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"As the World Turns" is Canceled!

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bigdaddy

Vice Admiral
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Bye bye soup operas, now if we could just get rid of "reality" TV....

And then there were six.
The ailing soap industry took another hit this morning with the announcement that CBS has canceled As the World Turns. The show will end its 54-year-run in September.
The move, which comes just months after CBS bid adieu to Guiding Light, will leave just six soaps on the air. The number could soon shrink to five if ABC axes One Life to Live, as has been rumored.
“We are disappointed and saddened by the news that the show is not being renewed,” said ATWT exec producer Chris Goutman in a statement. ”It will certainly be a loss for all of us, and for the show’s loyal audience.”
Producers are shopping the show around to other outlets, but don’t hold your breath. A similar effort was mounted for GL, and we saw how well that worked out.
Thoughts?
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http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/12/08/breaking-cbs-cancels-as-the-world-turns/
 
bigdaddy said:
Bye bye soup operas, now if we could just get rid of "reality" TV....
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Agreed. Good riddance to both.

The thing that bugs me most about soaps is that the characters are all evil. Since when did we actually see a genuinely good, upstanding, honest, decent, moral character on a soap? They couldn't allow that, of course, since soaps are all about pain. Lots of tragedy, downers, plots, schemes. Everyone is nasty. Everyone stabs everyone else in the back. No one is good. That's what really pisses me off. :(

Although a SOUP opera might be good. Delicious! :D
 
I never thought about that, all the soap opera characters must be New Yorkers. :lol:

I do find it sad that after 54 years and 76 for the other one that they are ending without a bang. If I were the creators I would blow up the town. :lol:
 
Could be, honestly. The actual demographic just doesn't exist anymore. These are geared almost entirely to the 'stay at home mom', a role that has shrunk significantly in the past 20 years. Not that there still aren't some, but more and more mothers are going back to work, so the available group to sit around at 1pm and watch these things every day is shrinking rapidly as the loyal fans age.

Add in that the storylines get more and more ridiculious every episode, and you kinda have to watch regularly, or else the show will be so messed up that they'll lose you. Easier to just mindlessly watch Oprah or a Judge show for a few minutes, no committment.

The "modern" soap operas are reality tv shows, or things like Grey's Anatomy, prime-time shows.
 
Garm Bel Iblis said:
is this because the key demographic is dying off?
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Perhaps not in a literal sense. The key demographic is housewives, and these days there are a lot more women in the workforce, a lot more two-income households. Maybe there just aren't enough people staying home all day five days a week to sustain the genre.


In other news, Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner is in talks to develop a sci-fi reboot called As the World Turns Backwards. :D
 
Maybe less soap operas will mean actors with talent will actually get hired instead of young pretty people who take their shirts off a lot but can't even read cue cards convincingly.

Nah, who am I kidding? These are soap operas, after all. :p

Mr. Laser Beam said:
The thing that bugs me most about soaps is that the characters are all evil. Since when did we actually see a genuinely good, upstanding, honest, decent, moral character on a soap? They couldn't allow that, of course, since soaps are all about pain. Lots of tragedy, downers, plots, schemes. Everyone is nasty. Everyone stabs everyone else in the back. No one is good. That's what really pisses me off. :(
Click to expand...

There was a genuinely good cop on General Hospital named, I think, Brian, who got shot and killed by a girl he was friends with because he was trying to take down a mafia organization involving the girl's brother and a guy she was involved with. And since they love to glorify the mafia on that show (despite the fact that apparently they don't seem do anything illegal because they're not involved with drugs, weapons or human trafficking, but lots of killing takes place over their "business") with those two characters that nothing bad will ever happen to, some innocent girl that abhors their lifestyle had to shoot and kill the nice guy cop. Because on General Hospital, nice guy cops with no personal demons are considered the bad guys. :lol:
 
Christopher said:
Garm Bel Iblis said:
is this because the key demographic is dying off?
Click to expand...

Perhaps not in a literal sense. The key demographic is housewives, and these days there are a lot more women in the workforce, a lot more two-income households. Maybe there just aren't enough people staying home all day five days a week to sustain the genre.
Click to expand...

But didn't George Bush help that by driving the country into the dumper? Now everyone has nothing to do during the day because there are no more jobs!
 
As the American soaps die off the spanish ones, called Novelas, are going strong. They have a key difference though - they last six to eight months and then end. Then a new one with different characters and story lines start (well different name characters and new locales on the story lines).
 
Another major part of it is you can't sell soaps on DVD. At least not like regular television series.
 
I don't watch CBS soaps... I will watch GH occasionally, though. It's sad to see some people lose jobs they've held for 20+ years though.
 
Scout101 said:
Add in that the storylines get more and more ridiculious every episode,
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Wasn't there one a few years ago that had actual ALIENS? :guffaw:

Bloodwhiner said:
As the American soaps die off the spanish ones, called Novelas, are going strong. They have a key difference though - they last six to eight months and then end. Then a new one with different characters and story lines start (well different name characters and new locales on the story lines).
Click to expand...

Like this? ;)

Teelie said:
Another major part of it is you can't sell soaps on DVD. At least not like regular television series.
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All of Dark Shadows is on DVD, isn't it? And I think there's at least one other soap that is starting to come out on disc.
 
I'm not a fan of soap operas, but frankly I'd rather have them on than another Dr. Phil or Oprah clone. I mean, seriously, are soaps really doing any harm to anyone? They're a great training ground for actors, and have themselves attracted quite a few names of note, too.

Plus you have to respect a show that has managed to run for 50 years. Daily. With no reruns. Any show that has managed to maintain storylines for that long (or for 72 years in the case of the late Guiding Light) deserves all the respect we can give it, regardless if we watch or not. And sometimes the plotlines got weird (yes, there have been aliens in a few shows, and there was a soap opera about 10 years back that was a crossover with Bewitched and featured characters like Dr. Bombay. And I don't believe we'd have Twilight if it weren't for the ground broken by a little soap called Dark Shadows 40 years ago).

There are people who have literally spent their entire lives watching these shows. It's sad to see them taken away. And anyone who turns their noses up at soap operas not being complex or having storylines worth following ... read that earlier sentence again. "50 years. Daily. With no reruns." Nothing in any genre can compare to it.

And it's not as if there's a new soap waiting to take its place. This will either be replaced by another talk show, or the space might just be sold for informercials. And actual GENRE is dying, people. And piss on soaps all you want. For all we know science fiction might be the next to go.

Alex
 
I don't watch soaps, but you've got a good point, several people I follow, and watch what I can, either started out in soaps totally, or pretty much owe the fact their career is beyond a few stints as a background/child actor. With that said, even if some lines get reused every few years, and blah blah lbah, to have lasted fifty years or more...wow. Just, wow.
 
Heh, the only reality show I watch is Dragon's Den, as it's different from the crappy model that makes up most American reality shows.
 
Its sad about ATWT. I don't know why people put down the soaps. General Hospital's Luke Spencer would kick Captian Kirk's ass.
 
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