Plot: What’s it about?
ABC had a magical decade and many comedies such as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley took the network out of the ratings doldrums into small screen gold. At the tail end, irreverance was key and Three’s Company was slowly rising to the top, but after hours was a time and a select audience was introduced to an hysterical spin on the serialized prime time soap opera that was simply called Soap. The first season proved to be a winner but it was left with a cliffhanger that pitted five characters into one situation and that would be resolved during the season premiere of Soap: The Complete Second Season.
This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon). When we last left these two, Jessica was being escorted off to jail and one of five people really did the crime Jessica was going to jail for. Meanwhile amongst the Campbell clan, Jodie (Billy Crystal) starts to move in with a woman he had slept with and Danny (Ted Wass) is about to marry his bosses daughter (Dinah Manoff) after he refuses to knock off his stepfather Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan) who’s just recovered from thinking he’s invisible and has his own set of personal problems with Mary, for she has noticed something not right with Burt. At the same time Chester (Robert Mandan) continues to put up with Benson (Robert Guilliame) who knows it all especially when Father Tim (Sal Viscoso) leaves the priesthood to be with Corinne (Diana Canova) who has a special surprise for him. Confused? You won’t be after this second season of Soap.
The laughs continue on and the situations get more farcical and more over the top that by the time you’ve reached the end, you wonder what more will happen with the Tates and the Campbells. Some characters get not as much exposure as the first and some new ones shine with their agendas and their secrets. No matter what roadblocks come within the two families, they manage to come to a path and then be thrown off to an unknown path that can lead them into the goofy side of the track.
This season is on equal ground with the first in that the continuing serialized storyline keeps up and the viewer is intrigued to see what comical turn the show will take even when there are a few touching moments away from the humor. Many comedy films make the mistake of sticking with those too long and the final result is a loss of comic consistancy. Luckily, this show picks back up with the laughs and throws us a curve or two that would be nothing without it’s fine cast, creators and a great writing team keeping the storyline entertaining to follow and enjoy.
Video: How does it look?
The complete second season of Soap, like it’s first season, was recorded on videotape during its run in the 1.33 full frame and the picture quality is similar to all the daytime soaps with some browns and not too much burn in. It is a slight improvement over the first season with the stock footage not being too obviously stock and the look a little brighter. Also the color palette has become a little more so than the first season and the videotape captures it nicely making for a good transfer.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is limited to the middle channels as the tracks only major use is in the dialogue, laugh tracks and in the musical theme and minor pieces played throughout the episodes. The track on this set is a slight improvement audibly but it has it share of TV muteness that doesn’t specifically hear a pindrop but is well balanced nonetheless. The three discs have no subtitles (although you can use your TV captions instead).
Supplements: What are the extras?
If it was one thing the first season was lacking in the last set, it was extras pertaining to the show rather than inspired by the show. This one does slightly better thanks to a 20 minute featurette called “The Creators Come Clean” as the three principles talk about the idea of the shiw, the casting and the overall reaction of the show for the first two seasons. This is a constantly entertaining featurette that does not disappoint, unlike the other bonus which is the Pilot Episode which I thought was going to be a rough cut or an alternately casted piece. Instead, it’s the same first episode that was in the First Season set that seems wasted with nothing new to add and could’ve used some assistance of a commentary be it audio or text.
One show, another season, red cover, same characters, more complications, new characters, wider directions, few extras, more twists. Confused? You won’t be leading up to the next season of Soap (as the featurette clued into). This set is on the same ground with the first with slight improvements and some solid laughs, but some parts that still need work, but overall another very good show with the second season given more decent treatment on DVD.
