Times when cancellation is the best option

[Max]

This opinion is undoubtedly controversial, but I honestly believe that there are times when cancellation is in the best interest of a soap. More specifically, if quality or a soap's budget has been so badly sacrificed, I believe that a soap should be cancelled.

There are two soaps still on the air--GL and DOOL--that I believe are examples to booster my opinion. If GL had been cancelled a couple of years ago, the show would have been sorely missed. However, rather than cancel the show, TPTB decided to instead cut its budget to next to nothing. As a result, you now have a soap whose top stars are leaving and whose production quality is beyond pathetic. Sadly, if GL were to go off the air tomorrow, I doubt many would mourn the loss.

In DOOL's case, cancellation was avoided only because JERk was put in charge. Unfortunately, that resulted in storylines that completely perverted this once great soap's reputation. Rather than being respected, DOOL has been the subject of critical disdain for many years. If, on the other hand, the show had been cancelled prior to the JERk era, DOOL would still be beloved and acclaimed by so many today.

When my favorite soap, AW, was cancelled in 1999, I was of course extremely devastated. However, given the terrible things that GL and DOOL have suffered through, I can now say (in hindsight) that I would have preferred cancellation over the fate of being the victim of budget cuts or horrendous storylines. By being cancelled when it was in far better shape than most of the soaps on air today, AW was able to go out with its head held (relatively) high.

[juppiter]

Are you talking about JER's first tenure or second tenure? If you're talking first tenure, you're wrong because while critics hated it, many fans loved it and DAYS became the only water cooler soap of the 1990s. If you're talking second tenure, you're wrong because Langan and Higley had already done their part to make DAYS an embarrassment to the industry.

I think this only applies to GL.

[UKBoi]

I honestly don't think cancellation is a good thing for any soap, especially GL. How does it fare for the future of soaps when the longest running, 70+ year old soap gets pulled?

I think GL is in SUCH an awkward position, they really are damned if they do, damned if they dont...when it comes to trying to survive in the current environment. All it would take for the show to be great again is a good HW who gets the characters and knows how to properly integrate new characters into the current cast. I could see a smaller cast working well for GL, I could even stand to lose a few of the 'big names' that have run their course on the show, i.e. Crystal Chappell, Bradley Cole. Focus on Josh and Reva's family, as well as the Spauldings and the Coopers, throw in a few Bauers and Marlers and you've got a good, solid cast. I think GL's main problem has always been that it's scared to move too far forward in case it alienates existing fans whilst trying to grab new ones...and that they keep hiring new actors who either are terrible or are good but only stick around for the length of their first contract and then jump ship after getting some buzz around them. Centering shows around younger characters these days is a bad news, as the young actors dont stick around for very long (and can you blame them when they can see how loyalty to a soap is rewarded when you hit forty/fifty?).

[Max]

In answer to Juppiter's question, I was referring to both (or either) of JERk's tenures.

[Loretta3938]

If you use that basis to cancel soaps, all of them could be off the air in six months. Y&R should have quit while they still had over four million viewers...B&B should quit once they paired Ridge and Brooke one too many times...GH should have quit before the mob controlled everything...

In October, it will be five years since Port Charles officially went off the air. Do I wish they had canceled it sooner...like maybe at the start of the arcs and schedule they used to save money? Nope...I enjoyed that period and can't imagine the show any other way.

As for letting go of Days even before AW was canceled...again, no. My parents both watched Days and AW. My father was upset when AW was canceled. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on the millions of viewers watching the show back then. I watch Days daily and I'm still trying to watch GL, and I will continue watching it as long as it's on the air.

Loretta

[marceline]

I agree. It's long past time to cancel some of these shows. I think it would serve the genre better than hanging on to these used up, played out travesties. I think that the genre can and will evolve but not in its present state.

Right now soaps are defined by aging writers, redundant plots and outdated ideas. I don't believe that soaps in their current state deserve to be saved. It's time to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Maybe if we can get rid of GL and DAYS, the rest will finally see that they need to change.

Soaps can be reborn. But they need to die first. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they're going to die with dignity. It looks like we're going to have to push them down the stairs in a wheelchair.

[EricMontreal22]

I dunno--the only soap I followed to cancelation was The City and I still think it had way more potential in it than Port C ever had

[Kstaff]

But all good things must come to an end. I didn't want MASH to end. Or Cheers. Or Seinfeld. (Yeah, I know they're primetime). BUT, they chose to end on a high note, not gasping and struggling.

I really think, in the case of Days, the power struggles, revolving door of writers, and the never-ending fanbase demands is sinking things more and more. It's had more than 40 years, which is more than a lot of soaps can say. I remember watching as a kid the whole Maggie Red Shoes episode. I remember when Addie died. It holds fond memories, but we can't hold on to it forever. In the end, the folks at Sony, NBC, or whoever will have to make business decisions. They can't keep every show on the air, because all shows (even the pitiful) have SOMEONE watching them and missing them somewhere. I fear for a lot of people, the end of Days isn't going to be as memorable in a good way as the end of Port Charles was for you.

[Gray Bunny]

It would be sad to see the longest-running show in broadcasting history cancelled, but at this point it's in name only. I don't watch it anymore so I wouldn't miss it. I would only hope that some of its actors like Kim Zimmer would find a home on another soap. Otherwise, I wouldn't be upset. It's just not anywhere near the same show anymore.

DAYS still has a chance to live on a few more years, but unfortunately they're not writing good stories, nor are they writing for the characters I actually want to see. This current youngster/teen group could all leave tomorrow and I wouldn't miss them one bit. Robo-John needs to end. EJ needs to be killed off. And why oh why won't they just use Maggie Horton for something juicy for gosh sakes? She proved her popularity during the SSK story.

Sadly, I don't see a long future left for any soaps except the Bell soaps (although Y&R is going down a slippery slope in the Nielsens these days!) but nobody's in the same terrible shape as GL. Maybe ATWT? I don't watch it.

[tylerbo20]

i watched the city....all the way to the end i can still hear the theme song...

[Skin]

Both GH and AMC were beyond hot back in the 90's. Easily equalling (perhaps even passing) Days popularity and critical acclaim.

[dm.]

It was an interesting show. I remember the cliffhanger ending... Wow.

[FrenchFan]

I don't really know if cancellation is the best option. I think that GL is the oldest show, it deserves to go on forever but I caught a glimpse of it the other day: my Gosh, it was painful. My heart sank when I thought of Holly, Ed, and a few others while Jeffrey the rapist was shot down and everyone worried for him. The show sucks: it is not watchable anymore. So, I pray that TPTB do something. If they don't, I think I'd rather see the show cancelled no matter how hard it is, just to cherish my beloved memories.

[Sapounopera]

The last thing this genre needs is another cancellation. Do you remember how bad DAYS was during the Melaswen fiasco? I never exptected this show to recover. And yet we got a new wonderful version of Salem after a while during Hogan Sheffer's last months. For me a soap opera is like a newspaper. You ddon't close down a newspaper, you just improve it.

[FrenchFan]

I agree but don't hide the truth. The genre is dying. Should we let it go slowly and painfully or should we try to let it die with dignity. Cancellation is like euthanism. Nobody wants it.