman becoming a fulltime part of the workforce, or the plain fact that the storytelling moves at a pace too slow for modern society are some other reasons.

[Coffeecup]

Yes you said it correct Duster.

[siblis]

Women who made up the bulk of the population because they House Wives back than are now in the working field & have no time to get hooked on them.

[rusty spike]

1990s was flooded with daytime talk shows.

The old joke went "Which celebrity is NOT doing their own talk show?"

[TMC]

What helped "kill" daytime soap operas if you want to use that kind of term, was households becoming dual income instead one and cable television became common place. Back in the '80s, many households in the United States were still single-income. This often meant that someone was home alone watching TV during midday while the other spouse was at work and the kids were at school. Also, households at the time only had a few (3-5) network stations (as opposed to literally thousands of programming choices like today) to choose from, which put more eyes on the same programs.

[thomask2]

What killed soap opera is the new format and the new reality. Now it is best for people to watch Netflix at home rather than to watch some interesting soap operas.

[dee2364]

Originally Posted by siblis

Women who made up the bulk of the population because they House Wives back than are now in the working field & have no time to get hooked on them.

Bingo. This is the only real reason why daytime soaps died. We no longer have millions of stay-at-home moms who would watch these soaps in the mornings and afternoons to alleviate the boredom or stress of housekeeping, or as background noise while the family was away at school and work. I know some people might be offended at those comments (seeing it as stereotyping) but that's who soaps were for.

BTW, this reminds me of one of my favorite comedies from the 1980s, Mr. Mom. There's a scene where Michael Keaton becomes an avid watcher of Young and the Restless after becoming a stay-at-home dad : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkzG9RZBERE