Book Review: The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era

Abstract

The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era. Sam Ford, Abigail De Kosnik, and C. Lee Harrington, eds. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2011. 344 pp. $50.00 hbk. $30.00 pbk. or e-book.The writings in The Survival of the Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era explore the tensions regarding the current (dismal) state of soap operas from production to the implications of new media on the genre. With one of the goals of the book being to investigate why the shows have lost their appeal, which prompted the cancelation of the majority of U.S. soap operas, the collection raises questions of how the genre can capitalize on what makes it unique to survive. It is the elements that make the genre unique, editors argue, that make it a significant part of television programming that would be missed.To make this argument, the book presents essays and interviews regarding key aspects that help define the genre: the narrative history, the ability to experiment with production, and the audience community surrounding the shows. Essentially, the chapters work together to build the argument that the daytime serial drama does work in ways no other show has done; it can tell a story that spans generations, has a rich history, and builds a community based on the interest of a variety of age groups. One can easily imagine that the intended audience for the collection incorporates the entire soap opera community, given that the authors include a wide range of scholars and professionals who have worked in the genre.The book includes pieces by thirty-eight scholars, soap opera producers and actors, fans, and others, including essays by the three editors. Sam Ford is director of Digital Strategy with Peppercom Strategic Communications and an affiliate with both the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT and the Popular Culture Studies Program at Western Kentucky University; Abigail De Kosnik teaches in the Berkeley Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley; and C. Lee Harrington is a sociology professor at Miami of Ohio.One of the strengths of The Survival of the Soap Opera is that the collection does discuss the traditional factors of soap viewing while showing how these elements can be used to recapture the lost glory of the shows. In essence, the recommendation is what the shows have done in their story telling: build on the past while looking toward the future. Take, for example, the chapter regarding the presentation of the history of Tom Hughes of As the World Turns. This textual analysis discusses areas of contention for viewers, such as Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome (SORAS), to areas of viewer pleasure, such as using prominent characters over a significant period of time to anchor the show.As seen through several of the chapters, the genre does embrace consistency and longevity through characters and storyline, but it also reacts to change. Historically, the soap has been known for being able to embrace change on a variety of levels ranging from production to narratives of social consciousness. What many may not want to acknowledge, however, is that in the case of the serial daytime drama, change may not always have been a good thing. For example, in the chapter on daytime budget cuts, the shows adapting to the lower budget due to falling ratings affected their ability to keep iconic characters and forced some actors to take significant pay cuts. …