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Digital News Report – The ABC Network announced they will be canceling two of their daytime soap opera dramas.
“One Life to Live”, which has been on the air for 43 years, will be replaced with “Chew”, a cooking show. “All My Children”, which has been on the air for 41 years, will be replaced with a health show. Currently the network plans on naming the health information show “The Revolution”.
The network says that changing viewer habits prompted their change. The producer of the Paula Deen Home cooking show, Gordon Elliot, will produce “Chew”, which is expected to take over the “All My Children” (AMC) time slot (1 ET/12 PT/C pm) in September.
“One Life to Live” will be replaced by the Revolution in the 2 ET/1 PT/C pm time slot; a show about health and lifestyle “transformations”. A team of experts is expected to host the show beginning in January 2012.
Rather than producing a show like the Oprah Winfrey or Dr Oz Show, the formats are expected to resemble “The View” with Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd. They believe multiple hosts will be a winning formula for daytime success.
The network knows that viewers will be upset with the change. “While we are excited about our new shows and the shift in our business, I can’t help but recognize how bittersweet the change is,” said Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney ABC/Television Group.
Since its inception on January 5, 1970, Susan Lucci has played Erica Kane on All my Children . The show will end in September 2011.
One Life to Live has been on the air since July 15, 1968. This was the first weekday drama serial. Both General Hospital and One Life to Live expanded their format from 30 minutes to 45 minutes in July of 1976. In 1978 they changed both shows to one hour.
General Hospital will still be on the air at 3 ET/2 PT/C pm. The Oprah Winfrey Show will play in reruns through September.
By Mark Williams
One Life to Live must not go! This soap is great — I have enjoyed it for many years. I have seen many of my favorite series cancelled (like “Medium”) and never complained, but now I am taking a stance.
We have too many talk shows now, we certainly do not need more. It seems to me all the good shows get canceled. What is the criteria for eliminating a show. It certainly is not quality. Good shows seemed to always be replaced with junk — it is all the same stuff rehashed over and over, and over. What are the producers thinking?! What happened to creativity? You have to be brain dead to watch half the stuff that is on now.
The only good thing to come out of this is I spend less time watching TV.