Melodrama Variations: TV Soap Opera (Lecture)

History of Radio & TV Soap Opera

Antecedents
- 19th century serialized novels
  - E.g., Dickens
- Theatrical/film melodrama
Radio soap operas
- Late 1920s
  - Antecedents
    - Amos 'n' Andy(not a soap opera, but led to a soap opera in several ways)
      - 1926, nationally broadcast 1929
      - 15 min, 6 days a week
      - Continuing story (not self-contained)
      - Two white actor, playing Af-Am
        Characters
        Ethnic characters
    - First "real" soap
      - Based on ethnic character: jewish
      - The Goldbergs (1929-1945) Domestic drama of family
- 1930s: “Golden Era” of radio soaps
  - Irna Phillips
    - Originally worked in Chicago
      - WGN's (WGN=World's Greatest Newspaper) Thought for a Day
      - Painted Dreams (1932-)
        Really emphasized the importance of marriage to women
        Moved to NBC as Today's Children
      - The Guiding Light (1937-)
      - 60,000 words per week
  - Elaine Carrington
    - Red Adams, aka, Forever Young, Pepper Young’s Family
    - When a Girl Marries (1939-57)
      - Most listened to soap of the 1930s
      - Looks at women's role as a mother and a wife
  - Frank & Anne Hummert
    - Most powerful of all
      - By 1938: bought 1/8th of ALL radio time
    - Backstage Wife (1936-1959)
    - Our Gal Sunday (1937-59)
    - Often focused on stories with a social gap

TV grew after WW II, after 1945: But soaps were slow to adapt
- Production problems:
  - Cost:

        Radio  TV
        $3500  $8650

- - Everything visible in TV: No more scripts in hands; Limited exterior scenes
1951 CBS scored with 2 successful soaps:
- Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life Roy Winsor
- Set format:
  - B&W
  - Live
  - 15 mins.
  - Studio bound: No exterior scenes
  - Narration
  - Music: organ
- CBS dominated soaps throughout 1950s
  - Guiding Light
    - From Radio to TV
    - 1952, but continued on radio until 1956
- Death knell for radio:
  - Expansion of TV soaps to 30 mins
  - 1956: As the World Turns
    - Premiered as a 30 mins
- Radio soaps canceled in late 1950s
  - Last one canclled November 1960
1960s: ABC & NBC began to compete effectively with CBS
- E.g., General Hospital (1963-)
- E.g., All My Children (1970)
  - Created by Agnes Nixon
1970s: glut of soaps
- 20 shows per week
- Ratings declined--Responses:
  - Cancellation
  - Social issues incorporated into stories:
    - Abortion, rape, drug addiction, interracial marriage, birth control
  - Younger characters
    - The Young and Restless (1973-)
  - Expansion to 60 mins.
    - Another World, ATWT (1975)