The last couple of days being a soap opera viewer have been rough. We’ve been waiting and waiting to find out is it true is All My Children really going to be cancelled and if so when? Or is it something else entirely. When most of the major media on the web are stating they believe AMC’s end is imminent, what can be done, just wait and listen. This post is just about coping or thinking out loud about the situation.
First off, the wait is frustrating. The early rumors could be ignored, but not now, not anymore. Either way I just want to know. Good news or bad, being left in the dark is difficult. I can’t even begin to imagine how the people who work at All My Children must feel. When the cross-country move happened many behind the scenes people were left without work in New York City. So a part of me wonders how much of the staff are people who had been with the show for many years, and how many would be losing their job after a short amount of time.
Of course if AMC is gone, what is next for those people who work there? Who knows? What will happen to ABC Daytime are they just doing the mercy cancellation in the sense that they don’t want to be completely heartless and get rid of One Life to Live at the same time? The one saving grace is that argument will be null and void regardless of what happens.
If this news comes out around the end of the first quarter of 2011, meaning on or about April Fools Day, I will scream. Will April Fools Day get yet another bad soap opera connotation as that’s the day the news about Guiding Light going off the air appeared on the web? If so, does that mean April 1 will be the most important date in soap lore as it is also the day that General Hospital and The Doctors premiered back in 1963. I don’t want what should be a fun day, as it is a “practical joke holiday” to turn into something else entirely. Soaps even if they are no longer airing aren’t a joke to the viewers.
It will be incredibly strange when All My Children goes as it feels like I always knew of its existence. I don’t want it to end, but I have been emotionally preparing for years for the time when the daytime soaps are a thing of the past. It is sad to have to plan for something of that nature, but one does what one must.
When it comes to soap operas at the end of the day, we were lucky to have them as long as we had. Even if the material isn’t what I wished it to always be the amount of hours I’ve enjoyed far outweighs those I did not. Hopefully we will find out either way and soon like the song says the waiting is the hardest part.
1 comment:
Your thoughts really resonate how I've been feeling about soaps. I've been a long time viewer (though I am in the 18-49 bracket) of soaps, and was heartbroken in 1999 when they cancelled 'Another World'. Then with the past 2 years, they cancel Guiding Light and As the World Turns, and it just seems like every year, it's going to be another one.
Personally, I've decided to give up all reality TV shows and instead watch soaps. I usually DVR them and then record to DVD-RW to watch later, as I fell behind around the holidays. I'm seriously considering running ABC in one room from 1-3 and CBS in another room from 12:30-2, because I know they don't count it in the ratings if you DVR it unless you watch it within a day of recording.
I know it may sound strange, but I'm willing to do my part in helping to keep the soap opera genre around.
Hang in there! Maybe the Execs at ABC will make both AMC and OLTL either half hour shows or combine them into one. I think that would be better then cancelling one or both of them. I just hope they listen to their audience. Thanks for your blog.
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