Soap: The Complete Series

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The wealthy Tate family employs a sarcastic butler/cook named Benson ( Robert Guillaume). Benson clearly despises Chester, but has a soft spot for their son, Billy ( Jimmy Baio). He also gets along with the Tates' daughter Corinne ( Diana Canova) as well as their mother, Jessica; but doesn't speak to the other daughter, Eunice ( Jennifer Salt), although that later changed. Benson became a popular character and in 1979 left the Tates' employ to work for Jessica's cousin, Governor Gene Gatling, on the spin-off series Benson, wherein his last name, DuBois, was revealed. The Tates had to hire a new butler/cook named Saunders ( Roscoe Lee Browne), whose attitude is similar to that of Benson, but has a more formal personality. The Soap Memo" was a rare public look into the behind-the-scenes process at a major network and copies of the document were often found posted on the bulletin boards of television production companies and on studio sets as a rallying point against censorship. In addition, the specific details in the memo further fueled the growing debate regarding the controversial content of Soap. Premiere and critical reception [ edit ] Since its cancellation, Soap's reputation has grown and it is often considered one of the best shows in television history. [2] Much praise has been given to its "exceptionally rich cast" [23] of performers "such as was seldom seen on any serious dramatic show". [13]

Dr. Everett Parker of the United Church of Christ called Soap "a low-life, salacious program" and complained that the show would be airing when children would be able to watch it. (ABC had scheduled it on Tuesdays after Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, two of the most popular family television shows being broadcast at the time.) [10] In addition to the religious protest, Soap also faced substantial pre-broadcast criticism from the International Union of Gay Athletes [14] and the National Gay Task Force, [15] both of which were concerned about the way the gay character Jodie Dallas and his professional football player lover would be portrayed. Much of Soap's controversy, among liberals and conservatives alike, ironically helped sell the series to the general public. Fueled by six months of pre-show protests (as well as a solid lead-in from the hit shows Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company), the first episode swept its time slot with a 25.6 rating and a 39% share of the national audience. Although ABC received hundreds of phone calls after the premiere, executives at the network described initial public reaction as "mild" with more calls in favor of the show than in protest. A University of Richmond poll found that 74% of viewers found Soap inoffensive, 26% found it offensive, and half of those who were offended said they planned to watch it the next week. [5]a b c Poniewozik, James (September 6, 2007). "The 100 Best TV Shows of All- TIME". Time. Archived from the original on October 28, 2007 . Retrieved March 4, 2010. Aldridge, Ron (July 4, 1978). "WSOC May Make 'Soap' Permanent". The Charlotte Observer. p.16A . Retrieved July 11, 2011. The CIA or any other government organization is not to be involved in General Nu's smuggling operation." (This character and storyline, which dealt with a Vietnamese opium smuggler who becomes involved in the Tate family through Jessica's long-lost son, was eventually removed from the show bible.) In a 1982 analysis in The Village Voice, published as the series was entering syndication, TV critic Tom Carson lauded the ensemble, saying that "the cast matches the best TV series rep troupes ever." Carson went on to note that Soap "patently started out intended as a lampoon of middle-class values, and ended up instead as a weirdly offbeat celebration of them". [24] At the beginning of each episode, off-camera announcer Rod Roddy gives a brief summary of the convoluted storyline and remarks, "Confused? You won't be, after this week's episode of ... Soap." At the end of each episode, he asks a series of life-or-death questions in a deliberately deadpan style—"Will Jessica discover Chester's affair? Will Benson discover Chester's affair? Will Benson care?" and concludes each episode with the trademark line, "These questions—and many others—will be answered in the next episode of ... Soap."

The first season ends with Jessica convicted of the murder of Peter Campbell. The announcer concludes the season by announcing that Jessica is innocent, and that one of five characters—Burt, Chester, Jodie, Benson, or Corinne—killed Peter Campbell. Chester later confesses to Peter's murder and is sent to prison. He is soon released after a successful temporary insanity defense, due to a medical condition in his brain. A 1983 episode of Benson mentions Jessica's disappearance, noting that the Tate family is seeking to have her declared legally dead. In the episode, Jessica appears as an apparition who only Benson can see or hear and reveals to him that she is not dead, but in a coma somewhere in South America. No other incidents from the final episode of Soap are mentioned, and the opening bars of the theme song for Soap play as she leaves the room. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Katherine Helmond) – nominated: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981

Father Flotsky's stand on liberalizing the Mass will have to be treated in a balanced, inoffensive manner. By way of example, the substitution of Oreos for the traditional wafer is unacceptable." Seligsohn, Leo (September 18, 1977). "Cleansers Try to Shampoo 'Soap' ". Newsday. Melville, NY. pp.4, 38 . Retrieved July 11, 2021. On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, including Soap. [26] The company subsequently rereleased the first and second seasons on DVD on September 2, 2014, [27] and Soap: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on June 2, 2015. [28] Most of the episodes on the Mill Creek sets are the original, uncut ABC versions, and the "On the last episode of Soap ..." synopses from the final season have been restored. [29] See also [ edit ]

Aside from the external protests, Soap was also subject to heavy internal revisions from ABC's Broadcast Standards & Practices department, which monitors the content of programs. Writer-creator Susan Harris had developed a story arc for Soap in the form of a "show bible" which traced all the major characters, stories and events for five seasons. The Standards & Practices executives (commonly referred to as "censors") reviewed this extensive bible as well as the script for the two-part pilot and issued a long memo to Harris voicing their concerns about various storylines and characters. In addition to the sexual material that was widely reported in the press, the censors also took issue with the show's religious, political and ethnic content. [20] Jay Sandrich, Director; Susan Harris, Writer and Producer (1978). The Best of Soap: Who Killed Peter?. ASIN 630308219X. The Soap Memo" was leaked to the press before the show premiered and was printed in its entirety in the Los Angeles Times on June 27, 1977. Among the notes were: O'Gara, Hugh (September 10, 1977). "KXON says 'No 'Soap to eastern South Dakota TV audiences" . Argus-Leader . Vol.92, no.253. Sioux Falls, SD. p.1 . Retrieved July 11, 2021. This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( February 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Sharbutt, Jay (July 18, 1977). "ABC Slipping on 'Soap' ". Ocala Star-Banner . Retrieved 11 October 2012. [ permanent dead link] Although the uproar against Soap subsided shortly after its premiere, the program continued to generate additional criticism for its relatively frank depictions of homosexuals, racial and ethnic minorities and the mentally ill, as well as its treatment of other taboo topics such as social class, marital infidelity, impotence, incest, sexual harassment, rape, student-teacher sexual relationships, kidnapping, organized crime, murder of and by cast members, and new age cults. Much of the criticism focused on the openly gay character of Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal). Soap was among the earliest American primetime series to include an openly gay character who was a major part of the series. Some social conservatives opposed the character on religious grounds, while some gay rights activists were also upset with the character of Jodie, arguing that certain story developments reinforced distorted stereotypes, for example his desire to have a sex change operation, or represented a desire to change or downplay his sexual orientation. DuBrow, Ric (September 10, 1991). " Golden Girls Creator Adds Shows". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved November 6, 2021. At the 1981 Golden Globe Awards, Katherine Helmond won Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy. That same year, the program was also nominated for Best TV Series – Musical/Comedy.

The show aired 85 episodes over the course of four seasons. Of these, eight episodes (including the final four) aired as one-hour episodes during the original run on ABC. These hour-long episodes were later split in two, yielding 93 half-hour episodes for syndication. Like most sitcoms of the era, Soap was videotaped rather than filmed, but this coincidentally helped further its emulation of the daytime soap opera format, as most such productions were also videotaped. All episodes are available on Region 1 DVD in four box sets. There is a box set of Season 1 on Region 2 DVD. The series has rerun in syndication on local channels as well as on cable. Soap is an American sitcom television series that originally ran on ABC from September 13, 1977, until April 20, 1981. The show was created as a nighttime parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format, and featured melodramatic plotlines including alien abduction, demonic possession, extramarital affairs, murder, kidnapping, unknown diseases, amnesia, cults, organized crime warfare, a communist revolution and teacher-student relationships. In 2007, it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All- TIME", [2] and in 2010, the Tates and the Campbells ranked at number 17 in TV Guide 's list of "TV's Top Families". In 2007, Time, which initially panned the show, named it one of the "100 Best Shows of All- TIME". [2] The Museum of Broadcast Communications said that Soap is "arguably one of the most creative efforts by network television before or after". [5] Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all four seasons of Soap on DVD in Region 1. Season 1 has been released on DVD in Region 2 in Norway (as Forviklingar), Sweden (as Lödder), Spain (as Enredo) and the UK. All four seasons have been released in Australia (Region 4).Please direct Claire to dump the hot coffee in some part of Chester's anatomy other than his crotch." (Susan Harris later responded to this note: "so we didn't—we poured it in his lap.")