Why has "Soap" seemingly become such a forgotten show - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 12-06-2023, 05:47 AM

To give you a better idea:

Quote:

While most shows in the '70s were known for being on-the-nose with their humor, Soap was a surprisingly subversive series for the time it was on the air. Parodying all the tropes of soap operas, the series follows the over-the-top exploits of two competing families.

Though soap operas may seem like an easy target, their prevalence in the '70s meant that Soap's clever lampooning was much needed. As a parody it is top-notch, but the series succeeded further by having memorable characters that grew and changed over the course of the run and helped make stars of actors like Billy Crystal.

BestTVever · 05-10-2024, 06:37 AM

Soap is on Antenna TV all the time. When it debuted it was cutting edge parody and was funny. When I watch today it loses its punch because the context of the 70s is gone. Soap operas are not on TV today (at least how they used to be). Its a show that does not hold up IMHO. Everything on the show back then was done for laughs. Having a gay character. Having a puppet as a sidekick. None of that is remotely funny today. Even in real time the ratings sort of showed the audience love for the show was majorly declining. Its first season it almost made the top 10 but declined year after year. It was a cute novelty but it wore out really fast. By the time the 3rd and 4th season came around it just was dumb.

SOAP is one of the few shows that its spin off was more successful than the original show: Benson which lasted about 10 seasons.

Did you know that Casey Kasem was originally sought after to do the intro to the show introducing the families. But he thought the show was so dumb he refused to agree to do it.

Duster76 · 05-10-2024, 11:30 PM

SOAP was a great show but it has the same problem as all the nighttime dramas done in the soap opera format have, the episodes all run together. It's very hard to get into the rhythm of an episode without the context of the series at that particular moment. A few months ago I was jumping from station to station and happened to land on SOAP, at this point Mary Campbell was talking about alien Burt, I remember a bit of the storyline but not enough to decipher where the story is, how it got there and what other storylines are running simultaneously. There are so many regular and recurring characters, I guess the only way to watch it is from beginning to end, but it's a matter of making that commitment.

05-10-2024, 06:37 AM	#2
BestTVever Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 29, 2021 Location: Miami Posts: 1,878	Soap is on Antenna TV all the time. When it debuted it was cutting edge parody and was funny. When I watch today it loses its punch because the context of the 70s is gone. Soap operas are not on TV today (at least how they used to be). Its a show that does not hold up IMHO. Everything on the show back then was done for laughs. Having a gay character. Having a puppet as a sidekick. None of that is remotely funny today. Even in real time the ratings sort of showed the audience love for the show was majorly declining. Its first season it almost made the top 10 but declined year after year. It was a cute novelty but it wore out really fast. By the time the 3rd and 4th season came around it just was dumb. SOAP is one of the few shows that its spin off was more successful than the original show: Benson which lasted about 10 seasons. Did you know that Casey Kasem was originally sought after to do the intro to the show introducing the families. But he thought the show was so dumb he refused to agree to do it.

05-10-2024, 11:30 PM	#3
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,639	SOAP was a great show but it has the same problem as all the nighttime dramas done in the soap opera format have, the episodes all run together. It's very hard to get into the rhythm of an episode without the context of the series at that particular moment. A few months ago I was jumping from station to station and happened to land on SOAP, at this point Mary Campbell was talking about alien Burt, I remember a bit of the storyline but not enough to decipher where the story is, how it got there and what other storylines are running simultaneously. There are so many regular and recurring characters, I guess the only way to watch it is from beginning to end, but it's a matter of making that commitment.