Soap

1 9 7 7 – 1 9 8 1 (USA)
88 x 30 minute episodes

Soap was undoubtedly the most controversial new series of the 1977 – 1978′ “season of sex”, as it was called. Even before it went on the air in the US, ABC had received over 32,000 letters about the show – all but nine of them against it.

ABC affiliates had been picketed for planning to air it and sponsors were urged to boycott the show (which a few did). Some ABC affiliates refused to carry it, and many who did, ran it late at night.

The object of all this attention was a half-hour comedy, which was billed as a satire on soap operas. It had a continuing storyline but was populated by a cast that was hardly ever seen on any serious dramatic show. Sex was on practically everyone’s mind and formed the basis of many of the stories.

Stories centred on the wealthy Tates and the blue-collar Campbells from the town of Dunns River, Connecticut.

Chester Tate (Robert Mandan) was a pompous businessman with an urge for extramarital affairs. No wonder since his wife, Jessica (Katherine Helmond), was a spaced-out, fluttery idiot.

Of their three children, sexy Corrine (Diana Canova) was always putting her best attributes forward, Eunice (Jennifer Salt) was much quieter and more conservative, and Billy (Jimmy Baio), 14, was a wise-cracking brat.

Living with the Tates were Jessica’s crazed father, the Major (Arthur Peterson), who crawled around the floor in his old army uniform, still fighting World War II and Benson DuBois (Robert Guillaume), their insolent and obnoxious black butler and cook, who commented on the events taking place.

Across town lived Jessica’s sister, Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon) and her second husband, Burt (Richard Mulligan) – a working-class guy with two sons, Peter (Robert Urich) and Chuck (Jay Johnson), a ventriloquist with a dummy named Bob who Chuck believed was real.  Burt’s primary problem was dealing with stepsons Jodie (Billy Crystal), who was gay, and Danny (Ted Wass), who was involved with organised crime.

The major development during the first season was the murder of Burt’s son Peter, a handsome tennis pro who had been luring most of his female students to bed with him.

First, Corrine was accused, but then Jessica was arrested and subsequently convicted of the crime. In the last episode of the 77-78 season, an off-screen narrator informed viewers that she didn’t really do it, and as the following season opened, Chester confessed to the crime.

Chester was sent to prison but soon escaped with Dutch Lightner (Donnelly Rhodes), a convicted murderer. Soon after, Chester lost his memory and wandered west, where he became a cook.

Dutch eloped with Eunice, and Jessica fell in love with Detective Donahue (John Byner) – whom she had hired to find Chester.

When Chester finally returned, she had to choose between the two. She chose Chester, but only for a while. After a fling with South American revolutionary “El Puerco” (Gregory Sierra), Chester and she were divorced.

Benson the butler departed for greener pastures – his own TV show, Benson – in 1979 after rescuing Billy from a religious cult (The Sunnies). The new butler was named Saunders (Roscoe Lee Browne).

Corrine Tate married ex-priest Timothy Flotsky (Sal Viscuso), but their union produced a baby possessed by the devil, and the Tates had to band together to exorcise the spirit.

Across town, Burt found himself kidnapped and cloned by aliens – he escaped with the aid of an alien named Sol (Jack Gilford) – and Mary got a few nights of uninhibited sex from the clone. But who was the father of the baby that resulted?

Jodie, Burt’s gay son, decided that women are fun too and sired his own baby by Carol, but wound up in an ugly custody battle.

Burt got himself elected sheriff, resulting in a run-in with the racketeer Tibbs and his hooker, Gwen (Jesse Welles). Danny, who had previously been in love with Elaine (Dinah Manoff), Millie (Candace Azzara) and Polly (Lynne Moody), sort of liked her.

Soap attracted a large and loyal audience, and the controversy over it was confined mostly to the first season. ABC maintained that the programme represented a major breakthrough in TV comedy and claimed that “through the Campbell’s and the Tate’s, many of today’s social concerns will be dealt with in a comic manner.”

Others considered Soap nothing more than an extended dirty joke being broadcast into America’s living rooms. Much opposition to the programme was led by religious groups, including the National Council of Churches.

Reverend Everett Parker, a long-time critic of TV, called Soap “a deliberate effort to break down any resistance to whatever the industry wants to put into prime time . . . Who else besides the churches is going to stand against the effort of television to tear down our moral values and make all of us into mere consumers?”

Chester Tate  
Robert Mandan
Jessica Tate  
Katherine Helmond
Corrine Tate  
Diana Canova
Eunice Tate  
Jennifer Salt
Billy Tate  
Jimmy Baio
Benson DuBois
Robert Guillaume
The Major  
Arthur Peterson
Mary Dallas Campbell  
Cathryn Damon
Burt Campbell  
Richard Mulligan
Jodie Dallas  
Billy Crystal
Danny Dallas  
Ted Wass
The Godfather  
Richard Libertini
Claire  
Kathryn Reynolds
Peter Campbell  
Robert Urich
Chuck/Bob Campbell  
Jay Johnson
Dennis Phillips  
Bob Seagren
Father Timothy Flotsky  
Sal Viscuso
Sally  
Caroline McWilliams
Detective Donahue  
John Byner
Dutch Lightner
Donnelly Rhodes
Alice  
Randee Heller
Carol David
Rebecca Balding
Mrs David  
Peggy Pope
Millie  
Candace Azzara
Elaine Lefkowitz
Dinah Manoff
Leslie Walker  
Marla Pennington
Polly Dawson  
Lynne Moody
Saunders  
Roscoe Lee Browne
Dr Alan Posner  
Allan Miller
Attorney E. Ronald Mallu  
Eugene Roche
Carlos “El Puerco” Valdez  
Gregory Sierra
Maggie Chandler  
Barbara Rhoades
Gwen  
Jesse Welles

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