Five Stages of Loss

Last week, ABC announced that they would be cancelling two of their three soap operas: One Life to Live and All My Children. The writing was on the wall when ABC announced they were discontinuing SoapNet. Then, the cast of Dancing With the Stars was announced and not a single soap actor. Still, I did not see it coming.

I waited to post anything about it because, to be perfectly honest, I was grief stricken. This may sound silly to anyone who does not watch soap operas. Soap operas have been a big part of my life for 12 years. Soap operas are where my obsessive fandom began. I am the person I am because of soap operas. These cancellations essentially mean the end of soap operas. Hearing about them, I began the five stages of grief.


Step One: Denial
When I talked to my aunt on the day it was announced, we were both in denial. "Maybe it's a publicity stunt." My aunt likened it to the day Elvis died. "That was shocking," she said, "but this is going to take longer to get over." My aunt has watched AMC since day one. She has been present for all 10 of Erica Kane's weddings. I imagine that she is having a tougher time trying to cope with this.


Step Two: Anger
I saw an online petition by fans to fire Brian Frons, the head of ABC Daytime. That seems very unnecessary and fueled by anger. I am extremely angry and will probably send an angry email, letter and may participate in protests to save the soaps, but trying to get people fired is taking it too far. Fans anger turned to Oprah for not stepping up to save AMC and OLTL. Even my aunt suggested that Oprah should buy the shows for OWN. My response was that it is Oprah's network and if that's not the direction she wants to take her network in, I completely understand.


Step Three: Bargaining
In my head, I've gone over and over all the plans I would pitch to ABC to save AMC and OLTL. Maybe they should go back to half an hour. Maybe they should cut down the number of days each week that they broadcast. They could combine AMC and OLTL into one soap. And then, I've also thought, "Dear God, why didn't you cancel Bold and the Beautiful instead?" I've done my fair share of bargaining this week.


Step Four: Depression
I have been super sad this week while watching One Life to Live. It has been really good and to think about it being cancelled is extremely disappointing. One current storyline is about teen bullying at school and on the internet. So far, it has been so well done because it involves two prominent teen characters, an attempted suicide and therapy sessions. I absolutely adore this storyline. This is why soaps are great and soon they won't be around anymore. I am extremely sad.


Step Five: Acceptance
The final step has been the hardest for me. I've gotten so close to getting there, but it's just not happening. Today, I heard about Oprah's official response to soap fans. Oprah said,

"If there was a dime left to be made from them on broadcast television, it would still be happening…. All good things come to an end. All things have their time…. I will not be taking on the responsibility of trying to revive an institution that, for all intent and all purpose, indicates that that time has come for it to be over."

This is extremely simplistic and a slap in the face to the soap opera industry. I had defended Oprah's decision to not buy AMC and OLTL because that was her choice, but she is eulogizing a piece of radio and tv history that is not yet dead. She could fix it if she wanted, but she does not want to. That is her choice. But this statement makes me angry. Maybe I haven't gotten out of Step Two yet.


The Problems
The soap opera industry is stuck in a rut. There are a hand full of head writers that have run the soaps into the ground and continue to work in the industry. The writers recycle plot lines such as the Tess/Jess/Bess multiple personality storyline which has been done 3 times in the last 5 years and is also just a retelling of the Viki/Niki/Jean multiple personality storyline. Soap operas used to be "love in the afternoon." Writers used to take time to invest the audience in a couple. That is how so many supercouples were created. Now, writers go the Romeo and Juliet route. They throw two people together who after one meeting decide they are in love and every conversation they have after that is about being in love. The writers want and expect them to become a super couple without investing any time into building the relationship. Even most sitcoms nowadays invest time in their couples. Soap operas have gotten away from what made them great and that is well crafted romances.

A major problem for soap operas is the fact that they have become the butt of jokes. People like continuing story lines. People like romance. But most people feel they are above soap operas. I took many media studies classes in college and people often looked down on soap operas and then said that Grey's Anatomy was their favorite tv show. The powers that be continue to market soap operas to housewives even though they should market it to a wider audience. Soap operas are not that different from comic books. Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars are very popular space operas but soap operas would never be marketed to those crowds.

Oprah said that not enough people are home during the day to watch soap operas, but if she bought them for her network, she could put them on at any time she wanted. But no. She would rather tell me the soap opera is a dying genre. I have to say that Oprah is just plain wrong. Soap operas are not dead yet and they could be revived. But the truth is no one who can wants to do that.

But I'm not going to give up on AMC and OLTL. And I'm certainly not giving up on the soap opera genre. It's been around for nearly 80 years. I know in my heart that these shows could be saved.

Maybe I haven't gotten out of Step One.

Bad Romance

I hate Romeo and Juliet. I always have. I read it for the first time in my freshman English class in high school. I hated. I saw it that year at Chicago Shakespeare. I wanted to punch Juliet in the face. I've tried to sit though Romeo (plus sign) Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. It makes me so angry. I don't know why they think it's a good idea to use this play to introduce Shakespeare to high school students. I guess it's because it's a pretty straight forward story and a very recognizable story. But still. It's horrible. Maybe that was just high school me. Not older, cultured, theatre major me. Well, I've read it again in college. I still hate it.

I hate that people point to Romeo and Juliet as being a great love story (Taylor Swift, I'm looking at you). Today, in my Shakespeare class, someone brought up Romeo and Juliet in discussion of Othello. They said that Othello and Desdemona did not have a strong love like Romeo and Juliet. Are you kidding? Romeo and Juliet met one night. Decided to get married the next. Got married. He was banished later that day. She faked her death the next day. He came back, thought she was dead, killed himself. She wakes up, sees he is dead and kills herself. Yeah. That's a strong love. They spent about fifteen minutes together. Three days ago, he was head over heels for Rosaline.

It's not romantic. It's not really tragic. If anything, it's melodrama. Their love is so simplified. They just love each other. They see each other and just are in love. The only conversations they ever had were about how they loved each other. I don't buy it. This may be because I have a heart made of pure ice, but I'd like to believe that it's what Shakespeare intended. Friar Lawrence is the only one who has any sense. In Act 2 when Romeo is all like "Friar Lawrence, marry me and Juliet. We are totally in love and need to be married like now" (I may be paraphrasing slightly). Friar Lawrence tells Romeo, "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." If I considered this a tragedy, that would be the tragic flaw. Haste. Everything is about doing it now. I mean, if Romeo just waited twenty seconds before killing himself, everything would have been fine.

Okay, I'm going on a full fledged love tirade.

I've already complained about the Romeo and Juliet-like romance between Padme and Anakin. But can I ever really complain enough about that? Again, two people look at each other and are in love. Their romance doesn't move as quick as Romeo and Juliet's does but that doesn't matter because Anakin is a psychopath. Padme does not come off as a strong woman for standing by her man, she comes off as an idiot. Oh wait, I guess I'm forgetting that famous saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough lose the will to live."

Once upon a time, soap operas used to spend time to build up a supercouple. Really show them falling in love. Now, they throw two characters together and expect me to care about them. I don't. You really need to work to make me care. You know, like have two people actually go on more than one date. Or maybe wait a year before having them get married. For instance, on Days of Our Lives, Phillip and Melanie just got married on Valentine's Day (don't even get me started on that one). The thing about that is Phillip and Melanie dated for like a month before deciding to get married and then got married a couple months later. Also Phillip had been engaged to Stephanie like six months earlier. Also, Stephanie was the maid of honor at Melanie and Phillip's wedding. None of this is realistic at all. Also note that I watched Passions for six years and Charity being possessed by the devil never bothered me but this does.

I believe that love can be portrayed in a way that doesn't make me want to vomit. When Harry Met Sally... is probably the greatest romantic comedy. Why could that be? Maybe because we can see Harry and Sally fall in love. They have conversations that have more depth than "I'm only beautiful because I love you."

I guess since I complain about Padme and Anakin, I should say that I adore the Han and Leia relationship. If my ice heart ever melts and I say to someone, "I love you" and they reply with "I know," I would marry them right then and there. Padme and Anakin are like Romeo and Juliet and therefore are also kinda like Claudio and Hero from Much Ado About Nothing. Claudio and Hero are the horrible romance in Much Ado. The good romance is Beatrice and Benedick. Han and Leia are like Beatrice and Benedick who appear to hate each other and snark back and forth at each other until they realize that they are in love. These romances work for me.

Okay, I think this tirade is over. And yes, I will be alone forever. I'm not really a cat person.

So, Alone by Heart just came on the radio as I finished writing that last sentence. It makes me wonder if there is hope for me yet. Probably not.

What will be canceled next? Is this the end of soap operas? What will Sarah do with her life? Stay tuned.

I am one sad porcupine. It was announced yesterday that CBS will not renew As The World Turns. Soap opera fan sites have tried to assure me that this does not mean that ATWT will go off the air. Perhaps another channel will pick it up. Except probably not. We've been down this road before. Passions was canceled by NBC in September 2007 and then was picked up by DirectTV except they only lasted a year there and aired their last episode in September 2008. Then this past September, Guiding Light was canceled after 72 years. I know it costs a lot of money to produce a soap opera but CBS could not hold out for 75 years? Anyway, now I'm told that As the World Turns will be canceled in September 2010. For the past 3 years, one soap has gone off the air each year. I worry for my precious Days of Our Lives and I worry for the soap opera in general.

Paul pointed out to me that ATWT was the last Procter and Gamble soap. Procter and Gamble pretty much invented the soap opera during the Great Depression to sell soap and other household products. It's the end of an era.

Can soap operas really survive much longer? Once ATWT is gone, there will only be six soap operas on the air. Rumors have been going around for a while that Days is not long for this world and that One Life to Live will be canceled. Hera, help me. This can not happen. Look, I've already started the five stages of grief.

I feel confident in saying that All My Children will not be canceled anytime soon. They're getting ready to move production to LA. If they turn around and cancel it next year, that would just be cruel. There's no way they would make everyone move only to cancel it soon after. Well, it is ABC, so who knows.

Young & the Restless is the only soap to have a prominent black family. Not just a black character. They have a black family. And they've been around for a while. The older characters actually have storylines on Y&R. Katherine Chancellor is as old as dirt and she has storylines that don't involve her being someone's mother or grandmother or great grandmother. Moral of the story: Y&R appeals to lots of demographics. It's been the highest rated soap for 10 years. CBS would have to be crazy to cancel it.

I don't really care for the Bold & the Beautiful and it's the only half hour soap left. Whatever.

James Franco is currently guest starring on General Hospital. I don't know if that has brought the ratings any higher but it seems like ABC most really care about GH to actually get an actor that people have heard of to guest star in multiple episodes. GH was a big deal back in the day. They had Luke and Laura. Millions and millions of people watched back in the 80s. Maybe if ABC really wanted to save GH, they could bring back Genie Francis. Just saying. Anywho, GH does all right for itself. I don't see ABC canceling it anytime soon because it seems like the only soap they really, truly care about. With that said, bring back Genie Francis, please.

OLTL is a sinking ship. With ATWT being canceled and AMC moving to LA, it's going to be the only New York soap. AMC and GH will be able to do cross over storylines. And OLTL will be... um... the cast will be able to appear on The View more often... and that's about it. If the cast had any sense, they would high tail it out to LA before they're left jobless and alone in New York because obviously there are no other jobs in that city for actors. I vote OLTL the most likely to be canceled next.

Days. My beloved Days. I fear for you. Word on the street is that Days is the only show to gain viewers this year, but it's still not doing great. There is nothing that really indicates that NBC would not cancel it. NBC has wanted to get out of the soap opera business for a while. It's their only soap left. It would make a lot of sense for them to cancel it. But they can not do that. Please do not do that. For my sanity. Days has been a constant in my life for 10 years. The Harry Potter books have already ended for me. You can not take this away too. I've watched Days for longer than most of my friendships have lasted. A part of me would be missing without it. I know it sounds lame but it is true.