Editing Soap Talk (section)

==History==
[[Lisa Rinna]] was chosen to host the show after executives at ABC (which owned SOAPnet) were impressed by her on-screen auditions to take over the spot left open by [[Kathie Lee Gifford]] on ''[[Live with Kelly|Live with Regis and Kathie Lee]]''. She was actually [[Regis Philbin]]'s first choice, but the network went with then [[ABC Daytime]] soap star [[Kelly Ripa]].<ref name= "Kelly">{{cite news |last=Clark |first=Noelene |url= https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/05/lisa-rinna-kelly-ripa-live-regis-philbin-lisa-rinna.html |title=Lisa Rinna says she'd join Kelly Ripa after Regis Philbin leaves 'Live' |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 2, 2011 |accessdate=July 27, 2019}}</ref> Rinna also had a background in soaps. She was [[Billie Reed]] on [[NBC Daytime]]'s ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' in the 1990s, as well as a stint on ''[[Melrose Place]]''. [[Ty Treadway]] was starring on ''[[One Life to Live]]'' at the time.

The show taped at [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[Prospect Studios]] in [[Hollywood, California]]. Treadway lived on the east coast and had to fly in every weekend. The show taped three episodes on Saturdays and then three more on Sundays before changing it to taping on Friday and Saturday.

The show's format was almost always the same. Much like ''Live with Regis & Kelly'', Lisa and Ty would come out, take a seat, drink coffee and discuss what was going in the world. Topics ranged from the world of soap operas, television in general, movies, celebrities, and the lives of the two hosts. After that a soap star would come out and give an interview. They would also do cooking segments from time to time as well as fashion shows, instructions from experts on skin and health care, and would often have editors from ''[[Soap Opera Digest]]'' come out to discuss the state of daytime.

On the occasion that either presenter was unavailable, another soap star would fill in. [[Alison Sweeney]], [[Melissa Reeves]] and [[Catherine Hickland]] often filled in for Rinna, among others including [[Melody Thomas Scott]] and [[Hillary B. Smith]]. ''[[Extra (American TV program)|Extra]]''{{'}}s [[Jerry Penacoli]] or ''[[All My Children]]''{{'}}s [[Cameron Mathison]] would often fill in for Treadway.

The show frequently went on location as well. ''Soap Talk'' filmed a week's worth of episodes in [[Hawaii]] and would also film live from [[Super Soap Weekend]] at [[Disney World]] in [[Florida]] and at [[Disney California Adventure Park]] in [[Anaheim]], California. Rinna and Treadway also hosted an annual show for ABC Daytime that would air in place of ''[[The View (talk show)|The View]]'' called ''ABC Soaps Present: Soap Secrets''.

''Soap Talk'' would occasionally dedicate an entire episode to a single soap opera. In celebration of SOAPNet getting ''[[Another World (TV series)|Another World]]'' reruns, [[Linda Dano]] hosted an episode full of former stars of the soap. In celebration of having reruns of the television series ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'', they had most of the original cast reunite. As shows would celebrate anniversaries they would do these type of shows and sometimes bring in ex-members from the shows such as ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'', ''[[General Hospital]]'', ''[[One Life to Live]]'' and ''[[The Young and the Restless]]''.

''Soap Talk'' was also used by soap stars to make the first public announcement of various personal news. Actress [[Jennifer Finnigan]] announced on the show that she would be leaving her three-time [[Daytime Emmy Award]]-winning role of [[Bridget Forrester]] on ''[[The Bold and the Beautiful]]''. [[Tracey E. Bregman]] from ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'' premiered her fashion line on the show as well. [[Alison Sweeney]] revealed she was having a baby boy.