Okay, it’s a toss-up with CBS. I’m pissed at them both. I love me some Tide and CSI, but my affection is seriously dulled by this bastardly duo, who have pulled the plug on As the World Turns today.
Fuckers.
The 12th-longest-running show on TV, ATWT goes softly into that TV goodnight after 54 years. I have been watching for a good 30 of those. I escaped to Oakdale in my teens, picking up romantic allusions while my dance card remained empty. In my twenties, I went from watching alongside football players in my dorm lounge to roping my housemates into watching a taped episode after work. When I’ve gone through rough times, the show usually had a similar storyline going on to comfort me. If not, I would get caught up with the on/off/way off/coma/consciousness/back on relationships, villains who kept coming back from the dead (I'm talking about you, James Stenbeck), and wacky tacky fashions that Barbara and Carly kept turning out.
I’ve taped, DVRed, or watched the show in real time on and off for the past decade. As a freelance writer working for myself, I have often taken my lunch break and used the show as a palate cleanser in between writing jags.
So P&G, CBS, y’all can KMA. And if that’s not clear enough, GFY. RIP, my sweet soap.
For more on my love of ATWT and the lessons I’ve learned from the residents of Oakdale, check out my posts on the Huffington Post and Salon.
What long-running show have you watched over the years?
Posts
13 comments:
Growing up near the same "podunk" town I think you referred to...I remember coming home from Fairplain East and watching Guiding Light with my mom as she was getting ready for work :)
TMoruss: Ah, I miss the Fairplain Plaza. I think Kohl's is where Goldblatt's and the movie theater used to be.
As The World Turns introduced me to Marisa Tomei, Ann Heche, Brian Bloom and teh redhead whose name I'm forgetting. Lilly! Margot! Lucinda! RIP, my friends, RIP.
I am also angry that my boy Jeremy Sisto will no longer be available to me via the boob tube, as Law and Order has bene cancelled (and that was one long running show). As for my longest, my Grandma Leona and I used to enjoy Y&R when I would visit her, and I still do, whenever I have a sick day. Sigh.
P&G and CBS have been on my list for years since they destroyed Guiding Light.
I fully support you punching them in the face. Hard.
My mom, now 84, watched ATWT for its entire run. When I was growing up, I was forbidden to tell anyone because she was ashamed of watching soaps. I figure it's better than being a hoarder, but whatever.
Didn't ATWT introduce Meg Ryan? If so, I reserve the right to hate the producers a little bit.
For years, Eileen Fulton had a clause in her contract that her character could never become a grandmother. The old bat was kidding herself if she thought she looked too young to have grandkids.
RIP ATWT.
Zazzu: Thanks for sharing that anecdote and I had no idea about Eileen Fulton! That's hilar.
Well, you might want to punch this response in the face, but I have been watching Oprah for a good long while now! She's pulling the plug on it too!
I have been watching DOOL since I was a little girl with my grandmother and my mother. They have both passed away now. DOOL seems to be apart of my family that is still around and makes me feel like I am with a famiiar friend who also knew and loved my mom and grandmother over all these years.
I am not an ATWT viewer but morn the loss of a precious ongoing story that we have been able to grow up with and find escape in -- no matter our own personal obstacles and triumphs.
Jennifer -- Clark Humphrey, from my neighborhood pointed out your blog from the fact that I'd blogged about P&G's Old Spice -- http://www.girvin.com/blog/?p=5264 -- yes, I blog about old bottles of perfume, and a couple of other things.
Tabasco, too, as Clark's noted.
Hoping you're not going to punch me out... As a designer for P&G, I do have one interesting aside (and I agree about ATWT -- very sad, a great story, brand, show, soap.) I met with Jim Stengel, some time back when they were talking about scrapping the show (why, we'd asked -- it's the best!) He'd referenced that it was too "old fashioned," not representing the P&G positioning.
Our pitch -- tune the look and feel, hold to the legacy, but bring the spirit to something slightly hipper -- better titling, motion graphics: evolve the brand...but embrace your audience -- it's an asset...
Nope.
We tried.
Great blog. Good gripes, to punch...
Tim Girvin | Belltown @ Stewart
My Waterloo was a year ago, when my (and my Grandmother's and my Mother's and so many other generations of family's) Guiding Light was snuffed out forever. How dare they cancel the LONGEST running show in broadcast history and kill something so integral to daytime television and dare I say a part of American History? And now, the World has stopped Turning as well.
I have such fond memories of watching this with my mom. She was a SAINT. We had lots of fun watching together.
I haven't watched Dark Shadows over the years, but this past year I've watched a thousand episodes. Does that count?
I have watched Guiding Light and As the World Turns for many, many years. I'd like to delete CBS now. To replace them with more stupid game shows and talk shows is so ridiculous and pointless. Do they want less viewers than they had? They need a big shake-up in employees in that channel for what they have done.
I too am a DOOL watcher, thanks to my mom.
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