Is there a market for soap nostalgia?

Marlena proudly presents the work of new contributor Mike Poirier, who knows everything about soaps, particularly the old ones. Here, Mike writes about early soaps, such as Somerset— which Marlena is old enough to remember. He also presents resources on how you can see episodes from some long-gone shows. He has been a valued supporter of Soaps for the Thinking Fan, and I hope you enjoy his work.

By Michael Poirier

If you were watching the soap opera Somerset on Friday, May 24, 1974, you would have witnessed the following exchange between Julian and Eve:

EVE: Oh, Julian …

JULIAN: Share it, Eve. No matter what it is, let me help. (HE TAKES HER HANDS) Please.

EVE: (PAUSE) It … it’s Heather, Julian.

JULIAN: I know.

EVE: Heather’s father …

JULIAN: Go on.

EVE: Ken Lawrence is not Heather’s father, Julian. He couldn’t be. (PAUSE) Heather’s father

is … Mark Mercer.

(JULIAN REACTS, BUT NOT TOTALLY STUNNED. THEN HE PULLS EVE TO HIM AND HOLDS HER, AS IF TO GIVE HER STRENGTH AS SHE CLINGS TO HIM, SPENT.)

FADE OUT

How do I know how it played out? I own the script. If you didn’t see it on that day, it’s likely gone forever, because soaps were almost NEVER rerun and tapes were not saved. Much of soap history, unfortunately, has been the victim of wiping, the technical term for erasing video tape in order to reuse it for future episodes.

A small number of episodes of Somerset exist in archives at places like the Paley Center in New York City. And, thanks to private collectors, another early episode from 1972 is available on YouTube, as well as some short audios from cassette tapes. Luckily, heavyweights Bill Bell, Claire Labine, Dan Curtis, and Betty Corday kept personal episode libraries for their shows, and those libraries remain intact.

RetroTV demonstrated that there is a market for soap nostalgia by digitizing Colgate’s library of The Doctors (1963-82), which thrilled old fans and enthralled new ones. The defunct SoapNet gave us the first seven years of Ryan’s Hope. At the height of the pandemic, while production was suspended, Sony Pictures TV, the production and distribution studio of The Young and the Restless, aired that drama’s first two episodes. When it comes to showing clips from the early years, Days of Our Lives leads the pack in weaving them into anniversary shows.

Procter & Gamble, which was a leader in the soap industry for decades, began archiving its episodes circa 1979, while a few key episodes were kept from the early days. Thanks to Roger Newcomb’s Soap Classics, we got to see a 1973 episode of Guiding Light dealing with Papa Bauer’s funeral, as well as 1979 clips of the As the World Turns episode in which Lisa had a potentially deadly suitor.

Avid soap fans, including Mitch Sandusky, Rob Wargo, Mark Faulkner, Robert Forrester, Tricia Shatney and yours truly, search tirelessly for material thought to be lost. We comb archives, contact cast and crew. In general, we beg, borrow, and, if possible, purchase the gems we locate.

These ongoing efforts have been rewarded with some wonderful finds. They include:

  • Color footage from the taping of an episode of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.
  • The confrontation between Phillip and his real mother, Amy, on All My Children.
  • Susan Keith’s Shana being held captive by the devil-worshipping Keith (played by John O’Hurley) on Loving.
  • Janet and Stu comforting Liza on the day of her not-so-happy wedding on Search for Tomorrow.

Scripts have been recovered describing such moments as:

  • Amy being unable to rescue a drowning Robin on The Secret Storm
  • Viki drinking martinis with her father, Victor, while Larry was fighting with Merrie’s ex-fiancé Ted on the first episode of One Life to Live
  • Chris being confronted about her drinking problem on How to Survive a Marriage
  • College student Sandra carrying the baby of her professor on Bright Promise
  • A note by Bill Bell in the January 9, 1980, Young and the Restless script regarding Brenda Dickson’s amicable departure as Jill. He wrote to the cast and crew, “PLEASE LET’S MAKE THIS A VERY LOVELY MOMENT FOR BRENDA, HER FINAL ONE WITH US. MOVE IN TIGHT ON HER, A FEW TEARS BEGINNING TO TRICKLE DOWN HER CHEEKS, ALL TOO AWARE OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF HER MOTHER’S WORDS. HOLD … AND FADE TO BLACK.” It’s a safe bet that he wouldn’t have offered such a warm sendoff after she came back to the show and, following a handful of stormy years, exited for good in 1987 in an “I quit/You’re fired” departure.

Nostalgia for soaps has a large following. If you check out Facebook or websites, you’ll see thousands of posts from fans talking about their favorite memories; posing questions to actors, writers, and producers; and seeking anecdotes.

One particularly memorable soap actor is Sharon Gabet. Her following from her days as the wonderfully mercurial Raven on Edge of Night (as well as her stints on Another World and One Life to Live) has only grown in the internet age. She is wonderfully responsive to anyone who has a question, and she gives fans wonderful insight from backstage.

Another reason she stands out? She’s proactive in preserving the history of the show with which she is most identified. Sharon and friends have worked hard to find old episodes from the 1970s and ’80s and assemble them online. Some have come from the cast, while others were in the possession of members of the crew. The end result: people who had never seen Edge of Night before have become fans.

Other actors enjoy talking about the golden days of soaps, not only on Facebook but on other venues such as Cameo. Where else could I ask Donna Mills about her role as Laura on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and hear a funny anecdote about a cyclorama (a curved curtain used as background) falling over while her character was “driving” in front of it — and they kept taping. As she said, “I wasn’t The Flying Nun,” but that day she was!

Soap opera journalists like Connie Passalacqua and John Reed also reminisce with fans about the golden age of soaps and the people they knew. Their thought-provoking columns are well-remembered by fans. Tom Lisanti contacted many cast members for his upcoming oral history of Ryan’s Hope, which will be available this fall. Professor Elana Levine scoured different archives to put together her book, Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History. If we’re not able to see old episodes, reading about them is almost as good.

So is there an industry for soap opera nostalgia? Absolutely! Just look at the number of views and likes for videos of Young and Restless’ Brenda Dickson and Jeanne Cooper’s battles or Santa Barbara’s Eden and Cruz’s tortured love story on YouTube. The production companies should continue to digitize their old episodes and release them. The number of retro channels is growing, so there should be a place for them. How many times can we watch Bonanza?!

The Bell family is currently working to release every episode of The Bold and the Beautiful on YouTube. You’ll have to watch a few commercials, but who cares? That’s how we watched soap operas back in the day, and that’s how they’ll earn money to pay for the digitization and uploading. In some cases, there’s a choice: You can watch The Doctors with commercials added or pay for a subscription channel.

My wish list of soaps I’d like to see again? It’s hard to choose, but Capitol would be in the top three, as would One Life to Live. With shows grinding to a halt due to the writers and actors strike, ABC would be wise to start uploading old episodes. Who today wouldn’t love watching the classy Erika Slezak (who played Viki) and her struggles over baby Kevin’s kidnapping or husband Joe’s death?!

Is this correct? Or should it be “on her not-so-happy wedding”? (If not, can we have a word or two on why she needed comforting?)

Speak Your Mind