All My Children and One Life to Live

Friday saw the end of All My Children.  I was prepared to be nostalgic.  I wanted to be saddened that the show was going off the air.  But, the way they left me?  Bah!  Screw 'em.
Not only a ripoff of Gone With The Wind when Jackson finally walked out on Erica, but a Dallas/Who Shot JR twisteroo ripoff becoming Who did JR Shoot?  And on top of it, a ripoff of the Soprano's where the screen went to black.
Ugh.
The reason that show got cancelled is because whole backstories were changed and switched to suit the plot rather than developing plot from the true characters.
I ignored that because I wanted to enjoy the show.  I held on until the last episode because I'd hoped it would go out with poignancy and give all the rest meaning.
It didn't.
Grrr...

As far as One Life To Live...well, this was my more favorite show of the two.
Yet - on Friday we discovered that Shane killed Victor Lord, Jr.
Wow - think about this:  In the last six months...
1.  Teenager Matthew killed Eddie Ford.  He got away with it because his mother is the District Attorney and his father is the Chief of Police and then he suffered traumatic brain injury leading to coma when he was sucker punched by the son of Eddie Ford, another teenager.  The son hadn't even met Eddie Ford as his father until a month or two previous, but in the soap opera world blood is everything.  Even if you've never met the man, just finding out your blood related means people will say to you "but, he's your father, you have to protect him/love him/talk to him..."  blah, blah, blah.  Ugh.
2.  Teenager Jack Manning killed Gigi Morasco (by setting up a prank that went bad) and got away with it when Victor Lord, Jr (who thought he was Todd Manning at the time) paid a lot of money to the father of another boy to admit he was the one who setup the situation that caused the accident.  Imagine a father convincing his son to admit to a crime he didn't commit so he can get some money - unbelievable!
3.  Teenager Shane Morasco killed Victor Lord, Jr.

In just a few months FOUR TEENAGERS have caused the death or coma of three adults and one teenager. 
I don't feel good about this trend.
It's ugly and lazy; lazy writing.
I will accept that maybe they've had to create some pretty wild resolutions just to bring them to a more speedy conclusion since the show will be be off the air at the end of the year.  I'd like to give them a break and wait to see what they have in store, but I've been burned by AMC, so I'm less inclined.  I'll keep my eye on it through to the end, but I'm disgusted by what they're creating.

Update 12/10/2011...I guess Shane didn't kill Victor Lord, Jr, but my disappointment with the writing and storylines and changing whole backstories and motivations from day to day has increased.  I'm not surprised the 'stories' are going off the air with this kind of writing.  Sad.