Soap operas were first introduced into American culture via radio in the early 20th century. They were so called because the early sponsors and producers of radio dramas were soap makers, such as Dial, Proctor and Gamble, and the Lever Brothers. When you think of a “soap opera” you think of a daytime drama, where a new episode airs every weekday, and they would be right. In America soaps arrived on television in 1946, broadcast primarily during the daytime, targeting housewives, allowing those who watched to escape their mundane lives for an unlikely living situation and unexpected drama, occurring during each episode . At their peak they had nineteen different soap operas, which is now down to four. The longest-running soap opera, Guiding Light, started on radio and moved to television, running for 72 years, before ending in 2009. Soap operas have become a cultural norm over the years, which should be predictable given that they have been broadcast for seventy-six years; It should air as daytime programming after the noon news and run until talk shows, such as The Talk, or reality shows, such as Judge Judy, air. The characters in these dramas were welcomed into homes and became part of the family of their viewers; watching your life unfold on television day after day allows you to escape your own life and become part of someone else's, even for just an hour or two a day. Because of the effect they have on many people, especially women, they look at their lives, relationships, community, world and business within it. Soap operas, over the years, have influenced American values, caused distractions in the lives of many, and allowed many to think of their lives as better put together than other... paper lives... better put together than otherwise imaginable. The impact of the disappearance of soap operas begins to tell a new story. Although many people like soap operas, they are now being replaced with talk shows, which are cheaper, because they are not scripted and have only a few paid actors and actresses. As with everything in this world, it always comes back to money. Additionally, since many women now work outside the home, the viewer base has declined and caused producers to lose money. With the fast paced society, most don't want to watch something every day to find out what new twist will happen, as such they have been replaced, and some may say reality television is better, but the impact is that there are fewer people who will understand and know what soap operas have meant to viewers and how they have been so influential in viewers' lives.