rant*

Okay here's my two cents...well may be three....l'll start by saying I'm so much more a reader of the boards than a poster. I get too caught up in the drama... and angered by the negativity so now I just read.

I think we all agree AMC is in a bit of a slump. But any true soap fan has watched many many slumps over the years.....will watch them rise and slump again.....they are soap operas!!!!!

Imagine what it takes to tell new fresh relevant stories everyday for 40, 50, 60 years!! It cannot be easy.

It makes me sooo angry when people say they are going to stop watching because it's not at its greatest, and it infuriates me when people say a show should be cancelled for ANY reason!! We know the genre is WAY UNDER appreciated in the entertainment industry....we fans must never.

Soaps are unlike ANYTHING! In the gifts they give their viewer....what else can you spend a lifetime watching, gives you characters that become our life long friends, people we see more often than many of our extended family members stories that can shape our lives...nothing!

And if one (or more) of those life long "friends" leaves, be it the decision of the show or the actor...it's sad but you must take it as part of the history that makes up this wonderful genre. Mistake are made(TPTB) people(actors) want change.

I'm devastated by the loss of Julia Vincent Teri.... and I will write and call ABC/Disney as much as I can to let them know...which is what we should all do. Soap fans have lost their voice!!!! I think in part due to these boards...while they are a great way to reach other soap fans, they are a breeding ground for negativity. If all that energy, anger and time was devoted and pointed in the right way I think we could get what we want.

We are soap fans and we rival ANY fans of ANYTHING in the world. We must NEVER be fair-weather fans!!! If you stop watching because things get slow or set dates that you will stop watching by if things are not "fixed" you were never a TRUE FAN you were somebody that watched the show! I would watch AMC if it was an hour of Erica looking out a window silently.....heck I'd watch if it was ?? I don't know ...Annie, anybody!! My point is I will never stop watching!!!

Imagine your horrible doom prediction happened, (really to any soap) and it's replaced by some new reality show format or new talk show or something and it TEMPORARILY does well. You thing the other networks would be far behind in cutting their soaps??? I don't! I truly think in today's entertainment world the end of just ONE more soap could be the undoing of them all!

Then where would we be?.....on these boards??? saying remember the soaps?? How great were they I really miss them!...now we get to watch the girl on (insert new talk show) who is afraid of light bulbs or does not know who the father of her baby is...or the boy that lives off bugs on (insert new reality show)??? I do not want to see this day do you????

So SUPPORT your soap.....they ALL need it!

end rant

Hey, I appreciate your optimism, but I think it’s blind. I love AMC. I want it to thrive and be successful. The first episode I saw was in 1982. The storyline involved an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. Those scenes of Donna & Chuck trapped in that cave were my first memories of AMC. Don’t think the show isn’t near and dear to my heart – because it is. I wouldn't be so worried if I didn't care. The ratings are a clear reflection that the audience wants change. I demand that the show get better - and I think I have that right considering all the years I have invested in the show. Don't think I'll accept any old crap they'll throw at me and don't think I'll let them completely insult my intelligence. The AMC I know is better than that.

Asking people to watch AMC out of blind devotion is like asking a victim of domestic violence to stay with their abuser. Sometimes you have to leave.

Hey, I appreciate your optimism, but I think it’s blind. I love AMC. I want it to thrive and be successful. The first episode I saw was in 1982. The storyline involved an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. Those scenes of Donna & Chuck trapped in that cave were my first memories of AMC. Don’t think the show isn’t near and dear to my heart – because it is. The ratings are a clear reflection that the audience wants change. Asking people to watch AMC out of blind devotion is like asking a victim of domestic violence to stay with the abuser because they “love” them. Sometimes you have to leave.

Are you really equating being abused by your spouse to watching a bad episode of a soap???? That's silly and crazy you think they are anywhere near related. The point of my post was not to have "blind devotion" the point was to fight for what you love...and NEVER give up on it. We clearly have different views on what it takes to be a fan. Just like in sports you can't love the team when they win and hate them when they lose....it's not fair....

I love AMC and have stuck with it in bad times before and will stick with it--partly because I do sometimes enjoy brief scenes on most eps... it's partly just a habit when unwinding before bed (though more and more I find myself doing work at the same time, etc...)

However I don't think you can or should ask fans to watch even when they don't like what they see. It doesn't make sense. I really hope it can be saved and still am optimistic (even if others laugh at me...) but

E

I started watching AMC around 1980 and I have stuck with it in the past through thick and thin. There have been other times when actors have left and almost every storyline sucked (McT's 2nd stint in 1998 leaps to mind), but the core aspect of the show was still there, namely the families.

Now, the Cortlandts and Martins have been depleted. Erica, Tad, Dixie, Adam are acting out of character more often than not. My favorite AMC actress of all time, Julia Barr, is being unceremoniously dumped. The humor and heart of this show have been lacking for a few years.

I have written letters to TPTB repeatedly since Frons took over as president of ABC Daytime and nothing has changed. I don't have the time or energy to keep fighting a losing battle. As a result, I will stop watching the day Brooke's last scene airs. Not just out of support for Julia Barr, but because my show has not been recognizable for a long time and her firing leads me to believe that the real AMC will not return until Frons is gone.

I have watched this show since the early 80's.

But there is no way in hell I'm going to watch the show day in and day out when it is this bad!

That's just stupid in my eyes.

True fan or not. Why watch garbage? Out of loyalty?

Don't tell me that I'm not a 'TRUE FAN'.

I love the show...but I'm not a idiot.

This show has treated fans like crap and I refuse to watch the damn thing.

I'm not going to waste my time watching if I hate what I see.

Plain and simple.

Besides only enjoying 1 story, I'm finding myself bored with AMC. However, it is not dead to me and I still have hope it can be saved. Maybe I am in denial but.....

Your message is INSULTING, OP. The people at AMC think they have brain dead viewers. WHY should anyone hve to stay loyal?!

I agree with you jams1234. Thanks for posting.

Soap fans gotta be optimistic, bc they are the only people keeping soaps alive...I think we'll be the ones that end up killing soaps.

Stay loyal!

If someone tunes out because the show is AWFUL, we are not killing the show, the people writing and producing it are!

By staying loyal to a soap no matter what (like GH fans), you get what you deserve. If the ratings are there, nothing will be changed and you have no chance of your soap getting back to it's glory days.

The record lows for AMC are something to be glad about because it means changes will be made and we could be seeing the All My Children we all love in the future.

Good rant, but AMC and ABC need to show some signs of wanting NOT to be cancelled.

It makes me sooo angry when people say they are going to stop watching because it's not at its greatest

why should someone keep watching something they are not enjoying?

The best thing you can do for your show when it sucks it to stop watching. The shows don't care about fan opinion, what they do care about are ratings. Screw those, and they take notice. Look at Days, they got Hogan Sheffer to try and bring things around.

Oh please, looks like the old What's a Loyal Fan debate is going to heat up again

I personally disagree with everything you wrote but to each his own.

IMO people who can watch pure drivel and then lie themselves and come on here and say it was a decent episode are a much greater threat to the future of the show than those who tune out.

We're tuning out because the show is being murdered. We're not murdering it by tuning out.

Are you really equating being abused by your spouse to watching a bad episode of a soap???? That's silly and crazy you think they are anywhere near related. The point of my post was not to have "blind devotion" the point was to fight for what you love...and NEVER give up on it. We clearly have different views on what it takes to be a fan. Just like in sports you can't love the team when they win and hate them when they lose....it's not fair....

Oh, come on! Are you for real? Any logical person will know what I meant by what I said and know that I don’t think the 2 situations are equal. I do love AMC – as I’ve already told you before. It’s out of love that I refuse to watch! Grow up. Sports teams don’t have behind the scenes forces that insult people’s intelligence and continue to force crud down people’s throats that they know the audience doesn’t want. There are no scripts in sports.

"True fans" know when a show is being badly written and produced, when it's just plain bad. They know when it can be better and deserves to be better because of its history and what they love about it. Demanding quality from a show they love is not disloyalty. It's cold hard truths. No one can tell me I'm not a true fan of, say, General Hospital or One Life to Live because I refuse to watch them in their current states. I just refuse to watch them be sullied.