Allen, Robert C. Speaking of Soap Operas. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780807841297.
Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On: Soaps, Fandom, and Online Community . London, England: Sage Publications, Ltd., 1999. ISBN: 9780761916482.
Brown, Mary Ellen. "Motley Moments: Soap Operas, Carnival, Gossip and the Power of the Utterance." Television and Women's Culture: The Politics of the Popular. Edited by Mary Ellen Brown. London, England: Sage Publications Ltd., 1990, pp. 183-198. ISBN: 9780803982291.
Brunsdon, Charlotte. "Writing About Soap Opera." Television Mythologies: Stars, Shows, and Signs. Edited by Len Masterman. London, England: Routledge, 1987, pp. 82-87. ISBN: 9780415037006.
———. Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes. London, England: Routledge, 1997, pp. 9-12 and 26-28. ISBN: 9780415121545.
Butler, Jeremy. "Notes on the Soap Opera Apparatus: Televisual Style and As the World Turns." Cinema Journal 25 (Spring 1986): 53-70.
Derecho, Abigail. "'Perhaps,' 'Forgotten,' and 'Never-Were' Stories: The Troubled Times of Internet Soap Opera Fan Fiction." Search for Soaps' Tomorrow. Edited by Sam Ford and Abigail Derecho. Forthcoming.
Dines, Gail, and Jean M. Humez. Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2003, pp. 409-521. ISBN: 9780761922612.
Fiske, John. "Gendered Television: Femininity." Television Culture. London, England: Routledge, 1988, pp. 179-197. ISBN: 9780415039345.
Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. "All's Well that Doesn't End: Soap Opera and the Marriage Motif." Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer. Edited by Lynn Spiegel and Denise Mann. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1992, pp. 216-225. ISBN: 9780816620531.
Ford, Sam. "As the World Turns in a Convergence Culture." Master's thesis, MIT, 2007. (PDF)
Frentz, Suzanne. Staying Tuned: Contemporary Soap Opera Criticism. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992, pp. 48-53 and 96-102. ISBN: 9780879725372.
Geraghty, Christine. "The Study of Soap Opera." A Companion to Television. Edited by Janet Wasko. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005, pp. 308-323. ISBN: 9781405100946.
Harrington, C. Lee. "Homosexuality on All My Children: Transforming the Daytime Landscape." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 47 (2003): 216-235.
———. "'Is Anyone Out There Sick of the News?!': TV Viewers' Responses to Non-Routine News Coverage." Media, Culture & Society 20 (July 1998): 471-494.
Harrington, C. Lee, and Denise D. Bielby. Soap Fans: Pursuing Pleasure and Making Meaning in Everyday Life. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9781566393294.
Levine, Elana. "Toward a Paradigm for Media Production Research: Behind the Scenes at General Hospital." Television: The Critical View. Edited by Horace Newcomb. 7th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 133-149. ISBN: 9780195301168.
Liccardo, Lynn. "Who Really Watches the Daytime Soaps?" Soap Opera Weekly, 30 April 1996.
Marland, Doug. "How Not To Wreck a Show." Soap Opera Digest, 27 April 1993.
Matelski, Marilyn J. Soap Operas Worldwide: Cultural and Serial Realities. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1999, pp. 1-33. ISBN: 9780786405572.
Modleski, Tania. "The Search for Tomorrow in Today's Soap Operas: Notes on a Feminine Narrative Form." Film Quarterly 33 (Autumn 1979): 12-21.
Newcomb, Horace. "Soap Opera: Approaching the Real World." TV: The Most Popular Art. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1974, pp. 161-182. ISBN: 9780385036023.
Nochimson, Martha P. "Amnesia 'R' Us: The Retold Melodrama, Soap Operas, and the Representation of Reality." Film Quarterly 50 (Spring 1997): 27-38.
Phillips, Irna. Untitled Article, 1972.
Rapping, Elayne. "Daytime Utopias: If You Lived in Pine Valley, You'd Be Home." Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture. Edited by Henry Jenkins III, Tara McPherson, and Jane Shattuc. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002, pp. 47-66. ISBN: 9780822327370.
Rosen, Ruth. "Search for Yesterday." Watching Television: A Pantheon Guide to Popular Culture. Edited by Todd Gitlin. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1986, pp. 42-67. ISBN: 9780394746517.
Scardaville, Melissa. "Accidental Activists: Fan Activism in the Soap Opera Community." American Behavioral Scientist 48 (March 2005): 881-901.
Seiter, Ellen. "Promise and Contradiction: The Daytime Television Serial." Special Issue Film Reader 5: Film and Cultural Studies, Feminist Film Criticism. Edited by Jae Alexander, et al., 1982: 150-163.
Spence, Louise. "The Power of Pleasure: or, How to Enjoy Soaps." Watching Daytime Soap Operas: The Power of Pleasure. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005, pp. 140-171. ISBN: 9780819567659.
Timberg, Bernard. "The Rhetoric of the Camera in Television Soap Opera." Television: The Critical View. Edited by Horace Newcomb. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 164-178. ISBN: 9780195025019.
Tulloch, John. "The Implied Audience in Soap Opera Production." Rethinking the Media Audience: The New Agenda. Edited by Pertti Alasuutari. London, England: Sage Publications, Ltd., 1999, pp. 151-178. ISBN: 9780761950714.
Waldman, Allison J. "'Digital Comfort Food'; 'ATWT' Is a 50-Year Feast." TelevisionWeek. Special Report: 'World' Turns 50, 27 March 2006.
Williams, Carol T. "Soap Opera Men in the 90s: Signs of the Fearful Times." Journal of Popular Film & Television 22 (Autumn 1994): 126-132.
| SES # | READINGS | VIEWINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waldman, Allison J. "'World' Turns 50: 'Digital Comfort Food.'" | Guiding Light 70th anniversary episode |
| 2 |
Phillips, Irna. Untitled Article, 1972. Matelski, Marilyn J. Soap Operas Worldwide: Cultural and Serial Realities. Ford, Sam. "Growing Old Together: Following As the World Turns' Tom Hughes Through the Years." (PDF) |
ATWT #13197-13201, 2/4-8/08. Guiding Light radio episodes |
| 3 |
Newcomb, Horace. "Soap Opera: Approaching the Real World." Modleski, Tania. "The Search for Tomorrow in Today's Soap Operas: Notes on a Feminine Narrative Form." Seiter, Ellen. "Promise and Contradiction: The Daytime Television Serial." | Student talk: History of Soaps, ATWT from 1956-1960. |
| 4 | Speaking of Soap Operas. Chapters 1-3, pp. 3-60. |
ATWT #13202-13206, 2/11-15/08. Student talk: ATWT in the 1960s. |
| 5 | Speaking of Soap Operas. Chapters 4-5, pp. 61-129. | Student talk: ATWT in the 1970s. |
| 6 | Speaking of Soap Operas. Chapter 6, Afterword, pp. 130-185. |
Clips from European and Asian soaps ATWT #13207-13211, 2/18-22/08. |
| 7 |
Brunsdon, Charlotte. "Writing About Soap Opera." ———. "Introduction." and "Feminism and Soap Opera." Screen Tastes . Geraghty, Christine. "The Study of Soap Opera." Williams, Carol T. "Soap Opera Men in the 90s: Signs of the Fearful Times." Rittenhouse, Gilah. "The Nuclear Family Is Alive and Well: As the World Turns." and Reep, Diana. "The Siren Call of the Super Couple: Soap Operas' Destructive Slide Toward Closure." Staying Tuned. | Student talk: ATWT in the 1980s. |
| 8 |
Nochimson, Martha P. "Amnesia 'R' Us: The Retold Melodrama, Soap Operas, and the Representation of Reality." Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. "All's Well that Doesn't End: Soap Opera and the Marriage Motif." Rosen, Ruth. "Search for Yesterday." | ATWT #13212-13216, 2/25-29/08. |
| 9 |
Fiske, John. "Gendered Television: Femininity." Brown, Mary Ellen. "Motley Moments: Soap Operas, Carnival, Gossip and the Power of the Utterance." Liccardo, Lynn. "Who Really Watches the Daytime Soaps?" Harrington & Bielby. Soap Fans. Introduction, pp. 1-8. | Clips on ATWT's History |
| 10 | Harrington & Bielby. Soap Fans. Chapters 1-2, pp. 9-84. |
Clips on ATWT's History ATWT #13217-13221, 3/3-7/08. |
| 11 | Harrington & Bielby. Soap Fans. Chapter 3, pp. 85-118. | Student talk: ATWT in the 1990s. |
| 12 | Harrington & Bielby. Soap Fans. Chapters 4-6, pp. 119-186. |
ATWT #13222-13226, 3/10-14/08. Student talk: ATWT in the 2000s. |
| 13 |
Timberg, Bernard. "The Rhetoric of the Camera in Television Soap Opera." Butler, Jeremy. "Notes on the Soap Opera Apparatus: Televisual Style and As the World Turns." | ATWT #13227-13228, 3/17-18/08. |
| 14 |
Hayward, Jennifer. "Consuming Pleasures: Active Audiences and Soap Opera." and Scodari, Christine. "'No Politics Here': Age and Gender in Soap Opera 'Cyberfandom.'" Gender, Race, and Class in Media . Rapping, Elayne. "Daytime Utopias: If You Lived in Pine Valley, You'd Be Home." |
ATWT #13229, 3/19/08. ATWT #13230-13234, 3/24-28/08. |
| 15 |
Tulloch, John. "The Implied Audience in Soap Opera Production." Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On. Introduction, pp. 1-33. | ATWT #13235-13236, 3/31-4/1/08. |
| 16 | Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On. Chapters 1-2, pp. 35-95. | ATWT #13237-13238, 4/2-3/08. |
| 17 | Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On. Chapters 3-4, pp. 96-142. | ATWT #13239, 4/4/08. |
| 18 | Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On. Chapters 5-6, pp. 143-196. | ATWT #13240-13244, 4/7-11/08. |
| 19 |
Baym, Nancy K. Tune In, Log On. Conclusion, pp. 197-218. Harrington, C. Lee. "'Is Anyone Out There Sick of the News?!': TV Viewers' Responses to Non-Routine News Coverage." | |
| 20 |
Marland, Doug. "How Not To Wreck a Show." Ford, Sam. "ATWT in a Convergence Culture." Chapter 1. | |
| 21 | Ford, Sam. "ATWT in a Convergence Culture." Chapters 2-3. |
Clips from primetime shows from the class Episodes of other soaps |
| 22 | Ford, Sam. "ATWT in a Convergence Culture." Chapters 4-6. | Clips from Ugly Betty, Telenovela |
| 23 |
Ford, Sam. "ATWT in a Convergence Culture." Chapter 7. Harrington, C. Lee. "Homosexuality on All My Children: Transforming the Daytime Landscape." Levine, Elana. "Toward a Paradigm for Media Production Research: Behind the Scenes at General Hospital." |
Clips from primetime shows from the class Episodes of other soaps |
| 24 |
Scardaville, Melissa. "Accidental Activists: Fan Activism in the Soap Opera Community." Spence, Louise. "The Power of Pleasure: or, How to Enjoy Soaps." | Research presentations |
| 25 | Derecho, Abigail. "'Perhaps,' 'Forgotten,' and 'Never-Were' Stories: The Troubled Times of Internet Soap Opera Fan Fiction." |
Primetime television shows Finish research presentations |
| 26 | Last class discussion. Wrapping up. |