(Cranston, for instance, is cited as a cast member on Loving, One Life to Live and Breaking Bad.) The documentary makes a strong case that soaps - which had been dismissed over the decades as “trash” and “melodrama,” and gendered as “women’s entertainment” - are a legitimate but underappreciated popular art form. In cases where actors appeared on daytime soaps and the entertainment that borrowed from them, major credits are cheekily listed as if they’re all just soaps. Fox, Jon Hamm, and Bryan Cranston are mixed in with daytime acting fixtures like Susan Lucci and Genie Francis, as well as showrunners whose work channels the daytime spirit (such as Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry). Simpson’s trial cited as the event that made the connection official), as well as the way that unscripted TV raids soaps for inspiration, making sure each new episode contains plentiful trash-talking, a crowd-pleasing confrontation or two, and a “shocking” twist at the end. There are even sections about the similarities between storytelling on soap operas and TV news coverage (with O.J. It also links soaps to the so-called “prestige dramas” of ‘80s and ‘90s and beyond, which drew on the soap opera tradition of open-ended storytelling and complex, contradictory, sometimes antiheroic characters.

It covers the evolution of daytime soaps on rival broadcast networks as well as ABC, plus the radio soaps that preceded them and the nightime soaps (notably CBS’ Dallas and ABC’s Dynasty) that followed. Moving back and forth through nearly a century’s worth of media, this is a real documentary, not just a cynical repurposing of one network’s intellectual property. Eastern on ABC, is a rare example of a broadcast network bankrolling scholarship that also happens to be entertaining. The Story of Soaps, which premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. Luke and Laura’s wedding on General Hospital.

What year did soap tv show start