Two ABC Soap Operas CANCELED!

[Escapay]

'All My Children', 'One Life To Live' Canceled By ABC

• ABC has canceled two of its longest-running programs, daytime soap operas "All My Children" and "One Life to Live."
  
  The network announced Thursday that the two soap operas would end, with "All My Children" going off the air in September and "One Life to Live" going off the air in January.
  
  In their place, a Mario Batali-hosted food show called "The Chew" will premiere in September, and a health/lifestyle transformation show tentatively called "The Revolution" will premiere in January.
  
  "General Hospital" will remain on the network.
  
  "All My Children" has been the subject of cancellation rumors of late, with Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva reporting last month that the show might be replaced by a talk show.
  
  "While we are excited about our new shows and the shift in our business, I can't help but recognize how bittersweet the change is," Brian Frons, ABC's daytime department president , said in an announcement. "We are taking this bold step to expand our business because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days. They are telling us there is room for informative, authentic and fun shows that are relatable, offer a wide variety of opinions and focus on 'real life' takeaways."
  
  The first of those new shows to premiere, "The Chew," will be hosted by Batali, "What Not To Wear" host Clinton Kelly, "Top Chef" alumna Carla Hall, restaurateur Michael Symon and "Dorm Room Diet" author Daphne Oz.

[Escapay]

The writing's been on the wall ever since last year, but I never thought it would actually happen.

Bastards.

albert

[dvdjunkie]

If they are keeping "General Mobspital" on the air they should change the title of the show since it hasn't taken place in a hospital for years. Sure they have a little bit of a story with Patrick and Robin, but no longer is it a Quartermain dominated show. It's all about gangsters, and who really cares. I haven't paid close attention to this show in many months.

[singerguy04]

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/14 ... -canceled/

Being that Disney owns ABC, I thought this is the right place for this topic but if I'm wrong... sorry!

Although I think it's been a little obvious that Soap's are beginning to become a thing of the past, is anyone else caught a little off guard that these two out of all the Soaps still on air are being canceled? On top of that, they were canceled on the same day? Then, they are being replaced by a food show (as if every other network doesn't have one and that the subject matter doesn't have it's own network entirely) and a "how to improve your life" show (which is a subject that basically follows the same suit as the food subject). Seriously, I feel like we need more of those shows like we need more reality shows.

Both of these programs have been around longer than I have, and I simply can't imagine TV without them.

[Escapay]

I created a thread in the Movies, Music & TV forum since that's where the past Soap Opera threads were (for GL & ATWT's cancellations). I opted for there and not in Disney Discussion (even though the "SoapNet becomes Disney Junior" thread is here) because I doubted anyone on the forum (aside from the few-and-far-between soap opera watchers who'd admit to it) would even care about this news. Especially since the Disney connection is so lean and rather indirect, at least when compared to a hypothetical situation like "Disney trademarks the phrase 'Disney Essence' thanks to its overuse at UD".

http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28190

I'm still digesting this information and have been compiling my thoughts for awhile. Hopefully I'll post them later in the day, but really, I'm just stunned and still in utter shock at the decision. If they were canceling just one show, it would have been shocking but not to this extent. Having two cancellations announced on the same day hasn't been done since the early 80s when NBC announced the dual-cancellations of both "Texas" and "The Doctors" (both of which left the airwaves December 31, 1982). And ABC doesn't even have the decency to let the two sister soaps end together, we have to lose "All My Children" in September and "One Life to Live" in January.

albert

[dvdjunkie]

All Daytime Dramas (Soap Operas) are doomed. The audience now is down, because of so many families having both parents working, and even with the advent of VCR to record for a later viewing, and the current DVR for the same thing, the sponsors are the ones who make the decisions.

As far as I am concerned, I have been a devotee of "All My Children" since the beginning and have laughed at it ever since. They have this 60+ plus broad, Susan Lucci, playing a much younger woman and her boobs seems to change size from scene to scene. She has been married ten times and all to much younger men. They have her seducing guys, who in real life, would see how old she really is and throw her to the curb. Susan Lucci's character, Erica Cane, has outlived her usefulness as a femme-fatale and they needed to change her standing to a more mature woman who oversaw some of the other characters. You know - Grandma!!!!!

At least Erika Slezak on "One Life To Live" has become a sort-of-matriarch to the families. Why couldn't they do that with Lucci.

And then in the first couple of years when "Miss Erica Cane" had a tubal pregnancy, she was forced to have a hysterectomy and then she suddenly had all of these mysterious children pop up in her life many years later. Don't they think we follow the stories?

And people get away with murder, literally on these shows. David Hayward gets away with more things in one day than most people do in a lifetime.

ABC is doing the smart thing, they are giving us notice, so we have time to protest these cancellations, but I think that it is just to get a list of people's names and addresses so they can send out notices of the actual dates and promote the new shows.

They could cancel the God-awful "General MOBspital" and no one would really care. That show went down hill from the outset of the Sonny Corinthos character. And Vanessa Marcil, who is my favorite young actress on the soaps, is leaving again, so who wants to watch more gangsters shoot up the poor little city of Port Charles. Egad!!! ABC, why not change the name of the show to something that reflects what it is instead of what it's not.

Our local CBS station on the local news was also reporting that CBS is looking at moving "The Young and the Worthless" (hate this show) and their other soap to different times during the day to generate a different audience, but they are looking at the replacement value also.

I would predict that by the end of 2012 and the demise of SOAPNet, we will also see the demise of ALL the daytime dramas.

[PatrickvD]

Soaps are doomed indeed.

US television refuses to bring hem into the 21st century. They can be well written and they don't have to look like shit. European soaps are made cheaply and for some reason have great production values. Not to mention stories that get you hooked without insulting your intelligence.

I mean, what was up with the way Guiding Light and As The World Turns were shot in the past few months before going under? The camerawork made them look like they were done by pre-schoolers. The foolscreen aspect ratio and the atrocious lightning, poor sets, characters behaving like they were in the 60s. None of that was necessary and there was no one left to relate to. It's not that audiences don't want to watch soaps, they just don't want to be insulted by them constantly.

No one prefers these lifestyle shows, believe me. They're just less offensive to the eye.

[WonderlandFever]

I wasn't really shocked when I heard but I am a watcher of both Y&R and B&B and any cancellation makes me worried...I know both have been renewed for at least two more years but we all might as well start preparing now for the inevietable

[dvdjunkie]

Any show can be canceled at any time, be it a Daytime Drama or a series that is in the Top 10 regularly. No one's job is safe in Gollywood or New Jerk City. (Hollywood or New York City).

The way ABC is doing this is scary and fans of the CBS soaps should be listening and watching more carefully in the days to come. Their days are numbered and I would say that all will be done in two years time.

I agree with the above post about the US Daytime Dramas not keeping up with the times in their storylines. They expect us to accept certain characters to "not really die", they were just on vacation, and they get resurrected because people wrote letters about it. We shouldn't have to write letters, because of a producers misconception of what they (the viewers) want.

Or a main character having a hysterectomy in the early years and then turns into a baby machine when sons and daughters that she doesn't remember start showing up. C'mon, we aren't that stupid folks.

Give us up-to-date storylines and treat us like we do have a brain holding our ears apart. That's how we will support the Soaps!!!

[carolinakid]

Passions 1999-2007 RIP
Guiding Light 1952-2009 RIP
As The World Turns 1956-2010 RIP
All My Children 1970-2011 RIP
One Life To Live 1968-2012 RIP

[ajmrowland]

Well, I never was a viewer myself, but I feel your pain.

Let's just remember, death of a genre is rarely ever permanent. True Grit can count as a revival of the Western, and we still get old-style Action Adventures from time to time. You could even say TVland revived the 80s/90s sitcom.

I'm just saying, dont give up just yet.

[Elladorine]

While I'd heard rumors about All My Children being cancelled, I was still shocked when the official news was released yesterday. While I haven't actually sat down to the show in years, I was an avid fan throughout the late 80's and early 90's and watched it with my mom during the summers and school holidays. I still remember this opening and can't believe how old school it looks now:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5YDZTDjdyek" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And I remember when they switched to this intro:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0S5wzN8OhH4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I grew up in rural Illinois and one of the actors was born minutes from my hometown. Long before we had Imdb my mom told me that the actress playing Phoebe was the same for the mother in Song of the South (she must have personally known the Lace Collar then). I remember when Tad and Dixie were new characters, and when Sarah Michelle Gellar was playing Erica's daughter, Bianca (when Buffy became popular, it took me a bit to realize why she looked so familiar).

I checked out various clips yesterday, and it was kind of surreal and rather heartbreaking to access the final scenes of characters I used to enjoy, like Palmer and Phoebe. And of course I found some clips that I hadn't seen in over 20 years so that was kind of crazy. It was a bonding thing for my mom and I; after losing her it was too difficult to enjoy so I simply stopped watching. I feel I really have no room to complain about the cancellation of All My Children since I haven't watched it in so long, but there's something really disappointing with knowing the era of soaps is leaving us. Everything's changing and I kinda wish I'd have kept up with it now. And I can't believe the crappy shows they're replacing this and One Life to Live with; don't we have enough cooking and reality shows as it is? I mean, it was on for over 40 years! Damn . . . just damn. I feel like we're losing something important from an older generation.

[Escapay]

Will re-edit this later with a more thorough post about my thoughts on the cancellations, as well as my thoughts on daytime television as a whole. But I just wanted to clear a few things regarding Susan Lucci and Erica Kane, since there is a staggering amount of misinformation:

Susan Lucci was 24 when she started on "All My Children", playing a 16 year old Erica Kane. 41 years later, she is 64 (her birthday isn't until December). Erica has aged normally in the same 41 years, and so she is 57. The seven year age gap between Lucci and Kane should not be a major factor in complaining about the character.

In 1993, it is revealed that Erica gave birth to Kendall off-screen when she was 14, thus making this birth take place in 1968 (as Erica was 16 in 1970). In 1973, Erica got pregnant at 19 years old but didn't want to keep the baby and so she had an abortion. At least, it was thought to be an abortion until 2005, when, for a very stupid plotline reason, headwriter Megan McTavish rewrote this then-revolutionary storyline (it was the first legal abortion story on television), to become an embryo transfer. This meant that the non-aborted fetus grew up into Josh Madden (who was then killed off in 2009). Erica would then have a miscarriage in 1975 when she was 21, give birth to Bianca in 1988 when she was 34, and have a second miscarriage in 1996 when she is 44.

It should be noted that throughout all of this, the only bad thing she ever got out of the pregnancies and miscarriages was a fatal infection after her abortion. It was the writers' way of "punishing" Erica, since they knew in 1973 that most viewers likely would not approve if she simply got away with it without some type of punishment. This never led to a hysterectomy. It simply led to husband Jeff (and the audience) forgiving Erica for having an abortion in the first place. And the last time she was pregnant (1996 and 44 years old), it was still within the years that child-bearing for her is possible.

Erica turned 50 in 2004, the same year that she became a grandmother, when Bianca gave birth to Miranda. This was followed by Kendall's sons Spike (2006) and Ian (2007), and Bianca's second daughter, Gabrielle (2008). She's been playing a grandmother for seven years now, even though she's not wearing stereotypical knitted sweaters, giant coke-bottle glasses, or have short gray hair. I wasn't aware grandmothers were required to look like something out of a 1940s picture book.

Out of all of Erica's marriages, none of the men she married (Jeff Martin, Philip Brent, Tom Cudahy, Adam Chandler, Mike Roy, Travis Montgomery, Dimitri Marick, and Jackson Montgomery) were ever younger than her. In fact, aside from Philip, they all were older than her. She's had relationships with plenty of other men, either her age or older (Chuck Tyler, Jason Maxwell, Nick Davis, Brandon Kingsley, Kent Bogart, Jeremy Hunter, Jonathan Kinder, Samuel Woods, Caleb Cortlandt), and the only younger men she's ever been romantically involved with were Charlie Brent (he was 21, she was 37), David Hayward (he was 38, she was 44), and Ryan Lavery (he was 39, she was 55). Only the relationships with Charlie and Ryan could be considered extreme, with a 16-year age difference, but it's not outrageous nor unbelievable. Real-life actors Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield have an 18-year age difference (she is older than him), and they've been happily married since 1980. And honestly, if the guy is interested (and both Charlie and Ryan were interested), I don't see any problem. Just because some viewers disliked the storyline doesn't mean the storyline was "wrong". I personally disliked it simply because of Ryan's history with Kendall, there was never an age factor for me.

Erica's age certainly doesn't have anything to do with her usefulness or uselessness on the show. She's aged normally within the show and accomplished believable things at the believable ages. Marriage, children, work, celebrity, etc. And she has become a mature woman, even if the show still dress her up as a stylistic young one. They believe Susan Lucci still has the looks and the body for it thanks to all the products she endorses, so why hide it behind dowdy granny duds? Valerie Bertinelli is turning 51 soon, and she still looks HOT. Senior citizens on television are no longer limited to a "Golden Girls" look or style.

albert

[pinkrenata]

My thoughts are with you, Albert.

[Widdi]

I have only ever watched Days of Our Lives, but with each passing cancellation I fear more for my soap. Though in all honesty DOOL has been virtually unwatchable for awhile now. It just rehashes the same ridiculous storylines with the same boring characters who never show one ounce of character growth or development. There have been a few exceptions, but some young writers with fresh ideas could probably inject some life in to DOOL; and from what I hear through the grapevine, all Soaps.

[Disney's Divinity]

The only daytime soap I've ever watched (and briefly) was As the World Turns, but I have a lot of sympathy for the fans of these series.

It's horrible to imagine all the actors, like Susan Lucci, who have worked on these shows for years that'll now need to find other jobs.

[singerguy04]

The only daytime soap I've ever watched (and briefly) was As the World Turns, but I have a lot of sympathy for the fans of these series.

It's horrible to imagine all the actors, like Susan Lucci, who have worked on these shows for years that'll now need to find other jobs.

Some of the bigger ones are probably set up for retirement after all these years, and if they're not then they are screwed because their characters are so ingrained into our minds that they'll be type-casted into anything else. The younger stars come and go and will probably be alright.

Another down side to soaps going extinct is that a lot of actors use these shows (along with shows like Law & Order) as stepping stones into the industry. If they don't exist and they are being replaced with these "informative, authentic and fun shows that are relatable", then I feel like it's taking away acting jobs. It's going to a lot harder to be a TV actor when all of this is done.

[4th Life of Thomasina]

I never watched All My Children or One Life to Live, but my sympathies to the fans. My soap of choice is Days of Our Lives and I will be devastated if that ends being cancelled down the road too.

[dvdjunkie]

Used to watch "Days" when MacDonald Carey was one of the stars. There were quite a few good story lines there and it keep you busy keeping up with them. But after Mr. Carey's death, the whole theme of "Days" seemed to change, like so many other soap operas and I fell to the other network to watch "All My Children" and "One Life To Live".

[4th Life of Thomasina]

I'll be honest; I only started watching Days during the "possessed Marlena" era. Watched it faithfully for a few years thereafter. Every now and then, I'll watch it just to see what's going on.