Trivia / Soap

• Cast the Expert: Robert Mandan had lots of actual Soap Opera experience on shows like Search for Tomorrow and The Doctors in the years before he was cast as Chester Tate.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer:
  • Before the show had even aired, Newsweek reported that Soap was a sex farce which contained a scene of a priest being seduced inside a confessional. While the "sex farce" descriptor wasn't entirely off base, that specific scene never happened.^note The closest thing to something like that happening was when Corrine reveals her identity to her ex-boyfriend, Father Flotsky, in a confessional, and then tries to woo him outside the confessional, with nothing physical happening whatsoever. A boycott of the show by religious groups ensued, advertisers and affiliates got nervous, and some of the show's producers believe the show never fully recovered.
  • Gordon Jump (Chief of Police Tinkler) originally refused to take the part because he'd heard the rumors that the show was lewd and immoral, only to realize he was wrong when the producers actually showed him some episodes.
• The Danza: Inga Swenson as Ingrid Svenson.
• Executive Meddling: A rather strange example that was ultimately averted involved ABC requesting the Campbells' last name be changed to avoid confusion with the similarly-named soup company.
• Follow the Leader:
  • Soap was a clear influence on Arrested Development.
  • Soap itself was the primetime answer to the previous season's hit Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a daytime soap opera parody from Harris's former boss Norman Lear.
• Friendship on the Set: Katherine Helmond was well-liked on the set and became friends with virtually everyone in the cast, particularly Richard Mulligan and Robert Guillaume.
• Hostility on the Set: A subversion occurred with Cathryn Damon. Since she lived on the other side of the country from where filming occurred, the stress of flying back and forth between both places left her drained and withdrawn to the point where she couldn't bond with the majority of the cast (save for her onscreen husband, Richard Mulligan).
• Marathon Running: Beginning at Midnight, 1/1/93 Comedy Central kicked off a run of the show with the marathon All the Soap in the World which aired every episode in order non-stop over a three day period. When it then entered the regular line-up, episodes aired at 7:30 Mon-Sat, with a mini-marathon of all 6 episodes repeating Sunday afternoons under the title Soap Block.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Not exactly, but a perceived coincidence. Catherine Damon passed away in 1987 from cancer, and a year later, her on-screen husband Richard Mulligan starred in a new series, also created by Susan Harris, about a man who's wife died recently.
• Screwed by the Network: According to co-producer Tony Thomas, the reason why the show was abruptly cancelled at the end of season four was because ABC was sick and tired of the angry letters from Moral Guardians over the content of the show.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, Chuck was to be a much darker character and would have been revealed to be the actual murderer of his brother Peter Campbell, due to jealousy. This storyline was scrapped when Chuck (and Bob) proved to be popular with viewers, resulting in Chester being revealed as the murderer.
  • Susan Harris had created a five-season story arc for the show prior to it even airing. The show was canceled after four seasons, leaving the fates of several main characters undetermined and many plot threads never to be resolved.
  • Father Timothy Flotsky was originally intended to be a less traditional priest; one planned joke involved replacing the traditional communion wafers with Oreos. ABC was not amused.
  • According to Rod Roddy's fellow game show announcer Randy West, the producers' first choice for the announcing gig was Casey Kasem. Kasem, however, felt that the material was too controversial; he only announced the very first episode before Roddy replaced him.
  • In an interview Jay Johnson once discussed the scene in which Jodie stashes Bob in the refrigerator, saying he and Billy Crystal had collaborated heavily on the concept and gags in the scene. Afterward Billy Crystal wanted a writing credit, but was denied. After that, Crystal was far less motivated to collaborate.
• You Look Familiar: Inga Swenson and Caroline McWilliams would return as different characters for the show's Spin-Off Benson.