14 April 2011
‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’ Cancelled & My Reaction
Posted by admin under: Television .
I don’t know what quite what to say, except that I’m floored, gutted, kicked in the teeth.
Today, 14th April 2011, ABC announced the All My Children and One Life to Live cancellations buried in announcements of new shows. All My Children‘s last date will be sometime in September 2011 and One Life to Live in January 2012. The news came just as I was watching today’s OLTL. My hands have been shaking, literally.
In the weeks leading up to today there have been rumours floating around from daytime industry insiders about first AMC being cancelled, then word from executive levels came that no, AMC wasn’t being cancelled but there was no word about OLTL. Neither were truly safe from cancellations with the low ratings. Then came the announcement that Lorraine Broderick, a long time soap scribe who had been head-writer at various times in AMC‘s history and temporarily headed the show for a brief time last year between Charles Pratt Jr.’s firing and the hiring of Donna Swajeski and David Kreizman.
In my opinion, One Life to Live has been the best daytime serial on the air (on all three networks) for months now, and I’ve been a fan of the show for many years – I’ve been watching on and off for 20 years or more. It’s been the most socially relevent soap on the air out of the three ABC soaps.
The last time I felt this gut-wrenched was 1st April 2009 when CBS announced the cancellation of Guiding Light. I remember being at home and watching tv and being online with friends as news of that announcement came through on April Fool’s Day and at first thinking it had to be a joke. I’d written a blog entry on my LiveJournal account. Then the news reports started coming through. I was involved in writing letters to various people in charge at CBS and Telenext Media and being present online, talking with people. Between the cancellation date and the end of the show, there were only a few of the GL cast online via Twitter, primarily Crystal Chappell and Tina Sloan. More started to join social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook as the serial finished on 18th September 2009, and the cast and crew began to figure out what they were going to do next, while still maintaining contact with the fans.
Then came the cancellation in December of 2009 that As The World Turns was being cancelled – the last show aired 17th September 2010. I never watched the show, but I understood the hurt and devastation felt by the fans of the show.
Jump ahead to two years after GL‘s cancellatiion notice. Within an hour of the AMC & OLTL cancellation announcement via a tweet by @SudsReport’s Nelson Branco and link to an article by Michael Ausiello (noted below), there have been news reports show up all over the daytime industry and beyond.
- TVLine: Michael Ausiello: Breaking: ABC Cancels All My Children and One Life to Live
- Michael Fairman’s ‘On-Air On-Soaps’: BREAKING NEWS: ABC Cancels All My Children & One Life to Live!
- Soap Opera Weekly/Soap Opera Digest: AMC & OLTL Canceled
- TVGuide.ca’s Danette Wilford: Two down, four to go: ABC cancels ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’
- WeLoveSoaps.net: ABC Press Release: ABC: ONE LIFE TO LIVE & ALL MY CHILDREN Canceled
- Advocate.com: All My Children, One Life Canceled
- ABC Soaps-In-Depth: ABC Sets End Dates For AMC & OLTL
- E!Online: ABC Cancels Daytime Soaps All My Children and One Life to Live
- Entertainment Tonight: ABC Cancels Iconic Soaps ‘One Life to Live,’ ‘All My Children
- New York Times: ABC Cancels ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’
- Huffington Post: ‘All My Children’, ‘One Life To Live’ Canceled By ABC
- CTV News: ABC axes longtime soap operas from daytime lineup
When the announcements earlier this year of Young & Restless and Bold and the Beautiful got three and two year extensions, respectively, of their shows on CBS, and Days of Our Lives on NBC, there seemed to be a sigh of relief within the industry that maybe the other soaps on ABC – the three solely owned by ABC – were safe. Not so.
In as much as I’m absolutely stunned, I’m also realistic enough to acknowledge that sadly, fans and media could see this coming – it was merely a question of when the axe was going to come down. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. Unlike when Guiding Light was cancelled, there had remained a small hope that they could be revived in some way, until we knew for sure by July that there would be no reprieve, there was to be no doubt that there would be no reprieve of AMC and OLTL, especially as the ABC network already has shows lined up to replace them.
Once AMC and OLTL leave the airwaves there will only be four daytime soaps left on network television: Young & Restless, Bold and Beautiful, Days of Our Lives and General Hospital.
In a blog post I wrote earlier this year, I blame it on Crystal Chappell…, I spoke of my early recollections of All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. I will stand by watching One Life to Live and probably All My Children until the very end in January 2012. I wish all the best to the casts and crews of both AMC and OLTL. Take care and be well. Cry, hug, grieve. And look forward at performing your best.
(cross-posted on my LiveJournal acct)
3 Comments so far...
ONE LIFE TO LIVE PREVIEW AND WATCH ONLINE >> One Life to Live | News12.US - US News and Trends Says:
14 April 2011 at 23:10.
[...] 'All My Children' and 'One Life to Live' Cancelled | A Celtic … [...]
Victoria Says:
6 June 2011 at 20:12.
As an avid watcher of all My Children, I am devestated to hear the news. Although I only just got into it, I really enjoy coming home after school to watch the drama unfold. And yes you heard me right, I am a student, and a young on at that. They say soaps are for old people, adults, but that is nothing but a steriotyple. I know 3 people in my class who are fans of all my children. And what saddens me is that we are the only ones who think that Glee and Jersey Shore are rubbish.