Okay, so I’ll try to post something other than a “save this show” type of article tomorrow, but today I could not help it. Mondays are Chuck and it seems like the “We Give a Chuck” Twitter campaign has had some positive responses with retweets by Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. We will see if any other sponsors were impressed by the fans.

Due to my lack of Internet connection, I have not really been able to respond to the announcement by ABC that they would be canceling All My Children in September followed by One Life to Live in January. I think this is a huge mistake and would make one of the most unique forms of entertainment even closer to extinction. If you love them or hate them, there is no denying that Soap Operas are special. Most of the ones left have been on the air close to or longer than 40 years. Continuing stories that have never taken a break, new every weekend of the year with towns of characters that grow and evolve over time. Sure, the stories might be over the top, and sometimes downright bizarre, but soaps have also had groundbreaking stories dealing with everything from teenage pregnancy to rape, and even featured interracial couples well before anyone else had the guts to. They have been endlessly entertaining for countless fans.

These two classic shows are being replaced with talk shows. Cheap to produce cookie cutter garbage. This is obviously just the network’s desire to cut costs regardless of the product they put out. Well, it looks like it might slightly backfire, as one of ABC’s sponsors is also a big fan of AMC and OLTL. Hoover has pulled all of their advertising from ABC programs and has issued this statement:

To all the loyal ABC soap fans,

I want you to know from me personally that we hear you loud and clear. My wife and mother are both passionate viewers of All My Children and One Life to Live, as are many of my colleagues here at Hoover. We were and are as disappointed with this news as you are.

In fact, we will discontinue our advertising with ABC this Friday, 4/22. We’re making every attempt to pull our spots from these programs sooner.

Because we feel that’s not enough, we also want to help get your voice heard with ABC. So, we’ve set up a special email address, SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, to help pull together the mass emotional outpouring of support for our beloved ABC soaps and get it to our contacts at ABC. Please, send your emails to us at SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, and we’ll get every, single last one of them to ABC.

We’re 150% committed to doing what matters most to you – so if there’s anything else we can do to help or you have any ideas, please email this address, and we will respond to you personally.

Thank you for standing up for what matters to you! We need more of that in this world.

Brian Kirkendall
Vice President of Marketing
Hoover

With companies like Hoover getting behind fans, there might actually be a chance that we could save AMC and OLTL. We have some time before they’ll be over, but the question is, how do we go about saving them?

What? Duke Nukem Forever finally coming out isn’t enough news for you today? Okay, okay… here are some more bites and pieces from Hollywood.

• It looks like ABC’s superhero drama No Ordinary Family will not live to fight another season. In addition to the fact that its ratings keep getting worse, the show’s two leads Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz have signed up for new pilots with CBS (a sit com for Chiklis and a supernatural drama for Benz. Now, if ABC decides to renew the show for a second season, both are contracted for it, but it is highly unlikely that they’d shoot new pilots if there was any chance of No Ordinary Family surviving.

• It looks like Men in Black III got another damaging blow as its constant delays have caused them to lose Alec Baldwin from the cast of the sci-fi sequel. The production has been struggling, having started without a finished script and got delayed to work out various story problems. Barry Sonnenfeld returned to helm the film with Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Rip Torn reprising their roles from the earlier movies. Joining them are Josh Brolin as a younger version of Jones’ Agent K, along with Emma Thompson, Alice Eve, and Jemaine Clement. I hope they get things back on track and give us a quality follow up to the original MIB, because the second one is best left forgotten.

• Dark Horse will be releasing the first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 in August, starting with Angel’s new ongoing, then following it in September with Buffy’s new ongoing. Both series will last for 25 issues that are being released over two years. To add to the awesomeness, Dark Horse also revealed that they will be doing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10. This comes after a long time where Joss had said that season 9 would be the last. Season 9 writers are expected to be revealed at Wonder Con and I can’t wait to see who will be apart of the new season.

• Looking for a cool place to take a Holiday? Than you might want to learn more about Hengar Manor.

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I will not be writing recaps, or following the new (or any) season of Dancing With the Stars. I’ve never watched an episode, nor do I have any desire to.  I just wanted to write and issue our support for The Karate Kid! Go kick their butts Ralph Macchio (hopefully literally!).

Anyway, for those who are interested, here is the full list of “stars” and dancers for the 12th season of Dancing With the Stars.

• Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff
• Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
• Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer
• Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke
• Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas
• Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya
• Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin
• Romeo and Chelsie Hightower
• Hines Ward and Kym Johnson
• Kendra Wilkinson and Louis van Amstel
• Wendy Williams and Tony Dovolani

While I might not watch the show, I can’t wait to see what Joel McHale has to say about Wendy Williams’ dancing over on The Soup! Do you watch the show? Who will you be voting for?

Guest post written by Rolf Tate.

My favorite daytime television show is One Life to Live. It is a soap opera that is shown on the ABC network. I love watching this show on direct TV.

I love the show because of its diverse characters. In Llanview, the matriarch of the show is Victoria Lord. She had DID and alters and is always a loving mother to everyone in the town. The local bad boy would be Todd Manning who was married to Blair Cramer and had two kids with her named Starr and Jack. Now, he is involved with Tea Delgado again who is dying of cancer and who had his secret love child named Dani many years ago. The main families in the show are the Lords, Cramers, and Buchanans. Some of the actors include: Kassie DePaiva, Trevor St. John, Michael Easton, Erika Slezak, Bree Williamson, and Robin Strasser.

Some of the best shows have involved major topics like breast cancer, gay relationships, rape, murder, and betrayal. Llanview is always a place where anything can happen from baby switches, who’s the daddy story lines, kidnappings, interrupted weddings, and spouses coming back from the dead. One Life to Live lets me escape once a day at 2 pm ET and concentrate on the happenings in Llanview instead of my own boring NJ life. I love this daytime show and will for many more years to come.

Thanks to Danny Mays.

“Wipeout” has become one of the most popular game shows on television today. This game show is not like a traditional game show, yet it has risen to immense popularity. It has become almost as iconic as shows like “The Price Is Right,” “Jeopardy,” and “Family Feud,” except it is much more action packed.

The show Wipeout is incredible because it shows how people overcome very difficult obstacle courses. These obstacle courses often feature mud slides and soapy stairs that are difficult to climb, in order to reach the end. It is almost ridiculous to see the types of obstacles that people must go through in order to reach the end point. As people make their way through these difficult and very physical courses, they often fall or slip throughout the course. It almost looks like people are risking their lives, just to make it through the obstacle course. One also wonders how people do not get injured while making it through a “Wipeout” course. Part of the appeal of this program is simply wondering how people make it out of the obstacle courses alive! It is thrilling to watch this program with friends or family.

The show “Wipeout” is one of the most hilarious game shows on satelite tv. It adds more punch and excitement to the typical “game show” format. For a refreshing new take on game shows, “Wipeout” is a great change of pace.

This is a guest post by Terry Billups

For years I’ve had to schedule my busy life around my favorite TV shows if I wanted to catch them. That is, until now. Thanks to cable tv specials and my DVR, I no longer have to plan everything around my favorite series. I can just set the device and forget about it, knowing that everything will be ready to go, just as soon as I am.

This really helped me out a lot during the 6 long seasons of ABC’s hit show “LOST”. I work third shift, so every Thursday morning I would rush home and try my best to figure out the powers of this mysterious island, before eventually nodding off to sleep.

The interactions between these characters gave off such a realistic look. It felt as if I was actually there on the island, going through these hardships along side the castaways. However, one of the most unforgettable episodes of the show was the season 5 finale.

Jack believed that if he were able to detonate a hydrogen bomb as close as possible to the island’s magnetic pocket, he could somehow erase all of the horrible things that had happened to himself and the other passengers of Oceanic flight 815. He believed that by detonating this bomb, the hatch would never be built, therefore himself and the other passengers on flight 815 would have never crashed on the island. Everybody would land safely in LA, having no recollection of ever being on this mysterious island.

The end has arrived.  I’m excited, worried, perplexed, elated, anxious, happpy, (etc/every emotion possible) about the Lost series finale. ABC starts the festivities at 7pm with 2 hours of series recap, then the finale starts at 9pm and goes on for two and a half hours. I’ll be signing off the Internet after this post, shutting off my phone, and will be watching the finale live. Come back with your thoughts, and after a few days and at least one rewatching, I will hopefully be able to post mine. Enjoy!