The Campaign To Save GL

[AntiNWO]

There's a ton of animosity towards Guiding Light this decade, both online and in the "real" world. The print media are getting a ton of mail dissing GL and just about every story on. The ratings for GL aren't moving up, but remaining stagnant and sometimes decreasing. The phone lines at GL are busy most days with criticism. Even the CBS Daytime offices are getting in on the disappointment train with letters galore. So, why is everyone at the soap magazines, NBC, ABC and SoapNet trying desperately to save GL???

It’s a common belief that GL is on its last legs and that it will not be renewed this year when its contract with CBS/PGP is up. You can't really find an editor at any soap mag that thinks any different, nor can you find an executive at NBC or ABC Daytime that believes anything but that. Still, everyone that has anything to do with daytime soaps will tell you the same thing: We have to make sure GL survives!

Why?

I had the opportunity to speak with a leading magazine's editor this morning. Good conversation, but very honest (almost too honest for me). I asked her if she had any advice on how to reach Wheeler or Bloom about my feelings on the show. She bluntly told me, not asked, but told me, "Don't do that."

"If GL is cancelled, it will be the worst thing daytime soaps has ever experienced. We can't allow GL to be cancelled because that will signal to ABC and NBC that soaps are definitely a dying breed. I fully expect a soap on ABC to be cancelled if GL is axed. NBC will be sure to follow with both of their soaps when their contracts are up, given that Hogan Sheffer doesn't pull Days out of the spiral."

I had to keep pushing, "But GL is really bad right now. Isn't there any way to push my opinion?"

Her reply, "If viewers continue to voice their 'GL is terrible' routine, it will be cancelled. They don't care if viewers don't like the stories or the characters, but when we say we aren't watching, that strikes a very bad chord."

"You will see daytime heads protecting GL and really going to bat for GL from now until next year. I liken this to seeing Fidel Castro supporting George W. Bush in accepting Cuban refugees. It’s going to be strange seeing people support a show on a different network, but its going to happen."

So, there's an interesting twist on the situation. Darned if we do, darned if we don't.

Our obligation is not to the preservation of the genre. We owe no one anything. To the contrary, they owe US a product we want to watch. They can't muffle us, when our message is not to eliminate the product but IMPROVE it. All they have to do is read boards (which they do) to figure out what fans are asking for. Some things being: attention to history, continuity of personalities, and stories which take place on planet Earth, not the stratosphere. We acknowledge budgetary constraints, and therefore don't demand the elaborate sets, etc. of the past but COME ON.....Tiki Green hospitals, or everyone living in a hotel? We don't expect characters to remain stagnant and not grow, but COME ON....tearing up divorce papers one day and splitting up the next?

Nothing on this show shows that anyone cares, is doing their best, or is exerting any effort. The sloppiness shows. Yes, the shows have monetary constraints, but they certainly spend their money in what many of us consider to be a problem - poor acting, removal/dismissal of important characters/actors and inconsistent/badly written/executed. The lack of great content and concern is alarming!

If a network/production company doesn’t care about the show they’re airing, why should we care, and more importantly, watch? About 10 million people have tuned off the daytime serials and DON’T miss it. We’d rather not see something awful than watch for the sake of watching.

I think in some ways this is not a surprise - it's rather logical what would happen if GL were to be cancelled, particularly if CBS does not have another serial lined up (very unlikely) and isn't about to take B&B to an hour (somewhat unlikely). With GL gone, CBS affiliates would probably want that 3pm hour back (assuming they haven't already moved GL to 9/10am). If CBS gives its affiliates the hour back, and NBC is already airing 2 hours of programming, ABC will be urged to do the same, which would mean either canceling a serial or cutting two (most likely AMC and OLTL) to a half an hour.

It’s not just serials being a dying breed, though many of the choices of the last decade on all shows have moved them away from what made them great. The situation is also very much a product of unscripted shows (game, talk, reality) being competition and much cheaper to produce, as well as increased power at the affiliate level (the networks aren't the behemoths they once were).

As for other networks supporting GL (this has already happened), Brian Frons (all of people) has gushed about GL repeatedly. Hard-on, anyone?

If everyone at CBS, NBC, ABC, TV Guide, SOW, SOD and SID want to stick their heads up their asses and pretend that they can insult and ignore their customers with no consequences they are dead wrong. If I was on a 9 person baseball team (9 soaps) and one member of the team was streaking and shaking their nasty ass at home plate while I was trying to win a game/keep a job, I'd ask them what the hell they thought they were doing and I'd warn them how they'd never work again if they didn't cut the bullcrap out and if they said something stupid, I'd gag them with a baseball.

[bellcurve]

GL is NOT a bad show! On its WORST DAY, GL was more worthy of watching than most shows on the air.

They may have crappy sets, a paltry budget, etc. but GL is one of, if not *THE* best soap opera on the air right now. Looking at it from a self-contained POV, GL has action, excitement, and really good acting 90% of the time.

The cancellation of GL will happen sooner than we think. I'm just enjoying it right now.

And if Michelle Ray Smith, of all people, can pull in a decent performace these days, ANYTHING is possible with GL. Girlfriend was HOPELESS last year this time. I now believe in miracles and hell freezing over.

[Kwing42]

GL's ratings are NOT decreasing. They are increasing or staying the same while most others shows are going down.

GL has been the steady show in the storm.

All shows have storylines that are not liked. I do not see why GL is always being picked on when their stories are more realistic that most.

GL's sets have been improving..the hospital still needs a new facelift, but the Towers is back and better then ever...they even redid the Beacons rooms to give them more character.

Nothing too horribly wrong with GL that is not wrong with all othre shows!

[Max]

I find it amusing that when Passions is threatened with cancellation, the fans of that show start a 40+ page thread huffing and puffing about how the entire genre will go down the toilet if that show disappears. Yet, when GL is threatened with cancellation, hardly a whimper is said.

Why don't those die-hard Passions fans also believe that the entire soap genre will go to hell if GL is cancelled, and act accordingly (by making petitions, writing leters, etc., on GL's behalf)?

[mateo22]

1) That Passions page got way outta hand for more than just to save Passions...it had become the place to chit-chat for that night.

2) Passions cancellation rumours always start around this time, if not before, but this one actually has and article that mentions the HIGHLY possible fourth hour of the Today show and Passion's demise at the cost of that.

3) GL is still doing better than Passions on most fronts and despite the 'feeling' that it will not be renewed after its contract is up, most people have faith that it will still be there, or at least from what i have heard.

I wouldn't take it personal. I think a lot of it has to do with who is posting where at that time...

...just my two cents

[Mason]

Among other things...

[KLN]

I agree. I don't watch GL anymore, and I don't think it's anywhere near as good as it used to be... but it's still a respectable show with respectable stories in the few times I've tuned in lately. If it were on NBC, wedged between Days and Passions, it would be receiving all kinds of praise. Especially with Passions as neighbored contrast.

[KMan101]

GL isn't horrible. It's pretty enjoyable but for me, there aren't enough vets, way too small of a cast and half of them aren't even used a lot. For every good thing there's a bad thing that could be fixed. I realize budget is a huge issue, but still ...

GL has a wealth of past characters they could delve into but they keep ignoring them.

I don't think GL will be canceled this year and if it is, very cruel as it's celebrating it's 70th anniversary, although NBC didn't hesitate to cancel AW on the eve of it's anniversary and didn't they do that to another show? Search for Tomorrow? Or something?

[heatherwebber]

What did Brian Frons say, and where did he say it?

[Tzelkos]

I believe (may be wrong) it was around the time of last year's emmys. He talked about how GL was the first show he was an executive for and therefore it was special (arrongant SOB that he is) and he wanted it to survive. Or something to that effect.

[tanyia2]

GL is at its very worst and its ratings are decreasing. Everyday more fans are leaving the show because of poor writing and the disrespect of womens issues by Ellen Wheeler and David Kreizman. The show that so many of us has watched for years is being destroyed by incompetent people.

Some may find this crap entertaining but it isn't and I for one would hope that the people in charge would make some real changes before it is too late. Right now GL is one of the worst soaps on the air and I don't see it getting better until the current people in charge are removed.

I don't want to see comic books on my soaps,Rape victims apologizing to their rapists, or constant character assassinations to fit stupid plots that should not have been done to begin with. Storylines are dropped for weeks at a time and then they are picked up again when people have lost interst and they shove their favorites down our throats while the people we want to see are on the backburner for weeks or months at a time.

[SpiritualJunkie]

Enough with the ignorant and overgeneralized statements! Have you paid attention to the ratings lately??? For months, GL has been sitting around a 2.2/2.3 and just a few months ago, it managed to jump to a 2.4. On some days, it has even gotten a 2.5. So for a low-budget soap that "everyone" is so sure will be cancelled within the next year, it's doing pretty well.

Oh, and a legendary [!@#$%^&*] getting raped again so that viewer's can sympathesize with her this time around (*cough* Days *cough*) or a man shooting his adoptive child's father in an attempt to kill him (ATWT, anyone?) isn't bad enough for other soaps to take a dive in ratings?

GL just simply isn't as bad as everyone says it is. Even when the stories suck, I still manage to find something entertaining, amusing, and genuinely heartfelt about the show. Also, the cast has to be given a lot of the credit because the things they do with mediocre material amazes me.

[Gray Bunny]

And if you ask a frustrated fan of Y&R, B&B, DAYS, GH, AMC, OLTL, ATWT, or Passions about the status of their soap, they'd say *their's* is that one team member that is streaking and shaking their nasty ass. To say that GL is the worst or in the worst shape of all nine is quited biased and, dare I say, ignorant?

[Gray Bunny]

Darlin', that's just your opinion. I'm not saying GL is the bee's knees, but I'm not ready to bury it 6 feet under just yet.

"I find this entertaining!"

"No, you're wrong, it's not entertaining!"

:::rolling my eyes:::

[Ms. Walsh]

GL is a lot better than where it was 2 years ago. When I watch the show, I don't think of it as "Guiding Light." It's definitely not the GL of 10, 20, 30, 40+ years ago and that is really sad. But after all the BS that happened earlier, I think the only thing the show could do was reinvent itself and basically create a new soap opera.

In 2004, I would have bet my life's savings that GL was going to get canned, but now I think it's pretty good. At least it's trying, even if a lot of its endeavors are less-than-amazing. Considering how much money got cut from the show by P&G, I still think the show is very entertaining: the acting is top-notch and make up for the lack of good writing. Unlike the other soaps, GL hasn't gone through weeks/months where it's utter filth...those days are long gone. In 2006, we all heard aboout how bad AMC, OLTL, GH, B&B, Y&R, Days, ATWT, and Passions were/are, but can the same be said of GL? Aside from stand-alone episodes (like some of the ITLs) and a few of the storylines (esp. Reva's cancer storyline), I can't say anything bad about GL.

Besides, why is everyone already nailing GL's coffin? ATWT fans should not be hoping for that b/c what's the chances that P&G will hold on to just 1 soap? And the other soaps aren't going to benefit at all. Just b/c a show ends, doesn't mean that I'm going to be switching over to another soap. Once one soap gets cancelled, it's just going to be a domino effect. GL's ratings aren't bad...they're usually .1-.2 points under the next soap. Sure, the demos are bad, but I mean, someone's got to be on the bottom! And if the P&G soaps aren't around, then I guess B&B, Passions, AMC, and OLTL are going to get cancelled next b/c they'll be on the bottom.