Saving GL or Creating a new soap?

[King]

Um, I agree. What hospital looks like that? The local IKEA must have been having a bamboo sale. P&G, pull your sh!t together!

[jfung79]

This question is ridiculous. GL is not in any more ratings trouble than other soaps. GL is in the pack. There's absolutely no way that cancelling GL for a new soap would help the genre.

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Nice sets are not going to guarantee that you will enjoy the show, nor will it grant a good story; however, soaps are supposed to be an escape. We want to see our characters in nice houses. We'd like to believe that the hospital does not consist of one room with a cot even after one has been shot in the head. Soaps provide an illusion, and I must tell you that it is very depressing looking at the sets on GL.

Can we have good storytelling and nice attractive sets???

ANDREA

[bellcurve]

Oh, whether or not GL was canceled to make a new soap, you best believe CBS would not be stupid enough to air the new soap in GL's timeslot. Unless they really ARE that stupid.

If GL is canceled for a new soap, the execs are gonna place the show near its next to strongest show on the lineup, B&B. That's the ONLY way launching a new soap on CBS will work. And if the new soap is Bell Produced, there is no way they are gonna want GL's old timeslot. And who would?!

That's why I say get rid of ATWT and use their a few of their best actors on GL. I would rather see ATWT go out on a halfway high note than to see the same thing happen to it than happened to GL(which, IMO, made the show a completely different show. not bad, but not good if you miss 80's and 90's GL and want it back). Because if you really, truly think that ATWT will look the same when GL is cancelled, you are sadly mistaken. The same thing that happened to GL will happen to ATWT: a lot less lighting, less sets used, more characters living in a hotel room or on a construction site. The money they use to pump into ATWT, if not more, will be used for the new soap, which would more than likely be an LA soap, unless they can find a business model to develop a NY Soap for cheap(kind of telenovela-like, where you shoot a bunch of scenes in one day in a couple of sets, etc).

Mark my words: ATWT will not be ATWT if GL is cancelled for a new soap. Bloom/Tassler/Moonves will look at the business model Wheeler developed for GL's budget cuts and implement them on ATWT. And GL was already in shambles when the budget cuts happened. At least ATWT still has a lot of its core.

I'd like to see GL continue being the little soap that could...albeit under a new Head-Writer. But I don't see Wheeler leaving anytime soon...she knows how to make a cheap, but compelling soap.

As far as GL's sets go, they totally don't bother me that much. But then again, when I watch GL, I think "soap opera/live theater" instead of just "soap opera." To me, that works well for them.

I just don't want to see the same thing happen to ATWT, because it will.

[applcin]

I would love a 30-minute soap in the style and quality of Ryan's Hope. But I think, as others have said, the problem lies in the mindset of the executives and committees at the networks. They will just produce the same product....aka, same sheet (pardon my French), different channel (witness GH's 2 spinoffs) based on what they want on their airwaves. I believe Tristan Rogers was working on trying to get a soap produced at one point (don't know if he's still trying). Heaven forbid someone who actually cares about stories should have a shot. But like Tristan said on his website, the honchos like those at GH aren't interested in changing anything if they look at their bottom line and it tells them that people are still watching what they're putting out and it's still bringing in the bucks.

Honestly, I think the only way we might ever see changes or another soap in the realistic Ryan's Hope vein would be if someone were able to launch it on cable or online and it became so popular that others wanted to copy it.

Sorry for going a bit off-tangent here but this reminded me of something I've wondered about lately (esp. with SoapNet decimating its classic soap lineup) and maybe someone knowledgable could answer this...all those On-Demand channels that they have now that are offshoots (like TNT on Demand, Fit TV On Demand, etc.) where you don't have to pay another fee and you can just watch when you want...what kind of advertising revenue do those require? Like if there were to be a SoapNet on Demand channel, would it pay for them to just offer their classic soaps there and basically do what PGP Classic Soaps does online--offer a library of classic shows in batches as time goes on and just let people access them whenever? Or would they be looking for such a channel to earn the same level of revenue that the "mother" channel does?

[mamasita]

I think also that Days and ATWT are in deeper trouble than GL. GL numbers are rock solid, Days go up and go way down like a rollercoaster and ATWT is in a downward spiral (check the numbers). GL is along with YR and BB, the only soaps that have not lost a massive amount of viewers since 2003.

[Kendall]

Are you kidding me???GL isn't even in the same ball park as ATWT...

There is no way P&G or CBS would cancel WT before GL..If GL gets the dusts...All the focus would be on ATWT plus, you dont see WT having all these horrible set changes and budget cuts and as for the ratings...WT even hit a 3.0 one day in March and we started out the year with 3.5 million viewers...

Also, CBS and P&G are committed to this SOAP!!I

nturn, La Diaries,..the Books, Daytime Dollars, all these wondering things..

So yea the numbers are going down but there's still a chance they can go up unlike GL...

GL is the step child of the CBS daytime lineup

[Gray Bunny]

Honestly, as superficial as this sounds, it's the poor sets that bug me the most about GL. There are so few sets used and they're so small and so DARK! My GOSH this show is always so DARK! The ever-changing sets (the glowing green hospital, the new Towers, Gus/Harley's disappearing kitchen) and the fact that 90% of Springfield lives in a hotel room stifles my imagination that they could be real people living in a big thriving town. I seriously get that feeling of claustrophobia when I see that hotel room used repeatedly in the same episode by so many characters. And that awful Main Street is so tacky and also gives me claustrophobia because multiple conversations can happen simultaneously on the set but we are supposed to believe that the characters don't intermingle and see one another. Plus, they use the set for so many different purposes! Car crashes, shoot outs, funerals, political podiums, Christmas tree lot, outdoor wedding dress store, etc. etc. etc.

The whole situation just takes away that escapism feeling that Springfield could be a real place. Obviously, I know it's not real, but you know what I mean? It's one step above using theater curtains as a backdrop, which they might have to do if their ratings were to ever fall lower.

So I could live with some unimportant characters like Ava, Jeffrey, or Remy if they would at least be surrounded in better, more realistic, brighter, bigger, and more variety of spaces.

Be that as it may, I wouldn't label GL as CBS's step-child, but rather 'The Little Engine That Could' because it's still chuggin' and their ratings are relatively stable, even though the budget situation has been terrible for the past 3 years.

P.S. To the original poster... Guiding Light has not gotten endless Emmy love! 2006 was a great year for GL at the Emmys, but before that, their last winner was Jordi Vilasuso in 2003! Before that, it was Crystal Chappel in 2002. And before that, Cynthia Watros in 1998!!

[Chris B]

The sets on GL can't be blamed on the budget because I've never seen a soap look so awful. That is poor set design and poor lighting, period.

And I still maintain that GL cannot in any way compete in terms of ratings with any other soap. ATWT was a solid #3 yesterday, yes beating GH. This year it has had some solid weeks and the core of the show is solid enough that it could rebound in the ratings again. GL can't afford to bring anyone back, go on location, flesh out families, etc. so no matter how good the writing is the ratings won't go up.

Look how popular Jammy was and people were raving about Kim Zimmer in the cancer story, but the ratings are still at the bottom of the pack. Kriezman may be hated online, but gets a lot of praise in the press otherwise and still, no ratings change.

ATWT is on a downward spiral, but it has shown that it can make major strides with good writing. It gets more press, has more stars and is overall a million times more solid than GL. I think CBS would definitely be smoking crack to keep GL and cancel ATWT.

[KLN]

I hear you. And it's only getting worse, with several soaps now. Even my DAYS.

Anyway, GL already has a built-in audience, even if it's small. That's better than starting a whole new soap up that has ZERO audience. If they can get a new soap to bring in viewers by making changes, they can do the same thing with GL by making changes, as well.

[SpiritualJunkie]

ATWT has spiralled downwards to where GL was a year ago and considering ATWT's number last year, I'd say that's very bad news for the show. And this is completely subjective but I think the writing on ATWT is just as bad, if not worse, than GL's. They have a handful of characters dominating airtime while others are being wasted in a support role. Even on GL's worse days, I can understand most of the characters' motivations. I can't say the same about ATWT..and I don't mean that in a good way.

Yeah, the fact that 80% of Springfield lives at the Beacons bugs a little but I'd like to see great writing and good hiring decisions before seeing better set designs.

[Chris B]

But you have to keep GL's severe budget cut. They had to remove so many popular legacy characters and couples that there is no solid foundation, IMO. If DAYS had to let go half of it's cast, do you honestly think things could be repaired? Despite the praise for Hogan's writing, without John, Marlena, Bo, Hope, etc. the ratings are in the toilet, like GL. It's as if Days decided to just keep John and Marlena while firing Bo/Hope, Jack/Jennifer, Lucas/Sami (ala Danny/Michelle at GL), etc. to get the budget down.

With the budget it has, I can't see GL bringing in any viewers with this cast and these production values regardless of writing. A new soap could be created around this smaller budget, like many cable shows. Being able to create entirely new families we wouldn't have to worry about why there is only one Bauer or why Phillip didn't appear after returning from the dead or a slew of untalented and cheap recasts.

The difference is that ATWT still has the majority of it's cast (in all age groups) and the airtime problem could easily be fixed with a new writer with a better vision. At GL, the can't bring back the characters and actors needed (on contract) because the money isn't there.

But if changes aren't made soon the ratings will stay low and they'll be in the same shape as GL. Could PGP really be so stupid to let both of their soaps die when easily repairable? We'll have to wait and see. With all the promotions like daytime dollars and the PGP soap channel, it would suggest they care. Keeping Jean Passanante suggests otherwise.

The next few weeks should be interesting. This week ATWT hit a brand new low in the ratings which isn't good.

[bellcurve]

Oh, but you best believe if GL were cancelled for ATWT, that ATWT would become one unrecongizable clusterf~ck.

Do you HONESTLY think ATWT, with the ratings it has right now, won't suffer from ratings loss(no doubt a timeslot change) and a budget cut when CBS rolls out the new soap? You're sadly mistaken.

Psh. Not if they get stuck in GL's old timeslot.

[JackPeyton]

CBS should cancel GL and pickup Days and comp retool the show.

[Vee]

Please. A new soap would not stand a [!@#$%^&*] chance.

GL may be on life support but it at least has a long standing on CBS on its side. The reason a new soap will not work is because daytime departments at the American networks have no interest in changing their way of working or producing daytime drama. They have no ability anymore to create or sustain a core canvas, multi-generational stories, etc. They are only focused on emulating MTV's faux-reality shows - which have always, always sucked. Daytime today doesn't know how to revitalize itself or do anything new, or really create. They just tread water and bullshit. Trying to make a new soap in this environment with their mindset and resources would be like trying to grow crops at Chernobyl.