Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
There are even sections about the similarities between storytelling on soap operas and TV news coverage (with O.J.
Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Vivica A. Soaps are looked at pejoratively in this society, but there was so much richness there.
We wanted to unearth it.
Whether you are in agreement or not about whether a show you like is really a soap is irrelevant.
Im like, whaddaya mean, you dont like soaps?Mad Menis a soap.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a soap.
Thats still what defines TV today.
Its not just primetime dramas.
All of these things are completely built on what was already done in daytime.
Because they were more focused on power and money and domination and stuff like that?
The fantasy of it?Thats part of it.
So:Breaking Badis a soap, deal with it?Yes.
These things dont have to be one-dimensional.
They can be more than one thing at the same time.
The first time I encountered this way of thinking was in a media studies class in the 80s.
And what eventually emerged was a sense that soaps are a feminist manifesto, in a way.
As a result of that, they became this oasis that reflected more of a womans experience of life.
Are soaps really responsible for that?
Is reality TV reality TV because of soaps?
Is cable news coverage what it is because of soaps?
The answer was always yes, and so we felt secure in saying that about her.
They gave birth to these narratives that we now can connect.
On the soaps, it was about somebody you and the other characters knew personally.
Which of the guests most surprised you?Alec Baldwin.
It becomes part of the rhythm.
