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April 14, 2011, 3:51 pm

ABC Cancels ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’

ABC announced on Thursday that it would end two of its long-running daily serial dramas, “All My Children” and “One Life to  Live.” Above, Susan Lucci and Walt Willey in “All My Children.”Ron Tom/ABC ABC announced on Thursday that it would end two of its long-running daily serial dramas, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” Above, Susan Lucci and Walt Willey in “All My Children.”

The demise of one of broadcasting’s oldest institutions, the daytime soap opera, crept closer Thursday as ABC announced it would end two of its long-running daily serial dramas, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.”

The decision will leave ABC will just one soap on its schedule, “General Hospital.” CBS has eliminated two of its venerable soaps, “Guiding Light,” which was dropped in 2009, and “As the World Turns” which was canceled last year.

CBS, with “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” will become the last network with more than one soap on its schedule. NBC has only one soap opera left, “Days of Our Lives.”

Ratings for “All My Children” have fallen since 2006, to 2.4 million from 3.2 million viewers and to a 0.9 rating, from a 1.8 in the major category for soap operas, women between the ages of 18 and 49. For “One Life to Live,” the audience fell to 2.6 million, from 3.2 million in 2006, and to a 1.0 rating from a 1.8 rating in women 18 to 49.

ABC said it would replace the two soaps with much less expensive, unscripted programs.

One show, “Chew,” will be devoted to cooking and nutrition, featuring the chef Mario Batali, among other hosts. The other program, “The Revolution,” will focus on issues relating to health, weight loss and “lifestyle transformations” and will devote each week to the efforts of one woman to lose weight over a five-month period.

The hosts include Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” and Kimberley Locke, a former “American Idol” contestant who has become a plus-size fashion model.

ABC emphasized that this was the type of programming daytime viewers had come to expect, citing its hit talk show “The View.” But the new shows are also far less expensive to produce than daily dramas, which employ costly actors, directors and writers. The dramas also require editing, set design, costuming and other costs.

The two shows being canceled have a long heritage at ABC. “One Life to Live” has been on the air 43 years. “All My Children” has run for 41 years and became perhaps best known for the creation of the villainous Erica Kane, played by Susan Lucci.

Brian Frons, the president of ABC’s Daytime division, acknowledged in a statement “how bittersweet change is.”  Surely one factor behind the move was the decision by the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, to transform its SoapNet cable channel — which had relied on the ABC soaps for much of its programming — into a channel with a different format, Disney Jr., aimed at children. That change is scheduled to take place next year.

The two soaps will finish their runs by then. “All My Children” will conclude in September and “One Life to Live” in January.  “Chew” will have its premiere in September and “The Revolution” in January.

In the announcement, ABC included the promise that to honor the passionate fans of each show, they will “conclude in a manner that respects their legacies and the longstanding hopes of many of their viewers.”


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The Big Story

ABC Cancels ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’
Big Story
The demise of the daytime soap opera crept closer on Thursday as ABC announced it would end two of its long-running daily serial dramas, “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.”

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