It has been my privilege over the last 40 years to cover the daytime drama industry. For many of those years, soap creators and head writers used the medium not just to entertain but to deal with important social issues—in other words to encourage viewers to think. In the late ’80s, the AIDS epidemic hit the soap scene hard. Many members of the … [Read more...]

In 1989 when the real world was still paying attention to soaps, TV Guide asked me to do a cover story called “The Joys of Summer.” My mother, who had kept every issue of the magazine since its debut — just as George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) did on Seinfeld — kept a copy of that particular issue on top of her TV for the rest of her … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

When people meet me for the first time, they invariably ask me two questions: 1) You have an unusual last name. How do you pronounce it?  (I say, “Pass-a-lac-qua. Yes, it’s Italian, and it means “over the water.”) 2) You do WHAT for a living??? Yes, I am proud I have been a soap opera journalist for … oh my, 40 years now. Like many of my … [Read more...]