daytime drama

English

Noun

daytime drama (countable and uncountable, plural daytime dramas)

1. A television or radio serial broadcast during the daytime, especially one featuring melodramatic stories or characters.

   Synonyms: daytime serial, soap opera

   • 1993, Marilyn J. Matelski, “Resilient radio”, in Media Studies, volume 7, page 9:

     Daytime dramas were as successful as their prime-time counterparts, despite concerns that an economically unattractive listening audience (housewives) would deter sponsors from purchasing advertising spot time in this scheduling block.

   • 2005, Bruce Leiby, Linda Leiby, A Reference Guide to Television’s Bonanza, page 295:

     David Canary, Awards […] 87. Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama (1985) 88. Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama (1986)

2. (uncountable) The genre comprising such serials.
   • 2003, Thomas D. Petitjean, Jr., “Soap Spin: Changing Female Images in American Soap Operas”, in Sherrie Inness, editor, Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in the 1970s‎^[1], page 116:

     In the anything but static popular culture of the 1970s, daytime drama found itself at odds with both the place of women in contemporary, real-world situations and the contextualized, melodramatic world of females in soap operas.