I was too young to watch this in the 70's, but I just bought the first season on dvd yesterday. I'd heard about how good the show was, so thought I'd give it a go... and it's really really funny!
Katherine Helmond as Jessica Tate is so sweetly naive, very different to her Mona Robinson character in Who's the boss.
I can't believe that Billy Crystal is actually entertaining! His role of Jodie was groundbreaking in the day - the first time an openly gay character was a major character on a tv show.
But my favorite character would be poor Mary Campbell. She's so nice, and has to put up with so much - a gay son who's having a sex change operation, another son who's on the run from the mob, and a 2nd husband who murdered her first husband. Not to mention a stepson with an unhealthy attachment to his ventriloquist's dummy!
And of course there's Benson, who went on to his own spinoff show which lasted years longer than SOAP did.
Overall, an excellent show and I'm looking forward to seeing the next few seasons on DVD.
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
Stitch, I watched Soap late at night in the 70's. I always felt weird watching it as a kid, like this funny, but in a tragic way ya know.
My favorite character was Chuck and his ventriloquist dummy Bob or was it the other way around...ha. Not to mention Burt, who was always cracking me up!
A memorable show was when Burt hid Bob in the freezer overnight from Chuck. When Chuck opened the freezer and took Bob out it was comedic genius.
Don't forget this is where Benson got his start!
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
My Grandma loved Benson...I remember my family talking about Soap all the time...but I thought of it as more of an adult show...I remember the whole thing with Billy Crystal being gay...and it was very controversial....I think that's why my family steered me clear of it, but I remember them talking about how hysterical it was.
It is a show I would like to watch some day too....but there are so many more shows I still want to get, so it is down the list for me.
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
Cool I didn't know that it was available on DVD.
I am trying to think of what other cool sitcoms I wish were on DVD so that I could watch them again from beginning to end.
