Slightly OT: ABC has killed the soap - AMC/OLTL GONE

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I looked, but didn't see this anywhere. 

I'm really shocked.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/abc-cancels-all-my-children-and-one-life-to-live/

[Taeylor Collins]

Rumors have been swirling but the stars said it wasn't true.  I am thankful that GH is okay.  It's the top rated soap on ABC. I predict in five years tops all will be gone.  That only leaves us four soaps.  Y&R, B&B, Days, and GH.  Sad sad day.....

I used to watch OLTL years ago. I just think it's sad that these instituations are dying off.....

[Patti Feinberg]

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/04/14/abc-cancels-all-my-children-one-life-to-live/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl4|sec1_lnk2|56133

Canceling OLTL & AMC?

Patti

[Annie]

Hi Patti   wonder  why they did  that?   i watch   The  Young And  The  Restless. 
  It's  too bad  about those soaps.           Love   Anne

[DLA75]

It's a good thing Dark Shadows was already canceled by ABC. Dark Shadows risen from the grave. ABC cant kill a soap already dead. Dark Shadows is among the undead. ABC Daytime will be back to where it was pre DS. General Hospital and alot cheap programing no one cares about.

[David]

I read one report that the audience is still there, but that they watch online.
Y & R gets 5 million viewers on CBS, 11 million more online.
Days grets 3 million on NBC, another 6 million online.
But the networks make no money from the online viewings.

This is not OT, BTW. Louis Edmonds was on AMC for 16 years. Clarice Blackburn won an Emmy writing for AMC.

Sam Hall & Gordon Russell wrote for One Life. Grayson, Nancy Barrett, Anthony George & Lisa Richards have all been cast members.

Soaps were such a big deal when I was younger. What a sad day.

[Taeylor Collins]

Yeah it really has bummed me out.  Soaps are such a heritage. And to see them replaced with reality garbage just blows....

We can have Jersey Shore filling up space but these wonderful soaps are not worth it apparently.  I hope GH will not be cancelled. I have watched for 20 years.  However, I wouldn't be suprised if it was. Thankfully it's consistent in the ratings from what I gather...

[michael c]

i haven't followed either soap in many years but i was still heartsick about it. they were a big part of my childhood.

because of the shows' daily,serialized nature a single thread of continuity can be traced back to the very day they premiered. that's history.

other networks have been scaling back their soap offerings for years but ABC seemed committed to the genre. hundreds of people are going to be put out of work. this is very sad.

[The Doctor and K9]

It would be nice if some station like Lifetime partnered with the producers of the soaps to have several stand along TV movies per year.  I think there would be a significant market for them.  In fact, perhaps a weekly, hour long format would work. 

[Taeylor Collins]

I think they should merge the shows and make a new show. Take the best from each side.  Just a thought....

[David]

Oprah admits to being an AMC fan. I wonder if her new network could be a platform to save the show & the genre.

[Lydia]

There's a nice photograph from 1979 of Louis Edmonds and Ruth Warrick in this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/arts/television/all-my-children-and-one-life-to-live-life-lessons.html

[michael c]

the photograph of ruth and louis really sends me back to my childhood(yes,i watched soap operas as a child). something about these fancy rich people in big houses with uniformed servants captured my budding gay imagination.

if i recall the plot correctly edmonds played some sort of travelling carnival riffraff who poses as a gentleman to land the town's grande dame phoebe wallingford.

warrick in this tale occupied something of the same space joan bennett did on DS. they were cut from the same brocaded cloth. caftan clad,bejeweled and ambitiously coiffed matriarchal figures portrayed by actresses from hollywood's "golden age". "regal" is what they were going for. they're greatly missed.

[Brian]

I went into my 2nd depression--the first in April 1971 when DS was cancelled, and my 2nd last week, when I learned that OLTL was cancelled.  I only watched DS for almost 2 years (6/69-4/71), but I have watched OLTL since 6/92...so! I have been watching for nearly 19 years!!  Not an easy addiction to cure.  LOL.

[Gothick]

What a fab shot of Louis in Langley mode and the ever gracious Ruth Warrick.

G.