Soap Opera?

Why do they call daytime TV shows Soap Operas? What a weird name. I realize that when they first started out, soap companies sponsored these shows, but opera? I don't believe they could EVER be considered an opera. Let's see we could call them Soap dramas, but at times. that would stretching the truth. Daytime gossip? There's plenty of that in each show. Serial Gossip? Wait! Just change it to Cereal Gossip and tap a whole new income stream!

To this day, if you ask me, I'll tell you I NEVER watched one minute of that trash. Well, there was that Dark Shadows thing back when I was young. Thankfully, it only ran 30 minutes, 5 days a week for 5 years. HEY!!! I only watched it for the soap commercials! Get off my case!