Frons. Whatever decent business decisions he has made pale in comparison to the open derision he has for the audience and his multiple forms of bigotry. Somebody needs to throw a shoe at him.

He does seem to care about the genre actually having success and life--even if many of his decisions to help that strike me as wrong headed.

Soapnet with no soap?

I actually don't understand this animus, and I wonder if any of it comes from a misunderstanding of how much sh*t the networks are in?

Because I know it best, I'll use Y&R as an example. Y&R, as a product, is doing fine. It is the top rated soap (having lost oodles of viewers), but when you add 7-day DVR views plus Soapnet + legal internet streams, it gets 8-10 million viewers/show. Moreover, the income base is further expanded by international distribution in over 30 countries.

CBS, on the other hand, is in trouble. I have posted ratings charts in the past that show, if you follow Y&R's CBS-broadcast trajectory, there is no hope. HH Ratings, at the current rate, will fall below 1.0 somewhere around 2015 or 2016.

So, now we have a paradox. The PRODUCT is flourishing, but the DELIVERY PLATFORM is dying.

For someone like Frons or Bloom, nothing nothing nothing can fix their problem. The loss of network viewers has many causes. How frustrating must it be for Bloom, for example, to see a show like Y&R flourishing and growing...but her network is not getting to experience or enjoy any of it???

So, for all network executives, it is rather like being an exec in a financial company or an automobile company. Hopeless. Beyond hope. No money left in the kitty. Honestly, nothing left but to figure out an exit strategy.

Meanwhile, cable--bolstered by licensing fees AND advertising AND niche markets that make it easier to target advertising (thereby freeing them from the demographic chase) AND usually lower cost programming--continues to grow. How horrible for Bloom and Frons, who cannot compete.

Now, from what I can tell, Bloom at this point is fairly powerless. Certainly with her two Bell shows, where she can only send notes that are "respected" (but mostly disregarded). I'm not so sure about P&G, since it is not clear to me which suits (P&G or CBS) are killing those shows. So, my sense is that Bloom is largely ineffectual.

Frons is a horse of a different color. Because ABC OWNS those shows (what an awful thing!), there is no firewall or "checks and balances" between the suits and shows. Obviously, there are some economic benefits (few levels for $$ to pass through, so ABC can make money without having to pay fixed license fees to production houses; also, they can much more flexibly adjust their cash outlays without waiting for show-contracts to expire. So, I'd venture to say Frons is more capable of, and has shown more proclivity for, corporate interference.

But honestly, I'd urge us all to step back from the hatred. Truly, these people are in the most hopeless positions in the entertainment business right now.

Frons and Bloom may be in "hopeless positions," but much of it is their doing. They've made horrendous decisions, which had hastened the decline of daytime. Maybe they don't deserve the fans' "hatred," but the should be held accountable by being fired.

Bloom

Bloom without a doubt!

Frons and Bloom may be in "hopeless positions," but much of it is their doing. They've made horrendous decisions, which had hastened the decline of daytime. Maybe they don't deserve the fans' "hatred," but the should be held accountable by being fired.

Pretty much.