Losing SoapNet

Earlier this week, SoapNet stopped broadcasting in my area. For some reason I'm bummed by it and it brought back my feelings about cancellations.

Sometimes it is difficult to be a soap opera devotee. A lot of the time it feels like we need to rise above whatever garbage that comes our way. I think part of my feelings also ties into how I had SoapNet for over a decade. At least I have a lot of the primetime shows SoapNet runs on DVD, so I can see them if I choose. Now if I have insomnia I don’t even have the option to turn on SoapNet and see a fairly recent episode of All My Children or One Life to Live. Just seeing the names on the on screen guide was a positive thing even if I slept through the airings, yes I admit that’s odd and no I really don’t care if anyone thinks that. I remember when I’d watch the station excitedly for some old soap opera rerun or a Daytime Emmy special. Now the Daytime Emmys aren’t even going to air on television, but more on that next week when the nominations are announced.

Shows getting cancelled, beloved performers losing their jobs, the behind the scenes staff whose names we may or may not see in the credits having to find a new career. All of these things aren’t easy to deal with, but somehow we muddle through as people. We persist because we must.

What I wonder is why, why are some of us predisposed to be “diehards” continuing to watch serialized dramas even in the face of the bad. Is it a sense of thinking “good” will win eventually if we hold on long enough? Is it because we can’t forget the past as we go into the future? There are fans of various soap operas, which have gone off the air years ago and they still wish they would air new episodes. In some cases, a miracle does happen like the Dallas that is coming this summer, with some of the original cast part of the ride. I’m a pragmatist and just wish that everyone would get the equivalent of what As the World Turns and Guiding Light fans have gotten from soapclassics, which is DVDs of the programs. I’m still hoping for some of the other P&G shows they have licensed will become available.

SoapNet ending perhaps is just another sign of the tenuous grasp these shows have. When I think about how the amount of daytime network soaps has been cut in half in the last decade, a part of me just wants to swear. If All My Children and One Life to Live weren't cancelled, I doubt SoapNet would be ending. If I had lost the channel and those shows were still airing I think I'd be more upset due to potential electronics failures or preemptions making me miss a particular episode.

I think seeing a genre you love getting hacked to pieces with shows getting cancelled isn’t the easiest thing. It is also difficult as someone who loves these shows to see what happens in the quest to give a particular program a few more years on the air. That’s what Days of Our Lives fans are dealing with now with the firings and the rebooting of the reset. Eventually you lose too much, the bond gets fried and you just have to scream. Sometimes the yells are figurative being represented by blog posts, message board comments and social network blasts. Other times it is literal screaming at the television that is the norm. Yes, I admit to telling off the television more than once, though I have never tossed a remote control out of frustration.

I just hope those who have SoapNet are able to continue to enjoy it for however long they get it. While I am sad I no longer have the channel, at least I got a warning about its demise from my cable company, though the bill had an earlier end date. If they run any interesting marathons with daytime soap opera episodes, I’ll be jealous, and hope that some kind person decides to post them on the web, so I can see what I am missing.