Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Oprah Winfrey: I can't save the soaps

Sorry, fans of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," but Oprah Winfrey says she's not attempting to save the canceled soaps.

Though fans of both long-running serials have hoped Winfrey would keep the shows alive by airing them on her OWN network, the talk-show titan says it is time for the soaps to say goodbye.

"I understand, being a fan of 'All My Children,' growing up watching the 'Young and the Restless,' and other soaps, what it feels like to have a show that you love go off the air… I understand the loyalty, I understand the sense of disappointment," Winfrey said in a video recording.


"I appreciate that you all think I could save the soaps, but here is the bone marrow truth," she went on. "The soaps have been an institution in broadcast history and television because they have the support of the audience."

Winfrey explained that the ratings for soap operas have declined over the years and that "there just are not enough people who are at home in the daytime to watch them, and because of that they are going off the air. Believe me, if there was a dime left to be made from them on broadcast television it would still be happening."

The media mogul, whose long-running talk show will air its final episode on May 25, pointed out that everything has an expiration date.

"Because all good things come to an end, all things have their time — as do the soaps, as does the 'Oprah Winfrey Show' — I will not be taking on the responsibility of trying to revive an institution that for all intent and all purpose indicates that that time has come for it to be over," she said. "So thank you for believing that I could save them, but I really can't."

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