History Main / SoapWithinAShow

* In ''TechnotiseEditIJa'', terrible soap operas exist in the future too, with a twist. The woman's "a robot... my heart is made of metal!" and the man reveals... "I am in fact... an alien! I don't even have a heart!" as a [[ShockingSwerve shocking twist.]]

# LoveTriangle (overlaps with nearly everything here, and [[LoveDodecahedron comes in more complex]] [[AlienGeometries geometries]])

* Amid the various British TV parodies in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[VirginMissingAdventures Missing Adventures]] novel ''Time of Your Life'' is ''Jubilee Towers'', a soap that saves its budget by being mostly set in and around a TV studio...

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'''s ''Lords and Ladies''.

* On the silver strip in ''DeadRising'', you can go to the cinema and see a film which is practically every cliché line by line. It is incredibly funny.

When a SoapOpera appears as a ShowWithinAShow in another genre, it is nearly always done as an [[StylisticSuck over-the-top parody]] of the genre or at least as a quick portrayal of cliched forms of its tropes, including:

* ''The Northern Barstows'' in the KimNewman ''Diogenes Club'' story "The Serial Murders", a parody of ''CoronationStreet''. Richard Jeperson is horrified to find he's the ''only'' member of the team who doesn't watch it. After watching every episode so far as research, he's even more horrified to realize he ''wants to know what happens next''.

* ''StarTrekVoyager'' had an episode where the crew went back in time to Earth and Neelix and Kes got hooked on several soap operas.

* {{Homestar Runner}}'s ''Caleb Rentpayer'' has shades of this, particularly in regards to its soundtrack and time slot. The only drama shown, however, is a spoof of ''{{Dallas}}''' "Who Shot J.R.?" episode, though the resolution is suitable absurd (it was [[spoiler:Homestar]]).

* ''RedDwarf'' has a ''{{Neighbours}}'' parody with androids.

* ''MaxPayne'''s ''Lords and Ladies''.

-->-- '''Tristan''', who is [[MisterSeaHorse male]], ''YugiOhTheAbridgedSeries''

* In ''ArrestedDevelopment'', there is the telenovela ''El Amor Prohibido'' which stars GOB's girlfriend Marta.

** Lister also watched another in the first series, with swelling melodramatic music:
--> '''Her:''' Oh, darling... I'm ''dying!''
-->'''Him:''' I know, darling - Dr. Grant told me everything!\\
''[Lister cries his eyes out]''

* ''[[ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' had a lot of fun with this one.

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* Amid the various British TV parodies in the ''Series/DoctorWho Missing Adventures'' novel ''The Time of Your Life'' is ''Jubilee Towers'', a soap that saves its budget by being mostly set in and around a TV studio...

* ''{{House}}'' has the episode "Living the Dream", where House, a regular viewer of the hospital soap ''[[ShowWithinAShow Prescription: Passion]]'', notices a symptom in one of the actors. He then kidnaps him in order to cure him.

* In ''AmericanDad'', Roger watches what's supposed to be ''{{Dynasty}}'', but the only scene we ever see is the two main women slapping each other and calling each other "bitch" in turn. The scenery changes sometimes, but they are always doing the same thing.

* The romance novels of Rosie M. Banks in ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster''.

** It should be notet, that was before they started StargateUniverse.

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* An episode of ''{{ALF}}'' had ALF writing for a soap opera, with a lot of the storylines taken from the Tanners day-to-day life, but soapified. Then the family asked him to stop using them for material, and his scripts got blander ... so the executives soapified them ''further''. Cue the family suspecting that the outrageous stuff now in the soap really happened.

* The intro to ''CommandAndConquer: Tiberium Dawn'' flips though several TV channels, one featuring two people who yell at each other, [[SlapSlapKiss slap each other in the face and then kiss]] to swelling music.

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* {{Homestar Runner}}'s ''Caleb Rentpayer''. Basically, it goes like this
--> '''Tucksworth''': Caleb are you eating my sandwich?/ stealing my stuff?/ trying to marry your guitar?, etc.
--> '''Caleb''': I am now.
** Used to the extreme in "Bug in Mouth Disease", where it fuses Murder Mystery, [[{{Dallas}} Who Shot J.R.?]], Special Guest (Homestar), Live Action, and, of course, season finale (I think).
--> ''''Tucksworth''': Homestar Runner, did you shoot Caleb?
--> '''Homestar''': I sure did.

* The whole plot of the DonaldDuck comic series by Silvia Ziche, "Il Papero Del Mistero" (Duck Mystery). Scrooge McDuck wants to renew his TV channel's program so he employs the whole Duck and friends family to star in a soap opera with an over-the-top plot based on improvisation.