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

Tensions will be running high in the Pearson family on Tuesday night’s season four finale of This Is Us (9pmEST/8pmCST).   In the episode titled “Strangers: Part Two,” which harkens back to, and is the sequel, to the season four opener “Strangers: Part One” where the series introduced new characters, much will be intersected and interconnected.

In it Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) are preparing for their trip to St, Louis to take Rebecca (Mandy Moore) to the Alzheimer’s clinical trial that Randall manipulated his mother into agreeing to, something his brother, Kevin (Justin Hartley) is unaware of at this point, which clearly will be part of, and take centerstage when the long-awaited fallout happens between brothers in the season finalw.

Beth tells Randall about what went down:  “I think that your mom made her decision. I think the tactics you used to get her to change her mind are hmm.  I mean, did she even tell your brother that she changed her mind? ‘Cause that, that’s going to be something.”

There are other Pearson-related questions that viewers hope will finally be answered or at least a very solid clue including: who is the baby mama to Kevin’s son in the future, and what happens with adult Jack.   Of note: the epicenter of this episode surrounds baby Jack’s first birthday.

The series four finale was written by series creator, Dan Fogelman, and directed by executive producer Ken Olin.

So ready to grab the hankies and find out what happens on tonight’s season four finale of This Is Us? Let us know via the comment section below.

Tonight on NBC’s hit drama, This Is Us, don’t miss Justin Hartley’s directorial debut on the series.  The former soap star, who has become an even bigger household name since landing the pivotal role of Kevin Pearson, has become quite the talent behind-the-camera, too.   Justin had previously directed an episode of the series Smallville in which he was also part of the cast.

Hartley directs the episode entitled “A Hell of a Week: Part Three” which features Kate’s (Chrissy Metz) drama at its epicenter, and concludes the latest Big Three trilogy of recent installments of the show.

In an interview with The Wrap, Hartley said of the episode in which he helms that Kate’s teenage troubled relationship with Marc comes more to light and how it impacted her as an adult woman in her relationship with Toby citing: “As far as the teenage storyline goes, there’s a massive through-line between her relationship with Marc (Austin Abrams) and how she handles her life in the present day with Toby (Chris Sullivan).”  Justin added: “These people that come and go in our lives, the relationships that come and go, they leave lingering things with us and they shape us and they form these habits or these sort of personalities that we become and we evolve into throughout our life. And that shapes the decisions that we make. Also, the relationship that she has with Toby and the relationship that she has with Marc, the differences and similarities, and the danger that goes along with that. The pushing and the pulling, the togetherness and separation.”

The creator of This Is Us, Dan Fogelman tweeted on Tuesday: “So not only is @justinhartley a 6’4 hunk who is legit funny (didn’t know they made funny in his size)… turns out he’s also a hell of a director. What a bastard. You’ll see tonight.”

Meanwhile, Justin’s This Is Us co-star and on-screen sister, Chrissy Metz shared: Directed by our guy, @justinhartley and the last of our Big Three trilogy, tonight’s all new nbc This Is Us is really something special. Can’t wait to hear what you all think.”

Harley himself shared on social media: “I had the honor of directing tonight’s episode. This crew is truly incredible. Can’t wait for you to see.”