Soap operas are not just the domain
of the bored housewife: US college students love to
watch the afternoon soaps during their lunch break;
young adults meet in bars to watch important episodes
of night-time soaps; and there are a fair number of
men who watch soaps but won't admit to it, afraid
that their masculinity might come into question if
they reveal that they are avid followers of Days
of Our Lives! Many young adults learned the habit
of watching soaps from their mothers, and have grown
up with the characters, so watching the soap that
they watched as children makes everything feel familiar
and reminds them subconsciously of the mother-child
bond. Some families can boast three generations of
watching the same soap, especially the long-running
shows such as As the World Turns or All
My Children.
To attest to soap opera popularity,
there are magazines and journals devoted to the single
subject of soap operas. American publications such
as Soap Digest and Soap Opera Weekly
are some of the most popular magazines at supermarket
checkout counters, and their articles are all about
the various soaps, their plotlines, cast members,
and industry gossip (who's leaving which show, salary
negotiations, etc.). The most popular section is the
"spoilers" section, where rumors about what's
going to happen next are printed -- often leaked or
revealed by the producers of the shows themselves,
who understand the importance of pleasing fans in
order to maintain the fanatical viewership that most
soaps claim.
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