GL: Will The Light Burn Out Out Come Sept?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

CBS wanted to buy ATWT and GL years ago, but I'm not sure they'd care to buy them anymore. Times are tough and too much has changed.

[DRW50]

The only reason Ma Perkins ended was because radio soaps as a genre died and they never moved the soap to TV. That part of the industry died with Ma Perkins. Search for Tomorrow ended when daytime was still in a healthy state, and even that was after they had been canceled once and bought by another network. I think a cancellation in today's soap world is much more reverbating than cancellations in those two cases.

I get what you're saying, but I think right now GL is in a healthier state than AW was by the end. There are at least two really good stories, with some potential for more.

I don't expect them to renew GL for years (I don't expect them to renew it at all, frankly), but I think maybe a year at least, or even an extra 6 months, just to let the stories play out and see how people react.

[bellcurve]

MarkH, I don't see why extending the show another year would help it come to an end? Then there would still be these crazy GL fanboys who say "[Erica Kane]Noooooo Nooooo, You can't put it in the ground! No.....please don't go![/Erica Kane]."

And by that point, will Bloom even have the option of canceling the show on her own and restoring the integrity of the daytime lineup, before Tassler/Moonves say, "Take this crap off the air"? Will affiliates get so tired of pimping GL and instead opt to do a newscast or morning show in the timeslot GL currently occupies in those 9AM spots?

Everyone has said for years that Bloom wants her own ripoff of The View. It's not hard to see why not: the show has grown from a boring gabfest to an all out media circus and war. It's grown from coffee talk to political punditry. And some weeks, they even best Y&R in Households and Demos.

Also, for the millions of people who want to escape with Nikki and Victor, Ridge and Brooke, Holden and Carly, Reva and Josh, there are the millions more who are interested in watching something that has relevance and meaning that isn't a soap or a game show or a lame reality show. They want to hear about what's going on in their lives in a package that is fun but can be serious when it wants to be. I don't know why a talk show (a la The View) wouldn't help boost CBS's numbers, if it is done right?

I am a fan of soaps first, but I am also a fan of daytime television as a whole and its survival. Wanting these aging serials to continue is part of the reason why the genre and the daypart are on it's so-called deathbed. Are you guys aware that on some NBC affiliates(including mine), they air infomercials in the midmorning? And this was prior to PASSIONS' cancellation. Can you imagine what may happen if Moonves suddenly steps in and axes GL, without a replacement? Yeah, larger affiliates and O&O's will be able to afford the syndicated programming, but what about smaller markets?

IMO, GL has to be sacrificed for the soap genre and daytime television's survival.

[bellcurve]

You CANNOT be serious!

I know people bitch about Goutman losing steam on ATWT, but a Goutman led AW was on the course to a creative resurgence, IMO. All the pieces were in place for different stories and directions that would get AW out of this whole "We have to be DAYS because NBC said so," stage.

AW was in far better shape than GL was. At least AW wasn't shooting the show in some town outside of Trenton, New Jersey!

[Adam]

^ Poor Susan Lucci is NEVER going to live that down is she?

But I pretty much agree with everything you said up there..... I mean.... I have never been a huge fan of GL as a soap opera, but it has such a rich and storied history.... and we should always treasure that. However, that GL no longer exists.... and has not existed for the last 2 years, and depending on who you ask several years before the production change as well. I feel for GL fans, but time has come to turn off the light.....

[DRW50]

If we're talking about production values, then AW was better. I think the stories were worse. I don't think any show written by Leah Laiman could have a resurgence.

The Amelie story was weak. I did like Felicia and her Russian boytoy but that was more because of the actors. Bringing Alice Barrett back as a psycho doppleganger of Frankie was a mistake. Grant's murder mystery was mediocre. Marley's descent into madness was good but had already been wrapped up by the last few months, with her relationship with Tyrone really the only high point for her character. The only story I liked in the last few months of the show was Tito or whoever scamming Paulina into believing he was her long lost son.

[bellcurve]

Never! But seriously, I can totally see some rabid GL fans, and even Ellen Wheeler herself doing this number:

[Adam]

Was it you who figured Ellen Wheeler would hang herself in the Peapack Town Square?

But yesh, she would definitely pull a Mourning Erica Kane BEFORE she wraps the noose around her neck.

[SFK]

Leave Erica alone! If this was Generations, nobody would be looking around all bewildered like those folks.

[bellcurve]

LOL. LMAO.

There's really nothing to add to your comment, SFK, because I agree 1000%.

And yes, Adam, that was me.

[bellcurve]

But how do we know if Chris Goutman wouldn't have eventually replaced her with a boy wonder like Hogan Sheffer? Laiman was inherited when he took the job.

Alice Barrett being the Frankie-lookalike was probably rewritten to tie up the show's final episodes. I highly doubt she would have ended up being a psycho. Hell, they probably would have pulled a B&B and dug up a wax dummy.

Grant's Murder Mystery was good. I think, again, they rewrote it to make Tito the killer so they could tie up the show with a fancy bow instead of carting one of their series regulars off to jail.

I'm sorry you have to nitpick AW's last few months on the air to make GL's weaknesses look better.

[rangethatrover]

rotflmao

Look at friggin Bianca when Susan rides Mona's coffin!! She looks right at the camera-presumably at the director- like

What the F??

I can't WORK like this, Henry Kaplan!

[bellcurve]

LOL. The best expression was on Ruth Warrick's(Phoebe) face. That was excellent.

[DRW50]

I thought Sheffer ruined ATWT after maybe a decent 6 months, so I don't know if he would have been better at AW. I'm sure Goutman could have found someone good (I thought Richard Culliton's brief tenure was OK), but I haven't liked his choices in ATWT headwriters.

You brought AW up to say GL should be canceled. I pointed out that I thought GL was better than AW at the end. You said I couldn't be serious. I explained why I wasn't crazy about AW at the end. If the show is going to be used as a reason to cancel another soap, then yes, I will talk about why I didn't care for the show near the end.

I don't say that as wanting to put AW down, I say that as saying I don't think GL should go just because AW did. I enjoyed AW through bad and good and I would have kept watching the show as long as it had stayed on the air.

[rangethatrover]

She was just jonesing for the teleprompter, as usual. Don't get me going bellcurve!!! Don't even get me going!!! lol!