Nearly ten years after infamously cancelling 2/3’s of its daytime soap lineup, ABC has partnered with People magazine highlighting the iconic impact of the soap opera, with The Story of Soaps, airing Tuesday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Filmed last year, the 2-hour special will explore how no genre of television has aid deeper roots in our cultural consciousness and serialized storytelling other than the soap opera.
The Story of Soaps will trace how female creators migrated from radio to television to become the dominant force in daytime for more than three decades. The special will highlight how the soap legacy is alive and well all over primetime and reality programming as modern television traces its roots back to the original platform.
The special’s panel of experts and familiar voices include:
- Abigail DeKosnik (author)
- Agnes Nixon (creator of All My Children and One Life to Live)
- Alec Baldwin (The Doctors, Knots Landing)
- Allan Sugarman (co-founder of Soap Opera Festivals Inc.)
- Andy Cohen (creator of the Real Housewives franchise)
- Angela Shapiro-Mathes (executives)
- Brad Bell (executive producer and head writer of The Bold and the Beautiful)
- Bryan Cranston (Loving, One Life to Live and Breaking Bad)
- Carol Burnett (All My Children)
- Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy)
- Chris Van Etten (co-head writer of General Hospital)
- David Jacobs (creator of Dallas and Knots Landing)
- Deidre Hall (Days of our Lives)
- Denise Richards (The Bold and the Beautiful, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills)
- Donna Mills (Knots Landing, General Hospital)
- Drake Hogestyn (Days of our Lives)
- Eddie Mills (Dawson’s Creek, Wasteland)
- Eileen Davidson (The Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills)
- Erika Jayne (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Young and the Restless)
- Erika Slezak (One Life to Live)
- Finola Hughes (General Hospital)
- Genie Francis (General Hospital, All My Children, The Young and the Restless)
- Greg Vaughan (Days of our Lives, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless)
- James H. Brown (writer)
- Jill Farren Phelps (former executive producer)
- John Aniston (Days of our Lives, Search for Tomorrow)
- John McCook (The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless)
- John Stamos (General Hospital, Full House, Fuller House)
- Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
- Jonathan Murray (executive producer)
- Joyce Becker (co-founder of Soap Opera Festivals Inc.)
- Kate Coyne (People magazine)
- Ken Olin (executive producer)
- Krista Smith (consultant)
- Kristian Alfonso (Days of our Lives, Falcon Crest)
- Laura Wright (General Hospital, Guiding Light, Loving, The City)
- Lorraine Broderick (writer)
- Marc Samuel (General Hospital)
- Marc Cherry (creator of Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids)
- Mark Teschner (casting director at General Hospital)
- Mary Crosby (Dallas)
- Maurice Benard (General Hospital, All My Children)
- Melody Thomas Scott (The Young and the Restless)
- Shelly Altman (writer)
- Susan Lucci (All My Children)
- Susan Sullivan (Another World)
- Vivia A. Fox (Days of our Lives, Generations, The Young and the Restless)
- Yhane Smith (create of Harlem Queen)
The Story of Soaps airs on Tuesday, May 19, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. For the latest soap opera news, previews and spoilers, visit thetvwatercooler.com/soaps.
