Topic: all my children

From ‘All My Children’ to ‘Gossip Girl’: The Soaps Haven’t Died, They’ve Just Changed Forms

From 'All My Children' to 'Gossip Girl': The Soaps Haven't Died, They've Just Changed Forms

ABC’s recent announcement that they were cancelling long-running daytime soaps All My Children and One Life to Live was met with sad hand-wringing throughout the blogosphere. Those shows were like my childhood bedroom: I don’t ever want to live in it again, but if my parents move so much as a pillow I’ll cry about the loss of my past. Many of the people who bemoaned the loss of AMC and OLTL – myself included – admitted they hadn’t watched the shows in years. More »

Fan Service: Canceling a Beloved TV Show Can Leave Fans in Emotional Anguish

Fan Service: Canceling a Beloved TV Show Can Leave Fans in Emotional Anguish

Fandom, meet science. Ohio State University assistant professor Emily Moyer-Gusé and former grad student Julie Lather just released a study they conducted in 2008, polling 403 undergrads about how often they watched TV and how the 2007-08 writers’ strike affected them. The results were fascinating: People who watched TV religiously were distraught when their favorite shows and characters went off the air. Considering that the strike lasted only a couple of months, one could assume that fans of canceled shows suffer a much deeper loss. More »