ABC Cancels 2 Longtime Soaps From Daytime Lineup (1000 hits)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC canceled two of its three soap operas on Thursday, consigning "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" — and Susan Lucci, daytime's most famous actress — to television history. The move leaves "General Hospital" as ABC's only daytime drama, one of only four that will remain on ABC, CBS and NBC's daytime schedule. Soap operas have slowly been fading as a TV force, with many of the women who made up the target audience now in the work force. In place of the two canceled dramas, ABC will air shows about food and lifestyle transformations.
"One Life to Live" is the last soap opera produced in New York, once the thriving center of the industry. Two New York-based dramas on CBS, "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns," went off the air within the past two years. "All My Children" is averaging 2.5 million viewers a day, down 9 percent from the last TV season, and the median age of a typical viewer was nearly 57, the Nielsen Co. said. "One Life to Live" is at 2.6 million, its numbers off only slightly. "All My Children" will go off the air in September, replaced by "The Chew," a live one-hour show where "viewers get the dish on anything and everything related to the world of food," ABC promised. "One Life to Live" lasts until January. Its replacement is "The Revolution," made by the producers behind "The Biggest Loser," and will be a health and lifestyle show featuring fashion expert Tim Gunn.
