Some characters may be more memorable or have more influence on The 'Verse than others, but nobody can be said to be the protagonist. The feature common to all three flavours is that there is no one main character: Rather, characters drift in and out of focus as the storylines go on. These class divides are not 100% certain but tend to dominate see The BBC's aspirationally-luxurious Howard's Way, which ran for several years, but never won the hearts of viewers like 'kitchen sink' soaps did. Australian ones usually feature middle-class suburban white people, often young and healthy ( Neighbours, Sons and Daughters, Home and Away) while British soaps are either lower-middle class ( Brookside) or grimly and grimily working-class ( EastEnders, Coronation Street).

On a country-by-country basis, the main difference is the social class of people being portrayed: American soaps often featured filthy-rich characters with chic clothing and gorgeous mansions (think Dallas or Dynasty (1981)).

Similarly, German and other continental European soaps typically follow this practice, lasting for years and years. (For parodies of the soap genre, look up Soap Within a Show.)Īmerican soaps were typically Long-Runners, easily extending themselves for years and even decades if successful (the record-holder being (The) Guiding Light, 1937-2009). These habits are widely-mocked in other works whenever a soap appears or is mentioned. Story progression often takes a backseat to what people actually want to see: Cat fights and screaming matches and every imaginable configuration of characters sleeping with each other. The truth is that contract re-negotiations are the leading cause of permanent death.

However, most shows enjoy pretending that anybody can be snuffed out at any moment particularly during a commercial or episode break. Ramoray (Joey's character) had 'his brain crushed' on Days of Our Lives, joked that he could yet return - and he did. Death is not a big concern in the world of soaps to the point that Friends, after Dr.

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