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[Max]

Today (April 1) marks the third anniversary of GL's cancellation announcement. Obviously, that announcement came as a shock to nobody. But a relative few could have forseen the huge tumult that was to follow in the industry over the next thirty-six months. (To their credit, there were some who did predict that GL's demise would lead to the downfall of the entire genre.) Pretty much, the only major implication of that day's news seemed to be that the longest running program in broadcast history would be gone come that September.

By the way, just because I am surprised that ATWT, AMC, and OLTL were cancelled does not contradict my belief that those cancellations were justified. Justified or not, however, I am shocked that three additional, long-running soaps would be gone in such a short period of time. Prior to GL's cancellation, it had been ten years since another long-running soap was axed. Because GL could have been cancelled in 2003 with justification (but instead was kept on for much too long), I just assumed that all those other soaps would last considerably longer than they did (i.e., about five to seven years longer). It wasn't until later in 2009--once OLTL was left for dead (as a result of AMC being moved to LA) and ATWT was cancelled in December--when I realized that the genre might be in serious trouble.

Edited by Max, 01 April 2012 - 07:56 AM.