The End of an Era

Yesterday it was announced (after many weeks of rumors) that ABC was cancelling two of its three daytime soap operas. All My Children will end in September of 2011 and One Life to Live will end in January of 2012.

Replacing these two long-running daytime dramas will be a "View"-like show and a cooking show. Really? Do we need another obnoxious talk/reality show or a cooking show? There are two cable networks that have a variety of food/cooking shows. The View is not a program I personally watch; I find all the co-hosts to be overly opinionated, obnoxious, biased and rude.

To many people, soap operas are an escape. With the addition of the cable channel Soap Net you could catch up on your daytime dramas or you could dvr your shows and watch them at your convenience. According to ABC, their reason for pulling the plug on these two soaps is that the "demographics" are changing and viewership is down.

It is all about money. Sure it is cheaper to produce a talk show than it is to produce a daytime drama. Last summer, ABC started to air their daytime dramas 4 days a week instead of 5. For this viewer, it came as a shock but I dealt with it.

I need the escape to Pine Valley or Llanview. Although the antics of Erica can be ridiculous, I want to see Tad get a bit of happily ever after; maybe with Kara? I want to see JR make good on his promise to Dixie and remember how important his family is to him.

I want to know what the ties are between Tomas and Todd. Will the Buchanan family overcome all the drama they have been dealing with? Vicki and Charlie's marriage ending as she is trying to cope with her daughter Jessica's transformation back into her alter Tess and her ex-Clint's dirty deeds are just a few of the storylines that have been going on in Llanview. Secretly I hope that Natalie's baby is John's. Doesn't he deserve some happiness?

If you are a fan even if you are not a die-hard every day fan (who has the time?) I urge you to let ABC know how angry you are about these cancellations. Call to complain and let them know- I don't know if this campaign will work- but we can try.

Personally, I enjoy these soaps- they are always there when I need them but my favorite is General Hospital. When the two lead-in soaps are gone, how much longer do you think GH will be on? If you are a GH fan, you should be fighting for all the ABC soaps. This change in programming is upsetting to many. Let your voice be heard.

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