Save The Soap Operas!

Yesterday, we all said goodbye to the popular soap opera All My Children. I was one of those fans who sat on the couch and didn't leave until the final minutes aired. Once the show was over, I was full of sadness along with anger.

My head is still wrapping around the fact that 90% of these soap operas are cancelling one after another. It's still a shocker to me that it is all happening so fast. Guiding Light, the longest running soap opera in America was canceled. Another year came by and As The World Turns left our lives. Now we are saying goodbye to All My Children with One Life To Live right around the corner.

The one thing I like about soap operas is that it fulfills what all of us wish all tv shows could be. We wish they are daily shows. That was the one thing I love about it. Then as I started researching what goes on behind the scenes I completely understand why the shows are weekly. If all shows were daily, it would be alot of stress on the cast and crew. Screenwriters have to write fresh scripts everyday. Actors got to rehearse and shoot with only a few days for a break. The crew would sometimes have to sleep on set in order to stay updated on the upcoming tasks. Also, there is promotion and marketing, getting people into tuning back in to watch the show.

It truly is some hard work.

I started watching soap operas as much as I could once I turned seventeen. I always want to see what new type of stories they were bringing to the table. Everything is fresh and new to my brain and I was one of those fans mesmerized in every story. I felt like I am truly a part of that soap opera family. The Young and the Restless was first, and then All My Children progressed swiftly into my life. I'm still working on the others, but they will be a part of my life soon.

Irna Philips, Agnes Nixon, and William J. Bell to name a few have brought us these shows that have spellbinding stories. We can't help but to sit out butts down and see what each of these characters are going through. As soon as you thought you got the whole story down, there is a new twist at the end of the episode. It's that devotion to the stories that made me fall in love with soap operas.

It still gets under my skin that one of the reasons that All My Children was cancelled and the reality lifestyle show The Chew is taking it's place was because the production cost would be 40% less than the soap opera's daily budget. I already knew the other reason was because of declining ratings. After all, reality television is all over the place. However, I would not remove a legacy from television just to increase the things going into my wallet because of this new reality show. I would keep it on television as much as fans want to.

Even when the ratings declined, the people that weren't watching it told them to keep it on the air. That's how much people love soap operas. So for all fans of soap operas all the world, let's save the soap operas. If we have to march for it, I would join without second guessing it.