# What is the term for the "eyebrows" deal in soap operas (before the commercial.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130 "2009-12-22T00:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Super\_Kapowzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Super\_Kapowzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Kapowzler)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/1 "2009-12-22T00:06:47Z")
Never saw a soap opera. Never wasted one second of my life on them, and that’s a fact, and by fact I mean lie. So, they all have them, when the confrontation of an affair, or secret, just before the commercial, the actors/ess will do the “eyebrow-raise/face-squint/WTF?”… look. I would think it would be in the script. I cannot be improv, it has to have a term. They do it on EVERY soap opera, not that I’d know, and by know I mean WTF? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/2 "2009-12-22T00:27:49Z")
In terms of drama history, it would be a form of tableau, which IIRC were common in melodramas: all actors on stage would strike a pose and hold it (howsoever illogical that might be) as the curtain fell for an act. > [@](#): > > **Rosamund** You may think you have the upper hand, Edmund, but what you don’t know is that _I have the gun!_ > [tableau, curtain] ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/3 "2009-12-22T00:53:44Z")
Since the OP is really about the Arts, let’s move it to Cafe Society. **samclem**. Moderator, General Questions ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/4 "2009-12-22T05:12:24Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Since the OP is really about the Arts, let’s move it to Cafe Society. > > **samclem**. Moderator, General Questions You really should have had a tableau before that scene change. ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/5 "2009-12-22T06:01:38Z")
Soaps also use this as a device to help timing. Every scene has extra seconds at the end which can be cut out or used for padding. This helps editors make each episode the exact right length. (I caught your Days of Our Lives reference, and that’s a fact.) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/6 "2009-12-22T12:38:29Z")
There are still soap actors who can raise their eyebrows? I thought they were all so botox’d that was impossible now. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/7 "2009-12-22T12:44:48Z")
I thought the official actors guild term was “smelled a fart acting.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/8 "2009-12-22T16:28:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I thought the official actors guild term was “smelled a fart acting.” That’s how Joey described it on _Friends_. I don’t think it would need to be in the script. The director could instruct the noobs but after a few episodes the actors probably just know when to do it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-term-for-the-eyebrows-deal-in-soap-operas-before-the-commercial/522130/9 "2009-12-22T16:40:05Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I thought the official actors guild term was “smelled a fart acting.” Darn, you beat me to it. [Joey] "It’s like, you got so many lines to learn so fast, that sometimes you need a minute to remember your next one. So while you’re thinkin’ of it, you take this big pause where you look all intense. . .[Joey]