SOD question

[Brolden]

I have recently finally gotten around to reading classic SOD recaps and articles, which are so generously posted on tumblr (https://classicsodcovers.tumblr.com/post/156216270838/a-complete-list-of-my-soap-opera-related-tumblrs).

 

However, since I'm not from the US and am therefore not very familiar with the SOD magazine, I am struggling a bit with the dates. I'm wondering if someone could fill me in on these things: 
How often did the magazine come out? Do the recaps cover a week or a month or even longer?

 

I'm trying to use the recaps to complement my own timeline (for, in my case, ATWT), but I've noticed that the dates that are shown with the posts (which, I assume, is when the magazine was released) are often several months after when the events from the recap took place from what I know. 

I remember one issue recently talked about events that "were going to happen" over Christmas, but the accompanying date was post-Christmas.

 

Nevertheless, these issues contain a wealth of information, so I hope somebody can give me some 'pointers' as to how to read/interpret them.

 

Thanks in advance! 

[j swift]

SOD was bi-monthly (published every two weeks) until the early 1990's, after the establishment of Soap Opera Weekly, the sister publication.  For a time, the two publications distinguished themselves by having SOD summarize the weekly plotlines and SOW covered behind the scenes news and critiques.  

 

The SOD summaries were about a month behind what was shown on air also until the early 1990's.  This was common at the time, when monthly daytime magazines were often two to three months behind what was currently airing.  Given the technology of the era, writers were actually watching the shows and publishing full summaries.  There was a specificity to the writing that is missing today.  Some writers would include what people wore or even lines of dialogue.   As opposed to current SOD which relies on summaries provided by the various daytime productions.  The writing in the pre-VCR years meant that one could keep up with soap plots without ever watching the shows.  I recall being fully versed in ATWT, even though I never watched an episode for years.  The one exception was the Ryan's Hope finale, SOD wrote a longer synopsis of the final month, so that they would not keep covering stories that were no longer airing.  Once SOD "caught up" with the weekly aired show, the covers would emphasize that they were now covering the prior week's shows.  

[will81]

SOD was monthly from 1975 when they started until 1979 when it went to an issue every three weeks and in 80 or 81 went to every two weeks and in 1997 it went weekly. I think the premiere issue of SOD was roughly late September to October, but it fell behind. Generally they were a couple months behind during the 70's and 80's, so the April issue was roughly synopsis for January. The gap shortened as time went on, so they were eventually a month behind or so by the 80's/90's. Your best bet is to try to match up synopsis from SOD with the weekly newspaper synopsis also provided on this tumblr. 

 

http://vintage70ssoaprecaps.tumblr.com

 

 

[Brolden]

Thank you both! This makes it much easier to piece everything together!

[Brolden]

Sorry to re-open this thread, but does anyone know what happened to these tumblr pages? 

 

I have been enjoying reading old ATWT recaps for the last few months, but I notice they stop in the early 90s. The SOD covers page is updated through 2014, so I'm wondering if more will be posted, but since the pages seem to have been inactive for a while now, I have to assume the worst...

Is there any other place where I can find early to mid-90's recaps (pre-soapcentral)?

[j swift]

I think the classic SOD tumblr is no longer active.  However, I am enjoying Vintage Soap Archives for 70's soap news and updates  https://vintagesoaparchives.tumblr.com/

 

The thing that always makes me smile is that the fans who wrote into the magazines 40 years ago have the same complaints as those on this board today, i.e. why is the writing is so unimaginative?, why did this actor have to leave?, why won't the networks do what I want them to do?  

 

Just goes to prove, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Since time immemorial every soap fan has always played out their fantasies of the perfect soap writer or network executive, with absolute power, who answers to no one.