Even though only four original soap operas remain on the air, our appetite for high drama has never been more insatiable.

May 13, 2026

In late April, a sizzle reel comprising classic soap opera clips of divas falling down a grand staircase tumbled around social media and right into the “Saturday Night Live” writers room, inspiring the sketch “Edge of Destiny.” The May 2 episode featured host Olivia Rodrigo wearing a flip feathered wig and a shoulder-padded jumpsuit, pushing one glammed-up cast member after another down the bouncing steps, each giving a more exaggerated performance than the last. The spoof of an old favorite soap trope, epitomized by the 1980s prime-time show “Dynasty,” may have struck some as random since network television phased out daytime serials well over a decade ago.

But in a broader sense, the parody felt timely.

While promoting his new film “Project Hail Mary” a few weeks ago on the podcast “Happy Sad Confused,” actor Ryan Gosling was singing the praises of the soap operas he watched as a child. A clip of that conversation went viral, which not only resonated with other Xennials who grew up watching those shows, but also introduced soaps to a new audience.

Younger generations are likely familiar with the genre’s over-the-top tenor, even if they never watched an actual soap opera. But the narrative convention inarguably has been absorbed into our culture — and whetted our appetites for even more high drama.

It may just be that soap operas, as Gosling knew them, weren’t meant to last forever, but instead evolve into something else, perhaps something bigger. Soaps were initially serial dramas that centered around the domestic lives of women, the earliest iterations of which were developed for the radio in the 1930s to sell detergent to housewives. The originator, Irna Phillips, adapted soap operas for daytime television in 1949. They peaked from the late 1970s into the ’80s when there were close to 20 daytime soaps running on the three major networks. At their pinnacle, soaps were joined by prime-time counterparts like “Dynasty,” “Knots Landing” and “Dallas,” which were created to accommodate the schedules of working women — and to appeal to their husbands, whom advertisers assumed would be watching with their spouses.

Today, only four of those original soaps are still on the air (and one is only available for streaming). The famous “General Hospital” episode featuring Luke Spencer and Laura Webber Baldwin’s wedding remains the most-watched in daytime history, with 30 million viewers in 1981, while “The Young and the Restless” currently boasts the largest audience in 2026, with 3.1 million viewers.

Still, said Rebecca Budig, who stars in the daytime soap “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “I actually don’t think that the genre’s dying. I think we’re having a little bit of a resurgence.”