Soapnet was an American basic cable network owned by the Disney–ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company .
169-414: The network's programming was oriented towards the soap opera genre; on launch, Soapnet carried primetime encores of ABC's current soaps, as well as reruns of classic daytime and primetime soap opera series. Soapnet also broadcast programming related to soap operas, including news and behind-the-scenes programs. In later years, Soapnet increased its focus on acquired reruns of drama series. Due in part to
338-403: A Dynasty prequel feature film script set in the 1960s, and were shopping it to studios for a possible film franchise. In a September 2011 interview, Dynasty actress Joan Collins chatted about a Dynasty television revival: "I've been in constant contact with Esther Shapiro, who wrote it, and apparently they've written a script." In September 2016, it was announced that a Dynasty reboot
507-601: A 40-year-plus run, were cancelled in 2011. All My Children aired its network finale in September 2011, with One Life to Live following suit in January 2012. Both All My Children and One Life to Live were briefly revived online in 2013, before being cancelled again that same year. In 2019, production of Days of Our Lives was put on "indefinite hiatus" and all of the cast's contracts were terminated, raising concerns within soap publications that cancellation would ensue, though
676-646: A 72-year run (including radio). As the World Turns aired its final episode on September 17, 2010, after a 54-year run. As the World Turns was the last of 20 soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble, the soap and consumer goods company from which the genre got its name. As the World Turns and Guiding Light were also among the last of the soaps that originated from New York City. All My Children , another New York–based soap, moved its production out to Los Angeles in an effort to reduce costs and raise sagging ratings; however, both it and One Life to Live , each with
845-595: A Drama Series . Evans and Collins were each nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Evans in 1983, and Collins in 1984); both actresses lost to Tyne Daly for her work on the CBS police drama series Cagney and Lacey . Dynasty was also an award winner at the People's Choice Awards . Evans won Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program in 1982, and Favorite Female TV Performer in 1983. In 1984, she won Favorite Female TV Performer, and
1014-476: A brief period before its characters were flattened into the caricatures that came to define the prime-time soap genre thanks to "ratings pressures and the introduction of diva Joan Collins...[which] put an end to challenging story lines". The first season of Dynasty was "modestly popular" among viewers, ranking #28 with a 19.0 Nielsen rating , while #1 series Dallas achieved a 31.8 rating that season. ABC reran season one in summer 1981 at 10:00 PM on Wednesdays,
1183-570: A catfight in a koi pond, it would be inappropriate for Joan to smack Linda with a koi." As Dynasty begins, powerful oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) is about to marry the younger Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans), his former secretary. Beautiful, earnest, and new to Blake's world, Krystle finds a hostile reception in the Carrington household—the staff patronizes her, and Blake's headstrong and promiscuous daughter Fallon ( Pamela Sue Martin ) resents her. Though devoted to Krystle, Blake himself
1352-537: A clean slate, Alexis finds herself softening to Blake but ultimately tells him the truth as he reunites with Krystle. Krystina receives a heart transplant but is later temporarily kidnapped by Sarah Curtis ( Cassie Yates ), the mother of the dead girl from whom Krystina received her new heart; Sammy Jo's marriage to Clay crumbles and she falls into bed with Steven; Amanda leaves town; and Ben's daughter Leslie ( Terri Garber ) arrives. Adam's season-long romance with Blake's secretary Dana Waring ( Leann Hunley ) culminates in
1521-621: A dead body, but hey, even if you do, he or she can always come back to play the evil identical twin. Romance , secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels . Soap opera storylines weave intricate, convoluted and sometimes confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on
1690-457: A derogatory term for low-budget Westerns. According to some dictionaries, for something to be adequately described as a "soap opera", it doesn't need to be long-running. , but some authors define the word in a way that excludes short-running serial dramas from their definition of "soap opera". BBC Radio 's The Archers , first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera. The longest-running existing television soap
1859-456: A false accusation of illegal weapons dealings orchestrated by Alexis to ruin Blake's financial empire. In the season finale, Fallon disappears just before her second wedding to Jeff (now divorced from Kirby) as her car seemingly collides with a truck on a stormy night (to accommodate the departure of Pamela Sue Martin from the series), while Alexis is arrested for the murder of Mark Jennings. Driven by
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#17330932672832028-463: A fixture of American daytime television in the early 1950s, joined by game shows , sitcom reruns and talk shows. In 1988, H. Wesley Kenney , who at the time served as the executive producer of General Hospital , said to The New York Times : I think people like stories that continue so they can relate to these people. They become like a family, and the viewer becomes emotionally involved. There seem to be two attitudes by viewers. One, that
2197-420: A gay male version of Sammy Jo; Alan Dale as Carrington majordomo Anders ; Nick Wechsler as Matthew Blaisdel ; Brianna Brown as Claudia; Wakeema Hollis as Jeff's sister Monica Colby ; Maddison Brown as Kirby, Sam Underwood as Adam; and Michael Michele as Dominique. Nathalie Kelley initially appears as Cristal in season one, but is replaced with Ana Brenda Contreras in season two, who
2366-452: A general decline in the soap opera genre as a whole, and the growing adoption of digital video recorders , cable/satellite video on demand , and streaming video options making its primetime soap encores increasingly unnecessary on a traditional linear network, Disney announced in 2010 that Soapnet would be replaced by the new preschool-oriented network Disney Junior , which launched on March 23, 2012. While some providers removed Soapnet upon
2535-444: A gunshot settles Alexis as Krystle's implacable nemesis. Other new characters of the season are the psychiatrist Nick Toscanni ( James Farentino ), who tries to seduce Krystle while bedding Fallon and plotting against Blake; and Krystle's greedy niece Sammy Jo Dean ( Heather Locklear ), who marries Steven for his money. The season finale sees Blake left for dead on a mountain after a fight with Nick. By that time, Dynasty had entered
2704-473: A litany of production decisions has been cited by soap opera fans as contributing to the genre's decline, such as clichéd plots, a lack of diversity that narrowed audience appeal, and the elimination of core families. Dynasty (1981 TV series) Dynasty is an American prime time soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981, to May 11, 1989. The series, created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling , revolves around
2873-485: A luxury of space that makes them seem more naturalistic; indeed, the economics of the form demand long scenes, and conversations that a 22-episodes-per-season weekly series might dispense with in half a dozen lines of dialogue may be drawn out, as here, for pages. You spend more time even with the minor characters; the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of
3042-432: A married couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press at large. The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre is Painted Dreams , which premiered on WGN radio Chicago, on October 20, 1930. It was regularly broadcast in a daytime time slot, where most listeners would be housewives; thus,
3211-550: A matter of hours, negated the further need for a linear channel devoted to the genre. Disney–ABC Television Group head Anne Sweeney solicited concepts for a new network to replace Soapnet. The ABC Daytime division pitched two concepts for a women-focused network, including "Carrie" (named after Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City )—a "hip and cool" channel, and "Disney Moms"—which focused on "[programs] moms would want to watch and their families would watch with them". They competed with
3380-882: A new cast premiered on The CW in October 2017. Dynasty was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama every year from 1981 to 1986, winning in 1984. The series spawned a successful line of fashion and luxury products, and also a spin-off series called The Colbys . Other notable cast members included Pamela Sue Martin , Lloyd Bochner , Heather Locklear , Catherine Oxenberg , Michael Nader , Diahann Carroll , Emma Samms , Rock Hudson , Kate O'Mara , and Stephanie Beacham . Aaron Spelling, already well known for his successful ABC series, including Starsky & Hutch , Charlie's Angels , The Love Boat , Fantasy Island , Vega$ and Hart to Hart , took on Richard and Esther Shapiro's vision of
3549-502: A new wide-ranging multi-year carriage agreement with Disney for its various broadcast and cable channels, which included the addition of Disney Junior. In April 2013, Soapnet lost the rights to same-day broadcasts of The Young and the Restless to TVGN (which CBS Corporation , owner of the show's originating broadcaster CBS , had acquired a 50% ownership stake in the previous month), effective July 1. TVGN eventually picked up The Bold and
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#17330932672833718-515: A number of soap actors were also accomplished stage actors who performed live theater during breaks from their soap roles. In the 1960s and 1970s, new serials such as General Hospital , Days of our Lives , and The Young and the Restless were produced in Los Angeles . Their success made the West Coast a viable alternative to New York-produced soap operas, which were becoming more costly to perform. By
3887-425: A particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. "Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as 'chance happenings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings.'" These elements may be found across
4056-472: A proposal by Disney Channels Worldwide for a network devoted to preschool programming. Much to the dismay of the ABC Daytime staff, Sweeney would choose Disney Channel's proposal. On May 26, 2010, Disney Junior was officially announced as Disney Channels Worldwide's new preschool television brand. Replacing Playhouse Disney , Disney Junior would launch as a block on Disney Channel on February 14, 2011, and
4225-521: A radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble , Guiding Light was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 to 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as 15-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, As
4394-575: A ravine together into a puddle of mud, before having their final showdown brawl in a fashion studio in the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion . Later in the series, Alexis also has a catfight with Blake's half-sister Dominque ( Diahann Carroll ), and then her own cousin Sable ( Stephanie Beacham ). She even has a brawl with her on-again, off-again lover and one-time husband, Dex ( Michael Nader ). Krystle's niece Sammy Jo ( Heather Locklear ) also has her fair share of catfights, as she first engages in
4563-457: A rich and powerful family who "lived and sinned" in a 48-room Denver mansion. Esther Shapiro said that an inspiration for the show was I, Claudius , a fictionalized depiction of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors . Shapiro said in 1985, "We wanted to do something that would be fun, an American fantasy. We thought people had seen enough stories where families fell apart. We wanted
4732-510: A series of daily prime time soaps from 2006 to 2007, which aired on newly created sister network MyNetworkTV , but the experiment was largely a failure after disappointing ratings). Due to the masses of episodes produced for a series, release of soap operas to DVD (a popular venue for distribution of current and vintage television series) is considered impractical. With the exception of occasional specials, daytime soap operas are notable by their absence from DVD release schedules (an exception being
4901-520: A short time from 1979 to 1980). More than half of the serials had expanded to one-hour episodes by 1980. As of 2012, three of the four U.S. serials air one-hour episodes each weekday; only The Bold and the Beautiful airs 30-minute episodes. Soap operas were originally broadcast live from the studio, creating what many at the time regarded as a feeling similar to that of a stage play. As nearly all soap operas were originated at that time from New York City ,
5070-563: A short time in December 2012 before being quickly dropped due to negative viewer reaction. During the course of its lifetime, the channel occasionally aired past episodes in thematic format, such as Daytime's Most Unforgettable Weddings , spotlighting the best episodes of popular couples on ABC's soaps. Other thematic episode blocks included the "Sonnylicious!" marathon, featuring select episodes highlighting Maurice Benard 's best performances as his General Hospital character Sonny Corinthos , and
5239-477: A single missing episode) was rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 1990s. After The Edge of Night 's 1984 cancellation, reruns of the show's final five years were shown late nights on USA Network from 1985 to 1989. On January 20, 2000, a digital cable and satellite network dedicated to the genre, Soapnet , began re-airing soaps that originally aired on ABC, NBC and CBS. Newer broadcast networks since
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5408-606: A slap fight with Claudia ( Pamela Bellwood ) before taking on Amanda ( Catherine Oxenberg ) in a brawl in a swimming pool. Sammy Jo later fights Fallon ( Emma Samms ) in a horse trough and the mud around it. Evans even battles with herself at the climax of a 1985–1986 storyline in which Krystle is imprisoned and replaced by a lookalike named Rita (also played by Evans); Krystle ends up battling Rita in order to escape. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly termed Alexis and Krystle's catfights "the gold standard of scratching and clawing." The so-called "Moldavian Massacre" occurred during
5577-462: A soap opera will generally switch between several concurrent narrative threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent to each other. Episodes may feature some of the show's storylines, but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are broadcast each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of
5746-523: A strong, nineteenth-century sort of family where people were in conflict but loved each other in spite of everything." Intended by ABC to be a competitor for CBS's Dallas , the working title for Dynasty was Oil . Initially, the two main families featured in the series were known as the Parkhursts and Corbys. By the time production began, they had been renamed the Carringtons and Colbys. George Peppard
5915-436: A three-hour event on January 12, 1981. During its run, Dynasty explored issues such as rape, homosexuality, and racial integration , and put middle-aged women in the forefront. Acknowledging that the show is, however, primarily entertaining, producer Douglas S. Cramer said, "We walk a fine line, just this side of camp. Careful calculations are made. We sense that while it might be wonderful for Krystle and Alexis to have
6084-407: A trophy to her father. She channels her energies into toying with various male suitors, including the Carrington chauffeur Michael Culhane ( Wayne Northrop ). At the end of the three-hour premiere episode " Oil ", Steven finally confronts his father, criticizing Blake's capitalistic values and seemingly amoral business practices. Blake explodes, revealing the secret of which Steven thought his father
6253-614: A wedding, which is punctuated in the May 6, 1987, season finale by Alexis's car plunging off a bridge into a river and the violent return of a vengeful Matthew Blaisdel. Although the first episode of season seven premiered with a high Nielsen rating of a 20.1, the competition with Magnum, P.I. , now in the same time slot, and the constant storyline changes led to Dynasty falling out of the top 20 to No. 25. With The Colbys cancelled, Jeff and Fallon return for Dynasty 's eighth season, their marriage falling apart again. Matthew, returned from
6422-401: A week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely conclude all their storylines at the same time. When one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development . Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger , and the season finale (if a soap incorporates a break between seasons) ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for
6591-492: Is Coronation Street , which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960. According to Albert Moran, one of the defining features that make a television program a soap opera is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode". In 2012, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Lloyd wrote of daily dramas: Although melodramatically eventful, soap operas such as this also have
6760-469: Is in crisis after the birth of their daughter Krystina , Dominique struggles to be accepted as a Carrington and loses her husband Brady Lloyd ( Billy Dee Williams ) in the process, and Sammy Jo discovers she is the heiress to a huge fortune. At the end of the season, an amnesiac Fallon (now portrayed by actress Emma Samms ) reappears while the rest of the family go to Europe for the wedding of Amanda and Prince Michael of Moldavia ( Michael Praed ). During
6929-519: Is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the actor with the longest uninterrupted performance in a single role. A number of performers played roles for 20 years or longer, occasionally on more than one show. Rachel Ames played Audrey Hardy on both General Hospital and Port Charles from 1964 until 2007, and returned in 2009. Susan Lucci played Erica Kane in All My Children from
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7098-598: Is not scheduled or because of last-minute deferrals of scheduled episodes to the following day because of breaking news coverage. ( Temporary production stoppages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic similarly resulted in CBS and ABC airing older reruns of The Young and the Restless , The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital during the Spring and Summer of 2020 in order to ration first-run episodes and, eventually, to fill airtime after
7267-424: Is not uncommon for a single character to be played by multiple actors. The key character of Mike Karr on The Edge of Night was played by three actors. Conversely, several actors have remained playing the same character for many years, or decades even. Helen Wagner played Hughes family matriarch Nancy Hughes on American soap As the World Turns from its April 2, 1956, debut through her death in May 2010. She
7436-427: Is owned in part by Disney through A&E Networks ). Soap opera A soap opera , daytime drama , or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial , frequently characterized by melodrama , ensemble casts , and sentimentality . The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by " horse opera ",
7605-506: Is short-lived, and the pursuit of children unravels Adam and Dana's marriage. Sean begins to manipulate and destroy the Carringtons from the inside, and he fights Dex to the death in the March 30, 1988 season finale. Blake, who failed being elected as governor of Colorado, comes home to find Krystle missing and their bedroom in shambles. For the first time since its debut, the show had dropped out of
7774-457: Is too preoccupied with his company, Denver-Carrington, and blind to Krystle's predicament. Her only ally is her stepson Steven ( Al Corley ), whose complicated relationship with Blake stems from their fundamental political differences and Steven's reluctance to step into his role as future leader of the Carrington empire. Meanwhile, Fallon, better suited to follow in Blake's footsteps, is (as a woman) underestimated by and considered little more than
7943-428: The 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards , the channel showed episodes of soaps that showcased performances that garnered award-nominating attention – including those from Guiding Light and As the World Turns – a first for the channel. Also, during its 13-year existence, the channel aired marathons of its acquired programs; such as on September 3, 2007, when it aired a marathon of The O.C. called "Summer Spice", showcasting
8112-458: The Carringtons , a wealthy family residing in Denver . Dynasty stars John Forsythe as oil magnate Blake Carrington , Linda Evans as his new wife Krystle , and later Joan Collins as his former wife Alexis . Dynasty was conceived by ABC to compete with CBS 's prime time series Dallas . Ratings for the show's first season were unimpressive, but a revamp for the second season that included
8281-487: The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (James in 1985, and Thomson in 1987). The series was nominated for 24 Emmy Awards over the course of its run, but only won once, for Outstanding Costumes for a Series in 1984. The show was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1982. From 1982 to 1984, Forsythe received three consecutive nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in
8450-628: The Sony-owned/produced NBC soap Days of Our Lives . The plans for the SoapCity cable channel were abandoned early in 2000 after Sony failed to secure cable carriage, though the website component remained. Soapnet's inaugural lineup aired current soaps such as All My Children , One Life to Live , General Hospital and Port Charles , along with canceled daytime and nighttime soaps such as Falcon Crest , Knots Landing , The Colbys , Hotel , Sisters , and Ryan's Hope . As
8619-475: The evil variety ) of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency. As in comic books – another popular form of linear storytelling pioneered in the US during the 20th century – a character's death is not guaranteed to be permanent . On The Bold and
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#17330932672838788-454: The spin-off series The Colbys . Spurned by Blake, Alexis finds his estranged brother Ben ( Christopher Cazenove ) and the duo successfully plot to strip Blake of his fortune. Steven's budding relationship with the closeted Bart Fallmont ( Kevin Conroy ) is ruined by Adam's business-motivated public revelation that Bart is gay. Amanda, who has divorced Prince Michael, fights with Sammy Jo for
8957-499: The "Tad the Cad" marathon, with classic 1980s episodes of All My Children involving the Michael E. Knight character of Tad Martin 's romantic trysts with Liza Colby and her mother, Marian . These kinds of marathons were usually limited to series to which Soapnet had the rebroadcast rights (ABC's soaps, Days of our Lives and previously, The Young and the Restless ). However, in a lead-up to
9126-542: The 1970s, became one of the first older women on the American serials to enter the workforce. Guiding Light dealt with Bert Bauer ( Charita Bauer ) and her alcoholic husband Bill, and their endless marital troubles. When Bert's status shifted to caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were showcased. Search for Tomorrow mostly told its story through the eyes of Joanne Gardner ( Mary Stuart ). Even when stories revolved around other characters, Joanne
9295-455: The 1990s and 2000s incorporated supernatural and science fiction elements into their storylines in an attempt to boost their ratings. One of the main characters on the earlier soap opera Dark Shadows was Barnabas Collins , a vampire, and One Life to Live featured an angel named Virgil. Both shows featured characters who traveled to and from the past. In 1995, Days of our Lives featured a storyline in which fan favorite character Marlena Evans
9464-765: The 2006–07 season. After airing the CBC Television series MVP (which was canceled by the CBC due to low ratings) in 2008, Soapnet also acquired the rights for the American broadcast of the Canadian dramedy Being Erica (which began in January of that year on the CBC) beginning in February 2009. According to Nielsen Media Research , Soapnet was available to 75,259,000 cable and satellite subscribers in December 2010, an increase of 4 million subscribers from May 2009. Due to declining viewership in
9633-592: The Beautiful after Soapnet ended, a soap never carried by the network, and both are now carried in high definition on Pop's HD simulcast network, along with eventually, Days of Our Lives . In November 2013, Disney announced that Soapnet would shut down on December 31, 2013, after 13 years of soapy drama. The network's impending discontinuation had been previously reported by several cable providers, including AT&T U-verse , Comcast , Charter and Cox , among others. Soapnet quietly went dark shortly before midnight ET on January 1, 2014, without ceremony. Prior to
9802-592: The Beautiful , Taylor Hayes ( Hunter Tylo ) was shown to flatline and have a funeral. Once Tylo reprised her character in 2005, a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma. Stunts and complex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place off-screen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict without complex movements, multiple takes, and post-production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post-production work
9971-497: The Fox primetime soap Pasadena , including nine episodes that were not aired during the show's initial run. On March 16, 2006, Soapnet announced that it had acquired the rights to broadcast same-day episodes of The Young and the Restless , which began airing on Soapnet on April 24, 2006 – making it the first CBS network soap to air on the channel. Since the channel was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, it also broadcast events from
10140-522: The May 15, 1985 fifth-season finale. Amanda and Prince Michael's royal wedding is interrupted by terrorists during a military coup in Moldavia, riddling the chapel with bullets and leaving all of the major characters lying seemingly lifeless. Esther Shapiro later said, "It was a fairy-tale terrorist attack. It was beautifully shot, like a Goya painting." It was watched by an audience of 25.9 million. In 2011, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly named it one of
10309-558: The Nielsen ratings. The Pollocks "soft-pedaled the business angle" of the show and "bombarded viewers with every soap opera staple in the book, presented at such a fast clip that a new tragedy seemed to befall the Carrington family every five minutes." Alexis's testimony notwithstanding, Krystle is immediately put off by the former Mrs. Carrington's condescending attitude and manipulations; Krystle's subsequent discovery that Alexis had caused her miscarriage by intentionally startling her horse with
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#173309326728310478-495: The Restless were retained, with repeats of ABC Family programming and reruns of Veronica Mars being added to the schedule. The rights to Veronica Mars were transferred to Pivot when that network launched in August 2013. A 1-hour two-week Live Well Network block was broadcast on Soapnet weeknights from 11 PM to 12 AM (ET/PT) starting on July 30, 2012 through Friday, August 10, 2012. On January 15, 2013, AT&T U-verse reached
10647-464: The Top 20. Esther Shapiro lamented in the season one DVD commentary, "Had the series been left to us, and been a less huge hit, I think we would have seen these characters realized pretty much the way they are [in season one]. When Alexis came into it, it changed the tenor...And that's the way they are now on television: you have your traditional villain, and I think that plays to a different denominator." In
10816-399: The U.S. since the 2000s. As of September 2022, only four daytime soap operas – General Hospital , Days of Our Lives , The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful – are still in production with three airing on two broadcast networks and one on streaming, down from a total of 12 soaps broadcast during the 1990–91 season and a high of 19 in the 1969–70 season. This marks
10985-407: The World Turns and The Edge of Night , both produced by Procter & Gamble Productions , debuted as the first half-hour soap operas on the CBS television network. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s, most soap operas had expanded to an hour in length by the end of the decade ( Another World even expanded to 90 minutes for
11154-457: The annual ABC Super Soap Weekend , which was held every November at Walt Disney World , and each summer at Disney's California Adventure until the event was discontinued in 2010. Soap Talk hosts Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway served as hosts for question and answer sessions at the events, allowing fans to ask questions to their favorite soap stars. Some viewers complained about what they viewed as an overabundance of prime-time programming on
11323-505: The arrival of Collins as scheming Alexis saw ratings enter the top 20. By the fall of 1982, it was a top 10 show, and by the spring of 1985, it was the #1 show in the United States. The series declined considerably in popularity during its final three seasons, and it was ultimately cancelled in the spring of 1989 after nine seasons and 220 episodes. A two-part miniseries , Dynasty: The Reunion , aired in October 1991. A reboot series with
11492-561: The award Favorite Nighttime Dramatic Serial. Dynasty won Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1984 and 1985 for Outstanding Primetime Soap. In 1984 Forsythe, Evans and Collins won the awards for Outstanding Lead Actor, Actress and Villainess. John Forsythe won another award for Outstanding Actor in a Mature Role. Evans and Collins won the awards in the same categories in 1985, while Catherine Oxenberg won two awards, for Outstanding Supporting Actress and Outstanding Female Newcomer. A spin-off, The Colbys , debuted in 1985, as Fallon "returned from
11661-401: The cast and crew ventured to Jamaica to tape a love consummation storyline between the characters of Garth and Kathy. During the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the evening drama series that were gaining high ratings, daytime serials began to incorporate action and adventure storylines, more big-business intrigue, and an increased emphasis on youthful romance. One of the most popular couples
11830-433: The cast and storylines are rotated across the week's episodes so that each cast member will appear in some but not all episodes. UK and Australian soap operas move through storylines at a faster rate than daytime serials, making them closer to U.S. evening soap operas in this regard. American daytime soap operas feature stylistic elements that set them apart from other shows: Soap opera ratings have significantly fallen in
11999-423: The cast members, including John Forsythe , Joan Collins , John James , Heather Locklear and Emma Samms agreed to reprise their roles in early 1991. It was unknown during pre-production which characters the reunion film would include. Linda Evans was brought back last-minute, just before the final script was penned, as was Kathleen Beller . Jack Coleman , who had played Steven Carrington from 1982 to 1988,
12168-406: The cast's memories of the show, both on and off-screen; a collection of gowns worn by the female characters; as well as members of the cast participating in several cooking, craft and fashion segments. The reunion episode also featured a new opening of the show's iconic theme song, which included Home & Family hosts Mark Steines and Christina Ferrare . Linda Evans did not participate on-air in
12337-495: The channel added highly requested programming such as reruns of Another World and Dallas ; replacing Falcon Crest , The Colbys , Hotel , and Sisters . In 2004, Soapnet acquired the rights to broadcast Days of Our Lives episodes on a same-day basis. The channel also aired the 1975 to 1981 episodes of Ryan's Hope , which had not been seen on television since its 1989 cancellation by ABC. At that time, many viewers who did not have Soapnet at its inception petitioned to have
12506-525: The channel broadcast the show from the very beginning. In 2003, the channel aired the first episodes starting on St. Patrick's Day . In 2004, Soapnet acquired reruns of the short-lived 1980s soap Paper Dolls . In January 2005, the channel began airing reruns of the Fox dramas Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place ; this was followed that spring with the addition of repeats of short-lived nighttime soaps The Monroes and Skin . In July 2005, it picked up
12675-424: The channel with then- ABC Daytime president Brian Frons assuming her duties. In August 2008, it was revealed that Soapnet had lost the broadcast rights for both Dallas and Melrose Place ; both shows left the schedule that September. In 2009, the channel started to further expand its acquired programming; and began airing Greg Behrendt's Wake Up Call , a program that was originally set to air on ABC during
12844-520: The channel's promos, instead only advertising their telecasts on Soapnet. The channel also aired primetime drama series such as One Tree Hill , Gilmore Girls and Beverly Hills, 90210 each weekday during the late morning and afternoon hours, and as part of the "Breakfast in Bed" block between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET each weekend. Weekend morning marathons of ABC's cooking show The Chew (which had replaced All My Children on ABC) aired for
13013-515: The channel, some of which ( 90210 and Melrose Place ) had ended their original broadcast runs only a few years prior and had been repeated in syndication on other networks. These fans also objected to the large number of new episodes of the ABC lineup and Days of our Lives , and repeatedly requested rebroadcasts of old daytime soaps such as Loving , The Edge of Night , Santa Barbara , and Search for Tomorrow . On February 7, 2007, Soapnet acquired
13182-424: The charming and ambitious Farnsworth "Dex" Dexter ( Michael Nader ), the scheming public relations assistant Tracy Kendall ( Deborah Adair ), the unscrupulous playboy Peter De Vilbis ( Helmut Berger ), and Blake's illegitimate African American half-sister, Dominique Deveraux ( Diahann Carroll ). The main story lines included a custody battle between Steven and Blake over Steven and Sammy Jo's son Danny , and
13351-868: The companion book Dynasty: The Authorized Biography of the Carringtons , which included an introduction by Esther Shapiro. The Authorized Biography featured storyline synopses in the form of extended biographies of the main characters, descriptions of primary locations (like the Carrington Estate and La Mirage) and dozens of photos from the series. The first season of Dynasty was released on Region 1 DVD on April 19, 2005, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment . The rights to subsequent seasons (and Season 1 rights for other regions) reverted to CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount ) in November 2006. Seasons 1 through 4 were made available on iTunes in May 2012. The Shapiros announced on January 12, 2011, that they had written
13520-556: The cooking show The Chew (which aired until June 2018) and the lifestyle talk show The Revolution (which was canceled in April 2012 due to low ratings; its timeslot was assumed by General Hospital and the remaining hour given back to ABC's affiliates). The decreasing number of active soaps, as well as the growing adoption of digital video recorders (which made it more convenient to record multiple soaps), along with cable and Internet video on demand options caching episodes online within
13689-454: The daily episode format of its daytime counterparts) and Another Life (a soap that combined standard serial drama with religious overtones), during the 1980s. Fox, the fourth "major network" , carried a short-lived daytime soap Tribes in 1990. Yet, other than this and a couple of pilot attempts, Fox mainly stayed away from daytime soaps, and has not attempted them since their ascension to major-network status in 1994 (it did later attempt
13858-483: The daughter of longtime Carrington majordomo Joseph ( Lee Bergere ). Kirby catches Adam's eye but weds Jeff after his divorce from Fallon. In the middle of the season, news that Steven has been killed in an accident in Indonesia comes to the Carringtons; he survives, but undergoes plastic surgery and returns to Denver (portrayed by Jack Coleman ). In the third-season cliffhanger, Alexis lures Krystle to Steven's cabin and
14027-401: The dead but troubled by headaches, holds the Carringtons hostage in hopes that Krystle will run away with him. Steven ends the siege by reluctantly stabbing his old friend to death. Alexis is saved by a handsome, mysterious stranger, Sean Rowan ( James Healey ). She later marries him, not realizing that he is Joseph's son and Kirby's brother, bent on revenge. Steven and Sammy Jo's reconciliation
14196-420: The dead" and ex-husband Jeff followed her to Los Angeles, where they became embroiled in the family intrigues of Jeff's wealthy California relatives. Pamela Sue Martin had been asked to reprise the role of Fallon but declined which led to the casting of Emma Samms in the role. Ratings for The Colbys were poor and the show lasted for just two seasons, ending in 1987. Both Fallon and Jeff returned to Dynasty after
14365-503: The demographic group for which soap opera advertisers pay the most. Those who might watch in workplace breakrooms are not counted, as Nielsen does not track television viewing outside the home. The rise of cable and the Internet has also provided new sources of entertainment during the day. The genre's decline has additionally been attributed to reality television displacing soap operas as TV's dominant form of melodrama. An early term for
14534-442: The early 1970s, nearly all soap operas had transitioned to being taped. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night were the last to make the switch, in 1975. Port Charles used the practice of running 13-week " story arcs ," in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc. According to the 2006 Preview issue of Soap Opera Digest , it
14703-465: The exotic appeal of the stereotypes connected to the location. As examples, EastEnders focuses on the tough and grim life in the East End of London; Coronation Street and its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of "northern straight talking". If we want to blend an actor back into a show, there's always a way. You can generally find a way to twist and manipulate something. You rarely see
14872-474: The favors of Clay Fallmont ( Ted McGinley ). The May 21, 1986, season finale finds Blake strangling Alexis while the rest of the cast is in peril at the La Mirage hotel, which has been accidentally set afire by Claudia. As the seventh season begins in September 1986, Blake stops short of killing Alexis, whom he had been strangling in the previous season's cliffhanger, after learning she had bought his mansion and
15041-687: The fictional storylines originally presented on Dynasty . On May 2, 2006, a non-fiction television special named Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar aired on CBS . It assembled former cast members from the series in John Forsythe, Joan Collins and Linda Evans, as well as the four original actors who played the Carrington children (Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson and Catherine Oxenberg). Heather Locklear, John James, and Diahann Carroll declined to participate, but cast members Pamela Bellwood, Jack Coleman and Emma Samms were included in prerecorded interviews. The special showed various clips from
15210-469: The first episode of season six garnered a 28.1 rating (becoming the most watched episode of the series) as viewers wanted to see who had survived the season five cliffhanger. Although still a top ten series, Dynasty dropped from first to seventh place in the ratings for its sixth season, which featured a look-alike woman named Rita who poses as Krystle (with both roles played by Linda Evans ), introduced Alexis's sister Caress ( Kate O'Mara ), and launched
15379-428: The first network daytime serial. The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations". Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in
15548-429: The first new daytime soap opera to premiere on a major broadcast network since Passions in 1999. As women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined. New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soap operas with their mothers, leaving the shows' long and complex storylines foreign to younger audiences. As viewers age, ratings continue to drop among young adult women,
15717-554: The first season, "The audience told us almost immediately: All they wanted to do was be in the mansion. [They] couldn't care less about the oil fields. They didn't want to see grubby rooms." Fallon makes a secret business deal with Blake's old friend and more-powerful business rival Cecil Colby ( Lloyd Bochner ), marrying his nephew Jeff ( John James ) to secure Cecil's financial assistance for her father. When Blake stumbles upon Steven in an innocent goodbye embrace with his former lover Ted Dinard ( Mark Withers ), Blake angrily pushes
15886-460: The first soap opera since Generations to feature an African American cast. On April 12, 2024, CBS renewed The Talk for a 15th and final season, with the show concluding in December 2024. Three days later, on April 15, The Gates (now titled " Beyond the Gates ") was greenlit by CBS and is slated to premiere on February 24, 2025, likely to take the time slot of The Talk , meaning it will be
16055-530: The first time since 1953 that there have been only four soap operas airing on broadcast television . The Young and the Restless , the highest-rated soap opera from 1988 to the present, had fewer than 5 million daily viewers as of February 2012, a number exceeded by several non-scripted programs such as Judge Judy . Circulations of soap opera magazines have decreased and some have even ceased publication. Soapnet, which largely aired soap opera reruns, began to be phased out in 2012 and fully ceased operations
16224-495: The following year. The Daytime Emmy Awards , which honor soap operas and other daytime shows, moved from prime time network television to smaller cable channels in 2012, then failed to get any TV broadcast at all in 2014, 2016, and 2017. Several of the U.S.'s most established soaps ended between 2009 and 2012. The longest-running drama in television and radio history, Guiding Light , barely reached 2.1 million daily viewers in 2009 and ended on September 18 of that year, after
16393-422: The former two series in 2011, daily reruns of All My Children , One Life to Live and General Hospital aired on the channel in that respective order as they had aired on ABC's daytime schedule. All My Children had the most airings on the channel airing four times each weekday, one in the morning and three at night. Rebroadcasts of each soap's episodes for the entire week aired each Saturday and Sunday during
16562-679: The gamut of soap operas, from EastEnders to Dallas . In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, the characters are frequently attractive, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working-class environments. Many of the soaps produced in those two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedic elements, often affectionate comic stereotypes such as
16731-473: The genre, the Big Three networks had begun to cancel selected soaps and replace them with less-expensive talk show and game show programming, including ABC's All My Children and One Life to Live (an attempt to license the two soaps to Prospect Park to continue them as internet television series in 2013 was discontinued after a few months due to production and licensing conflicts), which were replaced with
16900-413: The gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare. UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting "reality" or purport to have a "realistic" style. UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on
17069-410: The height of Dynasty 's popularity in 1985, Esther Shapiro said, "we've done important things for women with Dynasty . For middle-aged women. You know, to let them know that it's OK to want power and be romantic." Collins said in 2018, "Every single person on Dynasty was good-looking. You wanted to see rich, good-looking people fighting with each other." In 2012, The New York Times credited
17238-432: The idea to produce licensed products that included sheets and towels, jewelry and furs, 'Forever Krystle' perfume, and 'Carrington' men's cologne. Linda Evans was hired as a spokesperson for the beverage Crystal Light due to her character's name. Two novels were published, based on scripts from early episodes— Dynasty (1983) and Alexis Returns (1984) —written by Eileen Lottman. In 1984, Doubleday/Dolphin published
17407-435: The late 1960s and into the 1970s. Exterior shots were slowly incorporated into the series The Edge of Night and Dark Shadows . Unlike many earlier serials that were set in fictional towns, The Best of Everything and Ryan's Hope were set in a real-world location, New York City. The first exotic location shoot was made by All My Children , to St. Croix in 1978. Many other soap operas planned lavish storylines after
17576-484: The late 1980s, such as Fox and cable television networks, have largely eschewed soap operas in their daytime schedules, instead running syndicated programming and reruns. No cable television outlet has produced its own daytime serial, although DirecTV 's The 101 Network took over existing serial Passions , continuing production for one season; while TBS and CBN Cable Network respectively aired their own soap operas, The Catlins (a primetime soap that utilized
17745-502: The late afternoon and nighttime hours; as of 2012, the network aired the past week's episodes of Days of our Lives in Sunday primetime. Due to it being owned by The Walt Disney Company , which also owns ABC, Soapnet cross-promoted All My Children and One Life to Live using the tagline "weekdays on ABC and weeknights on SOAPnet" when both shows aired on ABC. The same slogan continued to be used in promotions for General Hospital until
17914-540: The launch of Disney Junior, the channel continued to operate on some providers until it finally shut down on December 31, 2013. When Soapnet launched on January 20, 2000, the channel aired only current ABC soap operas in the evening and early morning, so that people who were at work or school during the day could watch them at their convenience. Programming was inclusive, as the channel was owned by ABC. Soapnet eventually gained high cable carriage due to Disney 's aggressive policy of pulling ABC- owned broadcast stations and
18083-449: The loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series into hour-long broadcasts in order to maximise advertising revenues. The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. The issue's cover notably featured its first daytime soap stars, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives ,
18252-525: The matriarch of The Guiding Light , Bert Bauer, developed uterine cancer (as the actress, Charita Bauer , had been diagnosed with the same illness in real life). The storyline encouraged many women to get pap smears and the CBS mailroom in New York City received a then-record amount of fan mail wishing Bauer (both Bert and Charita) well. Nixon would go on to tell many socially relevant storylines on her soaps One Life to Live and All My Children in
18421-456: The men are set as both business and romantic rivals. Blake is further enraged when Steven goes to work for longtime friend Matthew, in whom Steven sees qualities lacking in Blake. Though previously in a relationship with another man, Steven finds himself drawn to Claudia, who is putting her life back together after spending time in a psychiatric hospital. Esther Shapiro later said in the DVD commentary of
18590-500: The metamorphosis of Summer Roberts (played by Rachel Bilson ) throughout the series. The network only aired one dramatic series produced exclusively for the network, a prime-time spin-off of General Hospital entitled General Hospital: Night Shift , which aired for two seasons from July 2007 to October 2008. This is a list of programs formerly broadcast by Soapnet prior to its closure on December 31, 2013. NOTE: Programs broadcast by Soapnet before shutdown. In late 2008,
18759-504: The network entered into a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television to air a package of recent films from the studio's library and some archived content on weekend evenings, along with several 20th Century Fox films and some in ABC and ABC Family 's telefilm archive aimed at the network's target audience. The network discontinued airing films on April 30, 2011 as the network's operations began to wind down, with much of its film library migrating to Lifetime Movie Network (which
18928-1104: The network is eventually phased out. The Los Angeles Times reported that some television providers had been hesitant to immediately drop Soapnet, as they "didn't want to risk legions of vocal soap opera fans getting into a lather, or worse, moving to a rival service." On March 1, 2012, Soapnet's operations were taken over by ABC Family following the dismantling of the ABC Daytime corporate structure under Brian Frons, who had resigned in December 2011. Some television providers, including certain Xfinity systems, immediately replaced Soapnet with Disney Junior in its channel space on launch. Soapnet continued to be carried on providers who had not yet made carriage agreements for Disney Junior (such as Dish Network ), as well as for certain providers that retained Soapnet as part of their channel lineups, while also adding Disney Junior as an additional channel (such as Cablevision , DirecTV , Verizon FiOS , RCN . and Time Warner Cable ). Same day rebroadcasts of General Hospital , Days of our Lives and The Young and
19097-475: The new head writer and producer Camille Marchetta , who had devised the wildly successful "Who Shot J.R.?" scenario on Dallas five years earlier, Dynasty hit No. 1 in the fifth season. In the story, Alexis is exonerated and her secret daughter Amanda Bedford ( Catherine Oxenberg ) comes to Denver and discovers that Blake is her father. Steven has married Claudia but leaves her for a man and Claudia starts an affair with Adam. The marriage of Blake and Krystle
19266-514: The new time slot for season two, and initiated a media blitz to promote the series. In the first episode of the second season, titled " Enter Alexis ", the mysterious witness removes her sunglasses to reveal British actress Joan Collins as a new arrival to the series. Collins's Alexis Carrington blazed a trail across the show and its story lines; the additions of Collins and the "formidable writing team" of Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock are generally credited with Dynasty 's subsequent rise in
19435-678: The only two original cast members to appear in the final episode. Dynasty was a top 30 show from its first through seventh season, reaching No. 1 for the 1984–85 season with a Nielsen rating of 25.0 or an average tune-in audience of 21.2 million homes per episode. Dynasty was initially syndicated in reruns by Metromedia Producers Corporation in September 1985, on stations such as KTTV in Los Angeles, and WNEW-TV 5 in New York City, while season 6 began airing on ABC. This initial syndication package consisted of all 117 episodes (originally 114 on ABC) that had been produced up to this point. At
19604-478: The pilot episode. Some of the other exterior shots of the Carrington mansion (including the lily pond catfight) were shot at a 17-room Palladian house called Arden Villa in Pasadena, California . Costume designer Nolan Miller designed approximately 3,000 costumes over the course of the series, saying "I never want to see them wearing the same outfit twice". His weekly wardrobe budget was $ 35,000. John Forsythe
19773-434: The popular ESPN channels from cable providers if they did not agree to carry Soapnet as well. This was the main reason for ABC owned-and-operated station WABC-TV being pulled from Time Warner Cable 's New York City system for two days in May 2000. When Soapnet was announced, Sony Pictures Entertainment planned to launch a competing cable channel and website called SoapCity , which would air all CBS soap operas and
19942-630: The popularity of Nolan Miller's costumes with "setting a trend for thick shoulder pads during a decade of power dressing". Dynasty was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama every year from 1981 to 1986, winning in 1984. Forsythe and Collins were also nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress every year from 1981 to 1986, and Evans was nominated for Best Actress every year from 1981 to 1985. Evans won in 1982 (tying with Barbara Bel Geddes of rival series Dallas ), Forsythe won in 1983 and 1984, and Collins won in 1983. John James and Gordon Thomson were also nominated for
20111-411: The programs ran out of new episodes to broadcast; Days of Our Lives , which produces its episodes roughly eight months ahead of their initial broadcast, did not resort to airing older episodes during this time as it had a larger first-run episode backlog.) Early episodes of Dark Shadows were rerun on PBS member stations in the early 1970s after the show's cancellation, and the entire series (except for
20280-601: The prosperous Brooks family with four daughters, and the working-class Foster family of a single working mother with three children. Its storylines explored realistic problems including cancer, mental illness, poverty, and infidelity. In contrast, Dark Shadows (1966–1971), Port Charles (1997–2003) and Passions (1999–2008) featured supernatural characters and dealt with fantasy and horror storylines. Their characters included vampires, witches, ghosts, goblins, and angels. The American soap opera Guiding Light (originally titled The Guiding Light until 1975) started as
20449-512: The reality TV genre was docu-soap . A precursor to reality TV, the televised 1994–95 O. J. Simpson murder case , both preempted and competed with an entire season of soaps, transforming viewing habits and leaving soap operas with 10 percent fewer viewers after the trial ended. Daytime programming alternatives such as talk shows , game shows , and court shows cost up to 50% less to produce than scripted dramas, making those formats more profitable and attractive to networks, even if they receive
20618-406: The reduction to two first-run soaps on the schedule, from July 2013 up until Soapnet's cease in production, the timeslots in which same-day/day-behind repeats of the network soaps were reduced, with the two remaining first-run soaps airing on the channel – Days of Our Lives and General Hospital – airing in repeat blocks from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. ET. Prior to ABC's cancellations of
20787-419: The reunion episode, but sent a message to the cast, which was read on air. The creations of series costume designer Nolan Miller became so popular that Dynasty spawned its own line of women's apparel called "The Dynasty Collection"—a series of haute couture designs based on costumes worn by Joan Collins, Linda Evans and Diahann Carroll. A men's fashion line followed. Esther Shapiro herself came up with
20956-433: The rights to air reruns of The O.C. and One Tree Hill . The syndication deal also gave Soapnet an option to order a fifth season of One Tree Hill to air on the channel in the event that The CW chose not to renew the show (this option was never exercised as first-run episodes of One Tree Hill remained on The CW until the series ended in 2012). In November 2007, Deborah Blackwell stepped down as general manager of
21125-454: The run of the series, the rivalry between Alexis and Krystle is a primary driver for the melodrama. Alexis resents Krystle's role as Blake's wife and mistress of the Carrington household, and tries to undermine her at every opportunity, while Krystle makes increasingly bold efforts to keep Alexis from interfering in the lives of their mutual loved ones. The pair have numerous verbal spats that sometimes lead to physical altercations. "Unfortunately,
21294-538: The same or slightly lower ratings than soap operas. A network may even prefer to return a time slot to its local stations to keeping a soap opera with disappointing ratings on the air, as was the case with Sunset Beach and Port Charles . Compounding the financial pressure on scripted programming in the 2007–2010 period was a decline in advertising during the Great Recession , which led shows to reduce their budgets and cast sizes. In addition to these external factors,
21463-534: The season's 22 episodes. Former The Colbys character Sable ( Stephanie Beacham ) was brought in as both a platonic confidante for Blake and a nemesis for Alexis, and Tracy Scoggins also reprised her Colbys role as Sable's daughter Monica . A storyline involving a murder and an old secret tying the Carrington, Colby, and Dexter families together spanned the season as Alexis and Sable sparred first over business and then over Dex. The series moved from Wednesday to Thursday, but ratings continued to decline and Dynasty
21632-483: The season, Dynasty attracted controversy when Rock Hudson 's real-life HIV -positive status was revealed after a romantic storyline between his character Daniel Reece and Evans's Krystle. Hudson's scenes required him to kiss Evans and, as news that he had contracted AIDS broke, there was speculation Evans would be at risk. The event led to a Screen Actors Guild rule requiring the notification of performers in advance of any scenes that require open-mouth kissing. Over
21801-553: The second night averaged 20.3 million. Critical reviews were not favorable, with many feeling the script was poor and that the film was merely an attempt of ABC's wish to "cash-in" on an old series. Dynasty was shot at Warner Hollywood Studios in West Hollywood, California . The Filoli estate in Woodside, California , was used as the 48-room Carrington mansion in the opening credits, establishing shots, and some outdoor scenes in
21970-518: The series ended. The cable channel SOAPnet aired repeats of all nine seasons. In January 2004, creator Esther Shapiro participated in a marathon of the show's episodes, called "Serial Bowl: Alexis vs. Krystle", giving behind-the-scenes tidbits and factoids. On January 2, 2005, ABC aired a fictionalized television movie titled Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure , chronicling the creation and backstage details of Dynasty . It received poor reviews both for content and for historical accuracy, and
22139-521: The series was named Favorite TV Drama in a tie with the NBC drama Hill Street Blues . Evans and the series again won those same honors in 1985, with Evans sharing the Favorite Female TV Performer prize with her co-star, Collins. Evans won the award again in 1986, and the series tied with Miami Vice for Favorite TV Dramatic Program. In 1987, Dynasty tied with the CBS series Dallas for
22308-593: The series, as the cast reminisced about their time on the show. The special was filmed at the Filoli estate, the location originally used for exterior shots of the Carringtons' mansion in the series. On January 26, 2015, Home & Family hosted a Dynasty reunion for one episode on the Hallmark Channel . It assembled former cast members from the series, including Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson, John James and Pamela Bellwood. The reunion episode focused on
22477-446: The seven "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers" of prime time dramatic television. When the series resumed on September 25, 1985, it was revealed that only two minor characters had died: Steven's boyfriend Luke Fuller ( Billy Campbell ), who was mortally wounded saving Claudia's life, and Jeff's love interest Lady Ashley Mitchell ( Ali MacGraw ). In the 2006 CBS special Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar , Gordon Thomson stated that it
22646-520: The show ceased filming original material. Other original series included 1 Day With , a half-hour program featuring interviews with soap actors, that was hosted by General Hospital actor Wally Kurth ; I Wanna Be a Soap Star , a recurring reality series in which twelve young actors compete for a contract role on a daytime soap; and Soapography , a 30-minute show profiling the lives and current shows of two different soap opera actors. In 2002, Soapnet began airing reruns of Dynasty , and by 2003,
22815-425: The show was later renewed through September 2021. In 2022, NBC announced that Days of Our Lives would be moved exclusively to its streaming service, Peacock , making NBC the first of the big three networks not to air any daytime soap operas. In March 2024, CBS Studios , NAACP Venture , in partnership with P&G Studios announced that a new soap opera for CBS titled The Gates is in development and will be
22984-1535: The show's debut in January 1970 until it ended its network television run on ABC on September 23, 2011. Erika Slezak played Victoria Lord #3 on One Life to Live from 1971 until the show ended its network television run on ABC on January 13, 2012, and resumed the role in its short-lived online revival on April 29, 2013. Other actors have played several characters on different shows. Millette Alexander , Bernard Barrow , Doris Belack , David Canary , Judith Chapman , Keith Charles , Jordan Charney , Joan Copeland , Nicolas Coster , Jacqueline Courtney , Augusta Dabney , Louis Edmonds , Don Hastings , Larry Haines , Vincent Irizarry , Lenore Kasdorf , Teri Keane , Lois Kibbee , John Loprieno , Lori March , Maeve McGuire , Robert Mili , James Mitchell , Lee Patterson , Christopher Pennock , Antony Ponzini , William Prince , Rosemary Prinz , Louise Shaffer , Mary Stuart , Richard Thomas , Diana van der Vlis , Mary K. Wells , Lesley Woods and Michael Zaslow , among many others, have all played multiple soap roles. For several decades, most daytime soap operas concentrated on family and marital discord, legal drama and romance. The action rarely left interior settings, and many shows were set in fictional, medium-sized Midwestern towns. Social issue storylines were typically verboten when soaps were starting, due to heavy network-imposed censorship at that time, but writer and producer Agnes Nixon introduced these storylines slowly but surely, first in 1962 when
23153-493: The shows were aimed at – and consumed by – a predominantly female audience. Clara, Lu, 'n Em would become the first network radio serial of the type when it aired on the NBC Blue Network at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931. Although it did not make the move until February 15, 1932, Clara, Lu 'n Em would become the first network serial of the type to move to a weekday daily timeslot, and so also became
23322-429: The start of a new yearly broadcast. Evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode and present all storylines. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger. In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as "TV's richest market", noting
23491-471: The stories are similar to what happened to them in real life, or two, thank goodness that isn't me. Many long-running US soap operas established particular environments for their stories. The Doctors and General Hospital , in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital. As the World Turns dealt heavily with Chris Hughes' law practice and the travails of his wife Nancy who, tired of being "the loyal housewife" in
23660-526: The success of the All My Children shoot. Soap operas Another World and Guiding Light both went to St. Croix in 1980, the former show culminating a long-running storyline between popular characters Mac, Rachel and Janice, and the latter to serve as an exotic setting for Alan Spaulding and Rita Bauer 's torrid affair. Search for Tomorrow taped for two weeks in Hong Kong in 1981. Later that year, some of
23829-622: The supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows , which did receive an essentially complete release on both VHS and DVD; the single lost episode #1219 is reconstructed by means of an off-the-air audio recording, still images, and recap material from adjacent episodes). Soap opera performers in the United States are typically divided into two main groups: primary characters (sometimes referred to as "contract players" – as their portrayers signed contracts of employment – or leading characters) and secondary characters (sometimes referred to as recurring characters). These two groups of characters make up
23998-442: The switch to an automated schedule, repeats of current soap operas made up the majority of Soapnet's daily schedule; the channel usually aired daily episodes of network soaps it had carried (the previous weekday's broadcasts airing weekday mornings from 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. ET, along with two same-day evening airings with one block from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET and a repeat of the earlier block from 12:00 to 5:00 a.m. ET). With
24167-454: The thing people remember about this show is the catfights ," noted Collins in 1991. Entertainment columnist Sue Cameron said in 2018 that the catfights became so popular that the press were invited to watch the filming of them. Krystle and Alexis famously brawl for the first time in Alexis's studio, and then later in a lily pond. They also hurl mud at each other at a beauty salon, and slide down
24336-525: The third season (ranked fifth in the ratings), Alexis marries Cecil on his deathbed and acquires his company, ColbyCo. In the meantime, Adam Carrington ( Gordon Thomson ), the long-lost son of Alexis and Blake who had been kidnapped in infancy, reappears in Denver and almost starts an affair with Fallon before they discover they are siblings. Also introduced are Krystle's ex-husband, tennis pro Mark Jennings ( Geoffrey Scott ), and Kirby Anders ( Kathleen Beller ),
24505-584: The time. With the resultant budget cuts, soap operas were no longer able to go on expensive location shoots overseas as they were able to do in the 1980s. During that decade, soap operas increasingly focused on younger characters and social issues , such as Erica Kane 's drug addiction on All My Children , the re-emergence of Viki Lord 's dissociative identity disorder on One Life to Live , and Stuart Chandler dealing with his wife Cindy dying of AIDS on All My Children . Other social issues included cancer , rape , abortion and racism . Several shows during
24674-463: The top 30, to No. 41 in the ratings. David Paulsen joined Dynasty as Executive Supervising Producer for its ninth season, and took over the plotting of the series. In a money-saving move, Evans appeared in only six episodes early in the season as an ailing Krystle seeks brain surgery in Switzerland but is left in an offscreen coma. Similarly to cut costs, Collins was contracted for only 13 out of
24843-449: The two are locked inside while the cabin is set ablaze by an unseen arsonist, later revealed to be Joseph, who had meant for the fire to kill only Alexis and not Krystle. With the show's popularity soaring in the fourth season (now the third-most-watched program of 1983–1984), former President Gerald Ford guest-starred as himself in 1983, along with his wife Betty and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger . New characters included
25012-477: The two men apart; Ted falls backward and hits his head, the injury proving fatal. Blake is arrested and charged with murder, and an angry Steven testifies that Ted's death had been the result of malicious intent. A veiled surprise witness for the prosecution appears in the season finale " The Testimony ", and Fallon gasps in recognition: "Oh my God, that's my mother!" The series' first 13 episodes have been seen in retrospect to be Dynasty 's "arthouse" era,
25181-449: The unfolding story. Crimes such as kidnapping, assault (sometimes sexual), and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story. Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the "romantic quality" of criminal and/or oligarch life. In soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins (including
25350-420: The vast majority of the people who appear on any given soap. There are also characters who appear only for a short time as dictated by a specific storyline, and even characters who may only get a first name and no fleshed-out character history with little dialogue (these are sometimes referred to as "under-5s" since they receive under five lines of dialogue in each episode). Due to the longevity of these shows, it
25519-490: The week of April 30, 2012 (inclusively). After a three-month hiatus, the "weekdays on ABC and weeknights on SOAPnet" slogan was revived in August 2012, but was used only for General Hospital promos airing on Soapnet and not those seen on ABC. References to Days of our Lives's first-run airings on NBC (and until it was dropped from Soapnet in July 2013, The Young and the Restless 's first-run airings on CBS ) were not included in
25688-498: The world from being frozen, brought a mobster down by finding his black book in a left-handed boy statue, and helped a princess find her Aztec treasure in Mexico . Other soap operas attempted similar adventure storylines, often featuring footage shot on location – frequently in exotic locales. During the 1990s, the mob, action and adventure stories fell out of favor with producers, due to generally declining ratings for daytime soap operas at
25857-743: The years went on, Soapnet introduced original programming such as Soap Center and Soap Talk , the latter of which was nominated for several Daytime Emmy Awards . Soap Center , which debuted on Soapnet's launch day schedule, was initially hosted by former soap stars Brooke Alexander and David Forsyth . They were replaced the following year by Peggy Bunker : based on the East Coast and covering New York-based soaps; and Tanika Ray discussing West Coast-based soaps. Peggy Bunker also hosted all events from Super Soap Weekend from Walt Disney World in Florida, including an exclusive interview with Susan Lucci. By 2003,
26026-520: Was Luke Spencer and Laura Webber on General Hospital . Luke and Laura helped to attract both male and female fans. Even actress Elizabeth Taylor was a fan and at her own request was given a guest role in Luke and Laura's wedding episode. Luke and Laura's popularity led to other soap producers striving to reproduce this success by attempting to create supercouples of their own. With increasingly bizarre action storylines coming into vogue, Luke and Laura saved
26195-419: Was absent from the season six opener, as she was in a tense contract renegotiation with the show, seeking an increased salary. As a result, the first episode had to be rewritten to explain her absence and many of Alexis's scenes were given to Krystle. Collins's demands were met (she reportedly signed a $ 60,000 per episode contract) and she returned to the series in the season's second episode. Despite her absence,
26364-408: Was briefly discussed that all ABC shows might do telenovela arcs, but this was rejected. Though U.S. daytime soap operas are not generally rerun by their networks, occasionally they are rebroadcast elsewhere; CBS and ABC have made exceptions to this, airing older episodes (either those aired earlier in the current season or those aired years prior) on major holidays when special event programming
26533-569: Was cast as series patriarch Blake Carrington, but ultimately had difficulties dealing with the somewhat unsympathetic role, and was quickly replaced with John Forsythe. Filmed in 1980, the pilot was among many delayed due to a strike precipitated by animosity between the television networks and the partnership of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists . Dynasty finally premiered on ABC as
26702-476: Was criticized by Forsythe, Evans, and Collins in separate press releases. Filmed in Australia, the movie starred Bartholomew John as Forsythe, Melora Hardin as Evans, and Alice Krige as Collins. The film begins with a disclaimer noting the inclusion of "time compression and composite and fictionalized characters and incidents," and takes dramatic license with both the historical timeline and events, as well as
26871-435: Was evicting him and Krystle. Claudia has died in the fire she set, and Amanda (now played by Karen Cellini ) is rescued by a returning Michael Culhane, Blake's chauffeur from the first season. Blake turns the tables on Ben and Alexis and recovers his wealth, but loses his memory after an oil rig explosion. Alexis finds Blake and, with everyone believing he is dead, perpetuates the belief that they are still married. Living with
27040-411: Was frequently a key player in their storylines. Days of Our Lives initially focused on Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. The show later branched out to focus more on their five children. The Edge of Night featured as its central character Mike Karr, a police detective (later an attorney), and largely dealt with organized crime. The Young and the Restless first focused on two families,
27209-461: Was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post-production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets. The first daytime TV soap opera in the United States was These Are My Children in 1949, though earlier melodramas had aired in the evenings as once-a-week programs. Soap operas quickly became
27378-588: Was in development at The CW , co-written by Josh Schwartz , Stephanie Savage , and Sallie Patrick . The project received a series order in May 2017. With the Shapiros also producing, the new series finds heiress Fallon facing off against her soon-to-be stepmother Cristal , a Hispanic woman. The CW's Dynasty features Grant Show as Blake; Elizabeth Gillies as Fallon; Sam Adegoke as Jeff; Robert Christopher Riley as Blake's chauffeur Michael ; James Mackay as Steven; Rafael de la Fuente as Sam Jones ,
27547-645: Was possessed by the devil, and in 1998, Guiding Light featured a cloning storyline involving legacy character Reva Shayne . Modern U.S. daytime soap operas largely stay true to the original soap opera format. The duration and format of storylines and the visual grammar employed by U.S. daytime serials set them apart from soap operas in other countries and from evening soap operas. Stylistically, UK and Australian soap operas, which are usually produced for early evening timeslots, fall somewhere in between U.S. daytime and evening soap operas. Similar to U.S. daytime soap operas, UK and Australian serials are shot on videotape, and
27716-494: Was ranked No. 69 in the United States for the season. In May 1989, new ABC entertainment president Robert A. Iger cancelled Dynasty , making the last episode of season nine the series finale. The show ended on a cliffhanger with Blake, Fallon, Krystina, Alexis, and Dex in mortal peril. As an attempt to wrap up plotlines left unresolved by Dynasty 's cancellation, ABC produced a two-part miniseries titled Dynasty: The Reunion , which aired in October 1991. Many of
27885-468: Was the follow-up that was the letdown, not the cliffhanger itself. John James stated in the 2001 episode of E! The True Hollywood Story featuring Dynasty that the Moldavian Massacre was when the show "maxed out" and "overdosed" on outrageousness. Creator Esther Shapiro stated in 2001 that she thought the cliffhanger was "well produced" but that they "could've done something else". Joan Collins
28054-424: Was the only cast member to appear in all 220 episodes of the series. Linda Evans appeared in 204 of the 220 episodes, leaving the series after appearing in only six episodes of the ninth and final season. Joan Collins, who did not join the cast until the second season, also missed one episode in season 6 and nine episodes in season 9, and was consequently present for a total of 195 episodes. Forsythe and John James were
28223-465: Was to launch a 24-hour cable channel in January 2012, replacing Soapnet. On July 28, 2011, due to issues in reaching carriage deals for the new network, the launch of the Disney Junior channel was delayed to an unspecified date in early 2012. Disney Junior's launch date was later set to March 23, 2012. Disney also stated that on some providers, Disney Junior would be carried in parallel with Soapnet until
28392-473: Was unavailable to reprise his role, so he was replaced with Al Corley , who originated the part in 1981. Gordon Thomson also originally agreed to appear in the film but ABC refused to align the shooting schedule with his work on the daytime series Santa Barbara , and replaced him with Robin Sachs . Dynasty: The Reunion aired on October 20 and October 22, 1991. The first night averaged 23 million viewers,
28561-663: Was unaware: Blake is disgusted by Steven's homosexuality , and his refusal to "conform" sets father and son at odds for some time. In counterpoint to the Carringtons are the Blaisdels; Denver-Carrington geologist Matthew ( Bo Hopkins )—unhappily married to the emotionally fragile Claudia ( Pamela Bellwood )—is Krystle's ex-lover. Returning from an extended assignment in the Middle East, Matthew quits and goes into business with wildcatter Walter Lankershim ( Dale Robertson ), and as Blake's behavior begins pushing Krystle toward Matthew,
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