And marketers were keen to tap the buying power of this vast new demographic-as evidenced by the detergent ads that originally gave rise to the sudsy nickname in the 1930s. Midcentury housewives had more free time to tune in than did previous generations of women, thanks partly to innovations such as the automatic dishwasher and clothes dryer. Trade publication Variety found the show to be of “no visual interest.” But television soap operas, largely created by women for women, were soon attracting tens of millions of viewers and driving network revenue. “Last week television caught the dread disease of radio-soapoperitis,” Pathfinder news magazine complained when “These Are My Children” debuted. Phillips went on to turn her successful radio drama “Guiding Light” into a TV soap opera in 1952 and also launched “As the World Turns” (1956) and “Another World” (1964).Ĭritics, of course, hated TV’s newest dramas. Irna Phillips, a scriptwriter and radio actor, led the way with a bold innovation whose impact on world culture everyone underestimated: “These Are My Children,” the first daytime serial television drama, which she created 70 years ago.

A radio or television serial broadcast weekly, daily etc, especially one that continues from year to year, that concerns the daily life, troubles etc of the characters in it.Long before Daenerys Targaryen commanded her dragons to torch armies of White Walkers in “Game of Thrones,” another strong, visionary woman sparked the revolution that makes today’s epic entertainment so profitable, if not plausible.

The soap opera