docu-soap

/ ˈdɒkjʊˌsəʊp /

noun

1. a television documentary series in which the lives of the people filmed are presented as entertainment or drama

Word History and Origins

Origin of docu-soap¹

C20: from docu ( mentary ) + soap ( opera )

Example Sentences

But in the last two years, the most prolific stretch of his career, DiMarco could mostly be found behind the camera, producing two Netflix projects: “Audible,” which follows a high school football player at the Maryland School for the Deaf, and the campus docu-soap “Deaf U,” set at his alma mater, Gallaudet University.

From New York Times

It said the "docu-soap" would follow "hot Instagrammers living their best lives".

From BBC

El Moussa seemed moored to his million-dollar yacht, but enter new girlfriend Heather Rae Young, an agent with the Oppenheim Group and a regular on Netflix’s docu-soap “Selling Sunset.”

From Los Angeles Times

You do not often get to see actors of the calibre of Sanaa Lathan, who hires Adiar to redecorate an Airbnb rental she owns, in this sort of docu-soap context.

From The New Yorker

The MTV docu-soap spawned a thousand copycats — including the Housewives and the Kardashian franchises — and turned the U.S. into a country obsessed with reality TV, the genre that launched a presidency.

From Los Angeles Times