Love in the Afternoon, and Evening by Charlotte Druckman and Mayukh Sen, published on May 12, 2026, from W.W. Norton. A collection of “essays and conversations on soap operas,” it manages to both check all the boxes on familiar daytime drama elements, as well as shine a spotlight on three topics that often get overlooked in popular and academic coverage.
Key Takeaways
- A new book on soaps is now available
- The authors cover tropes like split personalities, reformed rapists, and love-starved bad girls
- The authors take a deep dive into ignored minorities, the look of daytime, and an overlooked primetime show
The Also Ran
Despite a cover featuring Donna Mills as Abby and Ted Shackelford as Gary in a steamy clinch from an episode of Knots Landing, the book only refers to them in a short section at the end. Dallas gets more attention, as it’s impossible to discuss the 1980s popularity of prime-time soaps without mentioning “Who Shot JR?” mania. There are also a handful of references to Dynasty.
What makes Love in the Afternoon and Evening unusual is that it devotes two independent chapters to a show that spent its airtime and its afterlife in the shadow of “The Big Three: Falcon Crest.” One chapter is an ode to Angela Channing, the Oscar-winning Jane Wyman, who played her, while the other ranks the supporting characters in order of importance. Good to see Falcon Crest finally getting the love it deserves. (It was my favorite growing up, so I’m obviously biased.)
Who Wore It Best?
As someone who devours books devoted to soap operas, not to mention having written one of my own along with a historical fiction novel featuring Irna Phillips, I enjoyed the respective chapters examining soap-opera cases of dissociative personality disorders (hey, there, One Life to Live‘s Viki and Niki, as played by six time Daytime Emmy winner Erika Slezak!), the bad girl who only wants to be loved (we’re looking at you, General Hospital‘s Carly, as originally played by three time Daytime Emmy winner Sarah Joy Brown), and soaps’ very, very problematic history of turning rapists into leading men (start with Anthony Geary’s Luke on GH, go to Roger Howarth’s Todd on OLTL, throw in Matthew Ashford’s Jack on Days of Our Lives, and that list is already much longer than it needs to be, without being close to complete yet).
But the chapter that really popped for me as offering something new was the one on soap opera costume designers, and how much they contribute to the characters and stories we love — without us realizing it.
The Way We Were — And Still Are
In Chapter 7, “A Many Splendored Thing,” Sen dubs Asian actress Mia Korf’s casting as OLTL’s Blair a milestone in daytime’s representation of multi-racial characters. (He then, rightfully, goes to town on her recast, Kassie DePaiva, agreeing that she is an excellent actress, but that the whitewashing was problematic, to say the least.)
Sen quotes Korf, speaking of OLTL’s then-Executive Producer Linda Gottlieb, “She had no interest whatsoever in addressing my character’s ethnicity. It’s like it doesn’t matter. It’s not critical to this role. You’re just another gal.”
I worked for Linda Gottlieb in 1995. Remember when the OJ Simpson trial kept breaking into your favorite soaps? Remember how ABC created a segment called SoapLine to catch you up? I wrote those. Linda was the EP.
At the time, I asked her, “How can it be such a mystery who Blair’s biological father is? Her mother, Addie, was raped while in a mental institution. Addie is white. Blair is Asian. Shouldn’t we look for what Asian men had access to this particular patient at that particular time for our answer?”
“Oh,” Linda replied blithely, “No one realizes she’s Asian.”
“Maybe blind people don’t realize it,” I definitely did not say out loud to my new boss, only a day after I’d been hired.
Sad to think that such a momentous moment for Asian-American representation in soaps wasn’t even noted by the woman who is given credit for it.
Love in the Afternoon, and Evening by Charlotte Druckman and Mayukh Sen is available from the publisher and all other platforms.
