Soap Opera Drama!
ABC cancels All My Children and One Life To Live rumor true?
[Apr. 15]
Shock and devastation for soap opera fans! ABC will be canceling its seminal daytime soap operas, One Life to Live and All My Children and both fans and the cast seem to indicate the same thing — it feels like the network is killing family. The surprising true news rumor verification came Thursday as ABC announced in a press release that it will be replacing the shows with two new shows — The Chew, a show focusing on food from all angles rather than other shows that focus on particular chefs, restaurants, or styles; and a show tentatively titled The Revolution, a daily focusing on health and lifestyle. Both new titles will be hard for soap opera devotees to swallow.
ABC says:
Guided by extensive research into what today’s daytime viewers want and the changing viewing patterns of the audience, ABC is evolving the face of daytime television with the launch of two new shows, “The Chew” which will premiere in September 2011 and “The Revolution” (working title) which will premiere in January 2012.
ABC told FOX News:
“These new shows expand ABC Daytime’s focus to include more programming that is infromative and authentic and centers on transfromation, food and lifestyle – cornerstones of programming that resonate with daytime viewers as evidenced by the success of ‘The View’.”
All My Children will run its last episode in September 2011, giving way to The Chew, and One Life to Live will make way for The Revolution sometime in January 2012. ABC has confirmed that General Hospital will remain on the network’s daytime lineup. One Life to Live has been on the air since 1968, All My Children since 1970 — 42 and 41 years, respectively.
Many fans are upset about the discontinuation. Susan Lucci won the daytime Emmy for playing Erica Kane on All My Children in 1999 after being passed over 18 times. She is one of soap television’s most iconic stars, having played Kane on the show for 40 years. Likewise, Kelly Ripa, host of Regis and Kelly, met her husband Mark Consuela while on All My Children, and had children of her own while on the show. Ripa says she feels “heart sick,” according to ABC.’
ABC reports:
Indeed, “All My Children,” on since 1970, and “One Life to Live,” on since 1968, launched the careers of some of today’s biggest stars, including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Melissa Leo, Josh Duhamel, Eva LaRue, Christian Slater, Rosie O’Donnell, Kim Delaney and Amanda Seyfried.
Sandy Kenyon from ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News says, the shows “fell victim to declining ratings and higher costs.” An interviewee explained, “Generations of women watched these shows, but the reason they went away is because there were fewer women available at home, and the tradition of these shows were not passed on to the next generation.” ABC has promised the fans will be honored with the wrap-ups.
CNN reports:
“While we are excited about our new shows and the shift in our business, I can’t help but recognize how bittersweet the change is,” president of daytime TV at the Disney ABC television group, Brian Frons said. “We are taking this bold step to expand our business because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days.
According to WebProNews, Manny Anekal of Zynga games, popular on Facebook, notes that many stay-at-home women these days are instead playing Facebook games like Farmville, which are taking away from audiences that once watched soap operas. Those advertising dollars are important.