Just months after CBS took longtime soap opera The Guiding Light off the air, it has announced that it will also be axing another of its soaps- As the World Turns.
This one ran for 54 years, but it is scheduled to be bounced in September 2010.
This seems to be a growing trend as television networks short on budgets are beginning to eliminate anything that lacks enough ratings to justify spending money. There have been whispers that ABC may also be considering taking their soap One Life to Live off and those actors fortunate enough to still have their soap on the air have had to take drastic cuts in salary.
There was a time when soap operas were huge with stay-at-home housewives who watched them faithfully to help make their busy days more bearable. They even became popular with college students who gathered together to watch them in between afternoon class breaks.
Times changed, though, and the soaps had to suddenly start competing with more women going into the workforce who didn't have time to watch, the internet, cable television, talk shows and reality television, all which drew away viewers. Of course, the fact that some of the storylines in many of these soaps have gotten pretty absurd hasn't helped much either. Sadly, they seem to be losing the interest of the public at large.
Enjoy the few ones that are left, 'cause chances are that this television genre may be about to go the way of the dinosaur.
Charles Out of Charge 
