History Main / ExplainingTheSoap

* Done briefly in a cutaway in ''{{Zombieland}}'', where, under the rule that driver of the car gets to choose the music and coversation topic, the pre-teen girl Little Rock puts ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' on the soundtrack, and tries to explain the premise of HannahMontana, much to Tallahassee's dismay.

* The ''{{Castle}}'' episode "One Life To Lose" features a murder of the head writer of a soap opera, and gleefully embraces, lampshades, parodies and otherwise plays with this trope. Castle himself spends most of the episode imagining increasingly over-the-top and ludicrous soap opera plots for the crime, only to be disappointed by the [[WrongGenreSavvy inevitable mundanity of what's actually going on]]; Beckett's revealed to be a closet fan of the soap (and Lanie a less-closeted fan) by revealing too much information about the absurd plots, and even Esposito recounts the crazy plot of a Latino 'telenovela' he used to watch with his grandmother,

* One running gag on AtopTheFourthWall has Linkara explain some obscure facet of comic book lore related to whatever he's reviewing, usually followed by a beat, and something along the lines of "comic books are weird".

* In a ''FoxTrot'' strip, Peter gets this reaction (eyes glazing over and repeating "uh-huh") when Paige explains the plot of ''MelrosePlace'' to him, but Paige had exactly the same reaction when Jason explained the premise of ''HighlanderTheSeries'' to her. It's even more amusing in retrospect, given one of ''[=H:TS=]'''s [[EstrogenBrigadeBait biggest fanbases]].

* One of the "Go-On Seminar" clips from ''EngineSentaiGoOnger'' involves Yellow Ranger Saki and her love of ''Korean drama series'', [[TruthInTelevision which are known to be soapy enough in their own right]]. A later episode involves a high school with a drama club that's rehearsing a scene straight out of Korean drama, complete with an impression of Korean drama idol Bae Yong-Jun.

* Occasionally Sable in ''AnimalCrossing: Wild World'' will describe ''Pointed Love'', her favourite soap, in this manner.

* Done briefly in a cutaway in ''{{Zombieland}}'', where, under the rule that driver of the car gets to choose the music and coversation topic, the pre-teen girl Little Rock puts ''{{Wicked}}'' on the soundtrack, and tries to explain the premise of HannahMontana, much to Tallahassee's dismay.

* In a ''FoxTrot'' strip, Peter gets this reaction (eyes glazing over and repeating "uh-huh") when Paige explains the plot of MelrosePlace to him, but Paige had exactly the same reaction when Jason explained the premise of ''HighlanderTheSeries'' to her. It's even more amusing in retrospect, given one of ''[=H:TS=]'''s [[EstrogenBrigadeBait biggest fanbases]].

* Toadie Fields used to do these as part of her standup comedy act.

* In KimNewman's ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' short story "The Serial Murders", Richard Jeperson (who refuses to watch {{ITV}} because commercial television was created by [[BigBad Derek Leech]]) needs the plot of ''The Northern Barstows'' explained to him by his sidekick Vanessa. He then recalls that the night it was on, she said she couldn't go on a ghost hunt because an old schoolfriend was visiting. Over the course of the investigation, he finds himself getting addicted, and realises that this effect is exactly the psychic energy the villain is feeding on.

* The ''Series/ThirtyRock'' episode "Generalissimo" centers on Jack Donaghy trying to figure out why his Puerto Rican girlfriend Elisa's grandmother hates him so much. It turns out that it's because the villain in ''telenovela'' she watches looks exactly like Jack[[note]]in reality, of course [[ActingForTwo both characters were played by Alec Baldwin]][[/note]] and the scene where they figure this out--and several subsequent scenes--involve Elisa explaining the incredibly complicated plot of the ''telenovela'' to Jack.

* Played with in the gamer comic ''DorkTower'' when Carson asks Igor about ''{{Babylon 5}}'' and gets an eight-panel wall of text about the conspiracies, universal issues, and civil wars and ancient chessmasters. When Carson comments that it's a lot for a single season, Igor corrects him -- it all happened in the previous ''episode.''

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Spike was addicted to soaps (''Passions'' was mentioned specifically.) Joyce enjoyed it, too.

* ''TimeSquad'' did this on the season two episode, "Old Timers' Squad," only all of the people addicted to the soap opera ("The Elegant and the Dangerous") are male.

* Parodied in the {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. Mustrum Ridcully asks the High Priest of Blind Io (who happens to be Mustrum's brother Hughnon) what the gods of the Disc have been up to, as a possible explanation for the poltergeist activity plaguing Ankh-Morpork. Hughnon's description of the antics of the gods sounds like a cross between Greek mythology and the soap opera {{Recap}}s that used to be done by BBC announcers in TheSeventies, against still images from previous episodes. Mustrum brushes it off by saying "I've never been able to get interested in that stuff, myself."

* In KimNewman's ''Diogenes Club'' short story "The Serial Murders", Richard Jeperson (who refuses to watch {{ITV}} because commercial television was created by [[BigBad Derek Leech]]) needs the plot of ''The Northern Barstows'' explained to him by his sidekick Vanessa. He then recalls that the night it was on, she said she couldn't go on a ghost hunt because an old schoolfriend was visiting. Over the course of the investigation, he finds himself getting addicted, and realises that this effect is exactly the psychic energy the villain is feeding on.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In one story by Israeli satirist EphraimKishon, with ''The Forsythe Saga''. Even two burglars join them watching. Everyone explains to each other and argues about details of old episodes.

* In ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'', Spike was addicted to soaps (''Passions'' was mentioned specifically.) Joyce enjoyed it, too.

[[folder: Magazines ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* ''TimeSquad'' did this on the season two episode, "Old Timers' Squad," only all of the people addicted to the soap opera ("The Elegant and the Dangerous") are male.

* Sweetheart in ''SkinHorse'' [[http://skin-horse.com/comics/09152011/ tells Tip all about her soaps]] ''without'' being asked.

* In a ''FoxTrot'' strip, Peter gets this reaction (eyes glazing over and repeating "uh-huh") when Paige explains the plot of her favourite soap opera to him (it might have been ''BeverlyHills90210''), but Paige had exactly the same reaction when Jason explained the premise of ''HighlanderTheSeries'' to her. It's even more amusing in retrospect, given one of ''[=H:TS=]'''s [[EstrogenBrigadeBait biggest fanbases]].

* ''{{Supernatural}}'': Dean is [[BlatantLies definitely not a fan]] of ''[[MedicalDrama Dr. Sexy, M.D.]]'' Never mind that he knows the show well enough to know that "Part of what makes Dr. Sexy so sexy is that he wears cowboy boots, ''not'' tennis shoes!"

Alice is a big fan of a SoapOpera (or is that a Trope Opera?). Barbara foolishly asks her about it. This is the cue for a long plot summary that is utterly meaningless, often serving as an excuse to lampoon any soap tropes the writers can think of, and generally serves to show how far Alice has gone. Compare SoapWithinAShow.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* Parodied on ''MalcolmInTheMiddle''. Francis is jailed with a full view of where the police and their relatives inexplicably come to enact their affairs, shady business deals, discuss their sister's recent [[MagicPlasticSurgery change in appearance]], and other assorted soap opera plots. Naturally, Francis is released right before they reveal who the sinister figure sabotaging their upcoming land deal was and ends up begging to stay in jail until he finds out.

* ''{{Supernatural}}'': Dean is [[BlatantLies definitely not a fan]] of ''[[MedicalDrama Dr. Sexy, M.D.]]'' Never mind that he knows the show well enough to know that "Part of what makes Dr. Sexy so sexy is that he wears cowboy boots, ''not'' tennis shoes!"

[[AC:{{Magazines}}]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC:StandUpComedy]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

----

* Mihoshi from ''TenchiMuyo'' does this, and in later variations I think she gets all the female characters addicted.

* Parodied in the {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. Mustrum Ridcully asks the High Priest of Blind Io (who happens to be Mustrum's brother Hughnon) what the gods of the Disc have been up to, as a possible explanation for the poltergeist activity plaguing Ankh-Morpork. Hughnon's description of the antics of the gods sounds like a cross between Greek mythology and a recap of a soap opera, and Mustrum even brushes it off by saying "I've never been able to get interested in that stuff, myself."
** Cross between? Greek mythology sounds very soap opera-ish anyway.
** Specifically, it sounds like the {{Recap}}s that used to be done by BBC announcers in TheSeventies, against still images from previous episodes.

* TruthInTelevision: TheBBC Radio Times' [[http://www.radiotimes.com/ListingsServlet?event=10&channelId=92&programmeId=84531117&jspLocation=/jsp/prog_details_fullpage.jsp descriptions]] of soaps, a round-up of the week's stories that doubles as an AffectionateParody of the genre and its tropes.

* In a ''FoxTrot'' strip, Peter gets this reaction (eyes glazing over and repeating "uh-huh") when Paige explains the plot of her favourite soap opera to him (it might have been ''BeverlyHills90210''), but Paige had exactly the same reaction when Jason explained the premise of ''HighlanderTheSeries'' to her.
** Which is even more amusing in retrospect, given one of ''[=H:TS=]'''s [[EstrogenBrigadeBait biggest fanbases]].

Alice is a big fan of a SoapOpera (or is that a [[IncrediblyLamePun Trope Opera]]?). Barbara foolishly asks her about it. This is the cue for a long plot summary that is utterly meaningless, often serving as an excuse to lampoon any soap tropes the writers can think of, and generally serves to show how far Alice has gone. Compare SoapWithinAShow.