Soap Scum

I haven't blogged in a while, but this is an important issue to bring up here. ABC and Disney, in their infinite stupidity, are canceling All My Children and One Life is Live. AMC had lousy ratings but OLTL actually does reasonably well for daytime. I know many think soap operas are idiotic and cheesy, but they are the most character driven programs in TV history. An integral genre is nearly extinct now.

Four long running soaps will be gone in less than four years time, if ABC has its way. General Hospital and Days of our Lives could soon follow. That would leave exactly two soaps.

What is so bad about the death of the soap opera, you may be asking about now. There are two main reasons It is tragic. As tragic as the death of a beloved soap character like Stuart Chandler or Luna Moody.

The first reason is the loss of a great talent builder. Demi Moore, John Stamos, Judith Light, Rick Springfield, Sarah Michelle gellar, Morgan Freeman, Amanda Seyfried, Susan Sarandon, and many others, honed their acting skills on daytime dramas. Soap stars work several hours a day, five or more days a week, often with no retakes. That's quite an education for an actor, or even a writer, director, or camera person.

The other reason is the demise of TV fiction. I am serious here. Some reality shows are great, but every time a scripted show is replaced with a dirt cheap reality show, we inch closer to killing creativity and driving more writers to the unemployment line.

#saveoursoaps
Sean Clogston
Tweet me @seanfromvt