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Health & Fitness

All My Children Has Only One Life to Live

Why iconic soap operas, All My Children and One Life to Live, should not be canceled.

There I was, playing on the living room floor while my mom was ironing.  It was the early 70s and the rule of TV viewing back in the days of 3 channels (maybe 4 if the weather was clear and the roof antenna could pick up PBS) was whatever mom liked on TV is what you watched during the day. 

Every week day at the same time voices on the screen began to sound familiar.  I found myself interested in the rebellious voice of the young woman who would yell out, "Mother!" which was usually followed by the exasperated sound of, "Oh, Erica."  And that is how my lifetime viewership of All My Children started, literally at the feet of my mother. 

On April 14, 2011, ABC announced that they were canceling not only the 41 year old All My Children, but also the 43 year old One Life to Live from their daytime schedule.  Three weeks later and I'm still not able to accept the fate of these iconic daytime shows.  I have joined every possible Facebook page that has to do with fighting to keep these shows on the air.  I am even planning to attend my first protest in NYC next month.

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Believe me, I am familiar with the stereotypes people have of soap opera fans.  I can honestly say I have never eaten bon bons while watching my soaps.  Heck, where does a person even find bon bons anyway?  Okay, back to the point – I am not a housewife either.  And even when I was, I still recorded my shows to watch in the peaceful evening hours commonly referred to as “bedtime.”  What I am is a very angry and hurt American TV viewer who has sadly fallen into a demographic that doesn’t appeal to ABC executives.  In other words, I’m too old for them to care about my opinion.  These shows were not canceled due to poor ratings; they were canceled because it is cheaper to replace them with more unnecessary reality shows, one that has been given a title that ironically would make me laugh (“The Chew”) if I wasn’t so upset about losing shows I have grown up with and like my mother did with me, carried on to my own daughter who is also a fan.

Soap Operas are American made and have been around longer than TV.  The whole genre is one that is under appreciated and mocked, yet has given many movie stars a start in their careers.  Those names and more on the next blog of All My Children Has Only One Life to Live.  Stay tuned….

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