Soap Opera Digest

Infobox Magazine
title = Soap Opera Digest


image_size =
image_caption = February 1977 issue of "Soap Opera Digest", featuring Paul Gleason of "All My Children"
editor = Lynn Leahey
editor_title = Editor in Chief
staff_writer = Jennifer Lenhart
frequency = Weekly
circulation =
category = Entertainment
company = Source Interlink Media
publisher =
firstdate = November 1975
country = USA
language = English
website = [http://www.soapoperadigest.com/ www.SoapOperaDigest.com]
issn =

"Soap Opera Digest" is a magazine chronicling the stories airing on American soap operas and the off-screen lives of the actors appearing on them. The magazine first debuted in November 1975, with actors John Aniston, Ron Tomme, Audrey Peters, Birgitta Tolksdorf, Jerry Lacy, and Tudi Wiggins of "Love of Life" gracing the cover. Currently, the magazine boasts a subscription base of 500,000, as well as more than one million more issues purchased at newsstands and supermarkets each week. In the early 1990s, the magazine had up to 1.4 million subscribers.

The magazine, originally published monthly, moved to biweekly issues in 1979, and started publishing weekly in 1997. The current editor-in-chief is Lynn Leahey. Columnist Carolyn Hinsey reviewed current series and soap-related events in her regular feature, "It's Only My Opinion," until she was fired in August 2008.

The magazine holds an awards show annually to promote excellence in the genre, as decided by the fans who read the magazine. The "Soap Opera Digest Awards" (formerly the "Soapies") have been held every year since 1977, and were last televised in 2000. The Soapy Award was originally designed by Janis Rogak, the magazine's then-Art Director.

The magazine coined "soap speak," in which show names are abbreviated to save space. Nowadays, with the advent of chat rooms and message boards, these shortened names for the shows have become very popular, and a use has been made of them outside of the magazine, and shortened acroynms have even spread beyond daytime television unofficially to primetime programs.

Examples of "soap speak" acronyms

* "All My Children" - AMC
* "Another World" - AW
* "As the World Turns" - ATWT
* "The Bold and the Beautiful" - B&B
* "Dark Shadows" - DS
* "Days of our Lives" - DAYS (Although DOOL is appropriate, Soap Digest uses DAYS)
* "The Edge of Night" - EON
* "General Hospital" - GH
* "Guiding Light" - GL
* "One Life to Live" - OLTL
* "Port Charles" - PC
* "Ryan's Hope" - RH
* "Santa Barbara" - SB
* "Search for Tomorrow" - SFT
* "Sunset Beach" - BEACH (instead of SB, to differentiate it from "Santa Barbara")
* "The Young and the Restless" - Y&R

Series with shorter titles like "Capitol", "Loving", "Somerset", and "Passions" are not abbreviated.

ee also

* "Soap Opera Magazine"
* "Soaps In Depth"
* "Soap Opera Update"
* "Soap Opera Weekly"

External links

* [http://www.soapoperadigest.com/ "Soap Opera Digest" and "Soap Opera Weekly" homepage]