This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell.

... These are the Tates, and these are the Campbells. And this is SOAP.


I just watched the marathon of this show on TV Land and now I am hooked. Currently, I am trying to get a set of every episode of this show on eBAY. This is where Billy Crystal got his big break.


In case you didn't know about the show, here is some info

From Soap Central:

SHOW HISTORY


SOAP dealt with the crazy lives of two different as night and day sisters, JESSICA TATE and MARY CAMPBELL, and their respective families. The Tates were rich while the Campbells were middle class



Here is the cast list as compiled by THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE:

Robert Mandan.... Chester Tate
Katherine Helmond.... Jessica Gatling Tate
Diana Canova.... Corinne Tate Flotsky (1977-1980)
Jennifer Salt.... Eunice Tate
Jimmy Baio.... Billy Tate
Robert Guillaume.... Benson (1977-1979)
Arthur Peterson.... The Major
Cathryn Damon.... Mary Gatling Dallas Campbell
Richard Mulligan.... Burt Campbell
Billy Crystal.... Jodie Dallas
Ted Wass.... Danny Dallas
Jay Johnson.... Chuck/Bob Campbell
Robert Urich.... Peter Campbell (1977)
Kathryn Reynolds.... Claire (1977-1978)
Richard Libertini.... The Godfather (1977- 1978)
Bob Seagren.... Dennis Phillips (1978)
Sal Viscuso.... Father Timothy Flotsky (1977-1979)
Rebecca Balding.... Carol David (1978-1980)
Dinah Manoff.... Elaine Lefkowitz (1978-1979)
Donnelly Rhodes.... Dutch (1978-1981)
Caroline McWilliams.... Sally (1978-1979)
John Byner.... Detective Donahue (1978-1980)
Randee Heller.... Alice (1979)
Peggy Pope.... Mrs. David (1979-1981)
Candy Azzara.... Millie (1979)
Marla Pennington.... Leslie Walker (1979-1981)
Lynne Moody.... Polly Dawson (1979- 1981)
Roscoe Lee Browne.... Saunders (1980-1981)
Allan Miller.... Dr. Alan Posner (1980-1981)
Eugene Roche.... Attorney E. Ronald Mallu (1978- 1981)
Gregory Sierra.... Carlos "El Puerco" Valdez (1980-1981)
Barbara Rhoades.... Maggie Chandler (1980-1981)
Nancy Dolman.... Annie Selig Tate (1980-1981)
Jesse Welles.... Gwen (1980-1981)
Joe Mantegna.... Juan One (1980-1981)
Rod Roddy.... Announcer

SHOW HISTORY

The show first aired on ABC in 1977 and had already earned the reputation of being the show of the season to push the envelope. Though hardly as bad as had been reported, the show was meant for adult viewing and aired after the "family hour" complete with a "parental discretion" notice (although that was later dropped) The main cause for concern was the leaking of the Corrine/Father Tim storyline. The press made it sound as if Tim was going to be seduced and drawn away from the priesthood although that was hardly the case.The show also for the first time on a TV a gay character in a leading role and was not played strictly for laughs.

This was creator Susan Harris' first major success. She would play a major part in television during the 80's and 90's with such hits as BENSON (SOAPS spin off), GOLDEN GIRLS, EMPTY NEST, and NURSES.She even tried on occasion to duplicate her SOAP success with other "serial comedies" such as HAIL TO THE CHIEF, starring Patty Duke as the first woman President, and GOOD AND EVIL about another set of sisters, one evil sister, trying to gain control of her mother's cosmetic dynasty, and one good sister, trying to keep the man she loves out of her evil sister's clutches. Both series were canceled after less than 10 episodes but In my opinion were very good and very funny! You can find out more about those shows within this site.

As the show continued, Between the laughter were commentaries about tolerance, single parenting, gaining one's independence, all topics of the day.But even as the show set new standards for the TV sitcom the ax was soon to fall and in 82 after four seasons the series ended (with a cliffhanger of course!!!) For those unaware of what happened I'll refrain from saying too much but it wasn't unill years later on BENSON which outlived it's parent series do we get somewhat of an answer to the final fate of

 

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I used to love this show...I used to watch it every day as a kid.

You can really buy it on ebay?

*smacks self*

Silly me.....you can buy almost everything on ebay.

 

This was one of the best, most creative shows to ever be on television, and launched that careers of a lot more people than just Billy Crystal. He was just the most famous.

Although, I have a feeling very few people on this forum will be old enough to remember it. Maybe you'd have better luck referencing the spinoff, Benson.

 

I remember Benson as well, but it was not nearly as funny as SOAP.

 

I used to watch the reruns years ago.

It was, and I bet still is, a very funny show.

Latre!

 

I had vague recollections of seeing the episode where Richard Mulligan was abducted by aliens and being inside the spaceship when I was little,but when I saw that episode of Soap on Comedy Central a while back,I finally knew where that image was from.

 

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