Sorry soap fans, there’s no help coming from Oprah Winfrey. The daytime host and mogul has announced that she and her cable channel aren’t going to be able to save All My Children and One Life to Live from being cancelled.
From her offices, Winfrey taped a video message to fans who’ve been asking her to rescue the two ABC soaps for her cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. She said:
“I would like to say, ‘Thank you’ to everybody who has been responding, bombarding our message board really, with your requests for me, for OWN, to take on the soaps. I understand. Being a fan of All My Children growing up, watching The Young and the Restless and other soaps, knowing what it feels like to have a show that you love go off the air. I understand. I understand the loyalty. I understand the sense of disappointment. I felt this way when Mary Tyler Moore went off the air, I must say.”
“And, I appreciate that you all think I could save the soaps, but here is the bone marrow truth: The soaps have been an institution in broadcast history and television because they have had the support of the audience. When I first started doing my show, All My Children and General Hospital were getting double digit ratings. As the years have passed, those double digits have become single digits and [lower] single digits until now, many soaps are not getting even a full digit number because there just are not enough people who are at home in the daytime to watch them and because of that they are going off the air.”
“Believe me, if there was if there was a dime left to be made from them on broadcast television it would still be happening.”
“And so, because all good things come to an end, all things have their time, as do the soaps, as does The Oprah Winfrey Show, 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. So, thank you for believing that I could save them, but I really can’t.”
What do you think? Do you think there’s still a place for soap operas on television or do you agree with Winfrey that their time is over?
oprah, as i remember correctly ,it was daytime viewers who MADE YOU! So don’t think we can’t take you out. DON’T KISS THE WRONG BIG GREEN ASS. good luck on your OWN NETWORK
I think it stinks…and I disagree with Oprah! I watch it every day and so do all my friends….dont believe that is is becoming a dinosaur! She is all about money and whatevers suits her…I guess AMC does fit into her pattern of life! Dont believe it has lost its luster or its audience!
Fight for your entertainment!
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/savesoap/petition.html
To me it dose not make cense to say that the soaps are going off because we lovers of these show are not at home. Most tv watchers rec. anyway, wither im home or not I rec. I am a hair stylist for over 40 yrs. all the ladies of all ages in the solon feel the same way. I know my words wont be herd, but I just had to but it out there. What a shame! That is all we need is another reality show
I disagree with Oprah. and I will never watch her network because not everything is about money. It’s not like she is poor.
i understand but there is still a ton of soap fans i won;t be watching tv at all during the day after the soaps are gone , there isn;t anything on worth watching much anymore there’s not much need for a tv now days
Oh Oprah…just when I thought you couldn’t become anymore of a stereotypical, money mongering, hypocrite. Strange that OWN purports to be about quality programming for women when, in reality, it is actually about “the dime to be had from it”… your very OWN words, Oprah…shame, shame!
Too bad Oprah doesn’t realize the ratings are only like that because the ratings system only counts the live views. Back when she began her show (1985), and the soaps were in the “double digits,” the only form of watching anything was live, or maybe recorded on tape. But today we have DVR/Tivo, online, and on demand, all of which the views for are never counted. It’s an unfortunate situation, because if all forms of viewership were counted, more shows would be able to stay on the air. Sadly, it’s all about the money and the networks could care less… Read more »
RecceR » It’s all about how many people see the commercials, not how many people watch the show. It’s always been that way. As in the case of newspapers, the articles are used to fill in around the ads, not the other way around.
we need to keep one live to live on. if you take it off then you better shoot some of us