[soap opera] n [fr. its sponsorship by soap manufacturers] (1939) 1 a: a serial drama performed orig. on a daytime radio or television program and chiefly characterized by tangled interpersonal situations and melodramatic or sentimental treatment b: a series of real-life events resembling a soap opera
2: the melodrama and sentimentality characteristic of a soap opera "even cops need a little soap opera in their lives --Joseph Wambaugh"; also: something (as a novel) having such qualities