Soap Life

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Last summer I was lucky enough to be included as an interviewee in the new soap opera themed documentary appropriately titled “Soap Life,” which follows the life, and possible death, of daytime soap operas. I can’t believe I forgot all about it and didn’t realize it until this morning!

Several past and present actors, producers, journalists and writers were interviewed for the documentary including Lisa LoCicero, Rick Hearst, Kristen Renton, Jill Larson, Bradford Anderson, Carolyn Hennesy, Mimi Torchin, Shenell Edmonds, Ronnie Marmo, Cady McClain, Derk Cheetwood, Jordi Vilasuso, Max Tapper, Lexi Ainsworth, Crystal Hunt, Bobbie Eakes, Gary Tomlin, Sean Ringgold, Francesca James, Julia Barr, Eileen Fulton, and many more.

The crew behind the documentary recently surpassed their goal of raising $12,000 in funding for the project, but if you’d like to help out you are more than welcome to do so.

“Soap Life” is a new documentary about the changes taking place in the world of daytime drama. As more and more classic soap operas are cancelled or forced to move to exclusively new media distribution, the landscape of American television is going through unprecedented changes. We’ve spoken with executives, fans and a number of current and former daytime stars to get their perspective on what it all means and what lies ahead.

We are trying to raise the last amount of funds needed to finish our documentary. We still have a few weeks left to film in NYC and then post production where we need to edit, color correct, and clean up the audio.

We hope to finish the film within the next few months and the money we raise will help this become a reality.

Our gifts include a pre-order of the DVD, a collectible poster, an invite to the film’s premier, a special thanks in the credits, and the chance to make an appearance in the documentary.

For more on “Soap Life” visit their official website or head on over to their Facebook page, Twitter page or YouTube page.

The Final Cast Shot of the Cast of "All My Children" (Photo: ABC)

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — “All My Children,” aired its series finale on Friday, September 23, 2011 with its largest weekly audience in over four years (since week of August 20, 2007), its largest single day episode in more than 4 1/2 years (since the May 11, 2007 episode) and tied its highest weekly household rating in four years (since week of September 24, 2007). The canceled ABC soap managed to place second in households for the first time in 16 years (since week of July 10, 1995) and placed second in viewers for the first time in nearly seven years (since week of December 6, 2004).

With an average of nearly 3 million viewers watching the final hours of their favorite Pine Valley citizens before the soap faded to black in a shocking cliffhanger ending, “AMC” pulled off a feat that not many soaps have been able to do, which was go out with a bang. According to Nielsen Media Research data, “All My Children” averaged 3.5 million viewers (3.475 in actuals) for its last episode which was its largest audience since its Friday, May 11, 2007 episode, where it also averaged 3.5 million viewers. In that episode Greenlee (Rebecca Budig Sabine Singh) interrupted Ryan (Cameron Mathison) and Annie’s (Melissa Claire Egan) wedding reception, while Krystal (Bobbie Eakes) took her new-born baby girl Jenny home for the first time and Colby tried to make amends with her father, while JR mourned the death of Dixie (Cady McClain) and Di (Kelli Giddish) learned some shocking news about Ava/Lily (Leven Rambin).

The last time “AMC” averaged a 1.1/7 in Women 18-49 was during the week of March 8, 2010, when 728,000 Women 18-49 viewers were tuned in. By comparison only 689,000 Women 18-49 viewers tuned in for the soaps finale week. The last time “All My Children” received a 2.6 household rating was on Thursday, July 26, 2007, which translated into 3.4 million total viewers. Meanwhile, the last time the soap managed a weekly audience of more than 3 million viewers was the week of August 20, 2007 when the soap averaged 3,020,000 viewers, which at the time was a loss of 120,000 viewers compared to the same week in 2006. The last time “All My Children” averaged a 2.3 in households for a given week was the week of September 24, 2007, the start of the 2007-2008 television season, in which 2.8 million viewers tuned in.

Sixteen years have gone by since we saw numbers like these, but it was also the last time “AMC” was the second most watched daytime soap. During the week of July 10, 1995, “All My Children” ranked second (only beyond “The Young and the Restless“) with a 5.7/18 household rating/share point. The last time the soap was second in total viewers, however, was during the week of December 6, 2004, when the soap averaged 3.9 million viewers and a 2.2/14 in Women 18-49. The week of January 17, 2005 was the last time “AMC” placed second in Women 18-49 viewers when it had a 2.2/12 rating/share and 1.4 million Women 18-49 viewers. During that week the soap averaged 3.9 million total eyeballs. Interestingly enough, “All My Children” took the #1 spot in Women 18-49 and Women 18-49 viewers during the February 2005 Sweeps period. Afterward, the soap never managed to place higher than 3rd in either category until the week of September 19-23, 2011, when it aired its last five episodes out of the more than 10,700 recorded.

What follows is a breakdown of “All My Children’s” final weekly ratings performance since its debut on January 5, 1970:

• Up 36% over its year-ago performance in Men 18+ viewers (596,000 vs 437,000)
• Up 35% over its year-ago performance in Households (2.3/7 vs 1.7/6)
• Up 34% over its year-ago performance in Women 50+ viewers (1,576,000 vs 1,179,000)
• Up 32% over its year-ago performance in Total Viewers (2,990,000 vs 2,270,000)
• Up 29% over its year-ago performance in Women 18+ viewers (2,265,000 vs 1,755,000)
• Up 13% 25% over its year-ago performance in Women 25-54 rating (1.5/9 vs 1.2/9)
• Up 25% over its year-ago performance in Men 18+ rating (0.5/4 vs 0.4/4)
• Up 24% over its year-ago performance in Adults 18-49 viewers (929,000 vs 752,000)
• Up 22% over its year-ago performance in Women 18-49 rating (1.1/7 vs 0.9/7)
• Up 20% over its year-ago performance in Women 25-54 viewers (919,000 vs 767,000)
• Up 20% over its year-ago performance in Women 18-49 viewers (689,000 vs 576,000)
• Up 20% over its year-ago performance in Women 18-34 rating (0.6/4 vs 0.5/4)
• Up 20% over its year-ago performance in Women 18-34 viewers (217,000 vs 181,000)
• “All My Children” increased in audience by 717,000 viewers from its Monday, September 19 episode (2,758,000) to its last episode on Friday, September 23 (3,475,000).
• “All My Children” was daytime’s most watched program in the key sales demographics of Women 18-34 (268,000), Women 18-49 (824,000) and Women 25-54 (1,049,000) on Friday, September 23, the day it aired its series finale.
• “All My Children” had its biggest week to week gain in total viewers since the week of December 27, 2004, when it gained 521,000 viewers. During the week of September 19, 2011, “AMC” gained 499,000 viewers.

Although ABC canceled “All My Children” along with “One Life to Live” on Thursday, April 14, both soaps were given a renewed sense of life when production company Prospect Park announced on Thursday, July 7 that they would resume production of both soaps as they transition to a new online television network, which was just named earlier this week as The Online Network or TOLN. Soap Opera Network wishes the cast and crew of “All My Children” the best of luck as they transition to the web beginning in January 2012.

ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — “All My Children” is scheduled to last air on ABC on Friday, September 23. Although “AMC” and “One Life to Live” are slated to go on in a different format thanks to a licensing deal between ABC and production company Prospect Park, several events have been organized to assist the actors and viewers in saying good-bye to “AMC” in the format fans have come to know and love it in for the first 41-years of its existence. These events will be held on the East Coast where the soap was produced for four decades before being moved to Los Angeles in January 2010.

The upcoming scheduled events are as follows:

Good Night Pine Valley will be held on Saturday, September 17 from 1:30 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST at Prohibition Restaurant & Outdoor Cafe located at 503 Columbus Avenue in New York City, New York. This event will be hosted by Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake) and Alicia Minshew (Kendall). Expect special guests to drop by as attendees enjoy the company of the hosts, food and an open bar. There will also be a charity auction with prizes that include luxury items and items from “AMC.” Tickets for this event are now sold out.

A Tribute to Pine Valley: A Tribute of the Final Network Broadcast of “All My Children” benefiting A Season of Concern will be held on Friday, September 23 from 11:00 AM CST at Sidetrack Chicago, The Video Bar located at 3349 N Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois. Attendees will get to watch the last episode of “AMC” with fellow viewers and past and present cast. During the event there will be trivia, a Q & A session and a Meet and Greet. So far the scheduled attendees include Chrishell Stause (Amanda), Terri Ivens (ex-Simone), Jeffrey Carlson (ex-Zarf/Zoey), Brian Gaskill (ex-Bobby), and Matt Borlenghi (ex-Brian), Chris Bruno (ex-Michael). More names to be added in the weeks to come. Talent is subjected to change without notice. Tickets for this event go on sale on August 22. Visit A Season for Concern site, which is linked above, for more details on this event as they are disclosed in the coming weeks.

A Tribute to Pine Valley: Celebrating 41 Years of “All My Children” debuts from Tuesday, October 25 thru Thursday, October 27 at The Town Hall in New York City on Tuesday, the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Wednesday and The Theatre of Westbury in Long Island, New York on Thursday. Scheduled attendees for this event include Cameron Mathison (Ryan), Michael E. Knight (Tad), Vincent Irizarry (Jesse), Walt Willey (Jack), Julia Barr (Brooke) and Jacob Young (JR). The event will be held in two parts. The first part is called “Live on Stage” where fans will be able to listen to personal stories from the actors and participate in a Q & A session. This event runs from 7:00 PM EST to 9:00 PM EST each night. Tickets for this event range from $45.00 to $85.00. The second part is called an “Up Close & Personal” where you get to meet and talk to the actors in a personal setting. This event runs from 9:30 PM EST to 11:30 PM EST. Tickets to attend both events range from $225.00 to $240.00. Tickets are now available for sale for this event.

Thomas A. Montalto/MontaltoPhotos.com

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Just before “Krystal’s Country BBQ” event took place on Saturday, July 30 during the “All My Children” Fan Club Weekend, Bobbie Eakes (Krystal Carey) took the time to speak to Soap Opera Network on when she learned her show was being canceled, how she broke the news it was being resurrected on Twitter and her delight at having Alexa Havins back as on-screen daughter Babe Chandler, despite the character supposedly succumbing to death back in 2008 care of a Tornado that hit Pine Valley.

“I got out of the shower. I was getting ready to go to work, and I have quite a drive from where I live, and all of a sudden I looked at my phone and I was getting message after message and tweet. You know all these things…text messages, phone calls and I said to my husband, ‘I bet we’ve been canceled,” said Eakes about the day she learned ABC decided to pull the plug on “AMC” after months of rumors. “I don’t have that many friends calling me all the time, so I knew something was up,” she laughed. “Sure enough, I got a call from the studio and they said ’you know there is a mandatory meeting,’ so I figured that’s what it was.”

For more from Eakes and whether she’d be open to moving with the show with Prospect Park now in control of things, watch our exclusive interview below.