Friday, May 20, 2011

On my soapbox...

I was so sad to hear the news last month that two soap operas that I used to love are being canceled. I'm sure you've already heard but All my Children is ending in September and One Life to Live will follow in January.


I have to admit that I haven't exactly followed the shows for quite a few years and it didn't really come as a huge shock. I'm sure that both of these soaps have a mostly female demographic, even though I bet a bunch of guys watch and just don't admit it. And let's face it, we women rarely have time to sit around and watch soaps anymore. But the news still felt like yet another cultural icon that technology has stolen from us. Dramatic, much? Sorry, I was channeling my inner soap diva there for a second.




Did you know that some of today's most famous movie stars started out on soap operas? David Hasselhoff (okay, I know Hoff isn't a major star but I can't help it, I love the guy), Jason Biggs, Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, and tons more. My favorite soap star to big screen in Josh Duhamel. He used to play Leo on All my Children and I adored him. So hot!
Cameron Mathison and Rebecca Buddig are two of my favorite stars still on All my Children. I'm hoping that they both find jobs doing what they love.



And who can forget Susan Lucci? She has played the character we all love to hate, Erica Kane, since the shows inception in 1970. I'm sure that the writers have some very dramatic endings planned and I, for one, will be watching!

Will you be sad to see soaps phased off television? Who is your favorite soap character of all time?




xo,

Stephanie

6 comments:

Heather Davis said...

I've never really watched Soaps - except for a brief summer in high school when I watched One Life to Live. I think you're right, Steph - times have really changed. People don't have a chunk in the middle of their days to sit down and watch (hours of) soaps.

Bravo is kind of the king of soap operas now -- Real Housewives of... has so many crazy things going on (brawl at christening last week on premiere of RH of NJ) so maybe that is the new soap opera. And don't even get me started on what's happened to the experiment called The Real World. ;)

TinaFerraro said...

I used to watch ANOTHER WORLD in high school. All my friends did...it was something we talked about as if it was in our daily lives! Later, I wanted to write soaps, but never had the right "in..."

erica and christy said...

I admit to an addiction to Days of Our Lives over the summers when I'm not teaching. A fairly-guiltless pleasure!! (although these days I don't know too many of the actors!)
erica

Ricki Schultz said...

I used to want to *be* on GENERAL HOSPITAL; of course I'm sad! My blog is called "My Daytime Drama" in part because my first MS was about a soap nut -- but I digress.:)

I plan to blog about this in the coming weeks as well, but it *is* sad. Like you, I haven't been glued to my screen, watching Adam Chandler and Jackson Montgomery every day -- hardly at all these days, in fact. But there was just something so comforting about knowing they were there. That, essentially, you could jump back in and the story lines, the casts, the characters were familiar.

I dunno. Maybe that's why they got the ax. But still. It reminds me of my childhood. Of playing Barbies on with my mom, which she watched GH.

And I suppose it's all a part of growing up, but it's just one moe thing to remind me that that was a looooong time ago.

I hope those actors find jobs elsewhere as well. There are many fine actors with soap beginnings, as you mentioned. (Rob Lowe, John Stamos & Michael Weatherly, to name a few more delicious examples!)

So sad! And the day GH goes off the air? *oh noes!* I don't even know what I'll do without Sonny Corinthos!

Ricki Schultz said...

Eek - sorry for those typos! Can't fix now! *facepalm*

Heather Bitzer said...

Days of Our Lives! My mom now cringes to hear me admit the number of times I cut classes to watch the end of a big storyline. Marlena possessed by the devil, Susan masquerading as Kristen and naming her baby Elvis, Princess Gina piloting a submarine to kidnap John... I could go on! Even though I don't watch every day, I'd be sad to know the people of Salem weren't there anymore. Especially if the alternative was more reality TV and talk shows.