Melodrama has long been a staple of American entertainment; hence long-running, involved tales of family, relationships, conflict and passion have dominated daytime fare on radio and television for decades. Television’s first soap opera, Faraway Hill (Dumont Network, 1946), nonetheless, was broadcast on Wednesday night, 21:00–21:30. A dramatization of Grace Metalious’ popular novel Peyton Place later briefly renewed the night-time soap (ABC, 1964–9). After the success of various miniseries, however, competitive prime-time serial dramas regained prominence in the 1980s, generally coinciding with the social and economic shifts of the Reagan era, including growing class polarization and the rise of the Sunbelt.

Dallas (CBS, 1978–91), the pioneer, followed the affairs of three generations of the plutocrat Ewing family of the South Fork ranch. It synthesized glamour, sexuality politics and oil, and gained worldwide popularity (whose readings Ian Ang has studied in Watching Dallas, 1985). Seasonal cliffhanger endings included “Who shot J.R.?” (referring to an attempt on villain J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman); 41 million households tuned in for the answer, among the most-watched shows in history Plot twists became more contrived as characters shifted in later seasons.

Dynasty (ABC, 1981–9) also mixed money power and oil in the couplings and catfights of two wealthy Denver families. Blake Carrington, played by a former TV sitcom father, John Forsythe, was husband to naive, honest Krystle (Linda Evans) and patriarch to a troubled company and kindred, including one of television’s first gay male characters. Blake’s nemesis/ex-wife, Alexis Carrington, became closely associated with the persona of actor/author Joan Collins. The series offered loyal fans marketing tie-ins like perfume and short-lived spin-offs (The Colbys, ABC, 1985–7), but it also sparked parodic parties and camp humor. Again, its images of power and sin sold well abroad, confirming dreams and stereotypes of the US.

Other related series, with lustful couples, scheming older villains (often reviving Hollywood stars’ careers) and money included Falcon Crest (CBS, 1981–90, with former Reagan wife Jane Wyman as the matriarch of a California winery) and Knots Landing (CBS, 1979–93), set among middle-class California suburbanites. All disappeared into syndication by the mid-1990s, eclipsed by police and medical shows which sometimes claimed to be higher-brow entertainment, yet incorporated similar melodramatic personal stories.

Stories of the beautiful and comfortable later reemerged to prime-time popularity sometimes finding different fans on emergent networks like FOX. Melrose Place (FOX, 1992–), with Dynasty alumna Heather Locklear, proved popular among Generation X viewers. Beverly Hills 90210 (FOX, 1990–), an Aaron Spelling serial, tracked both its stars and audience from Hollywood high-school chic through college affairs. Perhaps as a response to changing times, these seem to focus more on sexuality and betrayal than on the glamorization of sheer wealth that underpinned Dynasty and Dallas. Nonetheless like daytime soaps—and real-life dramas portrayed by news media in the same melodramatic and cliffhanger styles, from O.J. Simpson to the Clinton White House—these continue to be staples of the American dream.