GL: Ratings and Budget Decline?

[Vee]

You, sir, are a god among men. Thank you.

[Greg's GL]

IA that the downturn started with McTavish/Liabson and continued through future regimes. But the Conboy/Weston era took all the remaining air out of the GL balloon, IMO.

When Paul Rauch first came on as EP with B&E, the show wasn't horrible. They had some good stories, namely Annie and Rick/Abby. PR stated his goal was to overtake GH at the 3pm hour and of course, that never happened. The latter stories - San Cristobel and the Clone - were what drove a lot of people away. The thing about PR - aside from the lighting - was that he was very good at storyline pacing. He seemed to understand that we didn't want to see the same people on screen every day of the week.

EW/DK do not understand that. Their desire to make GL "The Cassie Hour" is horrible and will drive more viewers away, IMO.

That being said, is there any way that GL can climb out of this hole? I don't see it happening. These problems should have been addressed 15 years ago, before a lot of the affiliates started broadcasting the show at different times throughout the country (9, 10 or 3). CBS should have never allowed that to happen. GL was once their highest-rated story, now it's been perpetually at the bottom for longer than I care to remember. And the timeslot, IMO, plays a big part in that.

I wonder why the other shows that are doing poorly in the ratings are not hit with such massive budget cuts that GL was when they had the same ratings. Or maybe they have experienced some budget issues, but the EPs at the other shows are more compentent in still making their shows appear better on-screen than EW@GL.