7 Soap Operas You May Have Forgotten (PHOTOS)
Passions
Justin Hartley, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Jesse Metcalfe all starred on this zany soap opera, which aired on NBC from 1999 to 2007 and DirecTV from 2007 to 2008 and featured witches and warlocks in the fictional New England town of Harmony.
Sunset Beach
This NBC soap, meanwhile, ran from 1997 to 1999, backed by executive producer Aaron Spelling. It focusing on the lives and loves of Californians played by the likes of Eddie Cibrian and Jason Winston George.
The City
Co-created by One Life to Live and All My Children mastermind Agnes Nixon, this ABC series starring Morgan Fairchild focused on the survivors of the soap opera Loving’s serial killer storyline as they built a new life in the Big Apple. It aired from 1995 to 1997.
Rituals
This syndicated soap only lasted one year, running from 1984 to 1985 and centering on the townspeople of a fictional Virginia community. Fun fact: Patti Davis, daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, played a role on the show.
Another Life
Airing on the evangelical Christian Broadcasting Network between 1981 and 1994, this soap combined daytime TV plot twists with conservative Christian values. One of the creators quit the show after a character was healed of cancer by a beam of light.
Texas
This NBC daytime drama, a spinoff of Another World, revolved around upper- and middle-class families with ranching and oil interests in the Lone Star State. It wrapped its two-year run on New Year’s Eve 1982, as did the long-running NBC soap The Doctors.
The Best of Everything
Inspired by the 1959 Joan Crawford film of the same name, this short-lived ABC soap focused on four young secretaries working at a bustling publishing firm. It aired for just six months in 1970, with future Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton as head writer.
We’ve listed the longest-running American daytime soaps; now it’s time to honor some of the shortest. Even before the decline of the genre, some soaps just didn’t make the cut, lasting for not decades but years and sometimes just months.
We imagine some ardent fans will remember these shows, especially the Passion-ate soap buffs. But for everyone else, scroll down to learn about some of the lesser-known entries in daytime TV history.
