This week, the Michael Fairman Channel dropped the premiere episode of the first-ever virtual soap opera game show, Soap Opera Know-It-All.  

The game features four soap fans from around the country who test their knowledge against each other for prizes and the bragging rights to be the “Ultimate Know-It-All” come seasons end.

Photo: MFTVInc

With the coronavirus pandemic still among us and life not fully back to normal, the game show is produced and hosted by Michael Fairman that brought fans from different parts of the country together for the kick-off.  They are: Marni Ockene, Floyd Elwell, Nicholas Hess and Gina Patterson.

The game is played in two rounds, and the players receive points for each correct answer as they choose questions from 2 game board categories which are all soap operas; either primetime or daytime in a ‘Jeopardy’-like format.

Photo: MFTVInc

However, come the knock-out round we are left with two players who try to answer the final question from this week’s guest performer, The Young and the Restless‘, Sharon Case (Sharon).  If no one is eliminated, the game goes into “Sudden Death”.

On each new episode, different soap operas will be featured on the game board and/or in different amalgamations, plus you never know just which of your favorite soap stars might pop up!

Check out the premiere of “Soap Opera Know-It-All” below.  Then, let us know what you thought of it via the comment section below.

Some of your favorites who have been in both daytime and primetime soaps will be participating in this Friday August 7th’s virtual event, “Ballot Over Broadway” to benefit Higher Heights for America and Field Team 6.

Look for General Hospital’s Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), and former Dallas and Fuller House star, Juan Pablo Di Pace (Ex-Nicolas Trevino, Dallas) to join the likes of Laura Benanti, Andre De Shields and so many more from Broadway, TV and Film in an intimate evening songs.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine and former One Life to Live star, Melissa Fumero (Amy and Ex-Adriana, respectively), will be speaking during the event.

Field Team 6 is a national volunteer army with a simple mission: Register Democrats. Save the world. By targeting places that need Democrats most, we aim to take the White House, flip the Senate, and expand our House majority.

Higher Heights is the only national organization providing Black women with a political home exclusively dedicated to harnessing their power to expand Black women’s elected representation and voting participation, and advance progressive policies.

The event kicks-off at 8PM PST/11 PM EST and to be able to view make sure to get your tickets or to donate by going to this link here.

So might you join the virtual event and watch Bradford, Melissa and Juan Pablo? Comment below.

Tuesday’s night airing of ABC and PEOPLE’s two-hour special The Story of Soaps featured many notable daytime and primetime soap stars, past and present, clips from backstage to classic memorable moments, and some participants who were providing commentary on the erosion of the daytime soaps in our culture.  Still others, maintained and realized that everything today is serialized from the news we watch, to some of Netflix’s most binge-watchable series, and of course, the birth of reality-programming.

Throughout the airing of the special, The Story of Soaps was trending on Twitter and social media either at the #2, #3 or #4 spots for the entire duration of the broadcast presentation, and the cancelled and beloved All My Children was also at one point trending.

However, known soap writers, journalists, ardent fans, and actors of the genre, were all on Twitter last night live-tweeting their thoughts as the special went down, and there was definitely mixed reactions and reviews, when all was said and done.

What the special did not shy away from, but tackled, was Luke’s rape of Laura at the campus disco on General Hospital. and how that moment now, as Genie Francis (Laura), so eloquently put, would be considered as ‘date rape’ in our culture.  The series even included a pivotal moment where Laura addresses Luke (Tony Geary) about the rape years later, after helping Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) through her rape ordeal.

John Stamos (Ex-Blackie Parrish, GH) got a bevy of “Right On’s!” for his comment that the soaps do not get the credit that they deserve and clearly came through as one of the soaps greatest supporters, as did former The Doctors and Knots Landing star, Alec Baldwin.

However, throughout the two-hours, Andy Cohen’s commentary was thread throughout; mostly citing soap’s demise and the creation of reality-programming and his “Real Housewives” franchise, that the special touted as the new soap operas.  It continued on the narrative that people preferred to see real-life drama then made-up drama on a fictional soap.  And while, that has been a trend in American culture for decades, the commentary came off as often out of place in a celebration of the soaps; and bringing in a lot of negativity to the special that soap fans were tired of hearing.

In a lighting rod moment, Cohen stated: “I know Susan Lucci doesn’t agree with me, but I think that the Housewives have replaced soap operas because truth is stranger than fiction. Soaps became kind of unnecessary because you could do it with real people, and they’re writing the drama themselves.”

The special did also address the cancellations of All My Children and One Life to Live, (which many were not sure they were going to do – given this special was airing on ABC), where One Life’s leading lady and six-time Daytime Emmy winner, Erika Slezak (Ex-Viki) said what we all wanted to sa ywhen the ax fell on the towns of Llanview and Pine Valley, “People were horrified”.

Clearly, OJ Simpson and his murder trial and reality-programming were also given a chunk of time to show where the once mighty landscape of daytime soaps which once had 13 shows on the air, dwindled town to 4.  But, it would have been nice to see more time spent on how in this day and age, the people in this current landscape of the genre work so hard to get episodes done at an unbelievable pace, and how in that climate the performers still deliver gut-wrenching performances.

Photo: ABC

Former Loving, OLTL and Breaking Bad star, Bryan Cranston, did point out how the once powerful soaps, just don’t have the dollars they used to, and need to, to help with production costs and their taping schedule.

Viewers were reminded of soaps’ socially relevant storylines including hankie-inducing moments from: Robin (Kimberly McCullough) and Stone’s (Michael Sutton) HIV/AIDS storyline on General Hospital, to Billy Douglas being a gay teen coming out on One Life to Live, played by a young Ryan Phillippe.

There also did not seem time spent on the contributions of William J. Bell; one of the most prominent writers of the soap genre of all-time.

For many commenting on social media last night, there seemed to be a feeling of some glaring omissions of participants who could speak on this genre, who have been in the trenches as soap producers, soap writers, pundits, actors, and more, who were not included in the special.

So, what was your review of The Story of Soaps? How would you grade it? Do you feel it accurately reflected the history of the genre?  Were you happily surprised,  or when it came to the end where you over it, or somewhere in between? Sound off in the comment section below.  Below are some tweets from notables who have worked as an actor, a writer, and a journalist in the soaps.  

What started as a love letter kinda dissolved into a lover kicking you out of bed.
Ummm ok well I guess I appreciate the effort. But that definitely took a turn.🤷🏻‍♀️😬🤪 #TheStoryofSoaps

— Chrishell (@Chrishell7) May 20, 2020

OMG so I’m still watching/catching up on #TheStoryofSoaps. Why does it suddenly feel like a death knell for the genre?! Why can’t it be a celebration? We’re hanging tough with no new episodes IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING PANDEMIC! Why not celebrate our resilience? I’m done!

— Michele Val Jean (@MicheleValJean) May 20, 2020

Here’s the thing: The reason we’re down to 4 soaps is because network execs messed with time slots, cut budgets and interfered with storytelling. ABC can’t admit that so they have to get @Andy to trash them. But #TheStoryofSoaps was still a fun watch. Long live #AMC, #OLTL & #GH! https://t.co/pqR0Gx3cnf

— Carolyn Hinsey (@CarolynHinsey) May 20, 2020