Susan Lucci, Farmville
Soap opera fans — and Hoover — can go ahead and blame ABC's head of daytime Brian Frons for the death of All My Children and One Life to Live. Two weeks ago, he pulled the trigger, ending 40 years worth of storytelling, and further enraging fans by announcing in the same breath that both series would be replaced by cheaper-to-produce talk shows.
Susan Lucci on All My Children's cancellation: "I was completely blindsided"
It's true that soaps don't make as much money as they used to, but why? Are there culprits to blame beyond network executives needing to cut costs? We point a finger at several other guilty parties in the death of the serial:
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Disney Channel
Disney is fast-tracking a musical series tentatively titled Madison High, according to Deadline.com.
The show will center on students trying to build their theater program. Featuring all original music, the show will follow the kids (who periodically break into song and dance) as they navigate high school and prepare to put on a production at the end of the school year.
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Teens from all over have come to give their all in hopes of becoming a part of the High School Musical phenomenon As High School Musical Get in the Picture premieres Sunday at 8pmET on ABC we caught up with host and artist Nick Lachey to get the scoop on the new reality talent competition and what his high school days were like Gina DiNunnoTVguidecom Why did you want to get involved with the HSM reality project Nick Lachey The thing that excited me about this project was that it involved musical theater at the high school age That was a big part of my growing up because I went to a performing arts high school I felt I could really relate with what these kidsTVGuidecom What was it like being at a performing arts high school Lachey Id take my core classes but along with that also take drama class choir band and after school would work on plays I was in Peter Pan A Christmas Carol Sweeney Todd The Wiz Annie instead of practicing football or soc
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Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens by Peter Tangen/Disney Channel
How it took this long, I do not know. ABC is developing a reality competition based on Disney Channel's uberpopular High School Musical, Variety reports.Eyeing a summer debut, the multi-episode series will launch with a nationwide talent hunt, followed by a chosen few honing their skills at a music conservatory. Wannabe Troys and Gabriellas will be eliminated each week until a winner (of what, that has yet TBD) is chosen. Appearances by kicking and screaming HSM stars are likely, says the trade.
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Kaycee Stroh by Michael Bezjian/WireImage.com
High School Musical's Kaycee Stroh had music on her mind on the red carpet of the Bebe Lingerie Launch Party, held Feb. 13 at Element in Hollywood. Besides anticipating the filming of High School Musical 3, she is embarking on a singing career. "I just got my first song for Disney and I will be recording it within the next couple of weeks," she shared. "Hopefully it will come out either right before or right after High School Musical 3."Stroh hopes to convey confidence and sassiness in her upcoming song. Referring to her self-acknowledged weight gain due to recent knee surgery, she wants to build confidence in girls everywhere. "No matter what size or shape or color, girls are beautiful and girls are fun. This song I’m doing has to do with being confident. I hope I can project that." — Summer Brooks
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Zac Efron by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com
High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron is in the hospital with appendicitis, TMZ reports. With his singing ostensibly stopped for the moment, is the music still in him?Only time will tell, but sources say he has had his appendix removed and is recuperating. It won't be too long, then, before Troy's back to get his head in the game for production of the third HSM installment. — Anna DimondRelated:• High School Musical 3 Cast Confirmed• High School Musical 3 Not Struck by Strike
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Ashley Tisdale by Theo Wargo/ WireImage.com
Thanks to an imminent production start, Ashley Tisdale's feature-film debut might not be High School Musical 3 but rather They Came from Upstairs, an adventure comedy lensing in a few weeks and also starring Carter Jenkins (Viva Laughlin Surface), Austin Butler (Ned's Declassified Guide...)and Robert Hoffman (Step Up 2). The plot, says the Reporter, finds a group of teens defending their Maine vacation home from aliens. All this on top of the usual acne concerns!
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Zac Efron by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
Whatever they’re paying Zac Efron, it isn't enough. In 2007, for the first time ever, the commercial-free Disney Channel beat out every ad-supported cable network in prime-time viewership. Granted, it only won by a mouse whisker — its average of 2.694 million total viewers was just 15,000 more than runner-up USA Network — but still, it won. Not coincidentally, the premiere of High School Musical 2 earned bragging rights as the No. 1 cablecast of all time. Elsewhere in the year-end wrap-up, TNT came in third, albeit down seven percent, and No. 4 ESPN slipped 11 percent. Among the cablers on the upswing were Bravo, MSNBC (up an impressive 32 percent), A&E (up 20 percent), Discovery Channel, Court TV, TLC and VH1 (gaining 19 percent, not all of which can be attributed to the masses that have made out with Tila Tequila... right?). — Ben Katner
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Vanessa Hudgens by Jamie McCarthy/ WireImage.com
Vanessa Hudgens has given Seventeen her first interview since racy photos of herself surfaced on the Internet. And though the High School Musical starlet says, "Truthfully, I don't like talking about it," she does insist that the leaked personal pics weren't some "reach for attention." Rather, "Nobody was supposed to see [them]," she says. "It's unfortunate that everybody did. It shows that you can't trust everyone." All told, with the scandal now months behind her, Hudgens shares, "I'm much better now."
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In late January at a shoppingplex in Provo, Spain Utah, MTV will begin filming The American Mall, an original musical from High School Musical producers Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush, says the Hollywood Reporter. Eyed for a summer premiere, the song-and-dancer stars Bulgarian actress Nina Dobrev as a singing/songwriting high school graduate desperate to save her mother's music store and hold onto the musically gifted young janitor she loves (played by Rob Mayes). Now for a name you recognize: The O.C.'s Autumn Reeser will play Dobrev's rich-bitch adversary whose folks are trying to shutter the mall.The American Mall pitch actually predates HSM, and was originally (and amazingly, considering what I detailed above) envisioned as a feature film.
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