Recently, I’ve rediscovered the wonderful series “Soap” from the late 70s and early 80s. Look!ninjas, harborwolf and I have been watching it like it’s video crack. Why is it that this show isn’t still popular today? I know Comedy Central showed it several years ago, but now it’s kind of disappeared. They’ve just started releasing the series on dvd, but there are still many people out there who have no idea what it is. Why is this show somewhat unknown to modern times, and crap like “Perfect Strangers” gets rerun time? Hell, even “Full House” is usually on somewhere!!!
Also, let me just say that I think this show was one of the IDEAL ensamble casts. Just Katherine Hellmond and Robert Guillome alone are enough to keep me coming back. Also, young Billy Crystal is positively endearing as Jody. Sitcom brilliance, if there is such a thing. I absolutely love it. I don’t think I appreciated it properly the first time around.
How could you not love Bob the most? But everyone was fun. Although sadly there are several funny sitcoms from back then I just don’t see anywhere like “Benson.” Haven’t seen either of those since they stopped showing new ones. Not even on TV Land which I’ll admit I only pass by and rarely stay.
Perhaps the lack or a proper ending weighs on it. Not sure if I can think up an argument for that statement but it’s the first thing that popped into my head.
Benson and Jessica were fantastic. I also had a major crush on Diana Canova – Ahh, Corinne, forget the Priest and let me show you what true love is. . .
I mean, it was a show rich in humor.
My guess as to why it hasn’t survived well in syndication: Because it had a multi–season story arc. Because the episodes continued into each other, it is hard for the casual viewer to pick up the thread.
Shows that have self-contained plots (like MASH) probably do better in syndication.
Hated it, for one very specific reason: Billy Crystal’s character.
“He’s gay! So he wants a sex change! Because gay and transsexual are the same thing!”
“He’s gay! But then he falls in love with a woman! Because gay men just haven’t met the right gal yet!”
That crap was being brought into my home at a time—high school—when I really didn’t need it. A lot of people (really dumb people, I’ll admit) actually believe what they see on TV, and that was the first “gay” character they’d seen. I’ve never been able to look at Billy Crystal without feeling ill (I know I have a lot of company there).
I agree with you to a point. I know it isn’t realistic to portray homosexuals that way, but it WAS a parody of soap operas, and that’s just the kind of thing that happens on them. Also, he wanted the sex change so he could be with Dennis without scandal, not because he actually wanted to be a woman. I think that’s a little different than saying he’s like a transsexual. Silly, but different.
Well, yeah, but with me it was personal. “Oh, you mean you’re gay, like Billy Crystal on Soap? Well, why don’t you just meet some woman, like he did?” You’d be surprised how much of that I got.
