Soap Operas first started running in the US in the 1930s. They get their names from the soap companies that used to advertise in the breaks of the then radio shows. Before that time, they were known as serial broadcast drama then the 'soap' nickname stuck.
The audience of soap operas is 'assumed by programme makers, advertisers, and those producing the attendant publicity material, to be a largely female one', Media Studies: The Essential Resource, Philip Rayner, Peter Wall and Stephen Kruger, Routledge 2004.
A reason for this largely female audience is that, when soap operas were originally played on the radio, it would be during the middle of the day; when housewives could listen whilst carrying out the daily chores. 'Soap operas convince women that the highest goal is to see their families united and happy', Media Studies, a reader, Paul Marris & Sue Thornham, Edinburgh 1999.
Soap operas always have an open narrative. This is what is unique about them and what gives them their 'soap' status. Coronation Street, for example, has been on television for over 50 years; making it the longest running television soap in the world. However the longest running soap is 'The Archers' which is still running on it's original radio station, from 60 years ago, to this day. If they had closed narratives, they would no longer be a soap, they would be an ordinary TV drama.
Within soap operas there are usually 4-5 storylines in progress during each episode. This creates a verisimilitude scenario to everyday life. These storylines 'make families seem important not by presenting an ideal family, but by presenting a family in constant turmoil.' Media Studies, a reader, Paul Marris & Sue Thornham, Edinburgh 1999.
-Lauren Tween & Amy Bowman
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