September 2013 marked two years since ABC cancelled the much beloved “All My Children” and took soap icon Susan Lucci and her alter ego Erica Kane away from the daily lives of soap fans. When ABC made this move they cited declining ratings and expensive production costs and they scheduled talk shows to replace these iconic soaps arguing that the cost to produce such shows would be far less than the cost to produce the soaps. What ABC didn’t count on was the fans of “All My Children” and sister show “One Life to Live” rising up to say enough and turning their considerable ire towards ABC and its parent company Disney. Fans even threatened to turn on another beloved daytime icon, Oprah Winfrey, when she announced that she would not carry the two cancelled soaps on her OWN network.
For soap fans, the cancellation of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live” was the last straw. After watching CBS and Procter & Gamble destroy historic soaps like “Guiding Light” and “As The World Turns” fans drew a line in the sand with the ABC soaps. Immediately, fans mobilized to boycott ABC in many ways. First, was the targeting of the shows that were slated to take the place of the two soaps. Daytime viewers refused to watch the replacement shows and over the past two years, these shows have failed to gain a following. For example “The Chew,” ABC’s attempt to make cooking an exciting daytime activity, currently has a 1.6 rating compared to the 2.4 – 2.7 rating that “One Life To Live” enjoyed right up to the point of cancellation. What must be most galling for ABC is that both shows cost roughly the same $750,000 per episode. Worst of all for ABC, they recently spent tens of millions of dollars creating and promoting the Katie Couric talk show, hoping that the once popular morning host would gain a large following. So far, Katie is attracting ratings that are in the range that would mean cancellation for most shows. Rumors abound that ABC is desperately searching for a replacement for Katie, and “The Chew” is the lowest rated show on daytime TV.
Nothing is more representative of what soap fans can do than the reaction to and continued pressure on Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey spent years telling her talk show audience that she grew up on soaps and that the ABC soaps, especially “All My Children” were her favorites. She even made a cameo appearance on the show opposite Susan Lucci in the 1980s when Winfrey was a local talk show host. Just before cancellation. ABC soap fans begged Winfrey in writing and via personal video appeals to rescue both shows and air them on her new Own network. The pressure was so great that Winfrey was compelled to make a special video explaining to fans why she could not save the shows and apologizing for not doing so. Longtime Oprah fans were disappointed, outraged and some were spurred to threaten a boycott of OWN and anything Oprah. That’s how much these shows and the actors mean to many soap fans. Winfrey, facing a struggling network, with little original programming, and very low ratings, eventually reversed herself and began airing the new original episodes of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live” that are being produced by Prospect Park.
Fans were quick to take credit for the resurrection for the two soaps and industry insiders agreed that the soap fans played a huge role in not only convincing Prospect Park to bring the soaps back, but in getting Oprah to pick them up for her network. With over 500 channels to choose from and shows that cater to ever smaller niches, executives listen when large numbers of fans are passionate about a particular genre. One soap fan said, “I have not watched any channel or show owned by a Disney network and I have not seen any Disney movie since we lost our soap, and I will continue to boycott anything attached to Disney until we got AMC and OLTL back where they belong, on network television in the afternoon. Erica Kane never settled and neither will her fans!”
Its statements like these that strike fear into TV executives and advertisers, and often they listen to these passionate fans. They pay even more attention to ratings and when “All My Children” began airing online, ratings were impressive for that medium. The show was also the the most downloaded season on iTunes for a day and the most watched show on Hulu for a day.
Fans hope these numbers and the intensity with which the fans rallied to get their shows back will convince ABC/Disney executives to bring both shows back to their daytime lineup as they were. Most fans will not even think of supporting Disney and ABC until that happens. Like Erica Kane, these fans intend to get their way, by any means necessary!
Please leave your comments!
Soap fans will you still boycotting ABC/Disney until Erica Kane and Vickie Buchanan are back to they’re time slot as they were and Disney restore Soap Net? Or will just forgive and forget your soaps?
Soap fans from a variety of outlets, pulled off the most successful boycot in television history when ABC cancelled All My Children and One Life to Live. We were responsible for tanking ABCs ratings to dead last, and after over 4 years, they have not yet recovered. Their shows are mediocre and only a few of the night time shows are highly ranked, and most typically are cancelled after only a year or two. Any good show, they just arbitrarily decide to cancel. If they did in fact, not learn anything about cancelling AMC and OLTL, and decide to cancel GH, God help them. We should effectively be able to shut them down, and I do believe the soap fans would stop at nothing short of shutting them down. ABC has not been watched live in my house since AMC left the air, and we even cancelled a Disney cruise for our family of 26 due to this.
Good for you joanbrigham! Thank you for reading and commenting.
ABC needs to learn from #GeneralHospital and see how excellent is doing and realized they f$$$ed up on cancelling AMC an OLTL. The daytime line up is so vomit inducing an repulsively ignorant, I can hurl a jet rocket at the ABC LOGO! its not the same, an it’s about high time The Spew/Chew kicks the shitstinking bucket! The original daytime line up must return. And Ben Sherwood suppose to be as new President of ABC after the Cancers of DayTime TV, FRONS AND SWEENEY WHO cancelled our soaps the the twat and fartknocker, suppose to fix ABC daytime? If not he’ll become another casualty of Frons an Sweeney!
Like I said before. ..KARMAS A BIG FAT B…H! On my Facebook wall, some man told me he sees Prospect Park loosing the lawsuit! I was like OH S..T! so let’s not get our hopes up. When I read that I am holding on to that, and you all should too.
DownwithABCYeh, you gave me a good idea. I’m going to delete the abc channel from my DVR favorites list thats been sitting there forever!!!!!!!
THANK YOU DownwithABC, 🙂
stacWe need both all my children and one live to live back for the shows to survive in the 1st place !!!! 🙂
We all need to just keep on voicing our desire to have our soaps back!!!!!!
Keep putting gentle but continuous pressure on ABC/Disney/Oprah/PP and anyone else that you need to.
I only watch GH on abc and thats it, otherwise my tv/dvr are on other channels.
I was very upset they cancelled oltl I hav watched it since I was a teen and now 35 it’s not the same w/o them I dnt watch abc except for gh cuz I also dnt want them t cancel it I watch oltl on hulu but they cancelled it too cuz of abc!! I want it back!! They put those stupid talk shows on who wants t c yet ANOTHER reality show!! So sick of them they r everywhere what happened t real shows!! So disappointed n abc!
We will never accept what has happened. We will get our old life back! We will get our shows back! I promise.
I have not watched anything ABC except GH since cancellation. I hope ABC knows better than to try to cancel GH. They will lose all of their dying audience. ABC Be smart. Bring back our stories and get your ratings back or don’t and dwindle away into the abyss. We are a great audience and we can put you on top again. We never stop. We all have energizer batteries. We keep going and going. Aren’t you getting tired of trying to fight a losing battle. Won’t be long before you will be going off air completely due to lack of interest on our part. i would think you were smarter than that! I”M JUST SAYING!
I love your comment Brenda, because I said and not the only one that said ABC will become a distant memory if they don’t make things right with us fans,and I won’t shed a tear, but I’ll laugh if they get cancelled GO OFF THE AIR! ABC will be XYZ IF THEY DON’T GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER IF THEY DON’T GET IT RIGHT!
Tell it, Toure! 🙂
I am so sick of abc and I wont watch anything except general hospital, only because i dont want them to cancel gh,i watched prospect park amc and oltl and though they were good and i was glad they were back.
I still do not watch anything daytime on ABC/Disney. While I used to be a BIG Mickey Mouse fan, I won’t even wear any of the Mickey jewelry my family has given me over the years, and made them promise to never buy me anything Disney related EVER again. No more Disney trips or movies either. I do not forgive and will not forget. The only way ABC/Disney can redeem itself is to restore the soaps.
I only watch GMA & General Hospital on ABC ! Nothing Else
I may not be as large a participant in the SOS Movement as I used to be. But I promise you that my heart and my tempers are just as powerful as they were when I yelled ‘WE ARE STILL HERE’ in a company meeting for my employers after another grocery store opened in competition with us. I have no room in my life for force-fed talk shows and I have even less interest in porto potty level reality shows. Those that enable public opinion often have more power than the ones who write the law. And we, the people, still have the power to affect the changes we want to see in the world. Don’t give up and never surrender!!!!!
The only reason I’ve started to watch General Hospital again is because they had the sense to hire one of the best daytime actors out there: Ilene Kristen, aka Delia from RYAN’S HOPE and as Roxy on OLTL. Why they did not include her in the internet reboot was a huge mistake. Then I heard she was going to a new net series called PAINTED or TAINTED DREAMS, a cast that includes bunches of faces and names of soap stars we all love. So who knows? Can Ms. Kristen handle life in L.A.? 🙂
I am still boycotting ABC daytime shows other than General Hospital, because I support all soaps. All My Children and One Life to Live are wonderful shows, and I believe ABC made a big mistake in cancelling them. I even get aggravated when I turn on General Hospital and the end of The Chew is on. I want nothing to do with The Chew! I will be forever grateful to Prospect Park, and I hope with all my heart that there will be a season two and beyond of All My Children and One Life to Live.
I am so still boycotting ABC until they return One Life and AMC to their rightful place!!!!!!!!!