Save Our Soaps All My Children & One Life To Live -Thursday Two Questions Meme


It was 1970, I was 15 years old and began watching the soap opera All My Children with my Mom. It was in black and white back then and only aired for a half hour. I liked it because I related to the character Erica Kane played by Susan Lucci. She played a 15 year old who was feisty, outspoken and giving her on screen Mom hell. That first day I watched the show, I became hooked and have been an avid viewer and fan ever since.

The show has been on the air on ABC for almost 41 years. Susan Lucci as pictured above is one of the few original cast members left. She is also my all time favorite actress. This show has inspired me at times, left me speechless at times, had me heartbroken at times and has always entertained me.

I grew up with Erica Kane, Susan Lucci's character and she has helped me through good times and bad times. I specifically remember when my own Mom passed away in 1994, the actress playing Erica's Mom in real life passed away around the same time. They had both been playing the roles of Mother and daughter together for over 20 years so the death of Erica's on screen Mom devastated her - in real life. Much of the emotion and grief was not acting but real. We both went through that horrible time together and that particular storyline helped me probably more than anything else or anyone else could. My point here is that these shows are not just crazy story-lines and entertainment, they help people.

All My Children was one of the first show to break ground on many social issues to include AIDS, Homosexuality, Drug Abuse, Alcoholism etc... It told poignant and true to life stories that touched the heart and offered wisdom and hope. It has been a pioneer in social issues and continues in that vein today.

As many of you may already know, ABC has pulled the plug on both All My Children and One Life To Live and will cancel AMC in September and OLTL in January 2012 to be replaced by a cooking and lifestyle show. The cancellations were done without warning and the cast and crew were told about an hour before the news broke worldwide. Many cast and crew members did not even know about the cancellation until they saw it either online or on the news.

The head of daytime TV at ABC, Brian Frons states that they were canceled due to low ratings which has been proven not to be true. OLTL has had consistently higher ratings than General Hospital which has been kept on the air. The reason for these cancellations is MONEY. They want to save money and it is much, much cheaper to air reality shows than scripted shows. It is sheer greed and nothing more. They don't care that not only are the actors and actresses losing their jobs but as a result, thousands of people will lose their jobs. These shows cannot be produced without writers, sound and lighting people, hair and makeup people and so many more. All will lose their jobs and thousands of families will lose their livelihoods. ABC doesn't care. They only care about lining their own pockets with $$$.

There are thousands and thousands of fans banning together in order to keep these two shows on the air. There are petitions, letter writing and email campaigns, protests across America being planned and more. We are working together to get the sponsors to pull their advertising from ABC of which we already had a major victory. Hoover vacuum is supporting this cause and will pull their ads from ABC this Friday. We are going to fight with all we have to keep these two shows on the air.

Margie and Edna, my two blogging buddies and yours as well have generously offered to help with our cause. Here is their blog post which contains links to the major pages and has some valuable info on what we are doing to save these two shows - http://margieandednasbasement.blogspot.com/2011/04/save-soaps.html


I've ranted here long enough and I will get to the point. Here are my two questions:

1. Would you fight to keep your favorite shows on the air?

2. If so what would you do and if not, why not?




A short tribute clip for All My Children.



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Comments

Anonymous said…
Yes I have, and yes I was!
Ann said…
Some of my favorite shows have been canceled and no I've never fought to keep them on the air. Why not? I guess because I figured there was nothing I could really do about it.
All these reality shows that they are coming up with though is one of the main reasons why i don't watch as much tv as I used to. I hate them
Joanne Olivieri said…
Anon, thanks for visiting and posting.

Ann, I have to agree that I really don't like most of the reality shows and now the only shows I watch are AMC and Castle on ABC and 48 hours mystery on CBS. That's about it. I have to admit at first I didn't think anything could be done but our blogging buddies Margie and Edna helped with Jericho and got that back on the air so they inspired me as well as the literally thousands and thousands of fans that have united over this. We have had some success already. So, I'm still fighting, though it is tiring.
Unknown said…
Thank you for posting this. Many people have been taught that there is nothing we can do about many things anyway, so why try? That is a self prophetizg statement,in other words, you make it so by saying it and responding as if it were already true. Therefore, it is true, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Someone else just convinced you of such, somewhere along the way.
My motto, JUST DO IT. What the heck, it just might work.
Protest. It doesn't matter to whom. It may be more effective to protest to ABC. Hmmm, just maybe we can save our soaps.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Gail, thanks so much for visiting and commenting. I've always believed that I need to fight for what I love and I love All My Children. Not to mention injustice infuriates me and this is one huge injustice. I'm with you, I think we can save our soaps. Thank you.
Anonymous said…
I have never fought before, I just excepted that the show was over. I have never fought until now. These are not tv shows, they are an American Tradition and I will not be told what to watch on tv. I am here to fight!
Joanne Olivieri said…
Anon, I could not have said it better myself. I am here to fight with you. We'll keep them on the air. Keep up the good work!!! Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Icy BC said…
Jo, I'm echoing Anne and Gail about accepting the cancellation of shows. I didn't think we have any thing to say about it.

We surely don't need anymore cooking shows on air, or reality shows at all. I'm going to check out Edna and Margie's blog.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Icy, I love cooking shows but I agree we don't need anymore. I'm still fighting though, you know me I can't help myself. Thanks for checking Margie and Edna's blog too. xoxo
Margaret Duarte said…
1. For a short while in my married life, I was hooked on a soap opera called "Santa Barbara.' In a way it was nice to have something to look forward to each day, but I didn't like the feeling of being "hooked." Later, when I became too busy to continue watching, it sort of came as a relief not to feel tied to the TV.
2. I have never felt strongly enough about any program that was on the air (except maybe "The Twilight Zone") to fight for it. Again, I don't like being "hooked" on something, and I figure change is good. That said, I do miss the type of programs that inspired me in the past, which are hard to find today.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Thanks for the comment Margaret. I do vaguely remember Santa Barbara. Twilight Zone, now that is a blast from the past.
SquirrelQueen said…
The only soap I have ever been hooked on is General Hospital, I started watching it in college. I was one of those who stopped everything to see Luke & Laura's wedding (oops, I'm dating myself here).

If there was a show I was really passionate about I would definitely fight for it. These days I would take my cause to Twitter and Facebook. Social networking is a powerful force these days so why not use it to promote a cause you believe in. The numbers that can be reached are staggering.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Squirrel, That was the wedding of the century. I met Tony Geary a couple of years ago and what a great guy. We have taken it to FB and Twitter and we are gaining alot of ground and media attention so I think we are on the right course. Thanks for commenting.
Teresa Kander said…
I've never fought to keep a show on the air. Two of the three soaps I've watched most of my life are already gone (As The World Turns and Guiding Light), and it's just a matter of time before Days Of Our Lives joins them. They just don't get the audience they used to have...and without that, no show stays on the air. Times change, and I've just learned to go with the flow.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Teresa, thanks so much for visiting and lending your thoughts. I am a fighter, always have been so I'm sticking with this one til the end.
DoanLegacy said…
I watched General Hospital while studying in college, but then it had too much dramas and life became too busy..

Now, I don't watch much TV. but I'm boycotting Dancing with the Stars. It became a joke since last season, so I quit watching it.
Joanne Olivieri said…
Doan, good to hear you are boycotting it. I think with DWTS, there just aren't any real stars on their anymore.
ian said…
this passion is awe-inspiring! i hope it will lead to successful results =]
Unknown said…
I truly agree with fighting for what you believe in but am not a fan of soaps. I was hooked for a short time but when my teens became hooked too, I put my foot down and stopped watching. I felt that a lot of the story lines ran along lines that were not beneficial to teens to emulate.

Good luck with your fight. The shows I loved best on tv are no longer around like Marcus Welby, Dr. Quincy, Barnaby Jones and I am too busy to find new ones.

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