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The Survival of Soap Opera – Transformations for a New Media Era - University Press of Mississippi
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The Survival of Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era

Sam Ford, Abigail De Kosnik, and C. Lee Harrington

Abstract

The soap opera, one of U.S. television’s longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink. Declining ratings have been attributed to an increasing number of women working outside the home and to an intensifying competition for viewers’ attention from cable and the Internet. Yet, soaps’ influence has expanded, with serial narratives becoming commonplace on most primetime TV programs. This book investigates the causes of their dwindling popularity, describes their impact on TV and new media culture, and gleans lessons from their complex history for twenty-first-century media industr ... More

Keywords: soap opera, U.S. television, cable, Internet, serial narratives, primetime, TV programs, new media, media industries, General Hospital

Bibliographic Information

Print publication date: 2010 Print ISBN-13: 9781604737165
Published to University Press of Mississippi: March 2014 DOI:10.14325/mississippi/9781604737165.001.0001

Authors

Affiliations are at time of print publication.

Sam Ford, editor

Abigail De Kosnik, editor

C. Lee Harrington, editor

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Contents

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Front Matter

Title Pages

Acknowledgments

Section One Challenges to the Future of Soaps

Introduction

Sam Ford, Abigail De Kosnik, and C. Lee Harrington

Perspective

C. Lee Harrington

Perspective

Sam Ford

Perspective

Giada Da Ros

Perspective

Abigail De Kosnik

Daytime Budget Cuts

Sara A. Bibel

Agnes Nixon and Soap Opera “Chemistry Tests”

Carol Traynor Williams

Giving Soaps a Good Scrub

Jaime J. Nasser

The Way We Were

Melissa C. Scardaville

Section Two Capitalizing on History

Perspective

Sam Ford

Perspective

C. Lee Harrington

Growing Old Together

Sam Ford

Perspective

Sam Ford

Perspective

Abigail De Kosnik

Of Soap Operas, Space Operas, and Television’s Rocky Romance with the Feminine Form

Christine Scodari

The Ironic and Convoluted Relationship Between Daytime and Primetime Soap Operas

Lynn Liccardo

Perspective

Abigail De Kosnik

Perspective

Sam Ford

Preserving Soap History

Mary Jeanne Wilson

Did the 2007 Writers Strike Save Daytime’s Highest-Rated Drama?

J. A. Metzler

Section Three Experimenting with Production and Distribution

“The Rhetoric of the Camera in Television Soap Opera” Revisited

Bernard M. Timberg, and Ernest M. Alba

It’s Not All Talk

Deborah L. Jaramillo

Guiding Light

Patrick Erwin

The Evolution of the Production Process of Soap Operas Today

Erick Yates Green

From Daytime to Night Shift

Racquel Gonzales

“What the Hell Does TIIC Mean?”

Elana Levine

The Evolution of the Fan Video and the Influence of YouTube on the Creative Decision-Making Process for Fans

Emma F. Webb

Section Four Learning from Diverse Audiences

Soaps for Tomorrow

Abigail De Kosnik

Soap Opera Critics and Criticism

Denise D. Bielby

Hanging on by a Common Thread

Julie Porter

Perspective

Abigail de Kosnik

The Role of “The Audience” in the Writing Process

Casiello Tom

The “Missing Years”

O’Meara Radha

As the World Turns’ Luke and Noah and Fan Activism

Roger Newcomb

Constructing the Older Audience

C. Lee Harrington, and Denise Brothers

End Matter

References

Index