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Some facts about soap operas
Soap operas started on US radio in the 1920s and then moved into television in the 1940s.
In the USA in the 1940s, 90% of day-time programmes were soap operas.
The name ‘soap opera’ comes from the ads that they often broadcast during soaps – ads for washing products and other things you needed to clean your home. The programme makers thought that the people who watched soap operas were women working at home.
In soap operas, the story never ends at the end of an episode. It always continues in the next episode.
Most soaps follow a group of characters who live or work in one special place. They follow the day-to-day lives of these characters, who are like us, ordinary people – except that soap opera characters are usually more handsome, beautiful and rich.
Most soap operas are about love and relationships.
The US soap opera The Guiding Light started in 1937 and still continues. There are many ‘old’ soaps in other countries too.
In the 1980s, magazines about the soaps started.
Also in the 1980s, Australian and Brazilian soaps became very popular around the world.
Soaps are the most popular kind of television drama in the world today.
1 They first broadcast soaps on TV. True / False
2 Soaps began about 90 years ago. True / False
3 Soaps were not very popular in the USA in the 1940s. True / False
4 These programmes are called ‘soaps’ because the stories
showed soap and other house-cleaning products. True / False
5 The stories in soaps begin in one episode and finish in the next. True / False
6 In most soaps, action usually happens in one town or place. True / False
7 The people in soaps are the same as ordinary people. True / False
8 Some soap operas are more than 50 years old. True / False
9 There are magazines about the characters and stories in the soaps. True / False
10 US programmes are the only popular soaps around the world today. True / False
1) False
2) True
3) False
4) True
5) False
6) True
7) False
8) True
9) True
10) False