Watch Order
0 / 4 watchedAll four seasons in air order.
About Soap
The wealthy Tates and the working class Campbells trade scandals across four serialized seasons. Season 1 from 1977 introduces the affairs, possessions, and mob threats in 13 episodes, while season 2 from 1978 widens the plots to cults and aliens across 23. The show parodies daytime soaps beat for beat.
Seasons 3 and 4 from 1979 and 1980 pile on five final cliffhangers, from Jessica's firing squad to an alien abduction, none ever resolved on screen. The cast led by Katherine Helmond, Billy Crystal, and Robert Guillaume plays it straight, which sells the absurdity. Watch seasons 1 through 4 in order, since every joke and shock builds on prior episodes.
Good to know
The serialized format was radical for American comedy in 1977 and drew protests before a single episode aired, which dates the show as a cultural flashpoint. The unresolved 1981 cliffhangers stay famous, with no reunion ever filmed. Benson spins directly out of this cast, so Soap first makes that later show's pilot richer, though each stands alone.
