Soap

Hated it, but always had to watch it because stupid Chuck loved it.

Yes R1 I saw the whole series on TV when it first came out. It was a funny satire on soap operas.

Katherine Helmond was divine, Billy Crystal adorable, Chuck and Bob (the dummy) at riot, the rest of the cast well-cast and very, very funny!

"a riot", that is

I agree, R3, Katherine Helmond was perfection.

“Mickey Mouse’s dog was gay?”

Catherine Damon was also known as Scooter Damon, a very famous Broadway gypsy/Romani/fuck it - gypsy!

Fun show. The murder mystery in Season 1 was especially good.

Cathryn Damon was underrated. In a lot of ways, she had the toughest role of the four leads since she was the perpetual straight woman to everyone else's broad jokes and slapstick. It's easy to point out the brilliance of Helmond and Mulligan, but they wouldn't have shone so brightly without her foundation. Of the four, I actually found Mandan to be the weakest link with all of his groveling and mincing; it was like watching Jonathan Harris trapped in the body of Cary Grant.

Oh, and Ted Wass was one hot piece of ass in the day.

That's some of my finest work!

He sure was R9!

Greg - I just watched a couple of episodes of I Love Lucy the other day. It was a very amusing show. Anyone here like it?

Yes, R11, I like I Love Lucy but haven't seen it in years.

Despite your intention to be an asshole (noted), I thought that perhaps some younger gay guys might look for Soap and enjoy it.

I remember watching it in high school. My mom loved it, too. For its time, it was revolutionary. Very daring, hysterically funny at times, and achingly sad at others.

The episode where Danny's wife was killed was just shocking and devastating.

R12 You are right about younger gay guys needing to give the show a chance. I an 30, and II watched it all during the pandemic. As a huge Golden Girls fan, I wanted to see a show by Susan Harris. It did not disappoint. It was funny, touching and has aged very well. And, as a Golden Girls fan, it was fun to compare and contrast. If I am not mistaken, Harris wrote the entire first and second seasons by herself.

Katherine Helmond was in that role. She was able to just come across as so lovable. Her character was this odd combination of ditty, regal, innocent, charismatic, vulnerable and haughty. I have never seen quite that same type of character before or since.

This scene here would later inspire the famous kitchen scenes in the Golden Girls.

It was so ahead of its time. The whole storyline with Billy Crystal and the baby, especially.

The line from the Southern relative (aunt?) who is fighting him for the child (after he threatens to go to court) is a classic. “Two homos bringing up a baby? You’ll never win.” Crystal is devastated and his acting is good.

Cathryn Damon gave the show a grounded, thoughtful, kind heart. I still think she was underrated and so wonderful.

I'm now fifty-nine, two years older than Cathryn when she died. I thought she was an old lady at the time, lol.

Thanks, R14. It's refreshing to know that assholes like R11 don't speak for everyone on here.

I am quite a bit older than you and when Soap aired in 1977, I was just ten years old and not allowed to watch it. It was one of the most controversial television show ever.

And yes, Susan Harris was a gifted writer and created, produced, and wrote for Soap and later Golden Girls. I hope others who have not ever seen this groundbreaking show will look for it (Tubi, Crackle, & fuboTV) and give it a try.

The show had some really hilarious storylines, like Bert thinking he was invisible. Richard Mulligan was a master at physical comedy in his scenes.

I also liked when Jessica got kidnapped by the South American drug cartel and she fell in love with the cartel's leader, El Puerko. She would always call him "El."

That's the show that introduced me to a shirtless Robert Urich and got my little gayling loins stirring.

R20 Here he is in the shower, just before he gets murdered.

Jodie is the queer trans non binary hero we all need right now!

Ted Wass used to show some good bulge on that show.

[quote]For its time, it was revolutionary. Very daring,

Um, no. Not unless you lived in the Bible Belt.

Not a fan. It would have been much better without the laugh track.

R24 Um, yes, it was.

I'm guessing you born after 2000, so you're unaware of what network TV was like in the 1970s.

R24 Learn a few things.

No, darling, R25, I'm a elder - 66 years old. I was going to say YOU must have been born in 2010.

In New York, this sitcom wasn't shocking in the slightest.

R27 A prissy queen from Queens has ennui.

The she was indeed controversial when it first came out. The (usually) sweet old lady next door told my mom that the Priests had told parishioners to boycott the show during Mass - because of Crystal’s gay character. This was outer-boro NYC. Not sure if the priests actually said that but were were not allowed to watch it. I was around 12.

We did anyway, everyone at school talked about it — and when mom found out she was very angry. My sister and I pleaded - “It’s really funny, just watch a little of it.” My mom has a very good, sarcastic sense of humor. The three of us watched the next episode together, all the way through, and we all continued to do so for the run of the show. It was hysterical.

I was in freshman year of high school when it first premiered. I thought parts of it were funny, though my parents thought it was one of the funniest comedies on television at the time. Recently, after 40 years, I recorded some of the episodes (starting with the pilot episode of season one) on one of the cable channels. I found it much funnier than I recall. I guess it was really aimed at 'adult humor' which was over the head of a 14 year old. As that fereshman in HS, one thing I did take notice of in SOAP was that Ted Wass made be 'stand at attbnetion' every time he was on screen with no shirt on. WOWZA !

I loved it and still watch it. Jessica and Bob were my favorite but very good cast and writing.

I remember there were some local ABC affiliates that refused to air the show because it was considered too "adult" and controversial.

Yes, it was extremely controversial.

[quote] Not a fan. It would have been much better without the laugh track.

Soap was recorded in front of a live studio audience —so no laugh track.

In early March 1977, ABC screened the first two episodes of Soap for the executives of its 195 affiliate stations, many of whom were instantly appalled by the show's emphasis on sex and infidelity. ABC was privately told by two of the affiliates, neither in a major market, that the show was "raunchy" and its subject matter unfit for television.

In June 1977, a Newsweek preview of the fall season written by Harry F. Waters panned the show while characterizing some of its basic plot elements incorrectly and offering exaggerated reports of its sexual content. Despite having not seen the pilot, Waters called the show a "sex farce" and claimed (erroneously) that the show included a scene of a Catholic priest being seduced in a confessional.

Within days of the Newsweek report, a number of local and national religious organizations began to quickly mobilize against Soap, despite the fact that they also had not seen the pilot. Among these were the National Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the National Council of Catholic Bishops and the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the latter of which went so far as to divest itself of 2,500 shares of ABC stock "because the board does not approve of programming related to the abuse of human sexuality, violence and perversion".

The Roman Catholic Church, led by its Los Angeles Archdiocese, also condemned the show and asked all American families to boycott it, saying, "ABC should be told that American Catholics and all Americans are not going to sit by and watch the networks have open season on Catholicism and morality. [Soap] is probably one of the most effective arguments for government censorship of TV that has yet come along." In August, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, representing the three branches of Judaism, joined the Catholic protest, saying that the show, yet to be aired, "reached a new low".

Dr. Everett Parker of the United Church of Christ called Soap "a low-life, salacious program" and complained that the show would be airing when children would be able to watch it.

The religious bodies organized a letter-writing campaign designed to pressure the show's sponsors not to advertise on the network. Although some of the groups asked their members to watch the show first, and then inform ABC of their feelings about it, others began working hard to get ABC to cancel the show before it premiered. One ABC vice president was shocked to learn that his 11-year-old child was required by a parochial school teacher to write a letter of protest to ABC, asking it to take the show off the air. In the end, 32,000 people wrote letters to ABC, only 9 of which were in support of the show.

Some typical corrections by the ABC censors:

"The colloquy between Peter and Jessica ... which relates to cunnilingus/fellatio is obviously unacceptable"

"Corinne's affair with a Jesuit priest, her subsequent pregnancy as a result, and later exorcism, are all unacceptable."

"In order to treat Jodie as a gay character, his portrayal must at all times be handled without 'limp-wristed' actions"

Initial reviews—somewhat clouded by the controversy—were mixed, with negative reviews predictably focusing on the show's racy content. The Los Angeles Times called the show "a prolonged dirty joke" that "is without cleverness or style or subtlety. Its sex jokes are delivered by the shovelful, like manure."

In a 1982 analysis in The Village Voice, published as the series was entering syndication, TV critic Tom Carson lauded the ensemble, saying that "the cast matches the best TV series rep troupes ever." Carson went on to note that Soap "patently started out intended as a lampoon of middle-class values, and ended up instead as a weirdly offbeat celebration of them".

In 2007, Time, which initially panned the show, named it one of the "100 Best Shows of All-TIME". The Museum of Broadcast Communications said that Soap is "arguably one of the most creative efforts by network television before or after".

In 2010, The Huffington Post called Soap a "timeless comedy" and concluded: "Rarely does a show come along with such a unique voice and vision from the first episode".

In addition to the religious protest, Soap also faced substantial pre-broadcast criticism from the International Union of Gay Athletes and the National Gay Task Force, both of which were concerned about the way the gay character Jodie Dallas and his professional football player lover would be portrayed.

To allay the concern of advertisers, some of whom had begun to cancel sponsorship of the program, ABC reluctantly dropped the price for commercial time from $75,000 per spot to $40,000 per spot.

great show

Truly a wonderful show!

Raise your hand if you think that R11 is a douchebag.

Chuck & Bob have one of the best entrances on any sitcom or soap ever.

Jay Johnson is a really gifted ventriloquist. And Bob is totally a DLer, if very homophobic.

[quote] BOB: *muttering* I really don't need this aggravation from the lower-middle class...

It's heartwarming too how Chuck & Bob started off with such animosity toward Jodie, yet by the end they became real brothers.

I loved this show, so funny and it was groundbreaking no matter what some Eeyores on this thread might say. I'm going to give this a rewatch, the clips posted above made me remember how much I loved it.

The murder mystery in season one was investigated by Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump).

"El Puerco" was played by Gregory Sierra.

"Billy" (Jimmy Baio) loses his virginity to "Leslie" Marla Pennington. Marla would later played Gay Jaime's Mom on "Small Wonder."

Two words: Donnelly Rhodes.

I think Richard Mulligan's "Burt" was my favorite character.

I loved how "Benson" fucked with "The Major."

I always got Jimmy Baio and Jimmy McNichol mixed up.

I love Helmond's Mayonnaise on my BLT's.

Just binge watched it over the weekend. I laughed out loud constantly. It was even funnier than I remembered. I used to hate Eunice when it originally aired,but I see her (and all the other characters) in a much different way being 62 as opposed to 17 .

R42 - I was 10 when this show first aired and I was all about Ted Wass and Robert Urich. To me Donnelly Rhodes was an old man. I just finished rewatching the whole series on Tubi earlier this year, and damn -- he was hot. His character rotted over time (like the show did), but he was definitely nice to look at. I later found out that he had been a heartthrob on Young & the Restless in the 1970s. LOL

Anyway, watching this classic show again, now in 2023, I'm surprised by how homophobic and racist Burt is. Damn the shit that comes out of his mouth could be on All in the Family. There's a marked decrease with the slurs about midway through the first season so I'm guessing someone got a memo to tone it down.

For me the first two seasons are gold. The third was okay/funny. And it just went to shit with the final fourth season - ugh with Annie the slut, El Puerco nonsense, Burt turning into Walking Tall, Danny is just toooo stupid by this point and Jodie as the old Jewish guy was painful shtick. I was sad when it got cancelled back in 1981 (I was 14), but looking back -- yeah, it was due. The last season did have two stories I liked although they got short shrift: the falling out between the sisters when Danny's parentage is revealed, and (relatedly) Mary's alcoholism. While completely tasteless, I still LOL when Mary takes a header down the stairs to meet Burt and the Governor.

[quote] I'm surprised by how homophobic and racist Burt is.

Not to mention Bob, calling Jodie a sissy and butterfly. That kind of talk wouldn't be tolerated on network tv today.

Miss Damon...

For me, 'Soap' was the source of a lot of discomfort. I thought it was funny as hell, and wanted to watch it, but planting my ass in front of the set each Thursday at 9:30pm to watch it on ABC would have tended to give me away to my parents and grandmother. Additionally, I wasn't even sorted out on whether I was gay or not; the whole subject was fraught with anxiety.

'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman!' was another funny soap opera parody.

R48 - Very cool. I didn't know Mary Campbell had done musical theatre with Dr. Alan Quartermaine. I thought she was more of a straight actress, but she has several musical credits from the 1960s - 50s including "Flora the Red Menace".

Mary Campbell, Cathryn Damon, was nicknamed Scooter and was a well-known Broadway dancer-singer before turning primarily to acting.

It was kinda sexy.

It was sexy and incredibly funny, but it amazed me how Katherine Helmond could be so funny and so authentically tragic.