Soap opera fans can sometimes get frustrated watching the television landscape.
The golden days of at least three soap operas per network are long gone. When NBC moves Days of Our Lives to Peacock in 2022, only three will remain on broadcast television.
But as bad as it looks, it’s far from over, and it never will be, for our favorite genre.
Soap operas are the cornerstone of drama
People love to make fun of soap operas, but the truth is, they’re not the low-quality dramas they’re accused of being.
Most of the time, anyway.
Some storylines are really corny (yes, I’m talking about every ridiculous supernatural storyline on DAYS!), and soap operas sometimes use the same clichés over and over again, like bringing the dead back to life, or being ridiculous and contrived love triangle.
Still, without soap operas, there would be no nightly drama.
When I was a teenager a high school teacher said that prime time dramas were “really soap operas but we pretend they’re not” I was a TV snob and thought she was totally wrong, but now I understand she said.
Soap operas are based on raw human emotions: jealousy, anger, love, hate.
Characters in primetime dramas may deal with these emotions in a more realistic, less visceral way (sometimes), but they’re also about people feeling deep emotions and doing extraordinary things as a result.
And, half the time I can predict what’s going to happen next on a primetime drama because I’ve seen it on a soap opera.
Medical dramas use the same tropes to describe last-minute recoveries and heartbreaking diagnoses, and if you regularly watch a soap opera or two, anything romantic is pretty easy to predict.
That’s why I think if there weren’t soap operas there wouldn’t be any other shows that we love. They give us the basics of storytelling that all shows use.
Soap operas fulfill our deepest fantasies
I’ve been thinking about why we love soap operas so much for years.
I’ve been watching Days of Our Lives on and off since I was eight years old, and re-watched it again in 2013.
Soaps are appealing for many reasons – I was drawn to JJ Deveraux when he came to town, he was the character closest to what I felt as a teenager – but I think the most powerful one is that we can Live vicariously through these characters.
This is especially true of American soap operas, where most of the characters look like supermodels and some work in the industry without being exploited.
Many soap operas also feature rich, powerful people who are portrayed as just like us, except they can pour themselves a drink from their home bar at 3pm and basically do whatever they want.
Seriously, though, even if a lifestyle of money and idleness doesn’t appeal to you, who among us doesn’t wish we could attack our worst enemies without any consequences?
More importantly, who among us doesn’t want a seemingly impossible love relationship to be solved?
Through soap operas, we can fulfill some harmless wishes.
When Sami Brady or any other soap opera diva slaps their worst rival in the middle of the town square, we can cheer them on… and then pray that the person we think is their true love forgives them.
As family dramas die, soap operas become more important
Most soap operas are about family in some way. People meet unlikely partners, fall in love, overcome family disapproval, and have children of their own.
The most popular and common soap opera trope is teenagers fighting with their parents.
Soap operas are full of overprotective parents, teenagers who resent their parents’ interference in their lives and fight with children who won’t accept their parents’ new partners because their biological mother or father has died.
It’s no accident or coincidence that many soap opera stories are about family members supporting each other no matter what, or standing up to those who upset a beloved relative.
Television viewers are hungry for this type of content. We love stories about families like ours, even if those families are doing things we would never do, or in completely crazy and unrealistic situations.
Sadly, family dramas are all but dead elsewhere in television.
The closest we got was Blue Bloods, which was canceled for no reason and people were heartbroken because it meant no more scenes of the family eating together.
Soap operas filled this gap.
Days of Our Lives started a Christmas tradition long ago that many fans have continued in their own lives: hanging ornaments on the tree with each family member’s name on them.
This is an example of the family theme that soap operas have been known for since their inception.
Scenes like Christmas not only remind us of our own families but also make us feel like the people we are watching are part of our extended family.
The need for family connections with fictional characters is underestimated. This is one of the big reasons why soap operas will never die.
There are plenty of lonely people out there who can feel loved for an hour every day by opening their favorite soap and “visiting” their imaginary best friend.
Soap operas are especially important right now because they give people hope
The most important soap opera trope is that good wins out.
Some soap operas have plots that are like thriller miniseries, where people are kidnapped by people who are obsessed with them, or by super-powerful bad guys who want to do nothing but cause pain.
I still remember the original Orpheus story from DAYS, which I watched when I was eight years old. In it, Orpheus attempts to avenge the death of his wife by kidnapping Marina and forcing her to act as the mother of his twins.
It was wonderful, but I regret that no Orpheus story has ever matched its quality.
But in that story—and in every other story in soap operas—evil never wins in the end.
These villains rarely end up in jail, instead escaping town until the next time they’re ready to wreak havoc. But they are soundly defeated each time, and the family works together to resist them and reclaim their loved ones.
If you’re someone who’s been beaten down by the world, or is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, this may seem like an overly optimistic message, but it’s also an important one these days.
America is filled with chaos, hatred, and division right now, and people are scared.
They need stories to convince them that evil is powerless and that good guys always win in the end. They need hope, and soap operas give them hope in a way that no other type of television can provide.
Over to you, soap opera fanatics.
Why do you like soap?
Hit the comments and let us know.
