After 41 years, and 10,712 episodes, All My Children ended its run today on ABC.

The cancellation of both All My Children and its sister show One Life to Live were announced this past April, and normally that would mean both shows would be lost to the pages of time, but someone stepped in to save both shows.  It was announced in July that a company named Prospect Park had obtained the rights to both series, and that they would become Web series that you could watch online.  Since that time there has been some talk that the shows would also find some way to air on cable, but details of how this will work have not been made clear as of yet.

Due to the lead time of the announcement that the show would live on, All My Children was given time to work on an ending that would make the series feel like it had reached any normal conclusion on a Friday afternoon.  With all of the series regulars gathered in one place, and one of the “bad boys” of the show hiding in a tunnel with a pistol, a gun shot rang out as the screen faded to black and the credits rolled.  We are left to wonder who may have been on the receiving end of that bullet until the series returns, but for now it just feels like it will be some sort of extended hiatus.

The original plan called for the new version of the series to premiere this coming Monday, but due to prolonged contract issues, the new start date is now set for January.  With only two actors having been named so far as continuing with the series, that leaves a whole lot of potential people to have been killed off.

I will admit I had wandered away from this series for a year or two, but when I saw the end coming, I jumped back on to see how it would all wrap up.  I have watched the series on and off since the mid-70′s, so it was still intriguing to me to see how some of my favorite characters would end their days in Pine Valley.  The ending left me both elated and annoyed to be honest.  While there was some sense of closure to some stories, we were left with two major cliffhangers: The gunshot and the identity of the mysterious woman with a charm bracelet that simply reads “B.”

Ending the series this way does give you a sense of continuity when the new version fires up, but for those who wished to make a clean break, or may not have access to the relaunch, you’re left with a, “What the hell?” sort of feeling.  Yes, there were a lot of nods to the history of the series in the waning days, but couldn’t we have just started fresh when it comes back?  You could have dug up any number of story lines to engage the old audience as well as new people, but instead you totally left it up in the air without a thought to those who may not be able to continue on.

Either way, a chapter has closed, and a bold experiment begins.  I plan on watching when the show relaunches just to see how an hour long show works as a daily Web entity … and because now I have to know who the heck “B” is!

Apparently the Hoover Vacuum company is less than pleased with the decision to cancel All My Children and One Life to Live, going so far as to pull all advertising from the network.

Brian Kirkendall, the Vice President of Marketing for Hoover, issued a statement this evening that the company was pulling all of its advertising from ABC in protest to the cancellation of two soaps on the network that was announced last week.

I want you to know from me personally that we hear you loud and clear. My wife and mother are both passionate viewers of All My Children and One Life to Live, as are many of my colleagues here at Hoover. We were and are as disappointed with this news as you are.

In fact, we will discontinue our advertising with ABC this Friday, 4/22. We’re making every attempt to pull our spots from these programs sooner.

Because we feel that’s not enough, we also want to help get your voice heard with ABC. So, we’ve set up a special email address, SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, to help pull together the mass emotional outpouring of support for our beloved ABC soaps and get it to our contacts at ABC. Please, send your emails to us at SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, and we’ll get every, single last one of them to ABC.

We’re 150% committed to doing what matters most to you – so if there’s anything else we can do to help or you have any ideas, please email this address, and we will respond to you personally.

Thank you for standing up for what matters to you! We need more of that in this world.

Brian Kirkendall
Vice President of Marketing
Hoover

While certainly a bold move, it’s also worth mentioning that Hoover is probably getting more attention from this move than they would ever get from an advertisement. The company pretty much has guaranteed itself that 2.5 million people will consider Hoover first when they need a new vacuum.

While I highly doubt that Hoover will be able to get ABC to rethink its decision, kudos to the company at least seeing what it could to help.

ABC has announced that it is canceling the long running soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live. All My Children will air its last episode in Sept. of this year while One Life to Live will end in Jan. 2012.

It was announced today via press release that ABC would be replacing two of its longest running soap operas with new reality based shows towards the end of this year, and the beginning of the next.  The Chew will focus on food from every angle imaginable — as a source of joy, health, friendship, breaking news, dating, fitness and weight loss, travel adventure and life’s moments. The one-hour live show will be co-hosted by celebrity chef Mario Batali, Clint Kelly of TLC’s What Not to Wear fame, Carla Hall from Bravo’s Top Chef, Michael Symon from Food Network’s Iron Chef America and nutrition expert Daphne Oz.

The second new series has the working title of The Revolution and will be a daily show about health and lifestyle transformations, hosted by a team of experts and rotating guest contributors led by fashion expert Tim Gunn of Project Runway, celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak and American Idol alum Kimberly Locke.

“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,” said Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney ABC/Television Group. “We are taking this bold step to expand our business because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days. They are telling us there is room for informative, authentic and fun shows that are relatable, offer a wide variety of opinions and focus on ‘real life’ takeaways. A perfect example of this is The View, and that factored into our decision. The Chew and The Revolution are in the same vein and will be great additions to the lineup, with The View serving as an ideal foundation from which to launch these programs. They will also provide enormous opportunity for the creation of ancillary businesses and growth.”

“All My Children and One Life to Live are iconic pieces of television that have made an indelible mark on our culture’s history,” reflected Frons. “Each of the shows has touched millions and millions of viewers and informed the social consciousness. It has been a privilege to work with the extraordinary teams who brought the residents of Pine Valley and Llanview to life each day, and we thank the cast, crew, producers and most especially the fans for their commitment to the shows through their history.”

With the cancellation of these two soaps, that leaves a total of four still on the air (General Hospital on ABC, Days of Our Lives, Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless on CBS), and there is no saying the numbers won’t drop even more.  Compared to the glory days of soaps in the 1970s and 80s, when it seemed you couldn’t turn on a TV without seeing a soap, the love affair has just waned more and more.  Is it changing tastes?  Yes, partially, but it is also a real lack of engaging story lines.

I watched All My Children (AMC) for years, but in Aug. 2009 I called it quits.  I just couldn’t take the sub-par writing any more.  (I like soaps, so sue me)  I still watch Young and the Restless, and oddly enough, former AMC actors keep showing up over there when they leave the show.  Perhaps it’s a subtle comment on moving up the big leagues?  Who knows, but I sure don’t mind.

What my stopping watching the show says, however, is when someone who has followed characters for years, no matter how contrived the plots are, finally says, “ENOUGH!”, there is obviously something horribly wrong with the show.  I left characters behind I have loved for years because it had just become insufferable.  This had nothing to do with changing tastes, it had to do with scripts that erased history, characters coming and going without explanation and a complete disrespect for the audience that felt we would just keep watching whatever garbage they threw on the screen.  But, nope, its the changing tastes of the audience.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that The Chew and The Revolution will be considerably cheaper to produce also.  I mean, certainly that wouldn’t factor in … would it?

In short, the era of the soap opera is certainly coming to an end.  There was a time when there were 19 of them on in the United States, and now we’re down to four.  Somehow I don’t think they are much longer for this world.

Tyra Banks is calling an end to her show after this season … and this worries me.

I have never watched the Tyra Banks Show, it just isn’t my style, but with The Oprah Winfrey Show ending in 2011, I’m actually concerned by what is going to come into replace these shows.  Daytime television is already a wasteland of pop-psychiatry, questionable medical advice, endless courtroom shows and Satan Rachael Ray.  The vacancy created by these two shows opens up the playing field to even more suspect programming.

Rumors have floated around for some time now that Kate Goselin is in talks for her own talk show.  You know, she of the eight children and the husband who seems to be on the cover of every tabloid as of late.  Yes, can you imagine that pain on a daily basis?

Sure, I have my problems with Oprah Winfrey, but I fear the unknown factor even more.  I am sure whatever replaces these two shows will be watched as much as I currently watch daytime television, which is to say not at all (okay, fine, I TiVo The Young and the Restless …), but considering you can’t escape the social impact these shows have, an even worse replacement could be a bad thing.

By the way, Oprah, the Queen of Daytime, is departing, do you really think now is the best time for any of the current players to drop out?  Who knows how much of her audience another show could pick up in that fallout, but, no, it’s better to drop your show just short of finding out.  Yeah, that’s bright.

Is this an Earth shattering matter of importance?  Nope.  Not even close.  However, it is important from a societal impact.  Lets face it, is there any one who doesn’t know who Oprah is?  You’ve heard of Tyra’s show at least in passing, so whomever takes over these prime spots of daytime real estate could quite probably influence millions of people and billions of dollars in marketing power.  Make a bit more sense why you should question what shows will be replacing them?

First it was Guiding Light, and now As The World Turns is going to the great soap opera heaven in the sky.

It was announced today that CBS would not be renewing As The World Turns for the 2010/2011 television season, meaning that the last air date for the show would be Sept. 17,2010.  This means that the show will end after a 54 year run on CBS where it started off as a 30-minute live broadcast in 1955.

The is the second soap opera cancellation by CBS this year, with the first having been the 72-year-old Guiding Light having left the airwaves this past September.

TeleNext Media, Inc., the company behind both of the canceled shows, is a division of Proctor & Gamble, the main sponsor of both series.  This leads one to believe that it was possible CBS was just looking to sever that tie, but that is pure speculation at this point.  The remaining two CBS soap opera, The Young and the Restless & The Bold and the Beautiful, are both productions of Sony, but that doesn’t mean that they are any safer at this moment if CBS is looking to dump all of its soap opera properties.

Revenues for soap operas have been suffering in the past few years as audiences have declined, and the current recession began to cut into advertising budgets of companies.  On a local level, one of the biggest styles of advertisers has been car dealerships, but with the jump in gas pries a few years ago leading to lower car sales, they cut back on their ads, beginning this snowball effect that has led to the current situation.

It is easy to write soap operas off as melodramas because, well, they are, but I don’t feel they get enough credit for the training they give actors and writers.  For instance, did you know As The World Turns was the launching ground for actors such as Dana Delaney, James Earl Jones, Julianne Moore, Parker Posey, Meg Ryan and Marisa Tomei? (yes, some of them only appeared in one episode, but they still count)

With two soaps down for the count (TeleNext said they will shop As The World Turns around to other venues, but they said the same about Guiding Light), the precedent has definitely been set that soaps can end at any time.  ABC seems pretty vested in its line-up of All My Children, One Life To Live and General Hospital, but what Days of our Lives as the lone soap on NBC?  Of any of them, I could see NBC dumping Days just to clear the slate, and as I said before, how safe are The Young and the Restless & The Bold and the Beautiful over at CBS?

I think the days of the daytime dramas are numbered, and what a sad time that will be when daytime television is filled with nothing but talk shows and court programs.

As I have admitted before, I watch All My Children. Laugh if you must, I own up to it. And not long ago, I also added watching The Young and the Restless. It is actually better than AMC, but I’ve been watching that one so long, I doubt I could stop if I wanted to. (as I’ve said before, “listening” is more accurate as to what I do with television)

However, there is something that has come to bother the hell out of me about both soaps: Geography.

Yes, I can handle poisonings, baby swaps, amnesia, cheating spouses and on and on, but their geography is just bugging the heck out of me!

The Young and the Restless happens in the semi-fictional city of Genoa City, Wisconsin (the real one has a population of under 2,000). We are to believe that this Wisconsin town has

• Multiple major corporations
• An international airport
• A leading hospital
• Is now the home of a major fashion magazine… because models pass through all the time, don’t ya know
• Not one, but two major cosmetics companies

Fine, in today’s world, corporations can be anywhere thanks to the Internet, but a major international airport? Sure a fashion magazine could use the same Internet excuse, but wouldn’t you kind of want to be near where the designers and models are?

Then there is All My Children which takes place in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania. This city suffers from some of the same problems as Genoa City.

• Multiple major corporations
• An international airport (with direct flights to and from Paris)
• Two major cosmetics companies
• A hit daytime talk show… because celebrities pass through all the time, don’t ya know
• Ocean front property

…

Yes… I said “ocean front property”. It has been referenced several times that they can take their yachts to New York City or sail them down the coast to Florida, as they did in May 2005 for a wedding, but, yet… Pennsylvania does not touch any oceans. We’ve heard the waves breaking on the beach, people talk about how cold the ocean must be… YOU’RE IN PENNSYLVANIA! Yes, it touches Lake Erie, so in theory you could get to the ocean from the north, or through the southern part of the state if you wanted to go down the Potomac, but they have clearly mentioned “the ocean”.

I think all of this first got on my nerves about a year ago when One Life To Live, which takes place 30-miles from Pine Valley in Llanview, PA was having a “dangerous blizzard”. Over in Pine Valley? They were wearing wind breakers and sleeveless dresses. Because… I don’t know, I’m sure there was a plausible explanation… we never heard…

I know, I know, its odd to argue the silliness of soap opera geographies, but come on, can’t we keep the wackiness to suddenly discovering someone is alive who “died” 20 years ago and we’ve even seen their “ghost” during that time span? Keep the oceans where they belong!

I don’t even watch the soap opera Passions, but this news is amazing to me.

Passions was recently canceled by NBC, everyone thought it was a done deal, and that was it. Now it seems NBC has reached a deal with DirecTV to continue the quirky little soap. Yes, you read that correctly, DirecTV, the satellite company. They will air the show four days a week and the budget will be cut, but the show will continue.

It just proves that standard television is in grave danger if they don’t mind their P’s and Q’s. This, in my mind, is similar to the beginnings of premium cable. Who ever thought HBO would be such a gold mine of high quality television? Could carrier-specific programming be next? Or will it be more shows going to the web?

The times are a changing for televised content, where it will all end up, or how it will even be shown, is anyone’s guess at this point.

If you read this blog, and care about this info, you’ve already heard. If you read this blog, and don’t care….too bad. This news made my day.

All My Children Head Writer Fired!

Man that feels good to read.

As you all know from my previous posts, I’ve been working on projects in my spare time for fans of this soap. One of my big things was my desire to see this head writer ousted. All My Children, no matter what you may think of it, has an extremely rich, and vibrant, history. This was something Megan McTavish did not care for one bit. She tore apart history, rewrote it, discarded characters all in an effort to twist the canvas of All My Children to her will, and it was tearing the show apart.

The above linked article is from TV Guide, and I will quote what they said as it’s worth repeating:

The return of AMC heroine Dixie Cooney Martin (Cady McClain) was totally botched. We were supposed to buy that Dixie would let her family think she was dead for four years. Then Dixie’s mixed up in some nonsense with Zach Slater (Thorsten Kaye) instead of reuniting with her true love, Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight). Just when Dixie and Tad were on track for a reunion, she eats poisoned peanut-butter pancakes and dies. What a stupid, uncreative waste of a beloved classic character!

The revelation of Tad Martin as the person who buried alive Dr. Greg Madden (Ian Buchanan) and tortured the evil MD from above ground was absurd and completely out of character. “Tad would never do that,” longtime AMC fans insisted.

This Satin Slayer serial-killer saga has sucked from day one. To cap it off, AMC viewers just found out Zach’s diabolical daddy, Alexander Cambias Sr. (Ronald Guttman), is the killer. Talk about a snooze-o-rama reveal. Why has Papa Cambias been poisoning all these young ladies and festooning them with flowers and ribbons? He’s mad at Zach for faking his death to escape from their dysfunctional family years ago. Yawn. I don’t know about you, but whenever the show delves into the convoluted Cambias family history, I get awfully bored.

McTavish’s failure to give Brooke English (Julia Barr) any kind of send off at the end of Barr’s contract also ticked us off. Barr spends 30 years on AMC and fades off screen with no on-air acknowledgment of her departure? What a cold slap in the face to Barr and the show’s loyal viewers.

Worst of all, McTavish outrageously revised history when she undid Erica Kane’s (Susan Lucci) landmark 1973 abortion. Viewers were told that the fetus was somehow stolen from Erica’s body and implanted in another woman. Now a Calvin Klein model is playing Erica’s grown son, Josh, who’s grumpy because he was almost aborted. What?!

McTavish has a left a path of destruction in her wake that I am not sure will ever be fully repairable without even more rewriting of history. Even with that in mind though….”Ding dong, the witch is dead.”

Yep…the oddness that is BAMForBeginners.com continues!

Spotted in this weeks Soap Opera Digest:

BAM Campaign
AMCers have also sent e-mails to the execs expressing their desire to see Bianca and Maggie together again — for good! “‘BAM’ fans continue to do battle for their couple by recruiting new ‘BAM’ fans around the world,” they write. “If only ABC/AMC would bring Liz [Hendrickson, Maggie] back full time…. just as they have with Eden [Riegel, Bianca], to feed this growing hunger for the supercouple of AMC.” Join the “phenomenon” at www.bamforbeginners.com

I think the thing that surprises me the most is I never hear about this stuff until after it happens! Oh well, still very cool to receive yet another major mention!

Interesting article about a group of EastEnders fans in the Washington D.C. area that rallied to save their favorite British soap. Their local PBS channel, WETA, had informed their viewers they were going to be dropping the long-running BBC soap opera from the line-up due to the cost vs. ratings. It seems the show costs the channel $25,000 a year, with a 2 year minimum. With only 8,000 households tuning in weekly, and the contract coming up, they opted not to spend the $50,000 required to renew.

Enter the fans.

Led by a classics professor and a real estate lawyer, the fans asked if they raised the money, would the channel accept the funds and renew? The channel said they would if they got the funds by January 16th, 2007. The fans went to work and gathered up 143 checks, totaling $52,504 (or ab average of $367.16 per check), and presented them to the station by the deadline. The channel was good to their word, accepted the funds and have renewed the much-loved show.

I have seen a lot of fan drives over the years to save a show, but never one that took such a direct approach, and I applaud them. I’ve heard of buying newspaper ads, mailing in small trinket that is an inside joke from the show, those never seemed to make much sense to me. Cold hard cash? Total sense. Good on them, and I hope they enjoy their two years of British drama, they’ve earned it.

So what sort of traffic did BAMForBeginners.com end up having?

Friday, 1/26 – 2,864
Saturday, 1/27 – 2,086

Our best day prior to the current plug from AfterEllen.com was Tursday, 1/25 at 1,391.

This site is getting more traffic in one day than my ecommerce site (AnimeUSA.com) does in a week. No, that’s not depressing in the least!

So…remember how I mentioned the website I was behind, BAMForBeginners.com, got mentioned on Canadian TV? That brought us some traffic, but now comes the site being mentioned by the lesbians-in-media news site, AfterEllen.com. In their weekly column, Best.Lesbian.Week.Ever., they mentioned the current storyline on All My Children and named Bam For Beginners as the place to go and get caught up on the storyline.

Wow.

It generated so much traffic that Google Analytics couldn’t keep up and the updating was way behind the normal time. I’ll post in the near future what the numbers were because, as of right now, I’m still missing five hours of data.

So why do I bring this up again? Two reasons:

1) None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for the amazing folks who went out and found message boards to post links on. Without them, it wouldn’t be getting half the notice it’s getting.

2) It’s getting far more traffic than my company websites! I guess I should have more middle of the night, random ideas!

Just amazing what can still be accomplished still in this day-and-age with everyone and their dog having a website!