Soap (1977-1981)

I loved it his show as a teen.

Its Richard Mulligan....thank you.

I watched the reruns starting when I was around 8. I thought it was fun. So many storylines. Then my parents made me stop watching it. Robert Urich made me feel strange about myself.

Such a great show and it should have kept going.

Ted Wass was so hot on the show. He's still a handsome fella.

Helmond was hilarious as the ditsy Jessica Tate who lived in a world entirely her own. She got to deliver the series's all-time biggest laugh line when Jodie, defending his homosexuality, told her that famous figures from history, like Plato, were also homosexuals: "You mean to tell me Mickey Mouse's dog was GAY?!" she said, shocked.

I loved this show as a kid. LOVED IT. The episode where Burt and Danny and Chester go to break out Billy from the cult was probably the hardest I've ever laughed in my entire life. Brilliant comedy. And Damon and Helmond were the show MVPs.

Loved it. WAY ahead of it's time. Used to talk about it in home room The next day.

Jimmy Baio was a cutie back then, unlike his slimy douchebag of a cousin.

Diana Canova sure burned fast, didn't she? Seemed like she was everywhere for a hot minute and then nothing. Better than most, I guess.

Robert Guillaume was hilarious as Benson. His character Benson was incredibly acerbic, and thought the Tates (for whom he was the butler and cook) were awful people. He liked Billy and Corinne, and was kind to Jessica (although he knew she was an idiot), but he openly loathed Chester, Eunice, and the Major. Unfortunately when they spun him off to his own series they mellowed the character considerably, which was such a shame--until then he had been one of the funniest and most interesting black characters ever on TV.

Any of them die of AIDS?

"... you want ME to get that?"

Helmond and Damon at their funniest, with Mary (Damon) explaining to Jessica (Helmond) that her stepson Bob (Jay Johnson) acts as if he believes his ventriloquist's dummy, Bob, is a real person.

Sorry: the stepson was Chuck and the dummy was Bob.

I remember being attracted to Jimmy Baio as Billy fairly mildly, and then being really attracted to him when his character fucked his high school teacher and she started stalking him.

I bought the entire series on DVD last year. Still incredibly funny. Burt’s alien adventure was a favourite storyline of mine.

Mmmm. Ted Wass in tight 70s pants.

How did Cathryn Damon go from an Emmy winning role on this to playing a minor Supporting Role on Webster? Even Ted Wass managed to get a meatier role on Blossom.

Loved this and still do. I was too young when it aired but watched later. Jessica was the best. Bob was like real person. Jodie was the wiseguy. Ted Wass with jeans legs wide open looked hot. Epic scenes and timeless comedy. I re-watch it often.

R19 Meatier being the key.

Presenting Miss Cathryn Damon......

Miss Damon at the mic.....

[quote]Helmond and Damon at their funniest, with Mary (Damon) explaining to Jessica (Helmond) that her stepson Bob (Jay Johnson) acts as if he believes his ventriloquist's dummy, Bob, is a real person.

What a great clip, R14! It has two of the best lines from the entire series. About the dummy, "Jessica, it doesn't eat." And from the dummy, "Big ones."

This show was so controversial before it aired. In the first episodes, Diana Canova's character was lusting after a priest and it was rumored that the show would have a scene where he banged her in a confessional. My mother was so opposed to the show - until she saw it; she was hooked and allowed me to watch it with her. Of course Canova's character married the priest and the program had a whole "Exorcist" story line.

My mom was like that - quite conservative, with a great sense of humor. When she found that the show was more satire and slapstick comedy than vulgar or controversial for the sake of being controversial, she could enjoy herself immensely.

Yeah, the uproar over this show was massive.

Imagine if you showed those people "Happy!" ... they'd faint dead away.

Susan Harris didn't just write hilarious lines, she was capable of writing incredibly moving monologues for her characters.

Damn, I love this show.

Here's another great scene from Season 1 (The Tates and the Campbells meet Peter).

[quote] How did Cathryn Damon go from an Emmy winning role on this to playing a minor Supporting Role on Webster?

Stu Silver wrote for both of them.

R27, indeed. Susan Harris is true talent.

I used to have a huge crush on Jay Johnson.

Susan Harris didn't just write hilarious lines, she was capable of writing incredibly moving monologues for her characters.

Oh, I know!

She also wrote the abortion episode of [italic]Maude[/italic]. Meanwhile, Carol chose life and gave birth to the show's least essential character, Phillip.

Jay Johnson was the poor man’s me!

[quote]Susan Harris didn't just write hilarious lines, she was capable of writing incredibly moving monologues for her characters

Soap was as moving as it was hilarious. There's tons of scenes that just gutted me : Danny saying goodbye to Mary when he went into Witness Protection, Jodie coming out to Danny, Mary's visit to Jessica in the hospital as she (Mary) was going into labor. Great stuff.

So why did "Soap" peter out (pardon the pun) after four seasons?

According to Wikipedia:

“Although Susan Harris had planned for five seasons of Soap, the program was abruptly canceled by ABC after its fourth season. Therefore, the final one-hour episode, which originally aired on April 20, 1981, did not serve as a series finale and instead ended with several unresolved cliffhangers. These involve a suicidal Chester preparing to kill Danny and Annie (his son and wife) after catching them in bed together, an irreversibly hypnotized Jodie believing himself to be a 90-year-old Jewish man, Burt preparing to walk into an ambush orchestrated by his political enemies, and Jessica about to be executed by a Communist firing squad. Vlasic Foods pulled their sponsorship of the program shortly after this episode aired and ABC announced that the program was not picked up for its planned fifth season. The official reason given by the network was its declining ratings. However, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Soap "ended under suspicion that resistance from ad agencies may have caused ABC to cancel [it] at that point" because its still controversial content was negatively affecting its relationship with sponsors.[6]

A 1983 episode of Benson mentions Jessica's disappearance, noting the Tate family is seeking to have her declared legally dead. In the episode, Jessica appears as an apparition that only Benson can see or hear and reveals to him that she is not dead, but in a coma somewhere in South America. No other incidents from the final episode of Soap are mentioned.”

[quote]Jessica appears as an apparition that only Benson can see or hear and reveals to him that she is not dead, but in a coma somewhere in South America.

Perhaps Brazil?

I HATED Crystal’s old Jewish man character. He was part of Crystal’s standup act which was why the character was written into the role.

Same here, R39. That was when the show 'jumped the shark' for me'. Season 4 was not good.

Brilliant show! Re-runs still airing at odd hrs.

I was also bothered when they made Jody want a sex change to be with his quarterback boyfriend publicly.

Up until that moment, Jody was a string, out, proud gay man, someone I as a young in-the-closet teen gay boy could relate to. A perfectly NORMAL guy ("just like me!") that was the first HOPE I'd had since coming out to myself. You have to remember in those days, gays were only ever portrayed as lonely old predatory queers, evil incarnate, or just desperately sad, or flamboyantly flaming.

I was very disappointed by that turn of events. Even MORE so when he 'fell in love' with a woman in subsequent seasons. Ugh.

I loved the show, but it was far from perfect.

Yes, they really couldn’t decide the direction of Jodie. So much of it was insulting to gay people.

R11 - I'd disagree slightly with your description of the Benson - Jessica relationship. As the show progressed it was clear that they really cared for each other - recently saw the 1983 Benson / Jessica apparition scene on youtube and was surprised how really moving it was. For me when a really good sitcom goes for a moment of pathos it is usually affects me more than a standard drama.

R25 - I had almost the exact same experience.

The old lady next door informed my mom that at Mass the priest had told everyone to boycott the show. So we weren't allowed to watch it. (We couldn't watch Maude, but All In The Family was fine - go figure.)

My sister and I watched it anyway, and loved it. A few weeks into the season mom found out and was pretty angry. "But mom, it's not that bad," we pleaded, "and it's really funny!" Somehow we got her to agree to watch the next episode with us. The sense of humor was right up her alley and we watched it together for the rest of the run.

It's funny to think about what Jessica looked like. She was 50 back then and looked 80 by today's standards. Was that what 50 year olds looked like back then or did she always just look old?

Also, I loved the Danny & Elaine story line. I think her death scene which had her crawling to his door to see him again before she died was done brilliantly. One of my favorite scenes in TV history.

Does anyone know if there's truth to the rumour that Ted Wass hated Dinah Manoff and basically demanded that they kill off her character? And if so, why did he despise her so much?

[quote]Soap was as moving as it was hilarious. There's tons of scenes that just gutted me

That's so true. You could be laughing your socks off one minute, then weeping like a baby the next. And it was equally effective both ways.

There were a couple sad and very memorable scenes with Jessica and Benson: one before Jessica's trial and the other before Benson left. I also found the hospital scenes with Jodie and Barney Gerber (Harold Gould) extremely moving. I liked Barney from the moment he told Burt, in Jodie's defense, to "stop with the name calling; nice is what counts."

I loved the Chuck and Bob scenes. Chuck (or was it Bob?) could say the nastiest things and get away with it. Except for when someone (I forget who) stuck him in the refrigerator, and he came out teeth chattering. I also loved the scene when everyone was trying to say something nice about the horrid Elaine . Danny finally just spoke the truth: "She's a pig". I remember getting the hots for Donnelly Rhodes, who played Dutch (the convict who couldn't decide between Eunice and Corinne). I began a relentless search to find shirtless pictures of him. Was Robert Mandan gay?

....

Another scene that I thought was really well written was when Elaine explains why she's a bitch. Her sister was killed and her father screamed that he didn't understand why it wasn't her instead.

Witt Thomas Harris had the ugliest looking shows. One could tell by the cheap video tape, bad lighting,and bad sets right away. They definitely had a look. Writing was good, production values, not so much.

I was shocked Robert Mandan is still alive when I watched the Soap/Benson reunion on Home and Garden a few years ago. I assumed he was dead like Mulligan and Damon and now Guillaume. I guess the Tates are better than the Campbells.

This scene STILL cracks me up. The best part is Mary's (Cathryn Damon) facial expressions as she reacts to the madness around her.

A very funny show, so full of very talented actors. It's a shame Robert Guillaume left the show to do his own tv series, which was pretty lame. Benson was one of the best characters.

Why did "Soap" end so abruptly? The final show had cliffhangers that were never resolved because the show ended without a proper finale. I heard that the show was so controversial (it did have a lot of sex talk, and one of the story lines involved Billy having sex with his teacher (shades of Mary Kay LeTourneau). I heard sponsors were pulling out and that's why it went off the air, pfft, just like that. Too bad; a finale was really needed and the show deserved one.

R56 see R37 who quotes Wikipedia.

[quote]It's a shame Robert Guillaume left the show to do his own tv series, which was pretty lame.

"Benson" ran nearly twice as long as "Soap," so obviously it was a good career move on his part.

Loathed it. The way it mawked and winked at the audience. Vomit. It was not 10% as funny or arch as it thought it was.

"I loved the show, but it was far from perfect."

It was a "soap", so that's why there were ridiculous storylines like Jodie falling in love with a woman and turning into an old Jewish man. Soap operas don't make sense.

Unlike our sainted Deidre Hall's Days of our Lives' character Marlena's demonic possession, I actually bought into the idea of Corinne having a possessed baby.

R59, why do you feel compelled to come in here and yuck everyone else's yum?

The first season was great but it went south fast. The problem was Chuck was suppose to have killed his brother, but when he became popular they changed it to Chester, which made no sense at all, and this screwed up the dynamics.

I fell in love with the gentle and kind Mary Campbell right away, and was very sad when Cathryn Damon died at age 56 in 1987. So long ago...

Why didn't it make sense for Chester to have killed Peter? He was fucking his wife and his daughter.

What didn't make sense was that hottie Peter was somehow the son of Burt and brother to Chuck.

R64, I’ve always felt that way, too.

The only actor/actress that was any good on this was Marla Pennington.

Fuck, Robert Urich was a great looking guy.

R63 I like that ending to the murder mystery better! They could have had the jury find Chuck innocent and Bob guilty to allow Jay Johnson to stay in the show (with a new "Bob")

Robert Mandan was hilarious but oddly cast as Chester, who is supposed to be a babe magnet. Loved "Lester Plate."

Yes, Chester got a lot of women. I assume they were after his money; he was no looker. Jessica said "Chester goes through women like an elephant goes through peanuts."

[quote] Yes, they really couldn’t decide the direction of Jodie. So much of it was insulting to gay people.

I'm actually more insulted by what came after, like that 1990s NBC sitcom that I thought was dead and buried forever.

No idea what you're talking about, R71.

The one that came back despite never being a tenth as funny as this show was at its worst.

No idea what you're talking about, R73.

He's talking about Will & Grace, Rose.

[quote]Seriously, you can't actually mention the show? WTF is wrong w/ you?

Nothing. What the fuck is wrong with YOU for expecting me to acknowledge the existence of offensive, unfunny schlock when we could be talking about a genuinely funny and groundbreaking show like [italic]Soap[/italic]?

R76, you have issues. You're pretty fucked up. Just go away now. Let the adults talk.

Yes, I have issues with mass media forcing gay people to accept crumbs off the table and calling it progress as if it was still 1977. Even in the 1990s, [italic]Soap[/italic] played better in reruns than that NBC minstrel show ever did or ever will, and shows that bad don't deserve to be mentioned by name.

Katharine Helmond and Robert Guillaume were very close friends off the show (Katharine directed a few episodes of Benson). This scene is so touching because they weren't acting.

omg how OLD are you OP? 100?

Oh fuck OFF, R78. Go seek a therapist or something. Jesus.

Corinne! Corinne! Corinne! Remember Inga and Jessica in jail? Jessica’s trial (Are you my jury?) had some of the funniest moments.

But as soon as [italic]WKRP in Cincinnati[/italic] began, Howard Hesseman and Gordon Jump were gone even though the trial wasn't technically over. And they also referred to Benson as "Mr. Benson," whereas when he got his own show — where more of [italic]The Golden Girls[/italic]' writers and producers came from — it was his first name.

R82, Swenson was a riot as Inga, much better than Krause on "Benson". You thin I'm finnish? No, Swedish.

If memory serves, Inga's first appearance was sitting at an outdoor cafe table with someone else (can't remember who) - the waiter was Adolf Hitler - my mother laughed so hard at the sight gag - she had to explain it to me (I was maybe a teenager?).

[quote] I loved the Chuck and Bob scenes. Chuck (or was it Bob?) could say the nastiest things and get away with it.

Bob was ID run amok, and DL-worthy besides. His passive-aggressive ripostes were second-to-none and they began firing the second he arrived onscreen.

[quote] “I really don’t need this aggravation from the lower-middle class.”

[quote{ Except for when someone (I forget who) stuck Bob in the refrigerator, and he came out teeth chattering.

It was Jodie that hid Bob in the fridge, out of frustration at receiving cunty post-It messages that could only be from the doll.

Jodie & Bob’s antagonistic relationship was a clever & natural way to slide the cynical antagonistic ‘riffing’ humor of the ‘70s into the otherwise standard ‘60s format script.

It was also a characterisation standout, one that made me wonder whether the offbeat Chuck was working out some confusing feelings for his stepbrother via Bob...

Antenna TV started airing episodes of [italic]Soap[/italic] and [italic]Benson[/italic] back to back, why is Benson's hair gray on [italic]Soap[/italic] but black on [italic]Benson[/italic]?

'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' was funnier and more original.

[quote]It was Jodie that hid Bob in the fridge, out of frustration at receiving cunty post-It messages that could only be from the doll.

Then, as Chuck rescued Bob and carried him from the kitchen, Bob said, "Oh, by the way, the little light stays on." I loved that.

There were quite a few of those split-second gags that are remembered years later. One of them, as R85 mentioned, had Hitler waiting tables in South America. In another, Heinrich Himmel, interrogating the Tate household, asked Benson if he was the black butler. Benson bowed and said, "Nooo, I Japaneeese houseboyyyy."

Such a fun series.

MH, MH was a serial and lasted only a few seasons. I watched it a few years back and it was deadly dull and slow.

So what was the deal with Chuck?

I always assumed he had a split-personality disorder, but perhaps now he’d be diagnosed with some form of high-functioning Autism? Or acute schizophrenia, as he’s a male the age of typical onset?

[quote] So what was the deal with Chuck?

I always assumed he had a split-personality disorder, but perhaps now he’d be diagnosed with some form of high-functioning Autism? Or acute schizophrenia, as he’s a male the age of typical onset?

The only time I remember anyone seriously touching on Chuck's mental state was when Jodie hid Bob and Jodie said that Chuck needed help.

Yes, watching it today "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" is tedious and dull. It was a novelty at first, then it got stale very quickly. And who would believe that the hot Dennis would be lusting after Mary Hartman, a very weird neurotic who wore little girl dresses and her hair in pigtails? Soap was definitely superior.

Re: the cancellation of Soap.

I remember in the local market there was a disclaimer that ran before the final episode. In it, they stated that they were presenting the final episode of Soap, but the series was being cancelled due to its controversial nature.

I remember that series was truly funny as well as groundbreaking in so many ways.

Was there ever a regular tv series that was cancelled so abruptly because it was so "controversial?" I can't think of one.

R96 "Turn-On."

Yes R12, many of them died of AIDS. Except back then, we called it "the homosexual consumption," because the word AIDS was trademarked for a diet candy full of bad-quality speed. Eventually, the trademark was transferred to the disease, as it was found to be a much better weight-loss program.

getting back on topic: Ted Wass's ass was a thing of wonder (see :34 and following)

I think Bob was just the manifestation of who Chuck wanted to be.

Chuck was extremely polite and gentle, and Bob was rude and aggressive and said the things Chuck wanted to say.

[quote]Go seek a therapist or something. Jesus.

I did. That's how I ended up a 90-year-old Jewish man. Hey, at least I outlived Jesus!

I wish they would release the entire series of Benson on DVD. Only the first two are available.

Thankfully the entire series of Soap is available.

[quote]I wish they would release the entire series of Benson on DVD. Only the first two are available. Thankfully the entire series of Soap is available.

I watched some [italic]Benson[/italic] reruns on FamilyNet recently and it was better than I remember it being. It wasn't as groundbreaking or as edgy as [italic]Soap[/italic] — having Tracey on it and being on before 9:00 limited the subject matter somewhat — but the casting was good and I even laughed out loud a few times. The middle years usually tend to be the best of a lot of 1970s-1980s shows because for many of them that's when it starts to come together.

How many of the stations that boycotted [italic]Soap[/italic] originally eventually gave in and showed it?

It was better once they brought Didi Conn on board.

They actually managed to make Clayton Endicott III more flamboyant than Jodie Dallas without making him gay. He even got a drag scene in an episode where Gov. Gatling was caught in a brothel.

[quote] Bob was rude and aggressive and said the things Chuck wanted to say.

Then poor old Chuck must have suffered terribly from self-loathing, because Bob couldn’t stand Chuck and made it known.

Jessica: “if he’s gonna have a doll, he should have one he gets along with!”

Helmond’s tiny waist was almost unreal

[quote] Helmond’s tiny waist was almost unreal

Weren't they on the same night as [italic]What's Happening!![/italic] at one point?

I always loved when Jessica said "I see..." when she really didn't understand.

Getting his own series might have been "a good career move" for Robert Guillaume but it was a bad move for "Soap." The show was weaker without him.

I always had the hots for Ted Wass. But I think he was a dick. I remember some talk show that had the Soap cast on it; he was the only one who acted like a snot. As I recall he sang a song on that show, too (he was no singer). And Diana Canova sang a song on the show, too. She was marginally better.