soap opera 
noun
A television or radio drama serial dealing typically with daily events in the lives of the same group of characters.If I was a character in a soap opera or a bad romantic novel, I would immediately have assumed he was having an affair....
- They will take to the stage for a live rendition of their new radio soap opera.
- He has appeared in a soap opera, in TV films, and on the top Saturday evening quiz show.
Origin
1930s: so named because such serials were originally sponsored in the US by soap manufacturers.