Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n Roll, Money, Booze, Murder, Scandal.

Titillation is available 5  days a week on network TV. Escape the harsh realities of life for 60 minutes. Addiction is not always detrimental to your health.

Daytime soaps were decimated a few years ago, losing One Life To Live, All My Children, The Guiding Light, As The World Turns, but they are mounting a comeback. They are writing more compelling story lines and the ratings are up. For decades daytime soaps were considered TV’s richest market.

I have to finally admit to checking in on, The Young and the Restless. My friend had a long run on the show and I used to switch it on  or go to tapings because she was always talking about her day job and the endless dilemmas she was faced with. You can take a peek once every 2 months and still be in the loop.

I never drop my dirty little secret, The Young and the Restless, into a conversation even when people are going on about The Housewives, The Shahs, The Ducks….it always invokes, “What…you watch soaps?”

The term, soap opera, stems from the fact that many of the sponsors and producers of the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio were soap manufacturers, such as Dial, Proctor and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers.

I worked on the soaps for several years and I have never, ever witnessed such dedicated fans. They live and breath the characters and their back story. If life could only be that easy and fixable. It would be fantastic to have a team of writers mapping out your future.

I have previously regaled readers with stories about soap actors being invited to be commencement speakers, classes at colleges scheduled around General Hospital when the Luke and Laura story line was exploding. Susan Lucci aka Erica Kane, inspired a successful clothing line.

What about the plethora of talent that has emanated from the soaps? Susan Sarandon, Meg Ryan, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Pitt, Ian Ziering (I had to give him a shout out because he is family), Demi Moore, Robin Wright, James Earl Jones, Eva Longoria, Kevin Bacon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Julianne Moore.

The most popular prime time dramas are all built on the daytime soap opera premise. Just look at Dynasty, Dallas, Mad Men, The Good Wife, Revenge, Nashville, and even the PBS mega hit, Downton Abbey.

Since soaps are popular and broadcast in many countries, I assume the themes resonate and we all want to lose ourselves in someone else’s problems, be swept away by an intoxicating love affair, have a staff of servants attending to our every need, a private jet on speed dial, tons of disposable cash. And, we all love the wickedly evil bad girl or manipulative bitch.

Soaps are an escape so mock me, laugh, but sometimes it is great to watch and lose consciousness. It even inspired today’s post and the popularity of reality TV.