Amazon.com
This nostalgic special captures some classic moments from one of the most beloved shows of the '70s--a zany parody of daytime drama that launched the careers of such celebrities as Katherine Helmond, Richard Mulligan, Robert Guillaume, and Billy Crystal. The special starts as Jessica Tate (Helmond) enters the afterlife. Through a combination of dogged persistence and her trademark ditzy wisdom, Jessica attempts to convince an especially harried angel (
Maude's Bea Arthur) into giving her a second chance at life. After all, the story isn't done yet. No single retrospective could hope to explain all of the convoluted plot lines generated by the warring Tate and Campbell clans, and those unfamiliar with the show might be left a bit dizzy by Jessica's whirlwind history. In its time, the show mined a wide range of social issues for laughs, touching on everything from cult kidnappings to alien abductions, student-teacher affairs to interracial marriage, and gay parenting to terminal illnesses.
Soap's knack for laughing at serious issues--and refusal to back away from "heavy" drama when called for--still makes for brilliantly relevant satire more than 20 years after the show first hit the airwaves.
--Grant Balfour
From the back cover
"Soap" was one of the most innovative and popular shows on television, applauded for its cast of wonderfully eccentric characters. Now the very best of "Soap" is captured in this witty retrospective that finds Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) at the stairway to heaven, pleading with an angel (Bea Arthur) to give her more time on earth. Hilarious flashbacks of her dysfunctional family make it clear to the angel why Jessica is still needed at home. Her philandering husband (Robert Mandan) is having an affair with the daughter of their minister. Her daughters are both in love with a murderer, and her son has been kidnapped by a religious cult. Her sister, Mary (Cathryn Damon), has been impregnated by the alien look-alike of her husband, Burt (Richard Mulligan), and her gay nephew (Billy Crystal) is fighting for custody of the baby he had with his ex-wife. It's a wildly irreverent ride of non-stop laughs with one of the best-loved sitcoms of all time!
