Soap: The Unauthorized Inside Story of the Sitcom That Broke All the Rules Review

[TJ]

From its tumultuous beginnings in 1977 to its end by firing squad - on screen and off - Soap was as passionate and controversial as the times in which it was made. During its four-year run, it tackled sex, death, depression and infidelity, all with a wit and gentleness never before seen on American television. Throughout that time, a vocal minority hounded the sitcom and parent network ABC over its perceived irreverence toward the mores of a declining generation, even as the real world was convulsed by terrorism, energy crises, and fallout from the Vietnam conflict and governmental malfeasance. For the first time ever, Soap: The Unauthorized Inside Story of the Sitcom That Broke All the Rules takes you behind the scenes, from the producers' battles with network censors over an earlier series, to the creation of enduring story lines such as the death of Peter Campbell, and Burt's abduction by aliens. Based on interviews with nearly 30 members of the cast and crew, this book offers an extensive examination of each episode, and may finally reveal the societal forces that really led to the series' premature demise

Read our review here:
http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2014/0...club-soap.html

[Yong Fang]

The United States was a lot more religious back in the 1970's and 1980's than it is today. When Soap first came out, there were powerful coalitions of right wing Christians condemning the show without ever seeing it and doing whatever they could back then to try to prevent the network from showing the program.

I lived in Memphis, which is in the "Bible Belt" (with numerous churches every which where literally). The ABC affiliate at the time, WREG Channel 13 (now 24, 13 is a FOX station now) relented and refused to show the first episode of SOAP for..........Gomer Pyle USMC! Surprise, surprise, surprise! Fortunately, the "buzz" that the show created in media, probably caused a lot of people who WANTED to see Soap, and the affiliate relented, and we got to see the rest of the four seasons, no doubt being condemned by their local clergy on Sundays for watching such filth.

The other group out there that was against SOAP were the out of the closet homosexuals, who even then were very vocal. They did not like the Billy Crystal character, or how it characterized them, for some reason. Homosexuals then and now are an extremely vocal group.

So oddly, because of radical, open homosexuals and God fearing Born Again Christians, SOAP, one of the greatest shows ever was cancelled. Not because of ratings, ABC just got tired of the idiots and folded. This would not happen today because of the internet, everyone can have a voice, and if SOAP was on in the internet age, the fringe could have been silenced and we would have known if Jessica survived South America or Bert survived the ambush. Oh well.

[mets82]

I'm a fan of Soap. You know Soap is mild considered what we have on tv now.

[king of comedy]

It wouldn't be as controversial today.

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

The United States was a lot more religious back in the 1970's and 1980's than it is today. When Soap first came out, there were powerful coalitions of right wing Christians condemning the show without ever seeing it and doing whatever they could back then to try to prevent the network from showing the program.

I lived in Memphis, which is in the "Bible Belt" (with numerous churches every which where literally). The ABC affiliate at the time, WREG Channel 13 (now 24, 13 is a FOX station now) relented and refused to show the first episode of SOAP for..........Gomer Pyle USMC! Surprise, surprise, surprise! Fortunately, the "buzz" that the show created in media, probably caused a lot of people who WANTED to see Soap, and the affiliate relented, and we got to see the rest of the four seasons, no doubt being condemned by their local clergy on Sundays for watching such filth.

The other group out there that was against SOAP were the out of the closet homosexuals, who even then were very vocal. They did not like the Billy Crystal character, or how it characterized them, for some reason. Homosexuals then and now are an extremely vocal group.

So oddly, because of radical, open homosexuals and God fearing Born Again Christians, SOAP, one of the greatest shows ever was cancelled. Not because of ratings, ABC just got tired of the idiots and folded. This would not happen today because of the internet, everyone can have a voice, and if SOAP was on in the internet age, the fringe could have been silenced and we would have known if Jessica survived South America or Bert survived the ambush. Oh well.

My ABC affiliate at the time, Nashville's WNGE-TV, carried Soap at 9:30 PM CT, as did many other ABC affiliates in the Central Time Zone. ABC offered Soap after Family (which normally aired at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT) for its affiliates during Soap's controversial first season. Also ABC showed summer reruns of Soap during its late-night programming rather than in primetime. I think (but am not sure) that practice continued through all 4 seasons of Soap.