Soap! the Inside Story of the Sitcom That Broke All the Rules

by A.S. Berman

From its tumultuous beginnings in 1977 to its end by firing squad - on screen and off - Soap was as passionate and controversial as the times in which it was made. During its four-year run, it tackled sex, death, depression and infidelity, all with a wit and gentleness never before seen on American television. Throughout that time, a vocal minority hounded the sitcom and parent network ABC over its perceived irreverence toward the mores of a declining generation, even as the real world was convulsed by terrorism, energy crises, and fallout from the Vietnam conflict and governmental malfeasance. For the first time ever, Soap: The Unauthorized Inside Story of the Sitcom that Broke all the Rules takes you behind the scenes, from the producers' battles with network censors over an earlier series, to the creation of enduring story lines such as the death of Peter Campbell, and Burt's abduction by aliens. Based on interviews with nearly 30 members of the cast and crew, this book offers an extensive examination of each episode, and may finally reveal the societal forces that really led to the series' premature demise.

456 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 2013

About the author

A former writer and editor for USA Today, Berman writes for several national publications and is currently at work on several books about television and film.

A.S. Berman is the author of "The Gilmore Girls Companion," "Soap: The Inside Story of the Sitcom that Broke all the Rules," and the forthcoming book "So Beautiful it Hurts: The Making of My So-Called Life." His latest book is "Wolves Lie Dreaming," a novel.

Reviews

[Mediaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a biased, distorted view of a TV show that many don't even remember, one that has become just a footnote in TV history. It's mostly an episode guide with two-thirds of the material in the book being cast lists (yes, repeated for each episode!), lines from each episode, and plot summaries--namely, deadly dull and a sloppy way to write a book. It includes a lot of non-Soap material as an attempt to put the show in context (Bobby Kennedy? Fay? Peyton Place?). It's a really weird way to write a TV show history and doesn't work. There's not much here when it comes to adding insight into the history or making of the show. And the book is way overpriced for what is just a fan's episode guide.

The program wasn't even that groundbreaking, a fact that the author does allude to but chooses to ignore. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman actually used a similar structure a year earlier and introduced many of the wacky plot ideas. Then the author wonders why Susan Harris didn't get an Emmy for Soap? The answer is that the show isn't quite as good as the writer claims--take a look back at it (which I did recently) and you'll see a very funny, enjoyable series that isn't as good as this guy claims. The book's subtitle calls Soap "the sitcom that broke all the rules," but in truth it just pushed the edge a bit and for the most part kept the content pretty clean (which we can thank ABC censors for instead of condemning them the way the author does here--keeping it clean probably kept the series on the air a few years past certain cancellation).

The problem with this book is really the author--he has some of his facts just plain wrong, has way too many pages devoted to non-Soap material, wastes a lot of pages quoting lines from the show, and uses the book as his own personal "soap" box to bash those he doesn't agree with while overpraising the creator/producers of the series. The author is an off-the-deep-end liberal who uses the book to constantly slam anything conservative without any serious consideration of why a viewer at home might object to a a storyline of a priest being seduced by a young woman in the confessional. It does appear he did quite a bit of research, including talking to many of the major players, but all of that is wasted by disorganization and a distracted ADHD publication style where pages skip ahead and are interrupted by full-page sidebars. Even when he gets a big find in the history of the show (like a Newsweek article published before the show aired that rallied anti-Soap protests) he blows it--he contacts the writer of the article who doesn't even remember writing it, knew nothing of the supposed reaction, and basically says the article was no big deal. There may be a great book that could be written about the making of this series but this isn't it. If this book were a soap opera it would have been cancelled quickly due to the author's inability to tell a compelling story.

[The Bookseller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best way to describe Soap is to say it’s a Sitcom that is also a parody of Soap Operas, while actually being a very good Soap Opera in its own right. While watching the series I was delighted to discover there was at least one book on the series. After watching all 85 episodes, which took over a year to do, I started on this book.

This book features so many great interviews with the cast and crew members and behind the scenes info. Not to mention a very useful episode guide which will inevitably help me find particular episodes in the future to re-watch?

I would say that was the episode guides get is a bit formulaic in how they are presented, and can be a bit much if you are reading one after another. It was easier when information about the production segued in.

The only other problem I found was when the author referred to a location in America. When he would go to mention the state someone had come from or where something had happened, he would present it abbreviated. Ect: Connecticut – Conn. Considering that I am from the UK and am not similar with every American state, it took me several seconds to work it out. Sometimes I didn’t realise it even referred to a state and assume it to be a misspelt word.

All in all, a great book.

[Michael Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest, irreverent, yet politically powerful shows of its time.

[FittenTrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

MINOR QUIBBLES: The unruly format makes for a frustrating read - the book begins as a straight forward tale of how the show was created, pitched and met with controversy, then suddenly switches to become an episode guide. There are wonderful anecdotes and stories placed within various recaps (a few times they relate to the specific episode; more often though, they seem randomly dropped in). In the forward, the author acknowledges that the book doesn't focus on any behind-the-scenes tensions -- but by not including them, the book can feel hollow.

What elevates the book to FOUR STARS is the great amount of work that went into creating it - the research, interviews and details are outstanding; just what fans want. I also loved the author's honesty in his critiques of the show's quality dips in seasons 3 & 4. Soaps fans need to own this book.