A horse opera , hoss opera , golden oat opera is a western movie or television series That Is extremely cliched formulaic gold (in the Manner of a soap opera ). The term, which was originally coined by silent film-era Western star William S. Hart , is used variously to convey either disappearance or affection. The name “horse opera” was also derived from the musical sequences, frequently featured in these films and TV series which depicted a cowboy singing to his horse on-screen. The term “horse opera” is quite loosely defined; it does not specify a separate subgenre of the western (as ” space opera”does with look to the genre science fiction ).