Any other school with Beacon Hill College’s reputation for trouble would long ago have been shuttered. But after 26 years of blackmail, cults, a serial killer, and numerous other lurid plotlines, the fictional college forming the backdrop of BU’s student-run soap opera, Bay State, is alive and well. The show—believed to be the nation’s oldest college soap opera—marked a milestone on January 28, when BUTV10 aired its 150th episode.

“I appreciate the freedom as well as the history that the show has,” says Bay State head writer Tom Laverriere (COM’17), who first discovered the show while he was in high school. “It’s fun for me and the writing team to look back at what’s been done and to keep it fresh and keep it going.”

The Bay State team airs three new episodes a semester, but planning and production begin months before taping. Laverriere encourages his writers to draw inspiration from absurd or quirky things that have happened in their own lives. He also watches old episodes of network soaps like The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless and adapts their plotlines for a college audience. “I like to say we’re like a college version of Degrassi,” he says.

Absurdity aside, Laverriere says many of the show’s storylines have been taking a more serious tone. A plot development introduced in the 150th episode involves a sexual assault.

Eric Betancourt (CAS’17) plays Dylan on Bay State.

“What I’ve taken away from Bay State most is the passion for telling stories that can make a difference or start a dialogue,” he says. “Our show has had a consistent representation of LGBT characters, and that’s a really important voice that’s not always present in TV. I started thinking about how I can use what I’ve been doing at BU and merge it with a meaningful path, how I have the opportunity to use storytelling to expose more people to important issues or to start a dialogue.”

Many students working on the show joined as freshmen, rising through the ranks from production assistants to more senior cast and crew members. The show’s running gag is that none of the characters ever gets to “just” graduate.

“We’ve had people go to prison, murdered, sometimes a job offer, go abroad, or get married,” Laverriere says. “But usually it’s more elaborate than that.”