Soap (Season 3) DVD Review by Britt Gillette

Nominated for 17 Emmys in its short four-year run, Soap premiered in the Fall of 1977 as one of the most controversial shows in American television history (and all before a single episode ever aired). The show was opposed by many groups who thought its subject matter would be too mature for a prime-time audience. But Soap never overstepped its bounds, and the show became an instant smash hit with its brilliant and satirical spoofs of classic daytime programming. Sporting an all-star cast and talented producers, the show spawned successful spin-off Benson in 1979, a series that launched Robert Guillaume's career to a whole new level...

Set in suburban Connecticut, Soap follows the lives of two sisters - Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond), a wealthy yet dim elitist, and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), a housewife in a more traditional blue-collar atmosphere. But regardless of their social station in life, neither woman manages to escape the scandal and intrigue surrounding a typical soap opera family. Jessica's daughter Corrine (Diana Canova) is smitten with a priest, yet they are both having an affair with the same tennis pro. Meanwhile, Jessica and her husband Chester (Robert Mandan) incessantly cheat on one another. As for the other side of the family, Mary's husband Burt (Richard Mulligan) is certifiably insane, her son Danny (Ted Wass) is a mobster, stepson Jodie (Billy Crystal) is an out-of-the-closet homosexual, and all of them are caught up in a family filled with promiscuous infidelities and quite possibly murder! Throw in the insubordinate and sarcastic Tate butler Benson (Guillaume), and Soap holds its own as one of the funniest sitcoms in TV history…

The Soap (Season 3) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere in which Burt awakens in the hull of a spaceship. Eunice asks Dutch to strike a deal with the feds, and Benson organizes a posse to rescue Billy from the Sunnies while an alien clone of Burt takes the real Burt's place… Other notable episodes from Season 3 include Episode 52 in which the real Burt and his alien clone finally confront one another, and Episode 69 in which, with a guilty Chester by her bedside, Jessica dies, all while Jodie gives an impassioned courtroom defense of his right to be an openly gay single parent…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Soap (Season 3) DVD:

Episode 48 (Episode 48) Air Date: 09-13-1979
Episode 49 (Episode 49) Air Date: 09-20-1979
Episode 50 (Episode 50) Air Date: 09-27-1979
Episode 51 (Episode 51) Air Date: 10-04-1979
Episode 52 (Episode 52) Air Date: 10-11-1979
Episode 53 (Episode 53) Air Date: 11-01-1979
Episode 54 (Episode 54) Air Date: 11-08-1979
Episode 55 (Episode 55) Air Date: 11-22-1979
Episode 56 (Episode 56) Air Date: 12-06-1979
Episode 57 (Episode 57) Air Date: 12-13-1979
Episode 58 (Episode 58) Air Date: 12-27-1979
Episode 59 (Episode 59) Air Date: 01-03-1980
Episode 60 (Episode 60) Air Date: 01-10-1980
Episode 61 (Episode 61) Air Date: 01-17-1980
Episode 62 (Episode 62) Air Date: 01-24-1980
Episode 63 (Episode 63) Air Date: 01-31-1980
Episode 64 (Episode 64) Air Date: 02-07-1980
Episode 65 (Episode 65) Air Date: 02-28-1980
Episode 66 (Episode 66) Air Date: 03-06-1980
Episode 67 (Episode 67) Air Date: 03-13-1980
Episode 68 (Episode 68) Air Date: 03-20-1980
Episode 69 (Episode 69) Air Date: 03-27-1980