Why Are They Called “Soap Operas”?
If you grew up anytime between the 1950s and 1990s, you may have had a family member who tuned in every afternoon to watch their favorite TV soap operas. Or maybe you had your own favorite show that you watched during summer break or sick days from school. These daytime dramas, airing Monday through Friday, were fixtures in many households, providing homemakers, stay-at-home parents, and even kids home from school with a daily escape into the lives of familiar characters. For more than seven decades, soap operas have held a unique place in popular culture, with their tales of romance, betrayal, family feuds, timely topics, and farfetched plot twists. Here’s a look back at the origins of this nostalgic television genre, and the reason these long-running TV serials came to be known as “soap” operas.
Soap Operas Started on the Radio
Soap operas trace their roots to the early days of radio in the 1920s. At the time, they were simply called “serial dramas” or “radio dramas” because of their recurring nature. Originally airing in the evenings, the first radio dramas included a variety of genres to entertain families. Once advertisers recognized the potential of the medium to sell their household products, radio dramas made the switch to daytime and a largely female audience. The storytelling format was structured so that listeners, who were primarily homemakers, could easily follow ongoing storylines while they did their household chores, even if they missed an occasional episode.
One of the earliest soap opera precursors was Clara, Lu ‘n’ Em, which debuted in the evenings on NBC’s Chicago radio affiliate, WGN, in June 1930. The series had begun as a sorority sketch created by three friends at Northwestern University and centered on three Midwestern housewives who shared a duplex. The show was picked up by the NBC Blue radio network and gained a national audience before going on to become the first network daytime serial when it shifted to a matinee time slot in 1932.
In October 1930, WGN debuted the radio serial Painted Dreams, which is credited as being the first daytime soap opera for radio. Created by radio actress Irna Phillips, whose considerable contributions to the medium earned her the nickname “the mother of the soap opera,” Painted Dreams featured a character named Mother Moynihan, who doled out old-fashioned advice to the two young women who lived with her. Phillips not only wrote the scripts for the series, but also played the part of Sue Morton, an orphaned young woman who lived with the widowed matriarch along with Moynihan’s daughter Irene.
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Daytime Soap Operas Moved to Television
By the 1940s, there were more than 70 serialized dramas on daytime radio, and it was only a matter of time before they were reinterpreted for a popular new medium, television. Phillips was involved in the creation of at least 18 radio dramas, including Guiding Light, which centered on the struggles of Reverend Dr. John Rutledge and the community he served. The 15-minute drama, which debuted on NBC Radio on January 25, 1937, was the first radio serial to make the jump to television in 1952 and went on to become the longest-running soap opera in history, airing for 72 years on radio and TV. Phillips was also responsible for the first soap opera created specifically for television, the short-lived These Are My Children, which aired in 1949 on NBC.
Television breathed new life into the popular radio genre, and from the 1950s through the 1980s, soap operas reached the height of their popularity. In addition to Guiding Light, shows such as Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Days of Our Lives, and The Edge of Night were household names by the mid-1960s. These programs drew in millions of viewers who became deeply invested in the lives of their favorite characters. Airing on weekdays, television soap opera episodes expanded from the 15-minute segments of radio and early TV to 30-minute or hour-long episodes.
The appeal of soap operas was not only in their characters and plots, but also in their ability to create a strong sense of continuity. Fans could follow a character’s entire journey over years, and this slow-burn storytelling gave viewers a deeply immersive experience, drawing them in with familiar settings and faces and making the characters feel like extended family. And, it turns out, the daytime format offered advertisers dozens of time slots per week to promote their products to their target audience, women.
How They Got the Name “Soap Operas”
The term “soap opera” evolved out of the genre’s primary sponsors in its early days on radio. Because the shows catered to a predominantly female audience at a time when many women were homemakers rather than working full-time, sponsors were typically companies that marketed household products, such as soap. Companies saw these dramas as ideal advertising platforms to reach their target audience: homemakers who spent their time listening to, and later watching, their favorite serialized dramas while going about their household chores.
Early on, Colgate-Palmolive-Peet, known for their Super Suds laundry detergent, became the first sponsor of Clara, Lu ‘n’ Em. As part of their sponsorship contract, the radio actresses who portrayed the three women in the show were featured in print ads and made public appearances in costume on behalf of their sponsor. Other household product manufacturers who targeted the primarily female daytime audience included Lever Brothers, Procter & Gamble, B.T. Babbitt, and Manhattan Soap.
As their popularity grew, daytime radio dramas came to be described in a variety of dramatic (and some would say derogatory) terms, including “washboard weeper,” “strip shows” (after comic strips), “love dramas,” and finally “soap operas.” The term “soap opera” was likely coined by the entertainment trade presses in the 1930s and the name soon caught on with general publications. The term “opera” was a way of highlighting the over-the-top emotions and cliffhangers that characterized these serials, which were known for their melodramatic themes and formulaic storylines.
Unlike highbrow operatic productions, however, soap operas were designed to be relatable and engaging, often portraying working-class and middle-class families facing challenging life events. By the time these dramas transitioned to television, the “soap opera” nickname had stuck and the genre became an established and beloved staple of daytime television.
In recent years, traditional soap operas have seen a decline in viewership as the media landscape has evolved. While a handful of classic shows are still in production, both on network and streaming platforms, the days when soap operas ruled daytime television have passed. The term “soap opera” may not hold the same relevance as it once did, but the storytelling format it introduced left its own legacy.
