October 6-10, 2008

[SteveFrame]

Whether it was gimmicky or not it got me to watch. The previews and promos have reeled me back into it. Yesterday and Today were the first time I have watch 5 minutes of any daytime soap opera since the first week of April. I quit all of them cold turkey and never looked back. I have kept up with spoilers and the like and nothing - absolutely nothing - on any show made me want to tune until this.

I thought today's was pretty good. My daughter also watched the first episode today since Alexa Havins left and she said that my ex-wife watched today and she hasn't watched since the week of Angie & Jesse's wedding.

[GregNYC]

I want ATWT's ratings to go down so that CG and JP get fired!

[SteveFrame]

I just don't think we will be getting rid of Goutman for awhile.

I heard a rumor today that CBS has already decided to cancel GL in 2009 and up B&B to an hour and give the other 30 minutes to a show created by and produced by Goutman. My source said that Goutman will stay at ATWT too.

This person clarified it was just a rumor and couldn't guarantee his source was reliable at all.

[MarkH]

I wonder if the new Goutman show will only be on 3 days a week.

B&B at an hour, with the current creative level of that show, makes my stomach hurt.

I do believe GL will soon be gone. But I think a cheap talk show or game show or whatever will fill it...maybe just give the hour back to the affiliates.

[RalphOrtiz]

I agree that CBS has decided to cancel GL, and probably decided this a while back but will not make this public until next year. Don't know about the B&B rumor though. It's been on the air for twenty years - if it was going to be expanded into an hour, it would've already happened. The half hour format is also a huge success overseas, so why tamper with it now? And unless his work has been exemplary of late, I just simply can't see Goutman getting thirty minutes of additional airtime for any show - on any network.

I wonder what show CBS will replace GL with. I can't see another soap being created in this climate. If anything, maybe a game or talk show?

[DaytimeFan]

I agree that GL's fate has been determined. It's dead by the end of 2009.

The Goutman show rumor...surprises me. I don't see why they'd ever go for that, ATWT is hardly exploding ratings wise.

I don't believe the B&B rumors, the show is a smash overseas at 30 minutes. Unless the Bells had some way of repackaging their hour long show into two half hour shows...I don't see it happening, especially if CBS is any way involved. Brad Bell doesn't speak to Barbara Bloom, he doesn't have to, CBS has no say.

[Benjiapollo]

May affiliates already air GL at 10AM the next day, and have replaced it at the 3pm hour with talk shows.

In southwest Florida they even air BB at 10:30am the next day.

[Rocket Man]

Come on folks....this is a rumor and 9 out of 10 times it usually is STILL A RUMOR! Stop the endless post(s) that GL is ending because GL has a contract until 2009 same as ATWT, recently they've re-signed Crystal C. with a 2 year contract, Justin D., Frank D. and Robert N. with a 3 year contract, so on and so on.

If CBS wanted to expand B&B to an hour, they would've done that long time ago. As far as three-day week soaps, I'll believe it when I see it because soaps going full-blown on internet or Soap Net channel or to comic books will happen loooooong before the three-day airings.

These rumors belong in the SOW's section of this week's "Craziest Rumor of the Week".

[skiman12082004]

If GL does not show ratings growth soon I am certain it will get canceled by CBS next year. However, I don't see B&B going to an hour at this stage of the game. I always thought GL & ATWT were a package deal; if one goes they both go and vice versa.

[ljacks13]

I tend to disagree about soaps on the internet. There has not been one example of today's soaps on the internet would be profitable or even feasible. I haven't seen one hour soap be put on the internet, and most webisodes are no longer than 5 minutes, so if someone could please tell how the soaps on the internet would work I love to know. And GL and ATWT can't even get on SoapNet now, so they get on SoapNet when they are cancelled.

And pulling 1.5 as GL has pulling for the past couple of months doesn't help them get renewed past 2009, if talk shows like Dr. Phil are 3.3's.

[Benjiapollo]

I am not sure what you mean by soaps on te internet, buty right now, all CBS soaps are available on line, in their entirety, at CBS Innertube. They even have social groups where people watch together and make comments on line.

[Supersage]

In early September, I received an email from someone in the business saying that GL was about to be canceled. I know some of you think I'm all doom and gloom when it comes to Guiding Light, but this particular time I dismissed that as a hateful rumor. Later, I found out there was some truth to that email and Wheeler/GL/Telenext was informed more changes needed to be made. The most notable change is the ratings which NEED to increase to a specific number by the end of January.

The reason I'm posting this isn't to say, "I told you so," but to ask the question, "What would CBS do without GL?"

CBS doesn't want to give this airtime to its affiliates. They want to make as much money as they can. But what will CBS air in the place of GL, in the event of its eventual cancellation? CBS doesn't have a news department that would garner any higher ratings. They don't (currently) have a talkfest such as ABC's The View. And Bloom isn't going to expand B&B (the feud between Brad Bell and Bloom goes deep). And what of ATWT's contract? Rumor suggest that ATWT and GL are tied inexplicably together--if GL is canceled, so is ATWT. What would CBS do for two hours???

Last year, we heard the rumor of Telenext and CBS wanting to broadcast GL on the internet (eventually), but that business model is no where near the point of profitability. As a matter of fact, SoapNet is the ONLY medium outside of broadcast TV that has made money. It is possible Telenext would produce new episodes for SoapNet, but that still leaves CBS with a conundrum.

1.5 is not going to keep GL on the air and it takes time for viewers to become invested in a show again, especially when said show has been horrible for so long. Sadly, it is only a matter of time before GL is canceled. Some even suggest that an announcement will come soon after GL's 72nd anniversary. What makes this even more sad is the fact that Wheeler and Co. (including Bloom) could have done things differently to make GL a success.

[Benjiapollo]

CBS doesn't seem to control that 3 pm time slot.

Tuned In: Local fans worry about finding the 'Light'

Friday, August 18, 2006

By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WTAE's "Rachael Ray" should be the big new syndicated show this fall, but judging by the many calls and e-mails from confused "Guiding Light" fans, their greatest concern is not about any new series, but the whereabouts of an old favorite.

"Rachael Ray" will lead WTAE's fall lineup.

KDKA has been running spots promoting its acquisition of "Dr. Phil," which currently airs on WTAE, but "Guiding Light" fans are all wound up because "Phil" is taking the "Light" time slot at 3 p.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 11.

Not to worry. "Guiding Light" is not going away; as we first reported in June, it's just moving to 10 a.m. on KDKA starting Sept. 11. That, in turn, will bump "Pittsburgh Today Live" to 9 a.m., which knocks "Martha" from KDKA to sister-station WPCW at the same time

[ljacks13]

Yeah, the shows are broadcast on CBS first then they are put online. I was talking about GL being put solely on the internet with no broadcast outlet. Also, CBS has said that no one goes to their website to watch episodes, that's why they decided to go broadcast their shows on youtube and Hulu. I just don't see how that would be profitable and I don't a lot of actors would stay with the show if it's only on the internet. Why would they?

I always thought that sydication was option but that doesn't seem to the answer to their problems either.

[Benjiapollo]

Too basd, as I go there religiously in the winter to watch BB at 6pm--it aires here the next day ast 10:30

(southwest fl) Andmaybe if they wee smart, they would let viewers outside the US view that site.

I continually hear their complains like from New Zealand, Paris, etc.