News - Soap Buzz

25 December 8th, 2011 OLTL’s Hillary B. Smith tweets her sadness as she packed her things & left ABC Studios!

Courtesy/ABC

Daytime Emmy winner and long time member of the cast of One Life to Live, Hillary B. Smith (Nora Buchanan) took to Twitter this morning to share her thoughts as she prepared to go to One Life’s ABC Studios in New York City to clean out her dressing room and take one more look around.  As you know, tomorrow, December 9th, is the final day for the cast to clear out their dressing rooms and belongings.

Hillary’s touching tweets stated, “I am awake and dreading today. It is the day I move the last of my stuff from the dressing room and say good by to my family. I will roll my stuff unaided through the audience waiting in line to see The View like a discarded lover when she has been all used up.”

“After 20 years of caring and bleeding for this show. I feel dismissed. Like we are all being told, “Move along. Nothing to see here.”

“Have to share the morning. Walked in, through and passed all the audience lining up for The View. It hit me… I will be doing the “Walk of Shame” leaving the building pushing and carrying all of my belongings past the sad looks of the audience. I walked into wardrobe to say “Good-Bye” and burst into tears! After hugging, all 5 walked in my dress room, grabbed my things. Your not alone. They walked me through the crowd like an entourage, helped me load the car and hugged, kissed and waved me “Good-Bye”. True Friends!  It makes you realize, the little gestures in life are like the arms of a conductor, they bring music to your soul. The lightest touch leaves the deepest imprint. Even a passing courtesy can make someone’s day. This morning will be forever a memory of love.”

These tweets broke our hearts! And doesn’t it make it all the more real for all soapers everywhere?  It’s hard to fathom the scene at ABC Studios today and tomorrow.  Our thoughts are with all the performers and behind-the-scenes personnel who gave so much to make One Life what it has been for 43-years.  One. Terrific. Show.

 

Tags: hillary b. smith, Nora Buchanan, One Life To Live

Leave a comment >

« Next Buzz

Previous Buzz »

Back to Latest News

1. MEG says:

   December 8, 2011 at 11:49 am

   MY HEART IS BREAKING!

   Reply
2. Linda Dowell says:

   December 8, 2011 at 12:29 pm

   And it makes me want to be able to whip the bird and shout the words OUT LOUD to Frons and ABC and Disney…but I’ll do it the right way…I can’t stop watching Castle – but I CAN and WILL not watch anything new on ABC – not now, not ever.

   Trust me on this…..I mean it.

   Haven’t figured out how I’m going to hurt Disney yet, but I’m contemplating options. Any ideas out there? I don’t have little kids, so I don’t buy the movies…but there’s got to be something………

   Reply

   

   barbara replied December 8th, 2011 at 1:24 pm

   stop watching castle ,stop watching anything on abc except the soaps.

   Reply

   

   Gloria replied December 8th, 2011 at 3:29 pm

   The thing is-nobody knows I watch the soaps, so how will they know when I quit watching ABC? Point being-where do these “ratings” come from? I’ve been watching soaps since I was old enough to watch tv, in the mid 1960′s & I have never been contacted by anyone, any ratings organization. I have always wondered how ratings are determined. Anybody have the answer?

   

   david replied December 9th, 2011 at 12:45 am

   Gloria, read about Nielsen ratings at these links:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings
   http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/measurement/television-measurement.html
3. Tammy Grzenia says:

   December 8, 2011 at 1:08 pm

   My heart is so broken over everyone loosing there JOBS these shows aren;t just some show. THESE ARE OURS BELOVED FAMILY many of us have been watching since the begining for.some of us this all they have.now what what is going to happen to our ICON soaps.so many of us our so depress over this loss..but we will keep figting no matter what when you love something so much you just dont give up.SOAPS FANS OUR THE BEST FIGHTERS that any one could have and they are so LOYAL .just ask ABC THEY HAD SO many FANS FOR 43 YEARS. THEN THEY JUST THREW EVERYONE AWAY.TO SAVE 40% I hope it was worth it to you .

   Reply

   

   Gloria replied December 8th, 2011 at 3:26 pm

   You are so right Tammy. Breaks my heart. I have been so down since Nov. 23, I have cried & cried, this keeps me awake at night, the idea of not having this show in my life. The show is better & better every day-how can it end? How can ABC not understand what they are doing? I am just sick over this.

   Reply
4. Brian Greene says:

   December 8, 2011 at 1:40 pm

   Thanks, Hillary. We Totally Love You So Very Much!

   Reply
5. Brian says:

   December 8, 2011 at 1:41 pm

   Nothing but the highest respect to all the wonderful people who gave us “One LifeTo Live” Hope to “see” all of you very soon. All the best in what ever comes next.

   Reply
6. lisa says:

   December 8, 2011 at 3:29 pm

   Still can’t believe it….hoping it was all just a nightmare.

   Reply
7. emtk says:

   December 8, 2011 at 3:33 pm

   Just heartbreaking! The fans, the actors, the crew, everyone wants this show to continue! Someone has got to be able to take all of this and make it profitable! I can’t believe that there isn’t some creative person/people who can capitalize on this. There is an opportunity here…

   Reply
8. Jenna says:

   December 8, 2011 at 4:08 pm

   Crying. Hating on ABC. I will only watch GH on ABC once OLTL is gone. Everything else, day or night is off limits in my home, forever.

   Reply
9. Suzanne Melton says:

   December 8, 2011 at 5:10 pm

   I feel like I am losing a family member or a dear friend. These characters from OLTL have been a part of my life for over 40 years and I can’t imagine a day without them in it. It is so sad. The last week it airs will be such a sad week for me. I am sure I will go through a sort of mourning. It is so sad and ABC is making such a mistake by getting rid of the soaps. Hillary is one of my fave’s along with so many from OLTL. Good luck to you all and I hope to be seeing all of you on another show. Love you all !!!!!!!!

   Reply
10. Michael says:

    December 8, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    I really hope ABC loses a great deal of money and viewers in the coming year. I have never hated a television network as much. Sure TV shows come and go over the years. Plenty of my favorites have been canceled. However, ABC is literally killing an entire genre. AMC and One Life maintained ratings of over 2 MILLION viewers, in an era of multiple viewer choices. Not to mention, that One LIfe to Live is wonderfully written and performed. It has so much life left- and ABC is just killing it- for cooking shows!! I hate ABC.

    Reply
11. Lita J. Eastman says:

    December 8, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    All I can say is shame on ABC execs who pulled the plug. Nothing and no one else has given them 43 years. Probably not even some of their spouses if they were soap lovers. It may take time but they will see they made some pretty powerful enemies.

    Reply
12. david says:

    December 9, 2011 at 1:29 am

    Hillary: “the little gestures in life . . . bring music to your soul. The lightest touch leaves the deepest imprint. . . . will be forever a memory of love.”

    Your words remind me of your performances and OLTL.

    Reply
13. pattie says:

    December 9, 2011 at 5:41 am

    I am nit watching live with KELLY either,wish that annoying show was cancelled

    Reply
14. liz says:

    December 9, 2011 at 9:00 am

    I’m heartbroken.

    Reply
15. Paula Kate Prince-Meserole says:

    December 9, 2011 at 9:00 am

    For Gloria regarding how ratings information is gathered and from whom. It is called the Neilsen’s ratings system.

    Nielsen television ratings are gathered in one of two ways:

    1. Viewer “diaries”, in which a target audience self-records its viewing or listening habits. By targeting various demographics, the assembled statistical models provide a rendering of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour.
    2. A more technologically sophisticated system uses Set Meters, which are small devices connected to televisions in selected homes. These devices gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit the information nightly to Nielsen through a “Home Unit” connected to a phone line. The technology-based home unit system is meant to allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. In addition to set meters, individual viewer reporting devices, such as people meters, have allowed the company to separate household viewing information into various demographic groups, but so far Nielsen has refused to change its distribution of data of ethnic groups into subgroups, which could give more targeted information to networks and advertisers.

    Changing systems of viewing have impacted Nielsen’s methods of market research. In 2005, Nielsen began measuring the usage of digital video recordings such as TiVo. Initial results indicate that time-shifted viewing will have a significant impact on television ratings. The networks are not yet figuring these new results into their ad rates due to the resistance of advertisers.”

    So as you can see, the networks only take in part of the numbers(Ratings) counted not all. It is unfair to cancel our soaps or any show for that matter, when the Networks and advertisers are not considering all the millions of people who digitally record the soaps to watch when they get home from work.

    Reply
16. Iakovos says:

    December 9, 2011 at 9:26 am

    This was nice of Hillary B. Smith to let us know what happens now. I read with interest all the insights from actors on GL, ATWT and AMC. This simple story of Smith’s cleaning out her dressing room really touched me. It is always difficult to bridge past and future, but when it was situation was done in this way… well, it is more poignant.

    Reply
17. Paula Kate Prince-Meserole says:

    December 9, 2011 at 9:30 am

    In a real sense Neilsen’s ratings system is still operating in the old standard of America, both when they were rating radio programs in the 20′s, 30′s 40′s and 50′s to when television came into regular use. The 20′s through the 50′s in America was a time when Mom usually stayed home with the kids while Dad went out to work ostensibly to bring home the bacon so to speak.

    My point is that America hasn’t looked like the first three quarters of the 20th century in a very long time. Since the later quarter of the 20th century we have gone from VCR to DVR and as we have recorded our soaps they have never been missed. It is well to mention here that along with the recorded program comes the commercials in between just like on live TV so the sponsor products are there as well… ever in our sight for us to pick and choose from according to our individual household needs.

    But since the Networks are only looking at what I suspect to be Neilsen’s ratings of whatever is being watched at its scheduled time, the real story has been ignored..and that is where I cry foul. We as soap viewers support the soaps not only when we watch but …when we buy sponsor advertised products.

    To the Advertisers and the Networks:

    This is the 21st Century not the antiquated first three quarters of the 20th century. We do not live in a welfare state in America and because we are not all independently wealthy, people have to go out to work so that we can pay our bills and taxes and buy those lovely sponsor products.
    We in America all live in that reality, so why should we (the soap viewers (that number 7 million) lose a 43 year old unique American Tradition (One Life To Live) just because the Networks and Advertisers refuse to get out of the first 3/4 of the 20th century? The answer to that question is that: We shouldn’t have to and we wouldn’t have if the Networks , the Advertisers and the antiquated version of the Neilsen’s ratings system as used by them would come out of the dark ages.

    Reply

    

    Heather replied December 12th, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Networks don’t want you to DVR soaps. Because if you, that means that you’re not watching the commercials.

    Reply
18. Paula Kate Prince-Meserole says:

    December 13, 2011 at 11:17 am

    “My point is that America hasn’t looked like the first three quarters of the 20th century in a very long time. Since the later quarter of the 20th century we have gone from VCR to DVR and as we have recorded our soaps they have never been missed. It is well to mention here that along with the recorded program comes the commercials in between just like on live TV so the sponsor products are there as well… ever in our sight for us to pick and choose from according to our individual household needs.”

    That is the point of my comments. You see it doesn’t matter that they don’t want us to DVR or record our soaps and /or daytime shows or not because the reality is, that unless the Networks, and Advertisers come into the 21st century, and start counting recorded shows or “shifted viewing” as viable numbers, then by default there is no show that will make it so to speak… because reality dictates that most of us have to leave our homes to work for a living.
    At some point the Networks and Advertisers will have to come to accept our current reality and deal accordingly or they will have to pay the steep prices for lost show after lost show. It costs a great deal of money to put shows on TV, imagine how much those costs will rise as they continue on in their present path with the Neilsen’s Ratings System having to replace show after show simply because they persist in counting viewers the way they have for the last 50 years… and thereby doing, they refuse to recognize “All” the viewers.

    So in the end it doesn’t matter that they don’t want us to DVR our shows reasoning that we aren’t watching the commercials; because as we need to make a living to buy those sponsor products, reality dictates that the DVR is recording the shows we watch anyway.
    and as the Networks refuse to look at all of us, they will be the ones to lose in the end.

    Whether it is recording the soaps or watching them at their regularly scheduled times…we, millions of soap viewers are not the ones at fault here, we have been there watching our shows faithfully for more than four decades, having spent billions of dollars over the last four decades in sponsor product purchases.

    ABC has blown a lot of hot air regarding the viewers not wanting to watch soaps anymore because they had the Nelisen’s Ratings System the way it currently counts viewers, to back up what they said…but the truth is …a system, such as the Neilsen’s that refuses to count ‘All” the viewers is flawed.

    Bottom line …….
    If soaps can’t make money anymore as ABC and Oprah have both claimed, then why did ABC ‘Sell” the licensing rights to Prospect Park in the first place? And why did ABC expect to receive millions in royalties every year? If our soaps can’t make money then where did ABC expect to get royalties in the millions? Huh?..

    And finally, if our Soaps can’t make money anymore then why didn’t ABC just give the licensing rights away for free or at one dollar to make the licensing deal legal?

    Other Networks know all this and they know that wherever our soaps go…. we go….even if we have to buy cable to do it.

    Reply
19. Jan says:

    December 15, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    BOYCOTT ABC! Get smart STOP watching EVEN DWTS.
    AWARDS SHOWS, ANYTHING THEY BOARDCAST and they will fell the rath.

    Reply
20. Ann says:

    December 17, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    I agree boycott ABC! There is nothing now on ABC that I can’t see anywhere else.

    Reply