Confused? You Won’t Be . . . . Soap
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
Talking about Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman got me to thinking about the other evening soap opera sitcom of that same time, Soap. The DVDs are available for all four seasons of Soap. Personally, I’m a little excited about that. When Soap first came out in 1977, I was still in middle school and the entire show was pretty risque. I imagine that after all this time it probably comes across as more tame. Unlike Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Soap was shown during prime time, but it still dealt with issues that most other shows of the time didn’t discuss. It also had what I believe was the first openly gay character on TV. The story lines revolved around two sisters and their crazy family, dysfuntional families, and dealt with issues like infidelity, racism, religion, mental illness and impotence.
The cast included Katherine Helmond, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon, Billy Crystal, Ted Wass, Robert Guillaume, and Diana Canova.
Most of them have gone on to do lots of other shows. Katherine Helmond was recently Debra’s mother on Everybody Loves Raymond, another great sitcom, and she was a voice in that movie, Cars, too. Robert Guillaume had a spin off to his own show, Benson, which was more mainstream and also really, really funny. Of course, we all know that comedian Billy Crystal turned out to be a major star. Soap wasn’t his first bit of acting, but it was before his stint on Saturday Night Live. Plus, Billy was one of the voices in Cars, as well.
Not only did the show have lots of great stars, there were also lots of guest stars worth watching, like Robert Urich, Howard Hesseman, Jack Gilford, Doris Roberts, Sorrell Booke, and Robert Englund.
If you’ve never seen Soap, you should check it out.







In the 1970’s, Norman Lear ruled television. He created “All In The Family“, “The Jeffersons“, “Maude“, “Good Times“, “Sanford and Son” & “One Day At A Time“. Not a bad listing of shows. He had an iron grip on the Neilsen ratings and was CBS’s golden child. 