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?

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.

This past weekend was the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards, and The Bold and the Beautiful took home the top honors of Best Dramatic series and also took home the Writing emmy and cast member Drew Tyler Bell took home the Young Actor award. This is two years straight that B&B took home the top honors. Departing soap As the World Turns took home three acting awards, after 53 years it is sad to see the long running drama come to a close.

BEST DRAMATIC SERIES

• The Bold and the Beautiful

LEADING ACTOR

• Michael Park – As the World Turns

LEADING ACTRESS

• Maura West – As the World Turns

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Billy Miller – The Young and the Restless

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Julie Pinson – As the World Turns

YOUNGER ACTRESS

• Julie Marie Berman – General Hospital

YOUNGER ACTOR

• Drew Tyler Bell – The Bold and the Beautiful

TALK SHOW // ENTERTAINMENT

• The Ellen DeGeneres Show

TALK SHOW // INFORMATIVE

• The Doctors

TALK SHOW HOST

• Dr. Oz, Dr. Oz Show

DIRECTING

• General Hospital

WRITING

• Bold and the Beautiful

For other categories and the tech winners, check out the Daytime Emmy’s website.

The time is here! The Hoff returns to The Young and the Restless!

Starting tomorrow, Tuesday June 15th, David Hasselhoff returns to the show that launched his career, The Young and the Restless. Hasselhoff steps back into the role of Dr. William “Snapper” Foster, who was last seen in Genoa City in 1982, before Snapper left to teach a three-month fellowship in London. Of course, like many soap characters who leave to do something overseas, he never returned.  The Hoff will be guesting on the show for 5 episodes, taking him through June 21st.  You can catch a video preview of Hasselhoff’s return.

Returning to the Soaps that made you famous seems to be an in thing lately. Nathan Fillion returned to One Life to Live last year, and now comes word that fan favorite Vanessa Marcil will be returning to the role of Brenda on General Hospital this summer.  In addition to big stars going back to soaps, there have been some recent movie stars making the first time jump to the genre, most notability James Franco’s General Hospital stint, which he’ll return to later this month. Franco will be returning to the daytime drama and will be taking with him veteran film and television actor Bruce Davison.

Will you be watching Hasselhoff’s daytime return? Excited about other stars returning and some making their daytime debuts?

Don’t hassel the hoff! Between his reality series, all of the drinking, and looking for cheeseburgers, he is a pretty busy guy. Now, his plate is going to be even more full as he reprises his role of Dr. William “Snapper” Foster Jr on “The Young and the Restless”!  Hasselhoff lasted appeared on the CBS soap in 1982 when his character left for a three-month fellowship in London to teach, and never returned. His run on the show will be short and he’ll be joined with returning cast members Wings Hauser (as GregFoster) and Julianna McCarthy (as Liz Foster Brooks).

I think this is a really cool move by the Hoff. Anything that brings attention to daytime soaps is positive in my book, because sadly, soaps are a dying breed.  There are no other dramatic (and narrative) programming that is new every week out of the year. And once soaps are gone, we’ll never see this style of programming again.