soap debuted on abc on september 13 1977
but before the show had even hit the
airwaves there were six months of
protests and public outcry leading to
its premiere earlier that year in march
network execs at the 195 abc affiliate
stations across the us screened to the
show's pilot and many of them were
horrified by what they saw the show's
heavy emphasis on themes of sex and
adultery resulted in a bit of a moral
panic as a result it almost failed to
launch as religious groups made it their
mission to actively campaign against it
besides sex and cheating conservative
viewers were taken aback by how the show
presented subjects like homosexuality
today these themes are no big deal but
back in those days they were still
considered taboo abc refused to back
down they were determined to let the
show go on no matter what in fact they
even reduced sponsor fees from 75 000 a
spot to just 40 grand to sweeten the
deal you know what they say all
publicity is good publicity while in
soap's case the controversy only created
more hype for this series when it
premiered it won its time slot and
ranked number 13 in the nielsen ratings
for its first season despite being met
with mixed reviews soap which was
essentially a parody of daytime soap
operas aired for four seasons before
wrapping up in 1981. join facts first as
we take a look at a few of the
controversies that inevitably took soap
off the air
critics were split and the controversy
never died down after soap's premiere
abc received thousands of angry phone
calls demanding the show be pulled even
so they claimed they had received far
more calls in favor of it staying on the
air according to a poll conducted by the
university of richmond 74 percent of
viewers failed to find the show
offensive most intriguing is the fact
that among those who did find it
offensive more than half said they were
still planning to watch it again soap's
first round of critical reviews were
fairly mixed the la times noted it
seemed like the show was just one long
drawn out dirty joke and that it lacked
subtlety class and cleverness variety
likewise found the show to be
predictable and silly while noting it
was no more outrageous than the average
daytime soap
it was a solid parody
soap was a parody of the popular daytime
soap opera genre in fact three of its
cast members had previously starred in
serious soaps arthur h peterson jr had
appeared on both the radio incarnations
of general hospital and guiding light
robert manden similarly had been a
member of the search for tomorrow cast
and donnelly rhodes had a role on the
iconic soap the young and the restless
soap garnered a reputation for featuring
various outrageous and absurd plot lines
effectively parodying the
run-of-the-mill melodramas that got high
viewership during the 70s everything
from alien abduction amnesia dangerous
cults mobsters communist revolutions and
demonic possession were featured and if
you've ever seen a serious daytime soap
you know presentation of such themes are
fairly commonplace before we tell you
more about soap be sure to give this
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first if you haven't already
soaps plot in a nutshell
the pilot of soap began with the
announcer stating the show was the story
of two sisters mary campbell and jessica
tate tate played by catherine helmand
and her husband chester played by robert
manden both engaged in infidelity and
their affairs and romantic fleeings
expectedly led to a variety of conflicts
mishaps and scandals jessica tate
refused to believe the stories of her
husband's cheating ways until she
witnessed them firsthand the couple's
hoity toity butler benson played by
robert guillaume was a sarcastic man who
loathed chester but got along well with
various other members of the tate family
his character ended up being so popular
he got his own spin-off series benson
which ran longer than soap did the
campbells were far less well-off than
the wealthy tates their son danny dallas
played by ted wass was on his way to
becoming a gangster when he was
instructed to murder his stepfather he
went on the run clothing himself in a
handful of humorous disguises in the
process his older brother jody played by
billy crystal was a gay man on the fence
about whether or not he wanted to
undergo sex reassignment surgery he was
also clandestinely having a spicy love
affair with a pro football quarterback
crystal's jody dallas was notable for
being one of the first recurring lgbt
characters on a sitcom his affair with
the football player and contemplation of
having sexual affirmation surgery not
only upset religious conservative groups
but also created some outcry in the gay
community as many lgbt viewers were
concerned that the character's portrayal
merely perpetuated stereotypes the gay
community especially took offense to
dallas intention to have a sex change
one of the biggest lgbt groups to weigh
in on the matter was the national gay
task force in time dallas character was
toned down a bit
network sensors voiced their concerns
due to its perceived raunchiness abc
sensors were heavily concerned with the
show's content the la times printed a
leaked internal report just three months
before the series's debut infamously
dubbed the soap memo that dealt with the
show's substitution of oreo cookies for
the traditional communion wafer this
move was viewed as sacrilegious and
offensive to religious viewers similarly
a scene that some felt implied a priest
being seduced in a confessional also
came under fire and resulted in a fierce
letter writing campaign by family and
religious groups calling for the show's
cancellation in time however the
controversy began to subside even though
the show eventually covered touchy
topics like rape student teacher sex and
impotence
abc abruptly dropped soap at the season
4 cliffhanger
soap was created by susan harris at a
time when a female showrunner was
practically unheard of abc had initially
agreed to the show airing for five
seasons leading harris to develop a plot
outline for the entire series but the
ongoing and relentless protests
eventually led to the network's decision
to pull the plug this happened at the
end of the fourth season right after
jessica tate was apparently shot by a
communist firing squad audiences were
never given clear answers to whether or
not she had been killed several other
cliff hangers were left forever
unresolved chester who was suicidal had
been planning to kill his wife annie and
his nephew danny after catching them
sleeping together jody had become
permanently hypnotized and believed
herself to be a non-engineering jewish
man burt was also getting ready to walk
into an ambush planned by his political
enemies the official reason abc said
they cancelled the show was declining
ratings but according to insights
provided by the museum of broadcast
communications the program actually
ended because sponsored had threatened
to pull out due to its controversial
content the theory is supported by the
fact that sponsor vlasic foods pulled
its sponsorship immediately after the
show aired its season 4 finale even
though we never got to see what happened
to jessica on soap a 1983 episode of
benson did mention jessica's
disappearance while noting the tate
family was trying to have her declared
illegally deceased later in the episode
an apparition of jessica appeared to
benson while revealing she wasn't really
dead but rather she was in a coma
somewhere in south america while that
gave viewers at least a partial answer
to jessica's fate none of the other soap
finale cliffhangers were ever mentioned
now it's time to hear from you what's
your favorite memory of soap let us know
in the comments section below and before
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