The Survival of Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era

Marc Notes: Includes interviews that provide various perspectives of the soap opera television.; Includes web references.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-330) and index. Publisher Marketing: The soap opera, one of U. S. television's longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink. Declining ratings have been attributed to an increasing number of women working outside the home and to an intensifying competition for viewers' attention from cable and the Internet. Yet, soaps' influence has expanded, with serial narratives becoming commonplace on most prime time TV programs. "The Survival of Soap Opera" investigates the causes of their dwindling popularity, describes their impact on TV and new media culture, and gleans lessons from their complex history for twenty-first-century media industries. The book contains contributions from established soap scholars such as Robert C. Allen, Louise Spence, Nancy Baym, and Horace Newcomb, along with essays and interviews by emerging scholars, fans and Web site moderators, and soap opera producers, writers, and actors from ABC's "General Hospital," CBS's "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful," and other shows. This diverse group of voices seeks to intervene in the discussion about the fate of soap operas at a critical juncture, and speaks to longtime soap viewers, television studies scholars, and media professionals alike. Review Citations: Choice 08/01/2011 (EAN 9781604737165, Hardcover) Choice 08/01/2011 (EAN 9781604737172, Portable Document Format (PDF)) Contributor Bio:  Ford, Sam Henry Jenkins is Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts, and Education at USC. He is author of five books, most recently Convergence Culture (2008), Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers (2006), The Wow Climax (2006), all available from NYU Press, and is co-author or editor of eight other books on media and communication. Contributor Bio:  Harrington, C Lee C. Lee Harrington, Oxford, Ohio, is professor of sociology and a Women's Studies Program Affiliate at Miami University. She has been conducting research on the daytime industry and soap fans since the late 1980s and is author of many published academic works on soaps, including "Soap Fans" with Denise D. Bielby. Contributor Bio:  De Kosnik, Abigail Abigail De Kosnik, San Francisco, California, is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Center for New Media and the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.