LITTLE ROCK — It turns out that Sarah Orr of Hot Springs will be on a short list of “heroes” who have appeared on ABC’s The Revolution.
Last week the network renewed General Hospital and canceled The Revolution, the afternoon lifestyle series that debuted Jan. 16.
Each week the show featured one woman’s fivemonth journey toward weight loss and a healthier lifestyle. The “big reveal” came every Friday when the spanking new version waltzed out smiling, freshly made over and looking much improved.
Orr, a wife, mother and teacher, who had “let herself go” after the birth of her two daughters, had her moments in the spotlight the week of March 19. Her persistence paid off when a much slimmer Orr strode past a large “before” photo and took the stage March 23.
Orr’s determination and that of the other weekly heroes was inspirational for viewers, but not enough to save the series when the network stepped back and looked at the big daytime picture with an eye toward the future.
Most importantly: Katie Couric is waiting in the ABC wings with her new syndicated afternoon chat show, set to premiere Sept. 10.
The morning ABC talk show, The View, is firmly ensconced and the noon foodfest The Chew offers something different at lunchtime, so the network had to make a decision.
Having already canceled the long-running soaps All My Children and One Life to Live, ABC was down to only one daytime drama — General Hospital.
The soap opera won the cancellation lottery. That means General Hospital will be around to observe its 50th anniversary next April 1.
The Revolution will have made it only about six months. The last episode is set for July.
ABC will fill the gap before Katie takes over with an hour afternoon version of Good Morning America starting July 9.
Did The Revolution have too many hosts and too much going on? Not by comparison with General Hospital.
Here, for your amusement, is the current cast list for General Hospital:
Bradford Anderson, Brandon Barash, Maurice Benard, Julie Berman, Sean Blakemore, Brianna Brown, Steve Burton, Nathin Butler, Leslie Charleson, Tyler Christopher, Lisa Lo Cicero, Jason Cook, Chad Duell, Sonya Eddy, Jane Elliot, Anthony Geary, Nancy Lee Grahn, Rebecca Herbst, Kodi Kitchen, Kelly Monaco, Alyshia Ochse, Nathan Parsons, Ingo Rademacher, Scott Reeves, Kirsten Storms, Kelly Sullivan, Jason Thompson, Laura Wright, John J. York and Dominic Zamprogna.
In the end, it was low ratings that did in The Revolution. General Hospital averages 2.26 million viewers each day, while The Chew draws 2.21 million.
The Revolution is pulling in an anemic 1.33 million. That’s not enough to keep the lights turned on.
Secret revealed. We all know that Homer Simpson and family live in Springfield, but which real Springfield is the inspiration for the home of The Simpsons?
Creator Matt Groening has been circumspect for the past 22 years, but last week he finally let the secret out.
Groening revealed to Smithsonian magazine that the inspiration is Springfield, Ore., a town of 60,000.
Groening’s hometown is Portland, Ore., and growing up he imagined the Springfield of Father Knows Best was just next door.
Dust Bowl. Have you been sitting around at home wondering what Ken Burns has been up to lately? We all know the master documentarian can’t sit still for long.
PBS has announced that Burns will “explore the largest manmade ecological disaster in American history” with the two-part, four-hour film The Dust Bowl on Nov. 18 and 19.
“Perhaps the biggest tragedy is that it was preventable,” said Burns of the 1930s catastrophe that “turned prairies into deserts and unleashed a pattern of massive, deadly dust storms that for many seemed to herald the end of the world.”
“If we show the same neglect to the limits of nature now as we did then, it is entirely possible that this could happen again.”
The film uses interviews with 26 survivors, seldomseen movie footage, previously unpublished photographs and the songs of Woody Guthrie.
Can’t wait until November? A preview is available at pbs.org/dustbowl.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend, Pages 32 on 04/19/2012