NBC DAYTIME: What could have been!

[NYC123]

NBC itself screwed itself. They hired the wrong people for wrong positions. For example ever scince Hogan was HW for DAYS the ratings has just plumited. They had have bumps in ratings but they are usally last in the ratings. The same can me said for AMC but they are able to get the viewers back *somehow*. AMC always gains in Febuary. DAYS has lost over 1 million viewers and thats horrible.

DAYS will be gone after 2009. They went from a GREAT show to a HORRIBLE show.

I also agree that this is all Susan Lee. PSSN, DAYS, SUBE, AW could have worked out but 3 of these show never were able to grab viewers. They were always at the bottom of the pack adn their was no way that they were bale to get any new viewers.

They also were never rogonized at the Emmys. No acting awards and no show awards.

[Chris B]

So Claire Labine had Celebration for CBS, the Lois/Ned GH spin-off for ABC and Union Place for NBC? I can't believe her soaps weren't picked up. Especially when you consider how successful her time on GH was.

As a new Texas fan, thanks to the PGP soap channel, I am furious at NBC for cancelling it. Many say that the show was at it's peak when it was cancelled. I definitely think the show deserved a few more years with the network.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

So Claire Labine had Celebration for CBS, the Lois/Ned GH spin-off for ABC and Union Place for NBC? I can't believe her soaps weren't picked up. Especially when you consider how successful her time on GH was.

Union Place was repackaged to ABC as the Ned/Lois spin-off. It was to be set and filmed in New York, but production costs are always too expensive there, so ABC went with Wendy Riche's GH spin-off idea, Port Charles.

P&G lated moved a lot of the actors and crew to GL, and Pam Long, Texas' last HW, would be responsible for one of GL's most popular eras. Most noticably was Beverlee McKinsey's turn as the original and definitive Alexandra Spaulding on GL, though she was only on Texas for a year and it was suppose to be her show.

[Paul Raven]

I thought that Another World finally made the right move in hirng Michael Malone as headwriter.

It seemed,at last,a positive move to reinvest in the show.Sadly,his run was shortlived.Obviously,there was behind the scenes stuff happening.

Does anyone have some ideas of what happened?I would have liked to have seen what shape the show would have been in had he had more time.

All the shows need to use more history to balance the new stuff!

[Mitchapalooza]

You are totally wrong about DAYS!

DAYS is far from horrible. The show is not perfect, but it is leaps and bounds better than most of the soaps on the air at the moment.

Also, DAYS still performs well in demos 18-49 and 18-34, they have that in their back pocket, while other soaps struggling (AMC, GL, OLTL, ATWT) do not.

Also, DAYS has proven in the past they can gain viewers back. IMO, DAYS is one of the only shows that has proven the level of increases that they can achieve and you need to look no further than DAYS Salem Stalker storyline in 2004 for proof of that. The show rose from #6/#7 in the ratings, to a solid #2 in the ratings and came within distance of Y&R for #1.

DAYS has had a significant viewer drop, but I firmly believe the right combination of story and front burner status for the vets will bring those fans back. DAYS had a 500,000+ viewer bump in the ratings from John's death and this week they skyrocketed +.3 and +.4 in the 18-49 and 18-34 demos...no other show has seen huge jumps like that recently.

So I disagree that DAYS cannot gain viewers. DAYS viewers are tired and fussy, they will tune in for a 2 week stint, but tune right back out. The right 3-month story arc is all DAYS needs to get out of #8/#7/#6 range and firmly back in the #4/#3/#2 range where they have traditionally been the last 15 years.

[DaytimeFan]

DAYS has a lot of problems. I don't actually believe the quality or ratings are going to have a big say in if the show survives on or off NBC come 2009. In all seriousness I think it's going to come down to who is heading NBC and what side of the bed they wake up on the day the contracts are signed. The show still makes money and it probably always will because of the demographic numbers and the fact that while soaps have been decimated, for the forseeable future they will still pay for themselves and turn a profit.

In regards to SUBE and AW...I miss them both and I think NBC could have made them work. SUBE's ratings were just as good as PSSN and so were AW's. Had PSSN come aboard then NBC would have had a solid 4 soap lineup. Susan Lee, well she was a major problem, yes. But I think it came from higher up than her to kill SUBE and AW. NBC and its affiliates like syndicated programming, they seem to always have and I think they always will.

SUBE I miss because it was *so* Aaron Spelling and with his loss, well, TV just isn't the same as there isn't a Spelling show on the air. I miss his sort of high glam, bitchy, trashy, hilarious melodrama. Spelling really *got* the audience. He knew what his audience wanted and he *gave* it to them.

AW...what can I say. If you were a fan of AW you know what I mean when I say that AW was a special show with a unique tone to it. All of the actors who had been with the show for ages like Victoria Wyndham, Linda Dano, Anna Stuart, Stephen Schnetzer, Charles Keating, Carmen Duncan, Tom Eplin, Judi Evans, Jensen Buchanan etc were so talented, so wonderful. Even when the writing was bad (which it was a lot of the time) the acting was always good. AW was the kind of show that you could watch knowing that the cast liked each other, knowing that it was a family out there in Brooklyn, knowing that you would get a peak into Bay City every weekday at two. The one solace I take in AW leaving my screen is that the show never had to stoop to the level that ATWT and GL have had to in order to survive. AW was sublime.

[StevieM]

Hey guys. I'm glad I'm drunk right now. It makes this thread easier to handle and will prevent me from rambling on for too long.

I think the simplest way of describing "what might have been" is this. When I go off about Matthew Ashford, people on this board probably just think that I'm a big fan of his, and hey, we all have our favorites. They don't even realize that this was an actor whose popularity in 91 was greater then that of Deidre Hall, Drake Hogestyn and Peter Reckell. This was the most popular actor on daytime. An DAYS just threw it all away.

When I think of how huge Jack Deveraux was, independent of Jennifer for the record, I get so sad. He was the Ericka Kane of DAYS, rewritten history not withstanding. Had DAYS not screwed things up there, because Matt wasn't "ripped" and "buffed," the possibilities were unbelievable. A number one ranking in the mid-90s. A spin-off for certain. It was all there for the taking...and they just walked away from it.

And I can't help but wonder what might have been.

Steve

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I won't argue that Jack is a popular character, but I think you're overdoing it a bit. LOL!

Days was in ratings trouble in the early 90's, so Jack's popularity sure didn't help out there. Days got it's first big bump with Carly being buried alive in 93, then in 95, during Marlena's possession, the show shot to #2 and stuck there for the remainder of the 90's. This all happened WITHOUT Matt Ashford, mind you.

Some ratings for the first two seasons of the 90's:

Barring ABC's Loving, every NBC soap was at the bottom half of the ratings chart.

1990-1991

Total Viewers

1. The Young And The Restless 7,460,000

2. General Hospital 6,171,000

3. All My Children 5,710,000

4. As The World Turns 5,434,000

5. The Bold And The Beautiful 5,250,000

6. One Life To Live 5,802,000

7. Days Of Our Lives 4,789,000

7. Guiding Light 4,789,000

9. Another World 3,450,000

10. Santa Barbara 2,947,000

11. Loving 2,763,000

1991-1992

Total Viewers

1. The Young And The Restless 7,585,000

2. All My Children 6,290,000

3. General Hospital 5,365,000

4. As The World Turns 5,273,000

5. Guiding Light 5,180,000

6. The Bold And The Beautiful 5,088,000

7. One Life To Live 4,995,000

8. Days Of Our Lives 4,995,000

9. Another World 3,793,000

10. Santa Barbara 2,868,000

11. Loving 2,590,000

[JackPeyton]

sometimes when im sad i just wanna drift away to Another World...

i miss that shpw. best tv show ever.

my first daytime lineup ever was SuBe Days & AW.

[Sylph]

Oh, what could have been... Many things.

But every time I think of Another World, I remember the great Harding Lemay. And the fact that a successful head-writing tenure can only last 8 years... Or so.

[StevieM]

Y&RWorldturner: your post reflects my point. History has been succesfully rewritten. MA was the most popular star on daytime--period. Jack was the show's most popular character. And if Jack was there I say DAYS would have hit #1 in the mid-90s. The show had problems in the early 90s, as did the network in general. That can't be blamed on J&J, who essentially carried the show on their backs for awhile. When the show is good, the ratings are good.

Also, AMC has pretty crappy ratings right now. That doesn't make us question how popular Susan Lucci is.

But Langan and Reilly have won. People reading this thread have no clue what I'm talking about. They don't get that Jack was this amazing character who was undoubtedly more popular then Bo Brady or Marlena Evans in 91. In fact, the show paid up when MA demanded big money--they let PR walk.

Steve

[aMLCproduction]

I did too like The Malone Era and anything with JFP as EP.

Off topic but question? If CLB was so successful on GH then why was she let go or did she quit on her own accord?