Hidden Treasures - Soap

In honour of the late Katherine Helmond, whose death was announced last week and is primarily being linked with her role on Who’s The Boss, let’s take a look at her finest hour (in my opinion, of course).

Soap (1977-1981)
Now given that I was a small person when this was first one, I didn't watch it at the time. I watched it when ITV repeated it late at night in the early 90s (meaning that I had to set the video for it and that, due to its shifting nature in the schedules, I often ended up missing the occasional episode). Some 14 years later, I was still drawn in by its mixture of comedy and soap opera so it had obviously stood the test of time.

Why Is It Any Good? A traditional (on the surface) American sitcom that serves as a spoof of the ludicrousness of soap opera storylines while still managing to create compelling enough characters to keep you invested in said characters. It’s also fairly subversive for mainstream US TV of the late 70s featuring an openly gay character prominently from the opening episode and dealing with issues of class, religion and race. 
It’s the cast however that really elevate this with particular mentions going to Katherine Helmond as Jessica Tate (who often seems to be living in her own slightly divergent reality from everyone else), Richard Mulligan as Burt Campbell (whose uniquely twitchy acting style I find endlessly fascinating) and Robert Guillaume as Benson DuBois (so good they span him off into his own series which lasted for three more seasons than Soap did!). Storylines also weren’t afraid to diverge into the absurd including alien abduction and demonic possession, one of which would turn up as a genuine plotline in Dynasty almost a decade later… 
Sadly, conservative pressure on the network ultimately proved too great and it was cancelled after four seasons, leaving the fate of several characters hanging in the balance with a cliffhanger ending. Creator Susan Harris (who wrote or co-wrote the majority of episodes) would later go on to find success again with The Golden Girls.

Where Can I Find It? You can still get the complete set on DVD but only the first season seems to be able to buy through Prime (in the UK at least). Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger but you’ll be denying yourself some quality comedy entertainment if you let that be a reason to put you off viewing.