The View

All Things About

“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).

This morning on “Good Morning America,” commentator and long-time “All My Children” cast-member Cameron Mathison (Ryan) announced that production company Prospect Park has officially started approaching the actors on his show with offers to continue on the new version of the 41-year old daytime drama that ends its run on network television on Friday, September 23. Mathison made it apparent that he is eager to commit to the show in whatever format it takes, but are his co-stars on board?

During the next week, ABC Daytime will take part in saying goodbye to “All My Children” which has been a part of their line-up since 1970. Following is details on the scheduled events which will include “Good Morning America” dedicating a special segment to the show and “The View” dedicating an entire airing to their former neighbors.

On September 26, “All My Children” will be replaced on ABC Daytime by a lifestyle program – with a focus on food – titled (arguably in poor taste) “The Chew.” Early this morning, Entertainment Weekly revealed that CBS Daytime reached out to several actors from the cancelled ABC drama to assist them in some interesting counter-programming beginning on September 26.

“One Life to Live” star Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer) had many fans in attendance at last weekends “One Life to Live” Fan Club Weekend Luncheon scratching their heads when she said “I was told by our executive producer [Frank Valentini] yesterday, that on Wednesday [August 10] we tied with ‘Y&R.'” Considering “The Young and the Restless” is daytime’s #1 soap, we thought she may have made a mistake too, but it turns out she wasn’t wrong at all.

The Chew, The Revolution

After news broke today that ABC would be bumping “General Hospital” from its long time 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT timeslot beginning in September 2012 in favor of a new Katie Couric talk show, the network was forced to calm the nerves of fans who are still reeling from the cancellations of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” Unfortunately, the network is just delaying the inevitable to placate fans from believing that their favorite soap could be next.

“One Life to Live’s” Robert S. Woods (Bo) will be among those honored at HeartShare Human Services of New York’s Annual Spring Gala on Thursday, March 24. Woods will be honored withThe Linda Dano Heart Award for his support of the organization, which is “dedicated to improving the lives of people in need of special services and support.”

Time and time again we’ve been asked how daytime shows (those airing only on ABC, CBS and NBC) such as “The View,” “The Price is Right,” “Let’s Make a Deal” and even “The Talk” do in the ratings compared to the daytime soaps that we report on weekly here at Soap Opera Network. So we thought we would compile ratings for daytime programming, separate from just the soaps, and also see how CBS’ “The Talk” is doing when compared to “As The World Turns,” the show it replaced this season.

As the daytime drama continues its climb up the endangered species list, frustrated soap fans aren’t the only ones starting to panic. A recent report by TheWrap states that advertisers are beginning to grow concerned as well, preferring soap operas to the talk and game shows that are replacing them.