The Survival of Soap Opera

How the daytime drama format reaches or loses its audience in the Internet age

Contributions by Ernest Alba, Kay Alden, Robert C. Allen, Nancy Baym, Sara A. Bibel, Denise D. Bielby, Denise Brothers, Tom Casiello, Mary Cassata, Giada Da Ros, Abigail De Kosnik, Patrick Erwin, Sam Ford, Racquel Gonzales, Erick Yates Green, C. Lee Harrington, Barbara Irwin, Deborah L. Jaramillo, Elana Levine, Lynn Liccardo, J. A. Metzler, Jason Mittell, Patrick Mulcahey, Jaime J. Nasser, Horace Newcomb, Roger Newcomb, Radha O'Meara, Julie Porter, QueenEve, William J. Reynolds, Tristan Rogers, Melissa C. Scardaville, Christine Scodari, Louise Spence, Bernard M. Timberg, Emma F. Webb, Carol Traynor Williams, and Mary Jeanne Wilson

The soap opera, one of U.S. television's longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink of disappearing. 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 prime-time TV programs. The Survival of Soap Opera 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 industries.

The book contains reflections from established soap scholars such as Robert C. Allen, Louise Spence, Nancy Baym, and Horace Newcomb, along with essays and interviews by emerging scholars, fans, and website moderators, and by soap opera producers, writers, and actors from ABC's General Hospital, CBS's The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, and other shows. This diverse group of voices seeks to intervene in the discussion about the fate of soap operas at a critical juncture and speaks to longtime soap viewers, television studies scholars, and media professionals alike.

Sam Ford, Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a research affiliate with Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Convergence Culture Consortium and Director of Digital Strategy for Peppercom Strategic Communications. Abigail De Kosnik, San Francisco, California, is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Center for New Media and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. C. Lee Harrington, Oxford, Ohio, is professor of sociology and a Women's Studies Program Affiliate at Miami University. She has been conducting research on the daytime industry and soap fans since the late 1980s and is author of many published academic works on soaps, including Soap Fans (with Denise D. Bielby).