What is a soap opera? What isn't a soap opera?
Sometimes it's easy to tell what is. "General Hospital" is a soap opera. "Days of Our Lives" is a soap opera. The continuing drama that surrounds Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini is a soap opera.But what makes a TV show a soap opera? Is it the fact that story elements continue from day to day and week to week - that the plot of each episode builds off the events of previous installments?
If that's all it takes, then "NYPD Blue" is a soap opera. "ER" is a soap opera. "Chicago Hope" is a soap opera. Sitcoms ranging from "Roseanne" to "Friends" are soap operas.
Is it that the story lines are bigger than life - like "Dallas' " J.R. Ewing plotting to overthrow foreign governments or "DOOL's" Marlene being possessed by the devil?
Well, even a multiple Emmy-winning show like "L.A. Law" would have qualified as a soap under those criteria. It was a continuing drama with some pretty over-the-top elements - guys in gorilla suits breaking up weddings, couples falling through ceilings in the midst of lovemaking, evil characters plunging down elevator shafts and so on.
And if the serious elements in "L.A. Law" - and there were a lot of them - lifted that show above the level of soap opera, then why didn't the serious elements of "Knots Landing" do the same for that show? After all, "Knots" dealt with subjects ranging from child abuse to drug abuse to alcoholism in a thoughtful, heartfelt manner.
And yet while "L.A. Law" was winning all those Emmys, "Knots Landing" was derided in many quarters as simply a soap opera.
The question of what is and what is not a soap opera was raised at the recently televised Soap Opera Update Awards. The magazine - or soap rag, as its known in many quarters - presented an award to the top prime-time serial.
The nominees were "Melrose Place," "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Party of Five."
"Party of Five?!?"
There isn't much question that "Melrose" and "90210" are soaps. And soaps in the worst sense of the word - they're ridiculous, unrealistic, over-the-top and downright stupid a lot of the time.
About the only thing "Party of Five" has in common with those other two shows is that they all feature attractive young actors and the plots continue from week to week.
There's no denying that "Party of Five" has dealt with the sorts of issues that are soap-opera staples - drunken driving, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, broken romances. But, unlike "Melrose" - which has about as much in common with reality as "3rd Rock from the Sun" - "Party" doesn't have easy answers, the characters do suffer the consequences of their actions, and it's possible to believe that people like the Salinger family really do exist.
On the other hand, the folks behind "Party of Five" aren't exactly pushing away the attention they receive from "soap rags." Publicity and promotion are publicity and promotion, no matter what form they take.
And perhaps "soap opera" shouldn't always be a pejorative term. Some soaps do their job extremely well. A show like "General Hospital" can be very involving and entertaining. And you can make a case that the AIDS story that "GH" did last year was of higher quality than just about anything that's been done on the subject in either prime-time TV or theatrical films.
(You can even make a case that "Melrose Place" - before it descended into complete self-parody - was a soap that was pure entertainment. And there are worse things TV shows can be than entertaining.)
In the end, whether a show is a soap opera or not is truly irrelevent. If a show is quality - if it's entertaining - is what truly matters.
"PARTY" ON: On Wednesday, (8 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13), "Party of Five" picks up pretty much where it left off last spring.
On the show, as in real life, the summer has passed. Julia (Neve Campbell) is about to return from Europe; Claudia (Lacey Chabert) is about to start high school; Charlie (Matthew Fox) is recovering from his latest failed romance; and Bailey (Scott Wolf) is fighting to stay sober.
But then, we've come to expect more trials than happiness from the Salinger family. And Bailey's headed for a real-life trial - just when it appears that he's got his life back on track, he's charged with drunken driving for the accident that injured his sometime girlfriend, Sarah (Jennifer Love Hewitt).
Julia has to adjust to being married to Griffen (Jeremy London). Claudia has to adjust to growing up.
And, a bit on the lighter side, Charlie has to adjust to young Owen's sudden fascination with women's clothing.
As the show begins its fourth season, it's still the same high-quality product it was the first three. Soap opera or not, it's still television worth watching.