The death of soap operas has finally hit ABC, where yesterday it was announced in a shock move that both AMC and OLTL have been cancelled. It surprised me, especially considering that AMC just finished reassuring its viewers that the show wasn't going anywhere, but let's be honest. We all knew this was inevitable; although I do wish it wasn't done at the same time. So when February of 2012 hits, we (provided there are no more cancellations) will be down to four soaps. Y&R and B&B on CBS, btw who even watches Bold and the Beautiful anymore???, GH on ABC and DOOL on NBC. Pretty lonely, don't ya think? Ten years ago, soaps were thriving. There were 9 soaps. There are now 4. By the time I have kids and we're watching tv together during the day, soaps are going to be ancient history and that makes me very sad. Soaps have been part of my life in some way as long as I've been alive, and even when I'm not actively watching I still try to keep up on at least the character ins and outs. It's still hard for me to accept that in five years, there will probably only be 2 soaps, if that, on the air. YR is still highly successful and still pulls in alot of viewers, as does GH. I guess the glory days of the other soaps are behind them according to ABC, since their viewership continues to drop as the years pass. I thought ABC scored a major coup when it was announced recently that Roger Howarth (ex-Todd, OLTL) would be returning to the show. For years now its been floating around that ABC was trying to pull him back in, and with the cancellation of ATWT last year, the rumors got even stronger since he hadn't been signed to another soap. The possibilities with that and Trevor St. John (Todd, OLTL)'s storylines are massive, and although they dropped the ball by letting Susan Haskell (Marty) go right before Howarth returns to the show, I still think they can do alot. The possibility of having St. John's Todd be an imposter is still there, and I think it would be so interesting to see Marty's reaction at hearing that the real Todd is back and actually being face to face with the person who really raped her as opposed to the person she thought did it for the better part of the last 5 years. The show has the potential to really do something big before it goes off the air next January, so if anything I would suggest that they start trying to bring characters back to tie up storylines and in essence, the entire show, before it goes black.
As for AMC, I don't know what they have going on because my own interest has waned, but I suppose as far as characters coming in or going off, its been pretty quiet, which I guess? is a good thing, but I do wonder how they're going to tie everything together and end the show in the next five months. I think it sucks that AMC goes off the air four months before OLTL does, because that leaves them less time to really do anything as a good storyline takes about that long from start to finish, but I probably will come back sometime during the summer so I can see how the show will be ending. Same with OLTL though, I think AMC should start bringing back characters, just to tie up the story and give Pine Valley a fitting sendoff. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper end to the show if there was no Adam, or Joe and Ruth Martin, so they better bring them back. Honestly, if schedules permit, I'd suggest trying to bring back a few recently departed characters; let us fans say goodbye to them one last time. It's kinda okay if a character leaves the show but there's a door open to their return sometime in the future, but if the show itself is ending, I think it would be better to bring them back and let us have the final goodbye as well. Viewers need that, as crazy as it sounds. They need the opportunity to say goodbye to the characters and the town they've gotten used to. I know some people are like 'yeah, whatever' but honestly, sometimes fans and viewers cry when the show's been cancelled. You're taking a piece of our childhood away, taking away these people and these towns that we love and have loved for years. Why wouldn't we feel some kind of way about it?
Alot of fans say that the move to LA began to put the nails in AMC's already lowered coffin, and while I think it did contribute in a big way, I don't think it killed the show entirely. I kinda think the move to LA made it obvious that the show was going to die regardless and the move to LA was more of a strategic last ditch effort to save it. I think we lost out on alot as a result, since a few characters did not make the move and the show lost all of its already casted children (ironically LOL) from the New York set, but if I'm being completely truthful, I think the show was already on its last legs when the move was made. Cutting costs with the new sets in LA just pushed that date back a little. I don't know when others stopped tuning in, but after the whole Satin Slayer, Reese and Bianca and Babe's death, I just lost interest. By the time the show made the decision to move to LA, I wasn't watching anymore. Every time I have gone back, I wasn't interested enough to stay. So can I say in retrospect that the move was a good idea? I don't know. I think it might have saved the show from meeting its maker by a year or two, but we already knew this day was coming because of the past two cancellations and AMC's constantly falling ratings. With that said, I suppose as a whole, its probably past time to start saying goodbye to daytime. GH is still going strong, as is Y&R. I don't know about DOOL, but considering that NBC hasn't pulled the plug as of yet, I'll assume its going well. However, within the next five years, unfortunately I don't see those being around either. The sun has set on the era of daytime soap operas, reality tv and talk shows are taking over. Supposedly this is what the viewers want. I mean, how many friggin talk shows do you need?? It's bad enough that every and I mean just about EVERY channel has some form of reality show, some channels have entirely geared their programming around it! TLC is now a reality channel, as is MTV, VH1, Food Network, E!, Style, should I keep going? You have to take our soaps as well? I'm sick of reality. It would be awesome if all the soaps got their day on SoapNet, but even their programming is shifting within the next year or so. If all the soaps got to keep going and just be shown on the Soap channel, I wouldn't mind. But like I said, the dawn of daytime is over and reality has set in, seemingly here to stay. Apparently people can't get enough of looking in on someone else's life and we're going to be introduced to multiple sets of people trying to get their time in the sun, their 15 minutes of fame. Irritating. Immensely irritating. And you're killing our soaps for this. In a word, its bullshit. I hate reality tv, for the most part, and I definitely don't think you should kill an ERA, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING programming for friggin REALITY SHOWS!!!! Soaps are our escape! That's what they were made for! Let us have it! You've already killed two other, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING soaps, and what pray tell took their place? LAME ASS GAME SHOWS. @_@ And now, you're making us say goodbye to La Lucci and the ever fab Erica Kane and the awesomeness that is Erika Slezak, Miss Viki Davidson herself, and for what? TALK SHOWS. You already have talk shows, ABC, your entire morning is talk shows and everything following it is news---more talk. And for some reason you feel you need more on top of that? You really need it so much that you'll kill soap operas, shows that are older than probably half of your damn staff? Get real. -_- Can you tell I'm mad about it? lol
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