Generations Discussion Thread

[AbcNbc247]

Why did NBC give up on Generations so quickly? Pretty much every NBC soap was at the bottom of the ratings in its first year or two. What was different about this one?

[Khan]

 

Good question(s)!  I've wondered the same myself!

 

I will give NBC credit, though, for not de-emphasizing (as far as I could tell) the Marshalls when the show didn't make an immediate splash.  Any other network would have blamed the low ratings on the African-Americans and ordered them phased out.

[Contessa Donatella]

Cut back early (less than a third year) because of pre-emptions due to the Persian Gulf War.

[AbcNbc247]

I’ll admit l don’t know that much about the show but from what I’ve seen of it, it seemed ok. The execs. just needed to spend a little more time on it. I know it was Frons’ pet project.

Thanks!

Edited October 22, 2019 by AbcNbc247

[chrisml]

The storytelling did Generations in. The cast was strong, but as I wrote previously in the thread, the days spent around the fruitcake showed just how much the writing needed overhauled. 

[BetterForgotten]

Sally Sussman Morina is her own worst enemy. She simply didn't have the creative talent to craft the show she wanted and it would have likely been better off in the hands of others. 

[John]

YEP SSM shpuld have just EP'd and had someone with more writing experience at that point be HW like Tom Racina with MVJ as Co-HW

[j swift]

There was a SOD article (summarized in our classic SOD thread) that suggested it was Generations time slot, and not creative issues, that were to blame for its cancellation.  It was on in the early non-contiguous slot, so it didn't get habitual soap watchers like a soap that would have been placed after AW.

 

Also, Faith Daniels was an up and comer at NBC, and after the tumult surrounding Jane Pauley leaving Today in 1989, Daniels was given her own talk show in Generations time slot rather than further destabilizing the apple cart.   It's neither the first time nor the last time that NBC overspent on a blond reporter who proved to be too stiff for daytime audiences.

[amybrickwallace]

 

I had never even heard of Faith Daniels until now, but I did some searching around and found this interesting article. It was published just three months ago:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/nbc-trump-mar-a-lago-faith-daniels-kiss-interview-2019-7

 

Who would have guessed then that someday she'd be involved in something even soapier than Generations?

[BetterForgotten]

To be fair, it doesn't take much to be "soapier" than Generations...

[~bl~]

On WNBC-4 in NYC, Generations was moved from 12:30 pm to 11:30 am, as Santa Barbara was switched from 3 pm to noon. I doubt that helped Generations keep viewership, as the last 30 minutes of The Price is Right was already a huge ratings winner. (Faith Daniels had at least one episode with soap people, which I appreciated...)

[amybrickwallace]

 

No argument here!

[AbcNbc247]

Thanks!

[amybrickwallace]

 

The show had a good premise, she had some good ideas and the cast was filled with both seasoned vets and talented up and comers. It's a shame that there weren't more behind-the-scenes people to stabilize things, and that the show itself was the victim of bad timing. I still wish Unsung Hollywood would dedicate an episode to this show.

[Khan]

CAPITOL encountered a similar problem when they premiered.  Creators Stephen and Elinor Karpf had developed a very strong premise, filled with intriguing characters, backstories, and plotlines.  However, it was clear almost from the beginning that they weren't really cut out to head-write their own creation.  (Plus, it seems there were BTS issues with their producer, John Conboy).  Eventually, though, the Karpfs were replaced with the Corringtons, who themselves were replaced with Peggy O'Shea.