SOD: Insider's Guide the Secret Life of Soaps from 1988

I was looking through my old soap opera magazines and came upon this particular issue from October 4, 1988 of Soap Opera Digest. While this issue is the regular size, it states it is a special issue as it features those things that make “soaps so unique and so much fun.” I wanted to explore these items and see if they are still prevalent in soaps today. At the end of this entry, I will summarize some of what else is in this particular issue.

1. Trips to the Altar – Well that is something that still takes place on soaps now. Of course, sometimes weddings happen a lot more quickly and are less elaborate than years ago. They have a list of weddings for the 12 soaps that were airing at that time. Yes 12. Weddings that had happened that ended with the nuptials taking plae in that time frame were All My Children’s Erica and Travis, Another World’s Sam and Amanda, As the World Turns’ Lily and Holden, Santa Barbara’s Eden and Cruz and General Hospital’s Anna and Duke among others. They have about 20 different marriages listed.



2. Teases – These are the characters that know they are hot and use their attractiveness to get their way whether or not they put out sexually. The examples given are Ridge from Bold and the Beautiful, Emily from As the World Turns, Paige from Knots Landing and Alan-Michael Spaulding from Guiding Light. What SOD said about Ridge though was hilarious “ Preening at the poolside (frequently with his legs open) this cock of the walk allows himself to be worshipped—by Brooke; by Margo; by his family members. Amused by their need for him, Ridge surrenders only to his physical hunger.” Maybe Blair from OLTL would be a member of this category, but a lot of characters apply.



3. Dim Bulbs – These obviously are the unintelligent/ignorant characters think Brittany on Glee for an extreme current example. Katie from B&B accepting a marriage proposal after she found a note and the ring in her coat pocket even if the guy was dating her sister. Y&R’s Phillip is mentioned as he slept with his girlfriend’s roommate and got her pregnant without remembering any of it. I figure this pregnancy was Nina with Chance.



4. Getting into the Habit – This refers to nuns and nunneries on soaps. The trend is not something that is popular anymore. They reference how OLTL’s Tina went to a nunnery to hide out, AW’s Cass got help from a nun, Ryan’s Hope had Sister Mary Joel and the Sister Sarah story on Santa Barbara.



5. Surgery on the Go – This is talking about people getting medical help in the oddest places with or without the help of a doctor. The examples given are how SB’s Cruz having surgery on his head in an elevator, OLTL’s Viki having a tracheotomy performed by Bo’s imposter on a dining room table, AW’s Amanda delivered a baby in a restaurant and Days Mike Horton removing an appendix at a clinic after transporting Diana on a rowboat through a rainstorm. We still see this one occasionally like characters giving birth in odd places, or a person not wanting to report a gunshot wound so they are taken care of outside the hospital.



6. Ghosts – There have been ghosts stories throughout the years on soaps and not just in the 1980s. On Y&R’s John’s sons are visited by him on occasion. We sometimes have seen OLTL’s Dorian see her late husband Mel. The examples from the 1980s they gave were AMC’s Silver seeing her mother, Margaret’s ghost on ATWT (which in the opinion of the magazine made Dark Shadows look like Edgar Allan Poe, guess they really hated that plot), SB’s Eden and Cruz saw a dead couple, and AW’s Cass saw Nora that made his girlfriend Nicole concerned and OLTL’s Tina saw Maria.



7. Long-Lost Relatives – Well that is one that is still a staple and every show has them. From Sonny being Dante’s father on General Hospital to Melanie being the long lost child of Daniel and Carly on Days, being two relevant examples from today. In 1988, it was Days Shane Donovan and ATWT Tom Hughes that had teenage daughters they never knew. Loving’s Gwen had her son come back as a young man after she gave him up for adoption, and fathers who deserted their families, but returned was another theme.



8. Teens in Crisis – Yes this one we still see. They are social issue stories involving younger characters. Back then it was Days having gangs, GH creating a teen center, and AW with a party line and teen suicide. A party line being a phone service were kids called in and chatted anonymously that has been replaced by the net. The social issues of today are things like pregnancy, bullying and sexually transmitted diseases.



9. Corporate Takeovers – These days there are a lot less of these stories on soaps. While Dorian took over Buchanan Enterprises on OLTL, that story ended quickly with the company being returned to the family. Y&R has more corporate stories, as does B&B. The examples used in this issue were GL’s Phillip taking the company out from under his father Alan, AW’s Mac and the chief who tried to take over Cory Publishing (later revealed to be his own daughter Iris), and Y&R’s Jack and Nikki who tried to defraud Victor who got them at their own game. Considering Victor just stole from Jack again in episodes that aired this week, this little tidbit is kind of amusing. AMC’s war between JR and Caleb is another example of this kind of plot today.



10. Miscarriages – Soaps have these still, but seem to be slightly less prevalent than years past. The magazine lists 13 miscarriages. Some pregnancies ended due to accidents, others due to falls down the stairs, and some were listed as just due to stress. The last miscarriage I recall seeing was Y&R’s Victoria, OLTL’s Stacy had a miscarriage too.



11. Tom Cats – These are men who have a love interest and still are looking for something on the side. B&B’s Clarke, ATWT’s Tonio and JR from Dallas are listed as examples. Perhaps OLTL’s Ford would work well as he was seeing numerous women at the same time.



12. Phony Pregnancies – Women who fake or get pregnant just to keep a man interested. The last one of these was Days Stephanie who ended up owning up to what happened and not being pregnant after all. The 1988 examples were AW’s Vicky who ended up really being pregnant with Jamie’s child, OLTL’s Gabrielle who didn’t succeed in her plot, RH’s Nancy Don who later miscarried and ATWT’s Meg.



13. Boomerangs – These are the soap hoppers, aka the actors who make their living in daytime soaps but in more than one role. The performers they mention include Vincent Irizarry, Mark Pinter, and Matthew Ashford. I mention those three as since the publication of this magazine they all have added even more roles to their daytime resumes.



14. Time Travel – Soaps do this sometimes, but not every year. They mention OLTL’s 1888 story which they did a variation of a couple of years ago to 1968. SB’s Eden and Cruz meeting Eden’s parents in the past, and AMC’s Erica being a coma and living her life back in time.



15. The Family Businesses – I am surprised they broke this out separately as this would fit into the corporate category as well. They mention Alden Enterprises on Loving, Jabot on Y&R, Spaulding Enterprises on GL, Forrester Creations on B&B, Walsh Enterprises on ATWT and Cortlandt Electronics on AMC. On the soaps that are still on the air, these companies are in existence.



16. The Lunatic Fringe – This is the soap psycho category like OLTL’s Eli or Days Vivian. The examples given from the 80s were Knots Landing’s Jill, GH’s Grant, Days’ Harper, Y&R’s Leanna, and SB’s Pamela.



17. Love Quadrangles – More than just triangles these are foursomes tangled up romantically. The 1988 examples are B&B’s Ridge/Brooke/Caroline/Thorne, GL’s Dinah/Harley/Cam/Alan-Michael and ATWT’s Margo/Hal/Tom/Barbara. I don’t think I need to come up with a present day example except to say that on soaps now sometimes they have groups of 5 or 6 characters within such a story.



18. Great Comebacks – these are when people leave and then come back to their old roles. They mention Kin Shriner on GH (who at that point was in his third stint as Scotty—now are we up to 4 or 5…not sure), and Marie Masters from ATWT who was in her third stint as well as Susan. Other people mentioned didn’t leave and come back after that like Bob Woods as Bo on OLTL who came back in 1988 and stayed or Stephen Schnetzer who stayed on AW as Cass until the end though he left for a time in the 1980s.



19. Secrets – These are secrets of the darkest variety that come out eventually. The 1980s examples were Days Jack finding out he was adopted and the man who raised him was a serial killer, SB’s Cruz finding out he was Chip’s father after he had no memory of having sex with Tory, ATWT’s Margo not knowing who the father and leaving town, Falcon Crest’s Richard who had myriad secrets was another. OLTL has all the paternity secrets. GH has the crime ones like Brenda’s past with the Balkan and Dante.



20. Phony Baloney – These are imposter stories which used to have a lot more play on daytime like AW’s Rex making believe he was Cass, GL’s Sonni/Solita, OLTL’s Faux Bo were from the 1980s. With DNA tests and everything else it is harder to fake it. Y&R's Cane did this, but was discovered.



21. Talent on Hold – These are characters that are in limbo and don’t have a story except for talking about other people’s problems. The examples they gave were Y&R’s Jack, Ann on Loving, OLTL’s Larry, GL’s Ross and KL’s Greg. Until recently OLTL’s Viki fell into this category as all she did was listen to people’s problems and occasionally fret.



22. Cavity Girls – These characters are females who are sweet, innocent and annoying. Of course, mileage may vary on this one. The characters they mention at the time were Days Adrienne, RH’s Lizzie, OLTL’s Mari Lynn. The magazine believed these characters are “disgustingly sappy” and hard to watch, as it is unbelievable how they are behaving.



23. Damsels in Distress – They mention how Days and SB have all-star female victim characters. Soaps still have these characters, but nowadays they have less of them on every show.



24. Catfights – GH has them with Carly and assorted females these days. They mention Dynasty’s classic rivalry of Alexis and Krystle, B&B’s Brooke and Stephanie, AMC’s Erica and Natalie and Y&R’s Kay/Jill/Nina. What is amusing to me is until recently Brooke/Stephanie still were rivals and Kay/Jill/Nina get along now but it took years.



25. I’m Not Dead Yet – This refers to characters “dying” and not really dying unless the actor playing the part leaves the program. The irony is the example they gave in 1988 was Jesse’s death on AMC which was undone years later. David returning on AMC is a great example of this one. They mentioned ATWT James Stenbeck, Mason on SB and Falcon Crest’s Richard.



26. Miraculous Recoveries – The 1988 examples are GL’s Johnny Bauer and Days’ Kayla. These happen less often than in the past.



27. Murder, Inc. – This is about organized crime in soaps. GH’s Duke, FC’s The Thirteen and RH’s Donai crime family were the examples given. GH still has mob characters like Sonny and Jason.



28. Family Ties – This is what I like to call keeping it in the family or people who were involved with relatives romantically. They mention B&B and Caroline with Ridge/Thorne, ATWT with Seth, SB’s Kelly and Sophia with the same man and how Julie made her adoptive mother’s life miserable pitting her biological and adoptive fathers against one another.



29. Social issues – The two listed were AIDS and Vietnam. These days we have other issues, but in the 1980s those were the big ones.

The magazine features articles with Rosemary Prinz from Ryan’s Hope and earlier ATWT, ATWT’s Neil Maffin (Beau), a review of OLTL by Christopher Schemering that show his displeasure with the program at that time, photos of Patch and Kayla’s shipboard wedding on Days, an interview with Santa Barbara’s prop master and romance survey results. The normal features of the time like summaries, asking SOD questions, reader mail, roundup, cartoons and news/trivia are all in place. One of the cartoons had the following text “I am not a soap opera fanatic, and to prove it, I’ll miss today’s show to take Bo, Path and Dakota for a romp in the park.” Of course, the joke is she named her pets soap names. The romance survey asked questions of readers about their feelings about relationships. Five respondents got $100 each for their remarks. Questions asked included things like do you get ideas how to conduct romances from soaps, have you had to deal with a problem a soap character has had, and do you think you handle your romances better than those on soaps. The couples that got kudos from readers for being the most romantic were SB’s Cruz/Eden who got 30%, Days Patch/Kayla who got 20%, 16% went to ATWT Bob and Kim, and 15% went to OLTL’s Clint and Viki.

While soaps aren’t the same as they used to be, many of the elements of the past are still prevalent on the shows today. This SOD issue is interesting and I appreciate how the cover had pictures from three different soaps representing each of the networks: Days Kim and Nick, OLTL’s Max, Tina and Cord and GL’s Josh and Sonni. I wonder what elements of soaps today would be chosen if SOD did a feature like this in their magazine in 2010.