SON Community: Dan - Viewing Profile

Don't know about an all-female episode, but I know that GL did an all-male episode in the spring of 1992 that centered around Hamp's bachelor party.

For years, I ranted and raved in the same way. If only TPTB would have done this and not that, maybe we wouldn't be in the situation we are in. But the reality is more likely that the ratings would have dropped no matter if they cloned Agnes and Doug Marland to run all the shows. Why? Because tv ratings are down. All across the board. Primetime and daytime. The threshold by which a show is judged as a hit is a mere fraction of what it once was. And because of that, shows on USA or HBO can outperform even network programming. Jeff Zuker was right a few months ago when he said that the networks are just really bloated cable channels. The audience is fracturing as more channels are added, as technology gives us more avenues to watch our fave shows.

Therefore, daytime is the first to be affected by it because they have historically had lower ratings than network primetime. So while the ratings possibilities for daytime are much lower, TPTB still have dreams of the halcyon days where daytime literally drove all the ad revenue for the network. So budgets get cut and characters get whacked in order to wring out as much profit as possible. We get pissed and the diehard but disgruntled fans join the exodus. The ratings lower and the cycle continues.

Look, I would love to say that quality matters. But those of us that say that quality and consistency and integrity matter on a show simply do not have a leg to stand on when we look at objective ratings data. Truth be told, the ingredients for success are probably more like the stars aligning than anything else.

Of course, the silver lining is that in this technology-heavy and fragmented atmosphere, there is a renewed purpose for our old shows. Guiding Light will probably live on just as AW, SFT, EON on Hulu, on Youtube, on some random idea that PGP will come up in the future. That's why I don't understand why they are trying to broaden the audience for Soapnet. The days of a channel that appeals to everyone are over. I think it's about time for the niche channels to remember their niches and go for that particular audience.

BTW: I'm wondering how much TPTB's reluctance to do the Billy/Holly/Buzz story had to do with Jordan Clarke and his, shall we say, problems? Probably not much. But it's a thought.

It really is a shame because Claire was also responsible for one of the worst moments in GL history. Even worse than anything set in Peapack.

In early 2001, Maria Santos put a hit out on grandson Danny. Her henchmen fired shots outside the Bauer kitchen as Danny and Michelle huddled behind the kitchen counters. Seeing gunfire in the same set that Maureen and, earlier, Bert dispensed advice in was, symbolically, the worst moment in GL's history.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm most interested to hear about Ms. Labine's tenure at GL. I think that her tenure there is perhaps where she experienced the most interference. I know that Mickey Dwyer Dobbin loved her on GH but her and Rauch must have made her miserable in that year. After all, she was hired, fired, and rehired in the span of six months and then fired again in the spring/early summer of 2001.