Making: Stories Without End

TV wouldn’t be TV without soap operas


Listen Later

Without soaps, we wouldn’t have melodramas or reality shows. Without soaps, we wouldn’t have many of the TV tropes and shows we love to stream and binge-watch. Cliffhangers, serials, vixens — in television storytelling, all come from soaps.


Network television would not exist if not for the financial success of soap operas, according to Elana Levine, author of Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History. During the 1970s, Levine said soaps brought in 75% of the networks’ revenue.


“Soaps were a legitimate kind of pop culture sensation. As a result, the networks are able to charge more for those ad slots,” she said. “It’s a way to reach young people in particular for a time. [Networks] were willing to pay more, because what they were paying was still a whole lot less than what primetime TV cost them, in terms of advertising time.”


Ad sales on soaps bore the load of a broadcaster’s overall business model, even as production costs inevitably increased. Production costs for a soap opera, Levine said, were “still never at the level of what it cost to make a primetime show.”


The decline of soaps can’t be attributed to a singular event. Over time, viewers’ habits changed and how we consume television evolved, from the VCR to streaming. Soaps are not dead, though, and there are good reasons why they have endured.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Making: Stories Without EndBy WBEZ Chicago

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

3,516 ratings


More shows like Making: Stories Without End

View all
Latino USA by Futuro Media and PRX

Latino USA

3,753 Listeners

Sound Opinions by Sound Opinions

Sound Opinions

1,954 Listeners

The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,863 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,826 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,206 Listeners

Shannon Cason's Homemade by Shannon Cason

Shannon Cason's Homemade

831 Listeners

Curious City by WBEZ Chicago

Curious City

645 Listeners

Death, Sex & Money by Slate Podcasts

Death, Sex & Money

7,720 Listeners

Serial by Serial Productions & The New York Times

Serial

74,953 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,334 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,586 Listeners

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons by WBEZ Chicago

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons

307 Listeners

Code Switch by NPR

Code Switch

14,494 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,422 Listeners

S-Town by Serial Productions

S-Town

45,859 Listeners

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily by American Public Media

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

1,187 Listeners

Motive by WBEZ Chicago

Motive

2,212 Listeners

The Pie: An Economics Podcast by Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago

The Pie: An Economics Podcast

174 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,270 Listeners

The Interview by The New York Times

The Interview

1,433 Listeners

What Now? with Trevor Noah by Spotify Studios

What Now? with Trevor Noah

3,856 Listeners

The Headlines by The New York Times

The Headlines

420 Listeners