SOAP

With its combination of implausible plots, exaggerated melodrama and a liberal dose of wackiness, this parody of TV soap operas was both popular and critically acclaimed. Surprises and shenanigans abound between the Tates and the Campbells; each family member is either crazy, involved in an incriminating secret, or both. The well-to-do Tates are Chester (Robert Mandan), who has a wandering eye, Jessica (Katherine Helmond), who has a wandering mind, and their kids Corinne (Diana Canova), who loves men, Eunice (Jennifer Salt), who doesn't, and teenage Billy (Jimmy Baio), the only sane one, according to majordomo Benson (Robert Guillaume). The Campbells are Jessica's sister, Mary (Cathryn Damon), husband Burt (Richard Mulligan), and Mary's sons: one is a mobster (Ted Wass); the other (Billy Crystal) wants a sex change operation.