Soap opera

A soap opera, soapie, or soap is a serial drama on television or radio which features related story lines about the lives of many characters. The stories usually focus on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama. The term soap opera originated from such dramas being typically sponsored by soap manufacturers in the past.

Origin of the genre

The first series considered to be a "soap opera" was Painted Dreams, which debuted on October 20, 1930 on Chicago radio station WGN. Early radio series such as Painted Dreams were broadcast in weekday daytime slots, usually five days a week, when most of the listeners would be housewives; thus, the shows were aimed at and consumed by a predominantly female audience. In the name, "soap" refers to the soap and detergent commercials originally broadcast during the shows, which were aimed at women who were cleaning their houses at the time of listening or viewing, and "opera" refers to the melodramatic character of the shows.

The first nationally broadcast radio soap opera was Clara, Lu, and Em, which aired on the NBC Blue Network at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's eponymous debut album in 2006 marked the start of her career as a country music singer. Her third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album won four Grammy Awards, making Swift the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Swift's third and fourth albums, 2010's Speak Now and 2012's Red, both sold more than one million copies within the first week of their U.S release. Speak Now's "Mean" won two Grammy Awards, while Red's singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were successful worldwide. Swift's fifth album, the pop-focused 1989, was released in 2014 and sold more copies in its opening week than any album in the previous 12 years, making Swift the first and only act to have three albums sell more than one million copies in the opening release week. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album would go on to win three awards at the 2016 Grammys including Album of the Year making Swift the first and thus far only female artist to receive the award twice.

John Stamos

John Phillip Stamos (/ˈsteɪmoʊs/ STAY-mohs; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the show's finale in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous TV films and series. Since 2005, he has been the national spokesperson for Project Cuddle.

From 2006 to 2009, Stamos had a starring role on the NBC medical drama ER as Dr. Tony Gates. In September 2009, he began playing the role of Albert in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie. Since September 2015, Stamos has starred as the lead character in the Fox sitcom Grandfathered.

Early life

Stamos was born in Cypress, California. He attended John F. Kennedy High School. He is the oldest child and only son of Loretta (née Phillips; 1939–2014), a former swimsuit model who was raised in England and was of Irish and English ancestry, and Bill Stamos, a restaurateur of Greek descent. Stamos has two younger sisters, Jannen and Alaina, who are both teachers. His family's last name was originally Stamatopoulos (Greek: Σταματόπουλος) but his paternal grandparents shortened the name to Stamos when they moved to the United States from Greece. ('-poulos' [Gr. -πουλος] is a common Greek suffix in surnames, meaning "son of"; 'Stamat-' is the root, which is derived from the name Stamat-ios [Gr. Σταμάτ-ιος] --> Stamat-is [Gr. Σταμάτ-ης], with the -o- in between being an addition for easier pronunciation).