Soap opera

A soap opera is a television or radio program that airs in episodic series. This means that each episode continues telling a story, which, in turn, tells more of the last episode's story. A single story on a soap opera can be told for weeks, months, or sometimes even years.

In America, each soap opera airs every day, Monday through Friday, in the afternoon. Because they air at this time, they are sometimes called daytime serials. In the U.K. and other countries, the soap operas air in the evening, twice or three times a week.

This is a list of soap operas that air in America, in their current order of popularity:

The Young and the Restless
The Bold and the Beautiful
General Hospital
Supernatural
Lost
Days of Our Lives
All My Children
As the World Turns
One Life to Live
Guiding Light
Passions

There are still two soap operas that air in Australia, Network Ten's Neighbours and the Seven Network's Home and Away. Strangely, Neighbours is more popular in England than it is in Australia.

In the U.K., the most popular soap operas are Coronation Street and EastEnders, which have been running since 1960 and 1985 respectively. Coronation Street is about people who live in Manchester, in the northern part of England. EastEnders is about people who live in an imaginary place called Walford in East London with most of the action taking place in Albert Square. Another popular soap opera is Emmerdale which began in 1972, and it is about people who live in a small village in Yorkshire, also in the northern part of England. In the 1970s, Crossroads became the most watched soap in England. It was shown from 1964 to 1988 and again from 2001 to 2003.

In Latin America (including Brazil), Spain, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (like Angola), soap operas are called telenovelas, and usually run for a limited time.

Related pages
Dorama 
Serial
Radio drama
Playwright
Theatre

 References 


Category:Television genres