Members All My Shadows Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 A hundred billion trillion million times better. I can not stress to you how much better. OLTL is better than "Dirty Sexy Money" was. Hell, on a good day ATWT is better than "Dirty Sexy Money" was. Word. Comparing the soaps of today to the soaps of yesterday is never going to be in the soaps of today's favor. All they have to do for me is keep me watching, keep me entertained. They shouldn't have to worry about trying to be better than the past or at as entertaining as the past...as long as it is indeed entertaining, I'll watch and throw kudos. Si. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darlotto99 Posted February 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I think if Y&R does a prime time episode and they go heavy on Victor vs Jack it would click with the prime time audience those two would instantly make Y&R a prime time success Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gray Bunny Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Mark, yes, I see your point about the primetime shows not affecting daytime numbers, I was just offering numbers for DAYS' specials because I had them available from the DAYS trivia book. As to other comments... the DAYS specials aired right before the Soap Opera Digest Awards, which were usually co-hosted by at least one DAYS actor (Deidre Hall, Lisa Rinna, RKK). Now that it's brought up, I think AW aired an episode in primetime before the Emmys in the early 90's when NBC hosted it I think I read somewhere. When CBS hosted the Emmys in May 1996, a Y&R ep aired in primetime right before the ceremony. As to the original topic and what has spawned from it... I also don't like comparing 'what was good' 10, 15, 20 years ago versus what is good right now. What matters is: Is it enjoyable for you now? Does it satisfy your craving for daytime drama? Are the stories compelling, the plots well-written, the acting top-notch? It doesn't matter if the show was better in 1994 or whenever. That said, I agree that of the shows I watch, Y&R and OLTL's current state entice me to watch and *want* to see what will happen next, instead of just watching because of routine and loyalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeliaIrisFan Posted February 12, 2009 Members Share Posted February 12, 2009 The ironic thing is, though, none of these shows were in especially top form when this happened. I think GL had a primetime special for its anniversary in 1992 - the same month as the famous blackout. But apparently it was some sort of stand-alone retrospective episode with poor chosen old clips bookended with goofy narrations by then-current cast members about the past stories. I was a pre-teen at the time and did not have the opportunity to watch soaps regularly, so I didn't even know about the primetime episode. But I've heard it was bad, and apparently it wasn't even written by the show's writers at the time? Huh? But, in retrospect, why couldn't they have aired the episode where the lights went out in primetime? What kind of boost might that have given the show's ratings (at a time when it needed it)? Meanwhile, was DOOL anything to write home about in the early 90s when it had all those primetime specials? Even for those who loved Reilly's writing - and hey, I enjoyed parts of it as a kid as brain candy if nothing else - how many of those episodes were even during his time with the show? One, maybe two? He wasn't even doing the kinds of stories he would become so loved/hated for by that point. For some reason they stopped doing it when the ratings in the daytime actually went up. At least if they had featured Marlena levitating or John and Stefano playing kinky games in a dungeon or Eileen Davidson playing half a dozen roles, audiences could have taken it or left it. But I think one of those primetime episodes that was definitely Reilly's centered around some long-awaited reunion of Crystal Chappell's Carly, whom Reilly wrote off a few months later (big mistake, BTW - she proved during that buried alive story that she could have done the damsel in distress routine during his off the wall stories with so much more flare than Deidre Hall) reuniting with Robert Kelker Kelly's recast Bo, who had no chemistry with her and they seemed to be biding their time waiting to pair him with Lisa Rinna's Billie. If the head writer clearly did not believe in the story they were showcasing in primetime, why should an audience, let alone an audience that was accustomed to seeing shows like Cheers, The Golden Girls, Law and Order, etc. in primetime on that channel? As far as the initial subject of this thread, I almost thing it's beside the point when any show airs now, with DVR. I think the last time I made a point of being home to watch anything live was the season premiere of Weeds, and even with that I didn't have to sit through commercials. But not everyone is the same as me. I do think, if there is an audience out there that is more comfortable watching live, it couldn't hurt to experiment with different times for soaps. I think really early evening (no later than 6:30) or late evening would be better than 7-11, though. People might tune in while making dinner/getting ready for better. Are local newscasts really doing that much better than soaps these days? You can get more in-depth, well-researched, well-written news online on your own time, but soaps still have something going for them that's an economy of scale. The reason(s) for them to be airing exclusively in daytime is long-gone, I'll agree. Whereas even if the right soap could initially be popular in primetime, I think it would eventually cannibalize itself like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I think people would get tired of the lack of options, and with a soap that would be even worse because if you decided you couldn't stand to watch it again for the third night in a row, you might be lost on the fourth night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gray Bunny Posted February 12, 2009 Members Share Posted February 12, 2009 I saw GL's primetime special a few years ago and it was definitely weird. They showed a handful of characters talking around a picnic table or something on some weird set reminiscing about various stuff, but then they'd do really cheesy things like doing a spoof on cliche lines heard on soaps and you'd see snippets of the actors performing these cliche lines as themselves (instead of showing a real clip from a show) saying things melodramatically like "I think we need to talk!" "there's something I have to tell you!". It was also weird in that they showed clips of actors from OTHER soaps talking about GL... they had CBS actors (like Jeanne Cooper, John McCook) and ABC actors (like David Canary), none of which were ever on GL before. The weeklong blackout storyline happened later in the summer. Poor planning on their part. Wasn't there a special for GL's 50th anniversary in 1987? I know I've seen clips of it on YouTube where it looks like Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, and others are on the set of a local news station. DAYS' specials in '93 and '94 were Reilly-centric. But I'd have to say the 1993 episode was actually very climactic with John & Marlena making love on the Titan conference room table and we're led to believe that Roman is about to open up the door to the room (it's actually Sami on the following Monday's ep) and Carrie gets splashed with acid on the face meant for Austin. The '92 special was good for the Bo/Carly/Lawrence triangle (with Reckell still as Bo) and a game-show reconciliation for Jack & Jenn, but the finale (Isabella's car plunging into the Salem River) wasn't a big deal. The '94 special was the most boring of the 3, with most of it being filler of Bo and Billie on a deserted island (which turned out to be a dream of Billie's) and Carrie, Austin, Jenn, and Peter skiing on the slopes (on location, but still boring). The only interesting part was Vivian, with her head shaved, about to get a lobotomy but escapes just before the asylum catches completely on fire. Overall, the only ep that would want a ''non-viewer'' to watch the next week would've been the '93 episode. But I digress... I totally rambled on mostly about DAYS in a Y&R thread. My bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JackPeyton Posted February 12, 2009 Members Share Posted February 12, 2009 The first one was fantastic and played like a primetime soap IMHO. The party at Titan. The book storyline. The acid on Carried face. John & Marlenas affair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aMLCproduction Posted February 13, 2009 Members Share Posted February 13, 2009 GIVE ME A BREAK I think Y&R would be a moderate sucess in primetime. How do we know? People might like the change of pace. Y&R has done well in the past with its specials. But I do feel if it left daytime it would be the end of the cbs line-up. I do miss the prime time special though Y&R is written well with good production values. And I think it would compete well with other shows. In fact isnt Y&R better than Lost or Desperation Housewives.. I dont think the people in the post arejkkiiii giving Y&R enough credit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JackPeyton Posted February 13, 2009 Members Share Posted February 13, 2009 its not a matter of how good it is. is that primetime audiance really going to tune in 5 days a week? every week? all year? every year? primetime soaps have the benefit of being on once a week, 22 weeks a year. with breaks between episodes. less commitment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul Raven Posted February 14, 2009 Members Share Posted February 14, 2009 From SOD April 12 1994 Y&R SPECIAL:HOW DID IT RATE? On March 3,Y&R made a bold move into CBS's prime-time lineup.A Y&R episode aired at 10 pm-Knot's Landing's old timeslot-and rated better than expecte Of 90 shows,the episode placed a respectable 55 in the Nielsen ratings,and garnered 10.2 ratings points (each point represtens 942,000 homes). "We were a whole point above anything that's been in that spot for the whole season," enthuses Y&R exec producer Edward Scott. "Plus, we finished first in that time slot among 18-49 year old women." According to Scott, early reports said the show faired a lot worse: "We all decided to keep our day jobs. But then we got a call with the revised number." Does this mean we can expect more Y&R prime-time episodes in the future? "It's extra work and it costs a lot," he responds. "But we'll do whatever CBS wants." I think the competition was LA Law on NBC and PrimeTime Live on ABC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soapluva Posted February 15, 2009 Members Share Posted February 15, 2009 LOL @ the title of this thread !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bellcurve Posted February 15, 2009 Members Share Posted February 15, 2009 The demise of Millionaire on ABC wasn't because of how many nights a week the show was on. It was due to the overexposure of celebrity contestants and gimmicks. Yes, the young people who got tired of Millionaire left, but the old geezers and gameshow geeks who loved it stuck around(and still made the show part of the top ten for viewing) until they overdid those damn celebrity editions. That's when the numbers really fell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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