--- title: Soap Opera History: The Secret Behind Some Classic Plots description: How producers coped with year-round schedules without leaving actors frazzled and exhausted canonical: https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-12T11:00:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:21.453Z article:section: History og:title: Soap Opera History: The Secret Behind Some Classic Plots og:description: Sometimes actors just needed a break og:url: https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd831aca88600d615/69885d3c0a4a2281b99c5662/goldbergs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Goldbergs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Soap Opera History: The Secret Behind Some Classic Plots twitter:description: Sometimes actors just needed a break twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd831aca88600d615/69885d3c0a4a2281b99c5662/goldbergs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Secret Behind Old Soap Opera Plot Twists > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2RqNgPrk.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2014-01-16. Here's a look at how our favorite TV shows—from "Game of Thrones" to "Scandal" and "Breaking Bad"—keep us coming back for more._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 12, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  The cast of 'The Goldbergs,' including Roslyn Silber as Rosalie and Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg, in The cast of 'The Goldbergs,' including Roslyn Silber as Rosalie and Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg, in NBC / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 12, 2015 11:00 AM UTC These days, it’s a given that scripted TV shows don’t air new episodes year-round. And with the advent of Netflix and other online viewing options, there are often even fewer episodes per season. But that wasn’t always the case. In the mid-20th-century glory days of radio and TV soap operas, audiences—and advertisers—expected new episodes virtually non-stop. But that created a dilemma for cast members. The solution, as TIME explained exactly 75 years ago, in the Aug. 12, 1970, issue, led to some of the plot twists that became central to the drama-heavy genre. In order to give stars time for some R&R, shows would send characters away to have babies, get them into car accidents requiring lengthy hospital stays or have relatives in other cities suddenly require urgent assistance. The character would get out of town, and so would the actor. Not that such twists were always required: “Sometimes it is possible to pretend that a character is knocking around the house, even though he doesn’t open his mouth. Gertrude Berg, who turns out _The Goldbergs_ for CBS, has done this with a character named Rosie for the past five weeks,” TIME reported. “Rosie has apparently been in the next room, or on the front stoop, during the performance of _The Goldbergs_, but actually Roslyn Silber who plays the part has been in Hawaii.” **_Read the full story from 1940, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Absent Ladies](http://time.com/vault/issue/1940-08-12/page/51/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/"},"headline":"The Secret Behind Old Soap Opera Plot Twists","datePublished":"2015-08-12T11:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:21.453Z","description":"Sometimes actors just needed a break","url":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/","keywords":["Media","Television","radio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd831aca88600d615/69885d3c0a4a2281b99c5662/goldbergs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd831aca88600d615/69885d3c0a4a2281b99c5662/goldbergs.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Goldbergs","caption":"The Goldbergs","creditText":"NBC / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/","name":"The Secret Behind Old Soap Opera Plot Twists"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Reasons TV's Top Shows Are So Addictive","description":"Here's a look at how our favorite TV shows—from \"Game of Thrones\" to \"Scandal\" and \"Breaking Bad\"—keep us coming back for more.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2RqNgPrk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-16T20:47:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2RqNgPrk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3978998/1940-soap-opera-secrets/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```