Soap Opera Digest
Encyclopedia
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine
covering American daytime soap opera
s. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information. Founded in 1975, the magazine has historically included certain prime time
soap operas in its coverage as well.
, Ron Tomme
, Audrey Peters
, Birgitta Tolksdorf
, Jerry Lacy
, and Tudi Wiggins
of Love of Life
on its first cover. Currently, the magazine has a subscription base of 500,000, as well as more than one million more issues purchased at newsstands and supermarkets each week. In the early 1990s, the magazine had up to 1.4 million subscribers.
In 1980, Network Publishing Corporation purchased the magazine from Shapiro, who went on to found Soap Opera Update
. Rupert Murdoch
's News Corporation
bought the magazine in 1989, and sold it to K-III Communications
in 1991. K-III was renamed Primedia
in 1997, and sold its magazines to Source Interlink in 2007.
Soap Opera Digest, originally published monthly, moved to biweekly issues in 1979, and started publishing weekly in 1997. In June 2011, Stephanie Sloane became the magazines Editorial Director replacing Lynn Leahey, who had been with the magazine for 27 years. Columnist Carolyn Hinsey reviews current series and soap-related events in her regular feature, "It's Only My Opinion."
The magazine holds an awards show annually to promote excellence in the genre, as decided by the fans who read the magazine. The Soap Opera Digest Awards
(formerly the Soapies) have been held every year since 1977, and were last televised in 2000. The Soapy Award was originally designed by Janis Rogak, the magazine's then-Art Director
.
s to save space. These abbreviations have come into more extensive use outside of the magazine with the advent of internet chat room
s and message boards.
For example, some current soap operas and their acronyms include All My Children
(AMC), As the World Turns
(ATWT), General Hospital
(GH), and One Life to Live
(OLTL). The Bold and the Beautiful
and The Young and the Restless
are represented as B&B and Y&R, respectively. Days of our Lives
is referred to as DAYS in the magazine, though the acronym DOOL is sometimes used elsewhere; General Hospital: Night Shift
is similarly designated SHIFT rather than an acronym. The now-defunct series Sunset Beach
(1997–1999) was known as BEACH to differentiate it from the previously-cancelled series Santa Barbara (1984–1993), which itself had been referred to as SB. Other past series with single-word titles (like Loving
and Passions
) are fully capitalized by not typically abbreviated. Prime time soap operas have also been attributed with acronyms and abbreviations in the magazine, including Melrose Place (MP) and Dynasty
(DYN).
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
covering American daytime soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information. Founded in 1975, the magazine has historically included certain prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
soap operas in its coverage as well.
History
Soap Opera Digest debuted in November 1975, co-founded by Angela Shapiro and Jerome Shapiro and featuring actors John AnistonJohn Aniston
John Anthony Aniston is a Greek-American actor and the father of actress Jennifer Aniston. He is best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on the NBC daytime drama Days of our Lives, which he originated in July 1985 and has played continually since then.-Early life:Aniston was born Yannis...
, Ron Tomme
Ron Tomme
Ron Tomme was an American actor, best known for his long-running role as Bruce Sterling on the CBS soap opera Love of Life from 1959 to 1980. He also did a short term role on the ABC soap opera, "Ryan's Hope" and the CBS prime-time serial "Dallas." He is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Linden,...
, Audrey Peters
Audrey Peters
Audrey Peters is an American actress.- Career :Peters is best known for her 21 year run as Vanessa Dale Sterling on the CBS daytime soap opera Love of Life. Peters was the third actress to play the role , but she became the actress most identified with the role...
, Birgitta Tolksdorf
Birgitta Tolksdorf
Birgitta Tolksdorf is a German actress, best known in the United States for her role on the television series Love of Life, playing Arlene Lovett from 1974 to 1980. She is married to Daniel Bannister, an attorney in Hermann, MO; he was born in 1958.-External links:...
, Jerry Lacy
Jerry Lacy
Gerald LeRoy "Jerry" Lacy is an American soap opera actor best known for playing the roles of Tony Peterson, Reverend Trask, Reverend Gregory Trask, Mr. Trask, and Lamar Trask on the cult TV serial Dark Shadows...
, and Tudi Wiggins
Tudi Wiggins
Tudi Wiggins , born Mary Susan Wiggins in Victoria, British Columbia, was a Canadian actress best known for her work in television daytime drama....
of Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
on its first cover. Currently, the magazine has a subscription base of 500,000, as well as more than one million more issues purchased at newsstands and supermarkets each week. In the early 1990s, the magazine had up to 1.4 million subscribers.
In 1980, Network Publishing Corporation purchased the magazine from Shapiro, who went on to found Soap Opera Update
Soap Opera Update
Soap Opera Update was a magazine dedicated to the coverage of soap operas, co-founded by Angela Shapiro in 1988, and purchased by Bauer Media Group in 1992. The magazine became popular on news-stands in the mid-1990s. However, due to a lack of subscriptions, no promotion, and being criticized for...
. Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
bought the magazine in 1989, and sold it to K-III Communications
Primedia
PRIMEDIA Inc. is privately held American media company fully owned by TPG Capital.Consumer Source Inc. is the sole operating division of PRIMEDIA and helps millions of consumers find apartments, houses for rent, and new homes for sale through its Internet, mobile, and print products...
in 1991. K-III was renamed Primedia
Primedia
PRIMEDIA Inc. is privately held American media company fully owned by TPG Capital.Consumer Source Inc. is the sole operating division of PRIMEDIA and helps millions of consumers find apartments, houses for rent, and new homes for sale through its Internet, mobile, and print products...
in 1997, and sold its magazines to Source Interlink in 2007.
Soap Opera Digest, originally published monthly, moved to biweekly issues in 1979, and started publishing weekly in 1997. In June 2011, Stephanie Sloane became the magazines Editorial Director replacing Lynn Leahey, who had been with the magazine for 27 years. Columnist Carolyn Hinsey reviews current series and soap-related events in her regular feature, "It's Only My Opinion."
The magazine holds an awards show annually to promote excellence in the genre, as decided by the fans who read the magazine. The Soap Opera Digest Awards
Soap Opera Digest Awards
The Soap Opera Digest Awards were an awards show held by the daytime television magazine Soap Opera Digest. The awards were founded in 1984 to replace the less-lavish Soapy Award; those awards shows had run since 1977. The Soap Opera Digest Awards are meant to promote excellence in the soap opera...
(formerly the Soapies) have been held every year since 1977, and were last televised in 2000. The Soapy Award was originally designed by Janis Rogak, the magazine's then-Art Director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
.
"Soap speak" acronyms
Soap Opera Digest coined the term and popularized the use of "soap speak," in which show names are abbreviated as acronymAcronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
s to save space. These abbreviations have come into more extensive use outside of the magazine with the advent of internet chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
s and message boards.
For example, some current soap operas and their acronyms include All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
(AMC), As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
(ATWT), General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
(GH), and One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
(OLTL). The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
and The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
are represented as B&B and Y&R, respectively. Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
is referred to as DAYS in the magazine, though the acronym DOOL is sometimes used elsewhere; General Hospital: Night Shift
General Hospital: Night Shift
General Hospital: Night Shift is an American prime time serial that first aired on SOAPnet for a 13-episode run from July 12, 2007 to October 4, 2007. A spin-off of the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital, the show is SOAPnet's first original scripted drama series and follows the nighttime...
is similarly designated SHIFT rather than an acronym. The now-defunct series Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach (TV series)
Sunset Beach was an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on January 6, 1997, and last airing on December 31, 1999. The show followed the loves and lives of the people living in a fictional coastal city named Sunset Beach, on the coast of California...
(1997–1999) was known as BEACH to differentiate it from the previously-cancelled series Santa Barbara (1984–1993), which itself had been referred to as SB. Other past series with single-word titles (like Loving
Loving (TV series)
Caden Grant Carlton loves Mika Ayako Ryan more.Loving is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC's daytime lineup from June 26, 1983 to November 10, 1995 for 3,169 episodes...
and Passions
Passions
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
) are fully capitalized by not typically abbreviated. Prime time soap operas have also been attributed with acronyms and abbreviations in the magazine, including Melrose Place (MP) and Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
(DYN).
Circulation
Soap Opera Digest circulation has declined over the years, reflecting both a decline in soap opera viewership and a decline in magazine circulations in general. A 40 percent decline in 2003 was due to eliminating reduced-rate subscriptions. This is a list of Soap Opera Digest average circulation per issue, per year.
|
|
See also
- Soap Opera MagazineSoap Opera MagazineSoap Opera Magazine was a weekly periodical devoted to interviews and recaps of American soap operas. The magazine was run for many years by American Media until the company, who had lost money for years, decided to cease publication of the magazine, focusing instead on their tabloid endeavors.The...
- Soaps In DepthSoaps In DepthSoaps In Depth is a series of magazines created in 1997 by Bauer Publications to give American soap opera viewers more variety in their soap-related magazine purchases...
- Soap Opera UpdateSoap Opera UpdateSoap Opera Update was a magazine dedicated to the coverage of soap operas, co-founded by Angela Shapiro in 1988, and purchased by Bauer Media Group in 1992. The magazine became popular on news-stands in the mid-1990s. However, due to a lack of subscriptions, no promotion, and being criticized for...
- Soap Opera WeeklySoap Opera WeeklySoap Opera Weekly is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...