On a Lighter Note: Buh Bye Llanview!

 

One Life to Live's opening banner, 1968.

Oy. Just checked the electronic TV guide for the synopsis of today's One Life to Live—completely forgetting the soap opera ended it's more than 40-year run last Friday. My favorite soap, All My Children, ended in September, and now the Buchanans et al are gone from the small screen. RIP, OLTL, 1968-2012.

I've watched soaps since the mid 1960s when I sat with my grandmother, mesmerized by The Edge of Night, the Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, The Secret Storm and General Hospital. Of all of them. only GH is still on, and rumors abound, it, too, will be gone by the end of the year. When I had my "important" career for all of those years, I taped episodes with my new-fangled VCR. Since I've been a stay-at-home worker, I've watched them daily, without fail. Not that I sat in front of the set, hanging on every word, but they were on in the background. I listened with half an ear, enough to keep up with the storylines. They were like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, my mother's hand-made afghans, my vintage collections—all comfort foods as it were. Their demise is just another break with my past—my late friend Andy shared my affinity with ABC soaps.

Times change, decisions are made, life marches on—sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, sometimes just for the sake of change itself. This is my heartfelt thank you, and good bye, to all the actors and writers of One Life to Live—thank you for literally decades of entertainment and memories.

And a note to ABC: I will never, let me repeat, never, tune into your cheap-ass reality TV show replacements, The Chew and The Revolution. Nevuh, lol!