Early on in this book, Mr. Javna states that he won’t be writing about soaps, as he wasn’t interested in them, though he admits that they fall into the category. He does have sections on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Dark Shadows, Upstairs Downstairs, Dallas and Dynasty, which IMO are all soap operas. He separates the book into sections: Cult Classics (shows like I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver), Lost Cults (shows that were popular in their time but lost favor quickly like Happy Days and Davy Crockett), Underground Cults (shows that were under the radar fandom wise, like Hawaii Five-0, Fawlty Towers to name two), Prime Time Cults (shows that were popular when the book was published like Miami Vice and the A-Team), and Future Cults (things he thought would eventually develop followings like V). For the sake of the book, he focused upon shows that were available in reruns or on video. In the book there is a bibliography of interesting books from that time and earlier, fan club listings, magazines, photos, and which shows were available on videotape.
One of my favorite comments in this book from 25 years ago is part of the dedication: “At some point in the near future, historians will recognize that TV has become the center of our culture—and they’ll want details about it. Today’s fanatics are tomorrow’s archivists…” While I’m not sure I like the term fanatic, I think what he says speaks to what exists today within fandom online.
The book has a lot of trivia in it and is sort of done in a comic book style. It isn’t written as boring text, and has many pictures of memorabilia, bullet points and such. In some ways, it reminds me of the soap magazines that were published by Sterling years ago.
The part of the book I am going to explore here in brief is the anatomy of cult TV section. He talks about how people would react on hearing about the book topic. Mr. Javna states that, “almost any program is a cult show to someone.” The italics are his. The only “sure things” he discovered from talking to people were the following: some shows everyone sees as cults like Star Trek, there are different kinds of “cult fans” and “each cult group seems to know about a specific batch of shows and is either ignorant of or disdainful of most others”, some shows exist that have no “public display about them, but they’re quietly important to people”, “TV cultists have eclectic tastes. The nature of Cult TV is pretty personal to begin with…” Reading all of these I only really disagree with the disdainful part. It is extremely difficult to have knowledge about every genre of television, and while I have my blind spots, I am not really disdainful of anything I know nothing about. I do fall into the eclectic taste thing as if I were to list my favorite programs of all time it would include comedies, dramas, science fiction and soaps.
He then goes into his answer to the question and what he believes makes a cult show. In Mr. Javna’s opinion, cult programming “only a few have meant something really special to a wide audience.” They are “…more than entertainment to their fans. They’re emotional experiences.” Okay, in my mind that’s the definition of soaps at their best. He writes further “maybe there’s something about the star(s) that they love; maybe it’s a producer/creator’s point of view; maybe it’s the symbolism; maybe the setting or the pace. But whatever it is, the attraction is deep.” He says that if a show has conventions, fanzines and fan events, it is easier to see but not needed. That’s true, as you can be passionate about something and not have be involved in any of those kinds of groups.
Mr. Javna also asked what makes a cult show. Here were some of the answers he got:
- Partnerships
- Great Ensemble Acting
- Best Examples of a Genre
- Cult Heroes
- Satire
- Superior Writing and Production
I find that list interesting. What do soaps have couples, close friendships, ensemble acting, heroes (but villains too), satire (at times) and writing at least when people fell for their particular shows even if they are unhappy with them today.
With soap operas being cancelled and ratings falling apart, I wonder if soaps will some day become a lost cult. I hope not as I believe they should live on with those who spent many an afternoon watching them.
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