Unit 2. Media. Soap operas

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television or radio. This genre of TV and radio entertainment has existed long enough for audiences to recognize them simply by the term soap. What differentiates a soap from other television drama programs is their open-ended nature. Plots run concurrently, intersect, and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another, or may run entirely independent of each other. Each episode may feature some of the show's current storylines but not always all of them. There is some rotation of both storylines and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" storywise, and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are always several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes invariably end on some sort of cliffhanger*.

But... why is this genre called 'soap opera'? Do they use soap in the shootings? Do they play opera music in the ending credits? Today's task is to find out the real reason why this genre was named that way.

As usual, you can post your answers in the Comments section. This time, the winner will get two free tickets to watch next week's game between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford. :)