DVD REVIEW: SOAP: THE COMPLETE SERIES

DVD REVIEW: SOAP: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Shock Entertainment
2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

Daytime soap operas were a dime a dozen on TV by the mid-‘70s, but SOAP was the first comedy to parody the genre so relentlessly in an adults-only night time slot.

The story of the Tate and Campbell families, linked by sisters and a veritable wealth of secrets, lies, and ever-more-ridiculous plot twists (parodying the ludicrous lengths the daytime soaps would employ to titillate their xanaxed devotees).

Launching the careers of Billy Crystal (as the gay Tate son Jodie) and Richard Mulligan (as his embattled father), Robert Ulrich (as the tennis instructor son of Mulligan who is having affairs with just about every woman on set), and perhaps most significantly Robert Guilliame (who, as sardonic butler Benson, scored his own spin-off series, Benson), Soap can be seen as a very significant show in television’s history, and was voted in 2007 in the top 100 shows of all time by Time magazine.

Cutting edge in its humour for the time, it’s rampant un-PC stance was often used subversely, with writer Catherine Harris razor sharp in skewering middle class mores over four hilarious seasons.

Category: Movie & Theatre Reviews