ALL: Can you let go?

[jfung79]

No, definitely not.

I mean, seven and a half years later, I still haven't even let go of Another World. I look at Eddie Drueding's Another World Home Page at least once a week.

[Darn]

Yes, in a heartbeat.

I refuse to be an advocate for the castration of a genre I enjoy simply because I have fond memories of what they once were and what they could be. Why should I care when those making the product clearly don't?

[billyjill]

Yes, I think so. Never know 'til I get there, but honestly soaps have been a bit of a chore to enjoy, understand, make excuses for, etc, lately, the entertainment doesn't really come out to meet me and I end up doing all the work, so I've sorta let go already, in that I've had to do a lot of accepting already. It'll still be sad, and sucky.

[PhoenixRising05]

Nope I can't and won't.

I grew up watching many of these soaps and it will be so hard seeing what is coming and, when it gets to the point where they are all or most of them are gone, I will be a wreck. I just hope they live on somehow on Soapnet or something.

[shipperx]

The truth is, I already have let go.

I grew up watching soaps. I've loved GH, Days, AMC, OLTL, Santa Barbara, Edge of Night, Another World. But, though I still keep tabs on Days and AMC, I can't say that I would feel much of anything other than a brief moment of nostalgia if I was to hear that they were cancelled. They are all pale ghosts of what they used to be. Even Days, which has improved since Sheffer came along, isn't even in my top ten list of shows I want to watch any longer. Most of my emotion is in the past of these shows and what I've loved about them is long gone. My reaction to news of their possible passing may make me wistful for what might have been, but doesn't inspire me to think that their leaving would be unwarrented. Its sad to see a genre dying, but it's been sad watching that genre die for nearly a decade. I don't have much grief to expend on it any more and cannot escape the feeling that the genres downfall is deserved since I consider it the fault of Network Executives who pass the same five or six creatively bankrupt hacks from show to show to show.

[Actor87]

Ya see....I've always thought of it like this.

St. Pete: Good to see you.

Me: Well, I'd rather be watching ATWT but...

St. Pete: Oh, that's alright.....[and then he goes on to tell me what all happens on ATWT until the exact day of the final airing....].....and then it goes off the air in 2096....and is soon replaced by the soap opera "Zogbots in Neptune Fields". Ok...I just pulled that title out of my @$$. Can ya blame me? I'm deliriously sleepy right now so I'm rambling....

[Q Steph]

I couldn't have stated it better.

I only hve a periphery interest in the current soaps on air. They've fallen so far from their potential and what they once were. It's one disappointment after the next. I feel badly for my fellow fans who have not reached my level of indifference. I'm already disenchanted, but my motions would not give rise to suicidal thoughts. Like others have declared, I've begun to let go. It doesn't hurt to know that in 5 years time, our unifying link that brings so many of diverse backgrounds together will become a relic of the past.

This is not meant as a slam, but reading some posts in various threads, I feel like some people are taking the prospect of soaps becoming extinct very hard; as if it were a very personal death. I hope no one does anything crazy in their grief.

[Q Steph]

Soaps should exist on their own network. If I had the money, I'd make it so.

Anyway, I am willing to trade some clips with you. What soaps do you have?

I'm currently looking for links to clips of all shows.

[bellcurve]

I'd only want to trade tapes and DVDs.

However, I do have some cool iPod stuff to give away if you're interested. Like, two episodes from The Faked Heart Attack Reveal, three episodes from THE CITY(Engagement Party with Faked Quartermaines), and like 5 GL episodes, most are ITLs(with exception to Sandy and Tammy's aborted nups and the episode where Cassie and Jonathan dance with each other while both fighting for Tammy).

I hope that if I ever have the time or energy, I can post episodes and clips of my favorite shows on YouTube

[Dan]

I completely agree. My favorite soap has always been Guiding Light. However, in many ways, the show I love is already cancelled and the current incarnation is simply a poor replacement that just so happens to have the same name. The ineptness of TPTB over the years has forced me to "let go" already. Not to discount the fans that are enjoying it now, but I think that while GL's cancellation will be sad, it will also bring a sense of relief that the show I know and love can no longer be tarnished. The conspiracy theorist in me argues that that was their plan all along.

[All My Shadows]

See, my idea has always been more like this:

St. Peter: Welcome! Welcome to above!

Me: Thank you. Thank you very much.

St. Peter: So, what would you like to do?

Me: Well...it's 12...and this is when I would normally watch "All My Children."

St. Peter: Oh really?

Me: Yes, sir.

St. Peter: Well, we definitely do not want to mess up your daily routines! [a TV appears] Where would you like to start?

Me: Umm....[i look at my watch] Is it too late to start at the beginning?

St. Peter: Of course not! It's never too late for that!

[He switches the TV and I realize that when I said "beginning," he thought I meant the VERY beginning - the very first episode from 1970]

Me: No......way.

St. Peter: Yes way, my friend. Yes, yes.

Me: And if I were to ask for "As the World Turns" afterwards?

St. Peter: Where would you like to start?

Me: Well, I'd love to see it from the beginning, but I'd really kill to see some of the 70s stuff with Dan, Susan, and Liz. Oh and Lisa, Grant, and Joyce. Oh yeah, and Tom, Carol, Natalie, and Jay.

St. Peter: I believe 1971 would be a good place to start, then. It'll be ready as soon as AMC goes off.

Me: GOODNESS!

St. Peter: I'll also throw in some other things you might find interesting. How does a little "Love of Life," "The Doctors," "Search for Tomorrow," and "Another World" sound?

Me: Like heaven!

St. Peter: You are here, my friend.

Good Lord, that would be so great. It'd make living life here just to get there worth it!

But to answer the question, no I'll never let go. I have no intention to. I'd rather have these shows on the air as complete and total crap-machines than to not have them around at all. Why? Because with them here, there is ALWAYS a glimmer of hope that things can get better. Nowadays, once it's gone, it's gone. There ain't no coming back. There was once a time when "The Clear Horizon" and "Lovers & Friends" could go off the air for a while, retool themselves, and get that second chance, but not anymore.

This is a genre that has ALWAYS been in my life. ALWAYS. When I was younger, during the summertime, my mother and father both worked. My older brother would go to day camp, so it'd be me and my grandmother all day long. "The Price is Right," followed by Y&R, followed by the news, followed by B&B, ATWT, and GL. I loved it, and some of my fondest memories come from that. Being scared half the death of Victor Newman...loving Stephanie and Sally...wanting to know who Reva Shayne was when she came back as an Amish woman...wanting Barbara Ryan to finally succeed at something! It was what I grew up with!

The death of network daytime soaps would be the death of a major part of my childhood. There is no way I could imagine a world where you could turn on the TV in the afternoon on a weekday and NOT see extreme close-ups or hear that melodramatic background music. It might not seem like it'd be a big thing if it ever happens, but I feel that people underestimate our fair genre. When the stories become extinct, it's gonna be BIG news. I just know it!

[Canfan]

I've been watching soaps since I was six years old in the early eighties. I love them I love the genre. At some point I have watched almost every soap on the air, so no I can't let go I grew up watching AMC, AW and Y and R with my grandmother but the only show I still currently watch is AMC and its losing me more and more as each month progresses. GH was my favourite soap ever but after the mob took over the show I could'nt stand to watch it anymore. I watch very little tv in general and if the soaps go I will hardly watch at all. That being said I would rather watch reruns of the old shows from the eighties/ninties than what is currently airing. We don't get SoapNet in Canada and the only reruns available are general on the Quebec channels. My french is really poor though so I can't really follow what is happening

I really truly hope they don't die but right now they are being assasinated so badly I almost feel like ending them now would be preferable to watching them combust before my very eyes. I don't think daytime will every really be a cash cow for the networks again but they could still be commerically viable. The changes TIIC are making to the shows though are killing them faster than they I thought they would. You can't alienate your core audience and expect to survive. It's basic common sense but then ABCD is the network that continues to employ Brian Frons and a team of incompetent head writers. I can only think at this point they want the genre to die.

[psychofan]

I strongly believe that under the right management, soaps could be in their glory years again. That means getting rid of some of the horrid writers. Guza and Hogan can stay, but the rest have brought the genre down.

I can't ever let go and WILL never let go. Soaps are part of who I am. Many days, they are the one good thing that I do. In school (especially junoir high), I was not like other boys. While some boys looked forward to going home and playing basket ball and what not, I looked forward to going home and watching soaps. Soaps are one of my favorite things in the world, and I don't care how much they suck or how stupid they get or how bad the ratings are, I will always love them.

[KLN]

Same here. Soaps have been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember. Some of the best young memories I have of being a little tyke (before school, even) was my mom pulling the big drapes closed to get the room really dark, then tossing me a blanket and pillow to take a nap on the floor in front of the television as she and my grandma watched Y&R. I remember that piano opening always put me to sleep, and to this day, everytime I hear it, I'm reminded of that. It was the daily routine.

Soaps are as much a part of my life and childhood as anything else. I mean, everyone sees how often I'm here talking about them... virtually everytime I have free time. They're as important to me as my family and friends. And as it stands, watching soaps fade away like this is similar to the way I feel when I see my grandma getting older and weaker and losing her memory. Watching something/someone you love fade away is sad. And losing soaps is much different than, say, a film series coming to an end, because soaps are seen much more frequently and have been around for much longer. The emotional attachment is stronger.

My mother and grandmother still watch Y&R, and I'd like to think that when one or both of them are gone, I can still watch the show and somehow, I'll feel closer to them and the memories will come back. The death of the genre threatens that, though, and it makes me quite sad. My grandmother's memory is slowly fading, but when she watches Y&R, she often refers to old stories and it always brings a smile to my face to know that the show is there to help her remember. These shows are a tradition -- they helped build the networks! The soaps might not be what they once were, but if the networks would step in and make some wise decisions, they could be just as golden as we've all remembered them to be. They just have to care enough to put forth the effort, and they DON'T. The soaps didn't kill themselves -- the networks did, by ignoring them and not paying them any creative attention. Because of THEM, the soaps have fizzled out. The social climate might be a big part of the ratings decline, but so is quality. And quality is underrated.

Keeping soap operas around is a much bigger issue than just money. It's about respect for the genre and the legacy.

[psychofan]

What a great post!! That actually brought a tear to my eye :(