Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you; I hope you all enjoyed the '11 holiday season and are now enjoying that it has come to an end. lol I certainly am. I can't lie, I was quite the Grinch this past season and couldn't be happier that it's over; it was much more trouble than it ended up being worth so I am very pleased to get back to the normal swing & flow of things.

As I'm sure you all know by now since I haven't updated you all in awhile (I swear I have about 8 blogs in draft now trying to cover it all since September!), there are many outs going on for the soaps that are left. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, soaps are on their way out. And as popular as General Hospital and Young & the Restless are, I already know they will no longer be on my screen in 5 years, if they make it that long. Unfortunately, the death of soaps has already hit its apex. By the end of this month, One Life to Live will be gone as well, leaving 4 soaps still on the air. In some parts of the country, it'll be 3 because the programming in some places has also taken General Hospital off the air and replaced it with something else. Is this a sign of things to come in the (near?) future? Time will tell.

Brian Frons has been ousted as the head of ABC Daytime, therefore bringing that era and time to an end, which especially doesn't look good for GH, being the last daytime show still running on that network. I wasn't too fond of Brian Frons, but he kept my soaps on the air years after some said they'd be cancelled, so to him I am grateful for that. He saw the omission of soaps from CBS and delayed it happening to ABC for two years, so again I am grateful. However, there were so many changes on those soaps for the two years I had them that I am angry they went out the way they did. Unlike I did with All My Children, I don't think I'll be going back to One Life until the final episode, just to tell it goodbye, like I did with ATWT & GL. I tried watching One Life, but I couldn't get through an episode; if not for the confusion at returning to it after an almost two-year hiatus then because I just didn't like what I was viewing. The actors were not even the problem, it was the storyline--as usual. Some things never change. Actually if I'm being completely honest, I'm having the same problem with GH, not to mention all the outs at a time where they should be hanging onto their cast is essential. I can't sit through an entire episode anymore; I'll be lucky if I make it to the first commercial break. And that makes me sad; even when I had stopped watching OLTL & AMC, I always watched GH and now I just can't do it.

The outs are coming out left and right since September, and they are ALL prominent characters. Some are leaving by choice and others are not, but they are all still actors & actresses in frontburner storylines and will be missed dearly. Just off the top of my head, let me see who I can remember hearing about.
Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina) was let go a couple months ago;
Nathan Parsons (Ethan) was recently let go but apparently ABC or GH hasn't made a formal announcement;
Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) has already disclosed that he'll be leaving when his contract expires;
Kimberly McCullough (Robin) has also confirmed that she'll be leaving the canvas soon;
and Kirsten Storms (Maxie) has not yet returned from her medical-dictated exit and from what I hear, the replacement Maxie just isn't cutting it;
I'll be checking back at Soapcentral.com today to see if I left any others out.

It's disheartening to hear that these characters have/will be leaving at a time where maintaining the cast and viewership is so important to the survival (for however long, we already know when they decide to cancel the soap it'll be in favor of "current" programming trends, not because of viewers or fans) of the soap. I don't really think its smart to possibly alienate the fans and viewers right now and letting these people leave or overworking them to the point where they have to leave for their own sake, which is the case with Jonathan Jackson, isn't a way to keep us around. In the midst of the drama surrounding soaps now, the soaps still on the air should be thriving and growing, sticking together more than ever in fact, to show us that they're still trying to hang on. I really don't mean to sound apocalyptic on you all, but as a lifetime soap viewer all of this is rather disappointing.

From all appearances, the Prospect Park deal with OLTL & AMC has fallen through, as we have not heard any more about it in over a month. Not much has come out about the deal since hearing that they were interested in continuing the soaps online, then finding out that several actors/actresses from OLTL and three castmembers from AMC signed on to the web shows. Prospect Park has been all but silent about any developments made since the final show of AMC & the months leading up to the final show of OLTL; another move that I don't feel is particularly smart. Viewers are still saddened over losing these shows and not being able to see these characters and people that they practically grew up with--why would you not want to keep them in the loop after giving them hope? Furthermore and more importantly, why would you give us hope after ABC gave the axe, then go silent only to reveal without really revealing later that you don't intend to continue through with your plans? We would understand if you kept us in the loop about the process you have to go through with the actors/actresses and getting them to sign on, or the sponsors you have to contact to help fund the shows, or whatever else goes on behind the scenes to get the ball rolling. The thing is, you didn't do that. You told us you'd be reviving the shows and even gave us an anticipated premiere date, then put that date on ice, then put the entire concept on ice. No real reason given, just one bit of news every so often. Is this how you endear yourself to people waiting to give your website tens of thousands of hits a day so we can watch our shows? I personally think its a crock of [expletive]. You shouldn't offer to pick up the show, shouldn't even publicize interest, until you have everything else in place. We understand this is a new web network, and we understand that this concept in general, soap operas making the move from a television network to an Internet network, is a new one. However, we don't like our chains being yanked and we're sure the castmates that already pledged loyalty to not only keep a job but help said web network, don't appreciate it either. You have castmates like Susan Lucci waiting to find out more because talks have almost completely halted. One, that doesn't make sense as you should be talking to them more than ever right now, what you're doing right now isn't even a way to ensure they return; they could go out and find other jobs and wouldn't be permitted or even available to return should a deal finally go through. For the castmates who actually did commit already, they can't wait forever either. They've got families to feed and careers to continue building, whether its as the character we are familiar with or on completely new horizons. Doing what you're doing is only ensuring that these soaps will not return in the manner we're used to, with some of the same faces, if it ends up returning at all. People that may have at one time been committed or interested will start looking elsewhere as the days continue to pass without any word, which leaves you even more characters short. If that dwindles down enough to where you have no large star power to promote the return of the show, what do you have? You either have a completely new show that just happens to have a historic name and nothing else linking it to what we used to watch, or you have nothing at all. Which I'm beginning to wonder wasn't the plan all along once you realized this was far from a done deal and since it seems as though you can't hold up your end of the bargain. I can say though, this definitely is not a way to ensure the fans return if they've given up on it. So in short, Prospect Park, time is ticking. Get it together.

Ugh. I suppose my open letter/rant to Prospect Park is done for now. I'm glad I got most of that out; it had been sitting there for 3 months. lol