New Yorker: Various Articles on Soaps Through the Years

[EricMontreal22]

I now have a subscription to the New Yorker which came with a complete digital archive of all their back isses, which are photo files (complete with ads). Anyway there's a LOT of soap opera stuff there--much in a sligthly condescending tone like Thurber's famous five part series from the 40s on radio soaps (which nonetheless was ne of the first not totally negative pieces about soap operas ever). Anyway, I know there'd be some interest here, so I'm going to try to see if I can post them as image files. Here's an article from the brief "Talk of the town" opening section of the Nov 13, 1995 issue about the change from Loving to The City. Starts at the bottom right of the first page, "A Soap With Grit". (Maybe Burke is just taking all the credit for the Loving Murders, but I had never heard it was her idea before--makes me wonder all the more why her time as EP at AMC was relatively so boring, though I wish she was still there over JHC. Which Loving character moved to Florida--Ava?).

I hope these are readable--if they work and there's interest I'll start posting some longer ones.

[EricMontreal22]

Here's the famous profile of Hogan Sheffer on ATWT (I remember reading it in print back then).

[EricMontreal22]

[Sylph]

Do you have Unhappines Enough?

[EricMontreal22]

Do you know the issue or year?

EDIT Found it--looks interesting (if maybe a bit typically condescending) will post it--takes a while so keep with me.

[EricMontreal22]

Ironic how she says the soaps are "pure plot"--to the newbie or outsider, that is how they appear, but us fans know better. But it's obvious the author is, in her typical cool New Yorker way, a fan of the genre and medium--while her endless plot descriptions are probably meant to read as funny, she actually has some good points about the strength of the genre.

[Sylph]

Thank you!

I know I've read about some "famous" New Yorker multi-part article about soaps, but I'm not sure which one is it...

[EricMontreal22]

Well the five part Thurber series on radio soaps is really wonderful--at least the three parts published in Worlds Without End that I've read. I'll track them down even though there's not much interest in radio soaps on here, much of wht they say (as condescending as parts are) still hold some truth.

[EricMontreal22]

Quick Talk of the Town bit about the last taping of How to Survive a Marriage. (followed by a piece on the new dance craze The Hustle LOL)

[EricMontreal22]

Dallas and Scruples reviews.

[EricMontreal22]

A quick humorous article from a writer who appeared as a nurse on one episode of AMC in 1993.

A little bit on the end of Melrose Place (the first).

[Sylph]

You know what this thread reminds me of? An article mentioned by Lemay in Wall Street Journal synopsizing the famous Iris tapping Eliot's office storyline. The writer compared it to the Watergate scandal and concluded: Iris' story was so much better. Lemay, of course, didn't rip the story out of the headlines, it was pure coincidence.

[Sylph]

Or maybe it wasn't Eliot's office! I found the introduction:

[EricMontreal22]

I remember reading about that--I couldn't find it in a search though.

[Sylph]

And this one was written by none other than the famous Ben Stein. So much fun to see who watched soaps and when.