Thursday, January 12, 2012

We Only Have "One Life to Live"

Tomorrow, January 13th, 2012, is a day I will always remember because it is the day I say goodbye to a show that has meant so much to me since I was a child. After 43 years, One Life to Live will air on ABC for the final time. I never believed I would ever have to say goodbye to One Life to Live in my lifetime, there is something about soaps, they've always seemed immortal to me. I thought my family members would grow up watching them for generations.

One Life to Live hasn't just been a TV show for me; it has been my safe place. The characters on that show are like my extended family. They are people I relate to who have been through things in life that I've been through. They have taught me lessons along the way that I won't forget. I have laughed with them, cried with them, smiled with them. I've rejoiced in their happiness and I have wept when they have been in pain.

I am sad that in the death of One Life to Live, there is the possibility that the whole soap genre will be killed all together. I think this new generation doesn't understand the impact that the soap has had on society, in fact, in many ways, I think if more of them had grown up watching soaps as I had, I don't believe we would have all the issues we have today.

I was the shy, quiet, smart, driven, unpopular girl in school growing up. Sometimes, I wish I had a friend like Starr, or Jessica, or Natalie, someone who understood me more. Kids were pretty mean to me in high school, the soaps became my escape. Then again, I was raised on the soaps, Days Of Our Lives, One Life to Live, General Hospital and long gone Loving and Port Charles. That was the 90's and early 2000's when the soaps were respected and appreciated for what they did for all of us. I remember in high school walking two blocks to my grandmother's house after school and getting there just in time to see One Life to Live and General Hospital. It was truly my pick me up.

ABC can do all the crazy things they want; if they want to, they can cancel all the various series on their network and replace all of them with reality shows. They can take all the shows we love away from us. They can leave hundreds and thousands of actors, writers, and crew unemployed and kick them out of their dressings rooms after decades. They can place gag orders on them and tell them that they may not speak badly of ABC and their decisions, despite how badly they were treated, especially in the end. They can refuse to sell the rights to these shows, even though we only know it is out of spite and because they know said shows will be successful elsewhere. But in the end there are always consequences for your actions, a lesson I learned, where else? On the soaps! We, at the very least I, will not watch ABC. Although they take away my show, my extended family, they will never take away the lessons I learned and the memories which I will hold in my heart forever.

I love One Life to Life, and may it rest in peace, but if the soaps have taught me anything, it's another lesson, never assume anyone or anything is truly dead unless you have evidence, and in the case of a person, even if you do have a body, it may not be whose body you thought it was. After all, we're all taught that in the end, hope is one of the only things you should always have. So hopefully, it's not goodbye, but maybe, just maybe, it's see you later.

*If anyone has a current cast photo, please link me to it by commenting below*

Vicki said it best

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1 comment:

Miss V. said...

One Life to Live has meant so much to me over the years, it was in a way, my saving grace. I never watched All My Children, As The World Turns, or Guiding Light but that being said, I understand why all the people who watched those shows were upset about their shows being taken away, just like I would hope they would understand why having One Life to Live being taken away hurts me so. I think right now, people are just angry, and they are striking without knowing that others are hurting as well. I feel terribly, I cried so much last night about this horrible idea that I can't watch my show anymore. I keep thinking about Monday and how I don't want it to come. In these times of sadness we must be strong and be united, we have made more progress than any other group to try and save our show. If anything maybe we made an impact for the future so that networks don't just cancel shows without considering the consequences. ;-)