Upset ABC Soap Fans Make Plea to Network in Full-Page Hollywood Reporter Ad

Viewers, customers and consumers of All My Children and One Life to Live have taken out a full-page ad in the new Hollywood Reporter expressing their disappointment to ABC head of daytime programming Brian Frons, president of Disney/ABC Television Group Anne Sweeney and advertisers of daytime TV that two of the network’s longest-running soaps are being replaced with two new lifestyle shows.

“This is our appeal to save not only the jobs of those employed by All My Children and One Life to Live, but to also keep the soap genre from becoming extinct,” the letter begins. “Both All My Children and One Life to Live have been a part of our lives for over 40 years; this is not something that can be said for many programs on television today. The type of fierce loyalty that comes from watching a show for so long is not something that is easily replicated."

The letter goes on to stress that soap operas have brand recognition that few other shows have and that “product placement, leveraging soap fans’ passion for the actors on their soaps to enhance product advertising and international syndication would all add to the profitability of the soaps that have served both ABC and the viewing community for so many decades.”

The letter thanks Hoover and other advertisers that have voiced concerns about the soaps’ cancellations as well as Agnes Nixon, creator of All My Children and OLTL; the production crew; and the show writers.

“Your talent and contribution moves us in more ways than you can imagine,” the letter concludes.