Ellen Wheeler hopes to save the daytime soap....

[ljacks13]

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/49119/

[Paul Raven]

Quote

"Ellen Wheeler is a believer through and through. If anyone can save the soap, she can. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to light a few more votive candles."

No,Ellen Wheeler is delusional!

She has destroyed the show,not saved it.

The sad thing is,the new format could have worked in more capable hands.

Imagine,character driven story told in a new way,that reflected the history and moved in new directions.

Instead,we see characters meeting up on deserted roads...

[phloeishot]

These people don't understand that the problem is the writing! Give us character driven storylines and love stories. I don't care about location shoots or new camera techniques.

[Greg's GL]

^^^ Y'all couldn't be more right. I don't give a [!@#$%^&*] about seeing Alan walking out of the woods in what looks like the middle of nowhere, talking on his cell phone. I want a well-told narrative story that is character-driven with people I care about.

This part made me laugh:

With its face-lift, Guiding Light is banking on pulling in a whole new generation of viewers. “I do think if you were flipping through the channels you wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, this is a soap opera, I’m not going to stop,’ ” says Wheeler. “You wouldn’t know what it was.”

EXACTLY, Ellen. We DON'T KNOW what it is. It sure isn't the Guiding Light I know and love. You have killed that show.

[Sylph]

LMAO! What a moronic statement! How can someone who took away millions of viewers from a soap - save it?

[Greg's GL]

^^^^ Right?!?! Sylph - it's like asking the wolves to watch over the sheep.

[Sylph]

I'm in total disbelief that someone can actually make a statement like that. The woman who single-handedly destroyed one of the most-loved soaps and made it such a shadow of former self can be called many things, but not to be presented as a miraculous saviour.

[MarkH]

I have SUCH mixed reactions to this:

1. I really DO believe the genre needs to experiment. For that reason ALONE I am in support of what GL is doing.

2. I suspect the real experiment is to cancel the old chestnuts and build new shows with new expectations: For example, maybe today's audience DOES need "The Hills". Then that is what should be created for them. I think trying to extend the lifespans of these shows we love and twist their identities for new audiences has become foolish.

If the time for programming for old farts is passed (I'm an old fart), then leave us with our memories...and create new things for new people. My only request is that you let us have continued access to our memories. It looks like hulu.com is moving in that direction.

3. Although I believe Wheeler loves soap opera, the root of this movement is to appeal to people who wouldn't watch BECAUSE it is a soap opera. That is a fundamentally anti-soap bias. Again, I don't have a problem with this...but instead of twisting GL into a new anti-soap, they should have left GL alone and created the new thing.

4. Of course, therein lies the rub. Every new attempt to create "the new thing" has failed. I don't mean so much in terms of duration (e.g., Port Charles, Passions, Sunset Beach all lasted for many years), but it terms of capturing a big enough audience that sticks with the program. It isn't happening.

5. Logan is only partly right. SOME of the history of soaps is "Calgon take me away". But, honestly, I think that is more the version of soaps that emerged in the 80s. The soaps before then we still more reality based (for that era), with fewer "supercouples" and grand fantasies. I do think the young audience doesn't want so much of that "take me away". Which, again, is an argument for re-invention. However, I think it is a mistake to reinvent existing brands with long histories. That just creates disappointment and backlash. Then, when you fail to attract new viewers, you also fail to hold on to the old ones.

6. The recurrent theme, at every turn...from this Hinsey debacle to this article...is "death of soaps". I'd like us just to move on with that already, because this twisting-in-the-wind for the genre is killing me.

[Sapounopera]

Let me get this straight... Someone is saving GL by taking the soap and the opera away from it? And then what do we have left? Judging from Friday's episode not much.

The new format has to go. Same goes for Ellen Wheeler and friends.

[Ryan]

If Ellen Wheller hopes to save daytime, maybe she should leave. It's obvious her vision isn't working....

[AddictedToSoaps]

ROFL at Ellen Wheeler crying!!!

[Errol]

I can't disagree with Ellen's desire to save daytime/guiding light, because I see it as truth. It is just the execution of what she does that comes across all wrong. For instance, I can see that Brian Frons LOVES soaps and loves ABC Daytime's lineup in particular, however, his execution of the ideas to bring up the viewership for the shows has not gone well and has pushed the shows further into the basement.

I wish people would not try to re-invent the wheel and just use the tried and true and up the drama. We want to escape into a fantasy world, not escape from the show we grew up believing was a place where our fantasies came true.

[dragonflies]

If she hopes to save it, then she needs to hit the road, cause as long as she's around there isn't much hope for GL

[Greg's GL]

Yup. And double Yup to Zendall ^^^

[Vee]

I can tell you that most people I know in my demographic, the Hills demo, can't stand that show. It's not something to be looked upon proudly.

Ellen thinks she is special and/or a visionary; she is not. She just has the same disease as a dozen other deluded daytime showrunners and execs: Internalized shame for the genre she is working in. She's ashamed to be doing "just soaps," so she tries to warp and twist it until it looks like something else. In the process, she destroys GL.

There is absolutely no excuse for GL to be wildly overbudget filming what looks and feels like a snuff movie, leaving the show with no long-term story outlines, no recognizable characters or canvas, no consistent characterizations or motivations, and forcing actors to change in cars on busy streets while not having any rehearsal time. Nothing about what Ellen Wheeler is doing is going to bring the genre into the 21st century. It's just the last, pathetic gasp, like the scene in Boogie Nights where Burt Reynolds and Heather Graham are reduced to filming home video pornography in the back of a limo while picking up random strangers on the street.