Word: soap
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Consider yourself warned. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all developing English-language versions of the over-the-top Spanish-language soap operas known as telenovelas. Unlike American soaps, telenovelas air in prime time, with a cliffhanger at the conclusion of each hour-long episode, and end after a few months. The networks are hoping to find in the telenovela a new format, like reality TV, that will reclaim viewers who have soured on sitcoms, police procedurals and, well, reality TV. "The reality-TV genre is growing stale, and networks are looking for a new, low-cost format to fill...
...decades, the 30-second television spot has been king of the advertising jungle - the surefire way to shift that soap powder or boost that burger chain. But now, although not facing imminent extinction, the format is beginning to look as obsolete as the black-and-white TV set. According to ZenithOptimedia, an advertising buyer and research company, TV's share of the ad market in Western Europe peaked in 2004. Advertisers know all too well that digital TV's hundreds of channels and video-on-demand services have made it impossible for a handful of commercial channels to reach...
...year career as a feature-filmmaker, Pedro Almodóvar has compiled an imposing track record that, I'd say, can't be matched by any contemporary director. His films mix deeply emotional stories - soap operas elevated to art - with sensational performers (usually actresses) and a visual style both exuberant and perfectly controlled. All About My Mother (1999) and Talk to Her (2002) are a pair of flat-out masterpieces, the first of which was a finalist for Richard Schickel's and my all-TIME 100 Movies list, the second of which graced it. Bad Education (2004), slipping a story...
...have to wash my mouth out with soap,” he said...
Beyond that, formulas are updated frequently; firms say they conceal ingredients to maintain trade secrets. It's almost impossible for a chemist, never mind consumers, to keep up. Environmental organizations and producers of eco-products told me to be wary. When I called the Soap and Detergent Association, a spokesman assured me that cleansers have never been proved to be carcinogenic (which doesn't mean that they've proved not to be) and that alkylphenols, which can imitate estrogen in the body and are commonly used as surfactants, have a "negligible" environmental impact. "All chemicals are toxic at some exposure...