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.
Hope Pam does comeback…VP or recast…i still would like to think J.R. staged his own death to look like one of his enemies did it(J.R. couldve secretly learned he had a fatal illness, and didnt want his enemies to have the last laugh) However it turns out, i cant wait to see the season finale!!!
I love John Rise & Pam together. The writers struck gold with this storyline and the smoking chemistry between these two actors. I want a third season, TNT. Dallas is an awesome show! Can’t wait to see what happens next!
I don’t think Principal is at all interested in returning…..but I sure hope she does, although not as a villainess.
Victoria Principal has already said publicly she will not return to play “Pam Ewing” and that she doesn’t want to ruin the original story of Bobby & Pam. I think if Victoria was to return and did show up on the set, it would have been big news all over the internet and the ratings would have gone up. With no guarantee of a third season for Dallas yet, why would Victoria Principal show up on the set just to appear for a few seconds?
It would be fitting if Pam killed JR.. to have some random character that nobody cares about wouldn’t do it justice. The history between the two is so strong, it’s the only way it could be.. but we’ll see. I think VP is committed to her self-imposed retirement.. it’d be great if she was back on the show, but I don’t think so.
DAMN I love this show too death! It’s just as good as the original sow if not better @ times. I do miss JR though, but he left us John Ross. Gosh JR’s son is AMAZING! He is most def making it Daddy proud. I’m long the HELL out of John Ross & Pamela too. Julie is right. They are BRILLIANT couple. Beautiful, passionate & dangerous force together. Their union is going to be an awesome thing to watch unfold. It’s will be explosive in good ways & bad. The marriage won’t be an easy one, but I believe their… Read more »
I’ve been thoroughly impressed by how flipping good this show is. The cast and writers could not be better.
Am so glad Pamela and John Ross got together, best pairing since JR and Sue Ellen, there will be fireworks.
Victoria Principal is NOT coming back, folks. She recently stated that her 1987 appearance put a punctuation mark on the end of Pamela Barnes Ewing.
A re-cast? Blah. That happened in 1988 and didn’t go over so well.
I am totally in LOVE with John Ross and Pamela!! The show really struck gold when they paired them together. Josh Henderson and Julie Gonzalo are both amazing actors and have the most electrifying chemistry. Like Julie said the characters are so similar and have the potential to be the power couple for many years to come. To me they’re the best couple on tv period right now. I am loving the new Dallas and I haven’t been this excited about a show in years thanks to these two!!
I think the woman shown in the picture at the Bank was Cliff’s half sister .. Katherine Wentworth. If I remember correctly .. Katherine is wanted for murder (and other misdeeds) .. so, it’s Katherine that’s been living under an assumed name .. not Pamela. Cliff hated Katherine .. but .. he found a way to work with her .. as in .. she gave him her shares of Barnes Global in exchange for Cliff financing her lifestyle as a fugitive from the law .. and in return .. she’s keeping silent about Pamela being dead. I think this is… Read more »
I want VP back, too! Loving DALLAS this season and hope for many more.
I hope Pam does return – played by Victoria Principal.
And I kinda hope it’s revealed that she killed JR or at least had something to do with it.
I love this show.
Just love love love John Ross & Pamela together. They are going to be Fighting & Making up & Divorcing & Marrying for a long time to come. They are the Romeo & Juliette of the show now. Cannot wait for the Season Finale and even more for Season 3… Love Bobby and Sue Ellen of course… Miss you JR!