It’s a sad day in the soap world. After 50 years of being the leading publication and intel of Soap Operas, Soap Opera Digest is ending its weekly publications.
Soap operas, which used to be all the rage in the 80s and early 90s, have dwindled in the ratings department since “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” were canceled.
A Lot Less “Love in the Afternoon”
“All My Children” was the first to be sacrificed in September 2011. After that, One Life to Live followed in January 2012. The cancellations of these two significant soaps on ABC devastated soap fans.
Before that, it was “Guiding Light” in September 2009 and “As the World Turns” almost exactly one year later, in September 2010.
A generation or two behind that, soap fans lost “Another World,” “Loving,” Ryan’s Hope,” and “The Edge of Night.” If you never heard of any of these, it means your mother or grandmother wasn’t a fan.
Since Springfield, Oakdale, Pine Valley, AND Llanview, not to mention countless other soap towns, have been cruelly ripped away from us, you would think we soap fans would get a break.
But no. Now, they are discontinuing the so-called “bible” of the soap world, our beloved Soap Opera Digest. Is anything sacred anymore?
Let’s see how the powers that be explained this one to their super loyal readers,
“We wanted to let you, our loyal readers, know that Soap Opera Digest will publish a reduced frequency moving forward. But we also wanted to “reassure” you that much of the content you have come to love in our print edition, including breaking news, exclusive story previews, and interviews with your favorite stars, will remain available online.”
The above is a direct quote from Soap Opera Digest.
The Printed Soap Mags Are a Thing of the Past
Unfortunately, that’s a very softball approach to breaking the news and sugar-coating the reality of the situation. Soap Opera Digest will ONLY release four special print editions each year, and the rest is as clear as mud.
Whether those with a digital subscription to Soap Digest will see soap news regularly has not been stated. Not too clearly, anyway. It makes perfect sense that in this day and age, soap magazines are a thing of the past, and now most people receive information online.
However, if Soap Opera Digest is only going to be printed a measly four times a year, then that means that they are technically discontinuing the magazine.
Soap fans can still go online and get their fix, but there is something to be said for holding a physical magazine. It may be old school, but so are many soap fans. For a publication that once had 1.5 million readers, they must have been doing something right.
With four soaps remaining, soap fans can only now cross their fingers and hope for the best. We can only hope to visit Port Charles, Genoa City, and Salem. ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ is in Los Angeles, but The Forrester family is entirely fictional.
Hopefully, Daily Soap Dish can calm some of the sting if you are reading this now. It’s been a long, hard road for soap fans.
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