THE STORY OF SOAP
ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Right now, television has every reason to look back fondly upon its past – because the present is not so bright, and the future is bleak. At this moment, though, ABC is doubling down on nostalgia, with a Garry Marshall salute last week and this salute to the soap opera tonight. The soaps began on radio, so this special actually is mourning a pair of formerly popular media enterprises. When the soaps migrated to television, the first generation of daily dramas was staid and somber – but then came ABC, which shook up the soap genre with General Hospital and the like, including Susan Lucci in All My Children. With ABC telling this Story of Soaps, expect that part of the narrative to rise as dominant. And don’t forget prime time, where ABC countered CBS’s Dallas with its own Dynasty.