What are each soaps Budgets?

I think GH's is something like $1.35 million per week, DAYS is $1.3 million per week, and Y&R's is $1.25 million per week. This is from TV Guide....

I don't know the figures for the rest...

and GL is $5,000 without coupons

Are you telling me that GH has a bigger budget than the #1 show? And it still looks the way it does? And DAYS also!

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by YRBB

WOW!

GH has the highest budget and yet the ratings for them continue to go down..............

Are you telling me that GH has a bigger budget than the #1 show? And it still looks the way it does? And DAYS also!

Yep, in fact prior to GH getting the title, DAYS held it when its budget per week was a staggering $1.7 million per week. NBC slashed the show's budget somewhere in 2006.

The thing with Y&R is that when CBS renews the show, it usually renews it for a relatively long contract cycle. I think the last time CBS renewed the show was for something like a 6 year deal. There's also no apparent renegotiating cycles for the show, hence why Y&R's budget has been steady when compared to the other soaps.

GH is renewed for less years than Y&R, and is ABC's flagship soap, hence why it currently has the biggest weekly budget in daytime.

As for DAYS, NBC renegotiated the show's budget in 2006 when its contract cycle with the next wasn't up yet. Should DAYS get renewed, I fully expect its budget to be slashed SEVERELY again.

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Can you believe the budget for DAYS was $1.7 million only a few years ago? What has changed...in my view not much (aside from the destruction of Salem Place!). Corday is the sloppiest executive in the business when it comes to money. Just terrible.

GH, being the ABC flagship, is such a joke. It looks terrible considering it's $1.35 a week. I don't know where all that money is going, but it sure as hell ain't going to the sets or the writing.

And then we come to Y&R, the most visually appealing soap on the air with a sensible budget that never goes awry (except for LML's Out of Their Asses storyline which sealed her fate, thank the good lord!). Y&R pours its money into sets and writing and its actors. Additionally, the show manages to recycle sets with a sense of style (for example, the Restless Style offices used to be the Loft JT lived in which used to be Diane and Victor's penthouse). Y&R makes it work.

Thanks for clarifying that Y&RWorldTurner. I guess it would be pretty nuts if CBS lowered the budget of its #1 show.

OMG, I never realized that the loft was the old penthouse! I can't believe I never made the connection! Of course, the fact that I hated the loft might have played into it Loved the penthouse, though. It was brilliant.

You are absolutely right--Y&R wasn't number 1 just in the writing and acting. It was number one in sets, music, look, feel, everything... (Sigh). Hope we get back to that again.

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by YRBB

and GL is $5,000 without coupons

Well with their new look, it looks like they're spending a lot less than $5,000 that's for sure.

GL's budget is probably $1.50

One thing that you have to remember with ABC is that they own all three of their soaps, so that may affect their budgets....

GL's budget is probably $1.50

Hahahahaha

AMC supposedly has a larger budget than OLTL, though I'm not sure I understand why, since both are usually tied in HHs and OLTL usually beats AMC in the 18-49 demo by at least .1. Anyway, you wouldn't know it. The AMC sets are so blah and interchangeable. Even the new Cortlandt Manor set looks like every other set. The only distinction they saved from the old, old Manor set was the staircase when you enter. OLTL is a much more visually appealing show. GL looks like an NYU student film in which the producer had to borrow money from family members, friends, etc to get the thing made. Not that I really care about budgets and sets, but the writing for most of these shows is abysmal and tacky sets just make that stand out for me.

Y&R's sets are so glamorous and life like. I love watching it as a result. I mean take the Abbott mansion, it looks like a mansion. It looks like a home. Look at Chandler Mansion on AMC. Up to a few years ago it was just a bunch of gray walls stuck together. Even now, it doesn't look like a mansion, it looks like a set. The lighting is off. The colors are flat. The staircase doesn't even look like it could lead anywhere. (I am pretty sure the new foyer was the old Tyler Mansion foyer).

If Y&R was recycling sets, I can't tell. The sets look huge, like real rooms (I guess Guiding Light gets major points docked off for their itty bitty excuses for a set).

Why on earth was Days' budget so large? It looked cheaper than any other soap (besides GL after 2004) until last fall.