The Save Our Soaps Campaign, Part 1: The Fight to Save Our Soaps

Sound the sirens
After two weeks of rumors, ABC, on April 16th, 2011, announced the cancellation of two of their iconic soaps. After forty-plus years, "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" will end. Shock waves hit across the world.

The soap genre is dying a slow death, thanks to ABC Daytime President, Brian Frons.

When the news broke out, it made news headlines on "The Insider," "Entertainment Tonight," and many other news and entertainment programs, that weekend.

Susan Lucci, during an interview for her new memoir, said she was "blindsided" and "heartbroken", when she heard the news. Kelly Ripa broke down in tears, during "Live with Regis and Kelly."

Since then, I've been one of many soap fans protesting and campaigning to save our soaps. We met on Facebook and Twitter, and united to enhance our efforts.

Drowning Victims
The soap opera genre has been on TV for more than sixty years. The soap operas have gotten their names from their sponsors, which advertise products like soaps and dishwashing liquid. Soaps on radio started in the 1930s, then as half-hour programs on black-and-white TV in the 1960s. The 1970s found them in color for an hour-long show. Only CBS's Guiding Light remained a half-hour soap, until it ended in 2009. Only a few soaps remain on the air: CBS's "The Bold and the Beautiful" and the "Young and the Restless", NBC's "Days of Our Lives", and ABC's "General Hospital", "AMC", and "OLTL." When "AMC" goes off the air in September 2011, and "OLTL" ends in January 2012, there will only be four left.

In 2009, CBS cancelled "Guiding Light", and then last year, cancelled "As the World Turns." Why? All because their main sponsor, Proctor and Gamble, didn't want to be in the soap opera business anymore.

In 2012, "General Hospital" will remain on ABC with an uncertain future. In May, ABC has announced, that Katie Couric's talk show will debut in the fall of 2012. "GH" fans worry, that "GH" will end next year. NBC's "Days of Our Lives", and CBS's "Young and the Restless" and "the Bold and the Beautiful" remain safe.

Making Waves
Since Day One, many soap fans worked to change ABC-Disney's decision. They stopped watching ABC Primetime shows. Three days after the cancellation, the ratings dropped for "Dancing with The Stars" and other programs. The boycott continues to this day, and includes ABC-related networks, like ESPN and Lifetime. Not just ABC, we've also called Disney, cancelled trips to Walt Disney World and Disney Land, passed on seeing Disney/Pixar movies, and vowed not to buy Disney-themed toys.

We've also tried to get Oprah on board, before her show ended in May. We went to her website and left messages on her message board. Later on, she went on YouTube, telling soap fans, she can't save our soaps and have them on OWN, and that "all good things must come to an end."

Why is our beloved soaps being canceled? ABC wants to replace the soaps with cheaper reality shows to produce--"The Chew", a show about food, featuring Chef Mario Batali, (who's now being sued by his employees for stealing tips and wages from their paychecks), and the "Revolution", a show on fitness and lifestyle with Project Runway's Tim Gunn. We refer to these shows as "The Choke" and "Revoltion." All of us have vowed to not watch them when they air, and hope the ratings will tank. If our soaps end on the network, that will be the end of our watching ABC.

ABC doesn't care about their viewers and their needs; they care about greed! That's why this movement was created. ABC thought, we would give up after a month and move on! Two-and-a-half months strong, we're fighting and gaining new members, every day.

Life Preservers

Right from the start, soap fans reunited and joined forces on Twitter. We've used the "#saveoursoaps" hashtag, which trended right away, along with "#AMC", "#OLTL" and "#GH." We've talked about the cancellation and our outrage, the latest aired episodes on ABC, and how to save our soaps. Since then, some of my regular "Twiends" have joined up too. Now, we trend with "#sosad."

On Facebook, we've joined groups devoted to saving our soaps. One of them is "Save AMC and OLTL", lead by "Kymba"--she's our page administrator. "I was caught off-guard," Kymba said, when she learned about the cancellation. "I didn't think, they'd ever go off the air, especially two at the same time, and with 'AMC' ending so soon after the announcement." I believe, we've all felt the same way.

Every day, we've had tasks to carry out, as "Kymba" led the way, from 9 AM to 9 PM, just to get our message across to save our soaps. One of our many tasks for spring, was contacting as many sponsors as we can get, to pull their ads, and join our fight. Only Hoover joined us that Sunday, and cancelled their ads on ABC, the next day. Friday of the same week, we've declared a "Buy a Hoover Day" on Twitter, and helped Hoover's sales soar. We've tried to get others to follow Hoover's lead, including Hershey's, Campbell's, and Target. We've emailed them daily, left tweets and Facebook messages, and called them, whether it was a live person, during office hours, and voicemail, during after hours and weekends. On Facebook, we've gotten some negative people replying on Target's and Avon's walls. We even placed those sponsors on a boycott list, until we changed gears after Memorial Day Weekend.

Two soap fans on Twitter have gotten one of their local sponsors to pull out --Red Vines Licorice from the Pacific Coast and Planet Forward from Canada.

"While very appreciated, I think Hoover pulled out more as a publicity stunt for themselves," "Kymba answered, on why our tactic failed to get more sponsors to pull out. "They're a small advertiser, and thus got a lot more marketing than, if they had just kept advertising. The big advertisers are in huge contracts, unlike the little ones, which can pull out so quickly. And unfortunately, the media agencies feed to them, that daytime TV isn't valuable based on Nielsen."

One soap fan has created petitions at Soap Opera Petition Central. We've all signed, hoping it works... and gathers a big following.

Submerged
Since Day One, we've sent snail mail, faxes, and emails to ABC-Disney. Our message was loud and clear; we wanted them to fire ABC Daytime President, Brian Frons, and to save our soaps. We've called and left voicemail messages. ABC didn't care. They've blocked our calls and deleted our messages. They even tried to stop our "Save Our Soaps" campaign, with setting up fake "Save Soap-related" Facebook groups. It didn't phase us.

Blowing Whistles

We've also had protests and rallies. The first one was in late April. Thirty protesters stood outside the "One Life to Live" studio in New York City. They carried pickets, saying "Save Our Soaps" on front, and "Fire Frons" on back. They've shouted "Save Our Soaps", loud and clear. We did get ABC's attention--they called the police.

Before the Upfronts, we contacted the sponsors even more, hoping they would pull out, or not ask for any air time, this fall. Even during the May Upfronts, we've continued to hit them hard with emails and calls, because we knew, they had a two-week window to scramble and plot air time for the fall 2011 season.

That's when "Kymba," our fearless leader at "Save AMC and OLTL," devised a plan to contact their ad/media agencies too. With our new script to go by, we've gotten good feedback from them, asking if they would relay the message to their clients--their sponsors. It also shed some light on our "SOS" campaign, while we continued to hope ABC-Disney to change their minds and reconsider. Even some agents have tried to discourage us, when we've bombarded ABC-Disney, aka "Mickey's House".

"I think some of them have discussed with their clients; and I'm sure they're watching this play out as well," "Kymba" said in response to our attempt to reach media agencies. "I have heard, there was definitely some concern raised about buying advertising for the new daytime lineup. Not that they didn't buy; but we definitely caused some to hesitate."

Another phase of our "SOS" campaign was contacting all the local ABC affiliates. There were earlier reports in May, that the "Chew" and the "Revolution" have tested poorly. The local affiliates weren't impressed and wanted their time slots back. That gave us hope in this battle.

In mass blindcopied emails, we've contacted all station managers and programming directors, all in one entire day. Most of the emails came back undeliverable, some were out of office, and a few replied back. They thanked us for providing feedback, and then directed us to the ABC audience feedback line for our soaps. Of course, we've left messages.

Even when I've called my local ABC affiliate--NewsNet5/WEWS in Cleveland Ohio--by phone and by email, I've gotten the same response too. I left a comment on their feedback line.

"Well, some are actually owned by ABC, so those are going to tow the corporate line," "Kymba" replied on our efforts against the affiliates. "Some of the others have actually stood up to ABC. The advertiser meetings got pretty heated with a few of them, voicing their upset. Disney wasn't kind to that, which put other affiliates off. We need to keep on the affiliates. This is a whole new ball game with the amount of us out in force like this. They're not just prepared."

Creating a storm

On the day of the Upfronts, they were a band of fifty or more, who booed at Frons's appearance, while he smirked with a wave. The Upfront is an annual May event, when the networks announce their new fall schedules, meet with local affiliates, and sponsors arrange air time for the fall. Before then, we had tweeted unions, sponsors, newspapers and TV broadcasters, and as many as soap stars we could get, inviting them to the protest. Soap vets, Ilene Kristen "Roxie" from "OLTL" and Colleen Zenk Pinter from "AWTW", joined our group, and were interviewed by Wendy Williams. The L.A. Times was there on the scene, as was an Indian cable network too. We went global!

Thundering Hard

We received some coverage--when a group of soap fans posted an ad to ABC-Disney executives in "Variety" in May, pleading to them to save our soaps. Soap Opera Central's Dan Kroll planned two special programs to devoted soap fans, where they called in, to find out how they could pitch in to save the soaps--a lot of people called, including myself, and some fans were heard on two podcasts.

Besides our rally at the Upfronts, ABC was getting more bad press. On a "Your Money" report on CNN, right after the Upfronts, they said CBS was the network to be on--it had a stellar CBS fall lineup. ABC received praise for only one show in another online news article-- "Man Up", a new comedy. Since those reports, we've added that information to our scripts to the sponsors.

After the Upfronts, came more bad news for ABC fans. "Brothers and Sisters" was one of the casualties, canceled after five seasons. "B&S" fans joined our boycott against the ABC-Disney Network.

Although we did create more shock waves, in May, when the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie premiered. In its second week, although at number one, it went down 52% in the sales. Disney was expecting more, when they thought wrong.

We've gotten some support in our cause from best-selling contemporary romance author, Carly Phillips, who's a "GH" fan.

Lightning Strikes
Besides the soap fans, who were feeling the pain, so was the soap opera industry in general. Layoffs begun in May for Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly. That was another part of the ripple affect from April's announcement. Journalism for soaps will be minimal in January 2012. And, come to think of it, as the Daytime Emmys were held on January 20th, 2011, it might've been the last ones for "AMC" and "OLTL." They would still be eligible for the Soap Opera Awards this fall, and Soap Opera Central's Rankie Awards. That means, more nominations for actors in the remaining soaps, which would be down to four.

Veteran soap actors have been given pink slips for "One Life to Live." They've cut the cast in half, to let fan favorites return before the final taped episodes. Robin Strasser, "Dorian", has been the first to go--not by speaking her mind, but for health reasons (back surgery). She taped her final episode on June 23rd, 2011. Others who have or will be following are Susan Haskell "Marty", Brian Kerwin "Charlie", Gina Tognoni "Kelly", Tom Degnan "Joey", and Farrah Fath "Gigi". David Ferraro "Cristian" and Trevor St. John "Todd" were the latest ones to exit this year amongst many others.

Tyler Christopher "Nikolas" was the first "General Hospital" casaulty. Ingo Rademacher "Jax" was next, after fifteen years with the soap. Bob Guza, the head writer, has been fired, and was replaced by Garin Wolfe, who helmed the soap, during the Writer's Strike, a few years ago. I'm sure, we will be seeing more exits by August.

Life Support
While we wait for ABC's decision, we're suggesting for some alternative options. One is for another network to pick it up. In May, there were rumors and speculation, that Rebecca Marks from NBC Universal, might be interested in buying "AMC" and "OLTL" (and maybe "GH".) Since then, there's been many emails and calls to NBC/Sony, and also a snail mail campaign. This became big and hopeful to us, as all of our Twitter and Facebook "SOS" campaigns joined forces, and pitched in.

There was also word, that a bunch of New York executives visited the "One Life to Live" set, and wanted to pay $400 million to purchase of both soaps. This made sense, since "Days of Our Lives" is the only soap on the network, after "Passions" left the air a few years ago. While there's no further word or confirmation, we've waited for our sources at NBC to give us the right people to contact.

In May, "Kymba" had been in touch with someone at NBC, who has been giving us the news. According to her, there's been no further word. "I really think that NBC is keeping quiet, because look at what happened, when Oprah came out and said no. NBC right now is getting 'extra' ratings, because we're mad at ABC, and trying to woo NBC. They're smart on staying quiet. Of course, they could be interested; but I wouldn't bank on it. I think the main networks are so focused on the bottom line, that quality is going out the window."

We've also contacted FX, WE, Lifetime, and other networks, including CBS. I'm certain, CBS soap fans know about our plight, since "Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns" ended.

Will it work? We hope so, but few letter campaigns have worked. In 1955, after only one year on the air, CBS canned "Father Knows Best". Many fans of the show wrote in and saved it, as it continued, until the series finale in 1960, and is considered a classic program. Years later, CBS canceled "Jericho" after one year in 2006. Fans wrote in letters, and sent thousands of peanuts to protest against CBS to save "Jericho". It returned for a second abbreviated season, and was later canceled in 2008. Earlier this year, "GH" fan favorite Rebecca Herbst "Elizabeth" was let go, due to a storyline-dictated exit. Fans were enraged and wrote to ABC and "GH." A week later, she was rehired with a change of script. Those are a few success stories to date.

The only known failures of letter campaigns to save their shows was for CW's/UPN's "Veronica Mars" after three seasons (2004-2007), NBC's "Las Vegas" after five seasons (2003-2008), and "Friday Night Lights" (2006-2009, before Direct TV saved the show.) "Friday Nights Lights" ended its five-year run on July 15th, 2011.

Roaring Rapids

ABC claimed, that the reason our soaps are being pulled, is the decline of the ratings in the demographics. But once news broke of the cancellation, "OLTL" was number one in the ratings twice in April, beating any other remaining soap, We've proved them wrong. We've also being watching them more than ever, online at YouTube, Hulu.com, and ABC.com. We've also left our computers and TV on too.

One problem is the Nielsen ratings system, which should've been updated long time ago. Nowadays, people watch their shows live and online in various ways--DVR/VCR, Tivo, On Demand, and at various online sites. According to a May 29th, 2011 article at Allmywriters.com, "the stereotypical demographic have changed, from a 'lazy housewife' to men and children watching soaps with their families." Many working people record (either tape or DVD) their programs, and then watch them in the evening. Everyone wants them!