Television soap operas and the televising of competitive sports actually possess a stunning amount of similarities. Of course, the most obvious example of this would be the psuedo sport of professional wrestling. Professional wrestling is so similar to a soap opera that even the casual viewer would easily see the obvious similarities and connections. In a much less obvious fashion, the same thing can be said of all televised sporting events, even IHRA drag racing.

One of the most important aspects of the soap opera formula for programming is the concept of the feud. In the soap operas, there must always be an ongoing feud between several of the characters on the show. One example of this was seen during a recent episode of the soap opera Passions. Sheridan’s hatred for her father Alistair Crane (a name that is deliberately similar to the infamous Alistair Crowley) was so great that she erupted in a vicious tirade against him at a funeral for a friend of hers (who he had killed). While a bit less heated, the TNT broadcast of IHRA Drag Racing featured a feud between the two Scott brothers, Quain and Mitch. The brothers argued about the various aspects of racing, who had stolen what technology from whom, and who was really the best. The argument implied some outright hostility between the two of them. In particular, when Mitch red lighted in the first round and was disqualified, Quain even went so far as to claim that he did it on purpose by saying: “He only red lighted because he knew he would have to face me in the second round.” While that is not quite the death threat that Sheridan issued to her father, it is quite mean spirited nonetheless.

The sexual aspect of soap operas is so well known that it hardly bears discussion, but the same sexuality is also present in IHRA racing, albeit less overtly. The actual race itself is very much like a sexual encounter. There is the buildup and anticipation as the race is about to start. The race itself is followed by the letdown after the finish. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see the winning driver having a come-down cigarette after the race, much like if he had just had sex. One driver even took the time to make sure that no one missed this parallel. Alan Pittman’s car had a blower with three valve openings. Each of the valves contained a single letter painted on them. The letters were S-E-X. Apparently Mr. Pittman wanted to ensure that absolutely no one missed that idea. While these are only a few lightly touched on commonalities between soap operas and sporting events, I think that the similarities between the two should be quite clear.

Although the sing-song introductory tunes of Passions exhibit a seemingly wholesome image that one could liken to Seventh Heaven—with its visually sweet pastel overtones—the intellectually odd flavor of the show’s content suggests that all small American towns ironically named “Harmony” have sorcerer statues, blind priests and crazy Halloween witches year-round. While Sports shows and Soaps serve as analogues of each other, they each provide a certain attention to their viewing audience in ways that forego the content and plot of the show—instead catering to the needs of the viewer. For example, instant replay will sometimes interrupt the following play on the field in football. However weird and overreaching theses genres of television seem to be, they each have a certain consistent appeal to audiences who watch with a loyalty that is unmatched in other viewer circles. Perhaps the odd combination of fantasy and romance/betrayal plots that drives Passions satisfies stay-at-home moms in the same way that hickish accents and loud engines get some men all excited. In both instances, the stereotypical men and women watch continually not for a season finale or championship race, but for the unending cycle of each show with the understanding of a few key factors: each show is predictable, each show always lacks a final resolution, and the more one watches the more comforting the show becomes.

The predictability factor may be illustrated in Passions through the constant repetition of key plot information. The conversation between Fancy and another character repeated “no proof” at least four times to emphasize the importance of this aspect of the episode’s plot. Also, each time the show breaks for a commercial, when the show resumes, the scene is practically rerun to once again remind the viewer of the conversation and to display where each character stands on the issue of Fancy’s grandfather’s innocence. Likewise, the constant instant replay of a dragster’s violent crash during a particular race also emphasizes the importance of viewer audience to the chronology of the show. If that man had not crashed his car, perhaps three to four minutes of airtime would have been devoted to another aspect of the race. However the editor of the show purposely reruns this chain of events multiple times to make certain that viewers have many chances to relive the experience. The only crappy part of instant replay in drag racing is the lone camera angle that allows for a rather redundant replay; this bores the avid football spectator who is accustomed to a minimum of five camera angles.

Although the content may slowly progress toward a change or shift in the plot, each show refuses to gratify the viewer with an absolute resolution, continually leaving the opportunity or perhaps obligation to watch a subsequent episode to “see what happens next.” Soaps such as Passions infamously require years of viewer loyalty to notice any major progressions in the plot of the show. The characters are generally dichotomized as either good or evil, old or young, endearing or routinely despised and rarely have a change of heart. Thus, the witch in Passions will forever maintain her witchiness and the old godfather-like grandfather will always be hated by his character counterparts—except Fancy. Since characters fail to change or grow in terms of perspective or attitude, the plot is slow to evolve. Yet in some ways, the cycle of plots in soaps tends to mirror life in the way that things tend to take forever to happen—at least much longer than a two hour film that depicts a character’s entire life. In comparison, sports shows display both the victories and failures associated with life, in the constant struggle for success. In all sporting events, there is at least one winner, and at times a slew of losers. In drag racing, this constant effort towards a faster or more powerful engine explains the whole notion of drag racing. No car will ever be truly fast enough or consistently effective. During each interview after completing a run down the track, most drivers will discuss the improvements made to the vehicles to help ensure a victory, while the commentator mentions how some racers have participated in the drag racing circuit for twenty years or more. These racers seem either obviously dedicated to their cause or haplessly unsuccessful. Thus, continual racing satisfies both the competitors who strive for the best, as well as always giving the spectator another race or another competition to watch.

Lastly there is the relationship of viewer loyalty, in which the amount of time devoted to the viewing of a show positively corroborates with the attachment one finds in the show. With sports and soaps, longtime viewers tend to know character names and histories, as well as particular terms and specialized rules associated with the sport. An avid soap viewer will remember all eight weddings Susan Lucci had, just as a dedicated basketball fan will recall the college that Michael Jordan played for, and during which years the Chicago Bulls took the championship title. Time committed to a particular genre, especially decade-spanning genres such as soaps and sports, produces viewers who have dedication that surpasses news viewership and sitcoms. Since these shows remain on television programming for years, viewers never have to worry about the plug being pulled on their favorite show. Actually just the opposite tends to happen when sports stars retire, and soap stars die—this is the moment when reality hits and an audience must face the loss of a companion of sorts. However, within the cycle is a promise of quick and concise replacement to ensure that our loss is not mourned for more than a few episodes, or at least not after the annual draft.

Sports television and soap operas are shows that can be watched without paying attention. In both, the action repeats over and over via instant replay (in sports) or through replaying the same scene with slightly different words (in soap operas). During IHRA Motorsports, the same scene of the dragster flipping over was played at least five times and the results of each race were replayed at least once. Even if a viewer only watched the show fifty percent of the time, he could catch everything of importance. Similarly, in Passions, the scene of the funeral-goer attempting to convince Fancy of her grandfather’s crimes occurred three times. Each time, he said basically the same things. Catching one instance of their dialogue would be no more informative than watching all three.

In addition to the repetition, each show informs the viewer with aural cues when something significant happens or will happen. When the dragster flips over during the race, the announcers yell, “Boom! Flames all over the place!” The excited tone of voice always accompanies the most significant event in the show, be it a wreck or a close race. The show repeatedly calls attention to itself after periods of lulls in which it gives out information and sets up contests. Passions gives similar sound cues. The music notifies a viewer who may not be watching when the show switches tones. When the old bastard Alistair enters the church, the music immediately intensifies and takes on a serious quality. The soap opera also follows the period of lulls intermixed with events.

The connection in structure likely comes coincidentally. Whereas a sport has a necessary series of lulls while the participants get ready, the soap opera likely evolves to suit its most common viewer, the "housewife." A housewife may be tending to housework and daily business during the day and not have the ability to focus their entire attention on a soap opera. Due to the erratic behavior of sports, and the erratic lifestyle of the housewife, the genres must repeat key events the viewer in order to keep them up to speed on the meat of the shows. Similarly, each viewer may be conditioned to lose their attention on the show and need the sounds to recall them to the screen. The real trick comes from filling the lull. Sports lulls must occur so they are filled with the building of storylines and the threats of “ass beatings.” The soap opera lull recounts the same events with different words so that it will not be the exact same and could be enjoyable to its viewers.

Soap operas and sports shows have been two of the most prominent television genres since their creation. Soap operas and sports shows, though they seem to be far from similar, are homologous in several different ways. For example, if a viewer watches a soap opera or a certain sports show, they are a follower or a repeat viewer—one who watches every single episode or game. There are very few viewers who could be considered “casual” viewers, or viewers who only watch every once and a while when nothing else is on. However soap operas and sports shows are homologous in their structures as well, in that they are structured in such a way as to keep the viewer interested and active throughout the entire length of the program.

The structure of the Canadian IHRA Drag Racing competition is such that the viewer is forced to watch three different types of races even if they are only interested in the times of one type of vehicle. The program starts off with the Top Fuel Dragster, Pro Modified Cars, and Nitro Harley opening races, and then goes on to the semi-finals and finals for each division; however, instead of showing all of the Top Fuel, all of the Pro Modified and all of the Nitro Harley’s together, the races are shown separately. So in order to watch the scores for the Top Fuel and see who wins, you also have to watch the opening and semi-final races for the other two divisions. The broadcast of the races also involves a lot of discussion about individual drivers, making some emotional connections between viewers and racers. The coverage of the Stott brother fight gives the audience a protagonist in Mitch and an antagonist in Quain. The same is done in each division: a protagonist and antagonist is created by the announcers and allows the viewers to feel like they are watching more of a story line than just a few three-second races.

The structure of the soap opera is homologous in that the plot line is split up like the races. So instead of having a continuous plot with a few main characters, one protagonist and one antagonist, the plot is broken up into three different story lines that are vaguely connected and have many protagonists and several antagonists as well. In the episode of Passions, the viewer is first introduced to the fight between Kay and Fox, and then is led into the house of Tabitha and her daughter, and is then led into Louis’ funeral. Just as in the racing show, the viewer is led from scene one to scene two to scene three and then back and forth throughout the episode. These structures are useful to the broadcasters because they allow networks to ensure that the viewers that watch will become hooked on all aspects of the programs. Therefore, in the racing scene, if you were only watching to see who won the Top Fuel finals, chances are you would stick around to watch the other finals as well because you had already seen the opens and semi-finals. The same goes for the soap opera: if a viewer were only watching to see what happened to Kay and Fox, chances are that once they learned everything was okay, they would continue watching to see what happened with the other plot lines that they were introduced to along the way.

Guys are always focusing on never be seen as anything but the most confident strong men they can be. Their lives can almost become consumed with this obsession, but what would they do if you explained to them that one of the greatest loves of a large percentage of men—sports—resembled one thing most of that same group hate with a passion: soap operas. At their most basic each genre has one key thing that allows the connection to be made—they both provide for water cooler talk. With the soap opera, you must keep up with all the different characters, find out who loves who, and who has cheated on who. This gives soap opera viewers their key topics and conversations. This is what makes them fun to watch. It brings you into an exclusive social group with others that watch it. Sports, without question, are the same. Whether it be sports in general, or your favorite team, it gives you that connection to others that can be a powerful thing. The homology between sports and soap operas is almost irrefutable, and not something these guys would ever want to hear.

The two most important aspects of sports shows are the ability to keep score and know what went on (the stats), along with knowing the competitors and usually having a favorite team from the mix. Since when did guys care so much about random other guys they know nothing about? One word that gets thrown around a lot, which is usually slightly taboo for many men, is “love.” This was said countless times in the IHRA Drag Racing show by the hosts and the competitors when describing their feelings or other competitors. These same guys might have trouble saying the word love in relation to their girlfriend, but there is no issue talking about another guy on their sports team. There are more sports shows spending more time than soap operas focused on getting out all the gossip out about the different players and teams. Soap operas are all about gossip and picking your favorite character too. This little aspect is what pulls in the viewership, and keeps people tuning in; they want to see what happens with their favorite character. These feelings about characters or players come from one other key aspect to sports that also plays a major role in soap operas: the score. In the soap opera world, you keep up with what the other characters have done, who has won the various fights and all the happenings. Similarly, in sports, you keep the players personal stats and team scores in prominent display and repeat them like was done constantly during the drag racing show.

Soap operas and sports both require the viewer to be caught up and aware of all the extenuating circumstances involved in whatever they are dealing with. Soap operas keep their viewers up to date by being painfully repetitive. An example from Passions is when one of the characters had the pills that she was going to kill the mean father with. She was asked if she did, and stated that she did not have the pills more times than necessary. If you did not know by the last time that she was lying about not having any pills, you had to be clueless. Still, they drove the point into the ground. The sports shows work much on this same premise, with instant replays and the commentary about what’s been leading up to this moment. The IHRA Drag Racing always showed instant replays of the one dramatic crash at the speedway to make sure that everyone got a chance to see it, plus before watching a new race, they would show clips of past races featuring the racers on the track to let the viewer learn a little more about their pasts. The repetition from both sports and soap operas is what allows the gossip and “water cooler” talk for both audiences to become a reality; people can share the information because it’s almost impossible to escape without it.

Sports has been described as a ballet, the big dance, and other terms that men would usually not want to admit it’s like—why not add “soap opera like” to the mix? The drama, emotions and stress that both create are what keep their audiences coming back. Sports will always seem different and hold it’s own because it’s still usually people in physical endurance tests (which one can argue does separate it from soap operas, which are comprised of purely acting and made up plot lines). Sports have many parallels to soap operas, but guys can rest assured, their unique angle of their stars beating the crap out of one another, or putting their lives in serious risk, will always differentiate sports just enough; they will still be cool.

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Last update: 1/22/2005