30 Days of TV: Day One

A Show That Should Never Have Been Cancelled 

American Soap Operas

It's hard to say what show I'd like networks to desperately bring back. As an avid soap opera watcher, I'd like to reserve the right to group all cancelled soap opera shows together as my "Show That Should Never Have Been Cancelled". 

There's something about sitting down with the women in your family and watching your stories. It's something that was passed down from my grandmother to my mother, and hopefully, if the survivors stick around, to my daughters. Soap Operas are about family, love and life in its essence and it's about setting aside the dreary doldrums of life for an hour or two to watch the characters on your favourite show. It's about following along with the show's decades old family circles as they got married, broke up, had children and we all watched those children grow up within the show's context. I grew as they grew.

I remember my oldest cousin was born the same year as Sally on Home and Away. When Sally got her period, my cousin got her period. When Sally graduated high school, so did my cousin. They went through all of life's major milestones together and that's something no other show on television provides. 

With budget cuts and more working mothers, our stories are dying. There is no more Sunset Beach. No more Guiding Light. Soon there will be no more One Life to Live. My beloved Days of Our Lives is hanging by a thread. There are only four left. It's become much easier to watch television these days. We DVR for later, we watch on the internet, there are illegal downloaders a plenty and YouTube users have taken to uploading episodes (which don't count towards ratings). 

It's a sad state for a former staple in every household not 10-15 years ago. With every soap that gets cancelled, the industry takes a hit. Soon we will only look back at soap operas like relics of the past. Nostalgic snapshots of what daytime television used to be about. Family. Life. Love in the afternoon. 

If I could have any show back...it would be our soaps. 

Credit goes to Xanadugrrl for the idea!