Soap operas

Soap operas are ongoing TV shows. They are usually very long fiction serials with lots of storylines developing gradually at different moments of time. The term "soap opera" firs appeared in the beginning of the 20th century and generally referred any television or radio shows that were continuous works of fiction. The main sponsors of such shows on the radio were soap manufacturers and this is where the name originated from.

Today soap operas have not changed considerably from what they were in the beginning, except for the quality of the video image as the technologies are constantly developing. All the other elements remain: a large number of characters, weaved plot, lots of storylines that never end at the same moment but are always on different stages of development. Every episode of a soap opera has a somewhat open-ended character, you can be sure that the whole story won't be over in this episode. They are usually shown in the daytime when mostly housewives are available to watch them. That's why there's always a lot of romantic storylines switching one after another. The dramatic and emotional character of the plot is another distinctive feature. Such dramatic moments are usually emphasized with special techniques (for example close-up, music etc.). Characters may be played by many actors throughout the whole series, and a favorite trick used in many soap operas is the loss of memory of the main characters. Sometimes they can even rise from the dead, if the makers change their mind about ending the whole series.