Latest Episode Of All My Children

Latest Episode Of All My Children
It was early 1980. The girls lined up in Adobe-style house to get to Torres and her husband Joe to catch the latest episode of "All My Children."

"It was our special time," said Desiree Sanchez, one of the granddaughters. Now aged 32, a gymnastics coach in New York and plans of their meetings so she could see the program running on the treadmill.

"It was just a stupid show. It 'was a lot more," he said.

Last Friday, the ABC television network, will end almost 42 years running "All My Children," which stars Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, temptress and imaginary Philadelphia suburb of Pine Valley. Drama has been progressively losing viewers, and ABC was concerned that he would soon be losing money on production.

Changing public tastes, increased competition and the economy have fallen challenging soap operas, a staple of television during the day. ABC's "One Life to Live" will end in January, leaving only four games for television during the day.

For the avid viewers, cancellations have been devastating. Fans are gearing up for Friday with the same range of emotions that accompany the death of a loved one.

"It's like losing my grandmother again," Sanchez said. "This program made me feel connected to people who lost, and people that I am far from. Whatever happened, you can always turn on the TV and there was that the only constant, which is comforting, especially when the world seemed to be in chaos. "

Soap cause some degree of devotion that is rare in the fragmented world of media.

"There is another type that is put on the skin and DNA of a soap opera viewers," said Sheraton Kalouria, senior vice president of Sony Pictures Television, which produced three of the four survivors of telenovelas, including including the top-rated "The Young and the Restless "on CBS.

The researchers were impressed by the strong personal attachment viewers showing. Fans get anxious to learn what happens to their favorite writers to carefully plot development packages. They refer to the program as "my program", and consider the characters friends.

Hearing is often several generations. For example, in the Torres / Sánchez, women beyond the ritual to their husbands, uncles and children - which extends to the dedication of more than three generations. The family tie is used to intensify the emotional pull.

But the most important factor, the researchers said, is the frequency of the program. Fresh episodes to run five days a week, offering privacy, a few shows can match.

"In many ways, soap operas, the first social network," said Stacey Matthais, co-CEO of Insight Research Group. "For decades, people have to listen every day to get an update on their favorite characters. The frequency of the connection is reminiscent of Facebook today. "

Which makes the soap unlike other scripted and reality is "the feeling that you're walking through life with these characters," said Matthais. "These programs are an extreme version of what is happening in the lives of people every day. It's like concentrated life."

When ABC announced last spring that was canceling "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" fans glass angry hate mail from the network, held demonstrations and boycotts, and raised their Facebook pages, including a called "Save Our soaps".