Why do some call shows like Melrose Place Or Beverly Hills 90210 "Soaps&quo!
Question: I have RARELY seen a Days or Passions episode in "syndication" EXCEPT for the time the Sci Fi Channel aired Passions for two months..
Answers: I have RARELY seen a Days or Passions episode in "syndication" EXCEPT for the time the Sci Fi Channel aired Passions for two months..
When they first started, they weren't. They were series, but as the shows progressed, the story lines did as well.
Soon after, there were multiple story lines taking place, and the shows had to be continued on to the next week. The stories were never resolved in that episode, and you had to tune in next week to see what happens.
Since their subject matter dealt primarily with love, relationshis, and deceit, it was branded a soap. But I don't think officially it was branded that.
They were soaps.....just for a younger age.
The shows for the most part in the early days were, of course, geared toward housewives, given the fact that they were home during the day. What did housewives do in those days? Laundry. Thus, the soap companies attached themselves to these programs and were usually the primary sponsors, sometimes even getting recognition in the show titles...which would have been something along the lines of "Palmolive presents All My Children" or some such.
It's not that 90210 or other prime time shows are aimed at housewives, it's that those shows tend to follow the same story line (who is drinking, who is using drugs, who is sleeping with whom etc. etc.).
The term Soap was coined in the early to mid 60's to term the daytime programming that ran at that time. They were called soap operas due to the Soap manufacturers advertising during them. The term refers to an on going story. They can be once a day, once a week or less as long as they keep you watching episode after episode. Syndication has nothing to do with it .. The shows you mentioned are Soaps just as "Dallas" and "Dynasty" in the 70's-80's were Soaps. Any show can go into syndication if enough program managers believe there is a market for it. That has nothing to do with the type of program it is.
they are primetime soap operas
They are soaps...nighttime soaps just like Dallas or Dynasty. They wind up in syndication because they were weeklies...