GL: Will The Light Burn Out Out Come Sept?

[SFK]

Not saying that they wouldn't try again, but they've tried that before. It was like the extra hour of Today they do with Hoda and Kathy-Lee but a panel of like four ladies and I'm pretty sure one of them was Les Moonves' wife who's on Big Brother etc.

[bellcurve]

GL may be profitable, but by how MUCH?! The ratings have taken a nosedive since this new production model and a 1.8, although that may be an achievable ambition, is simply not enough to sustain a soap! And that was before the economy took a nose dive.

What if GL has to take yet another paycut? Will they do the whole show outdoors, with beds and couches in that little grass field? Or will they do a sponsorship with a Motel6 and do most of the shooting there?

Because GL looks like S-H-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-T! Period. That's why! And I know opinions are subjective and that we are all entitled to ours and all that jazz, and that you think I am wrong, but GL looks like crap. Period.

And how long will this "return to drama" stick around before Ellen Wheeler thinks of something more innovative or decides to return to the "Inside the Lights" that you we loved so much towards the end?

If CBS can find a cheaper and, again, more attractive alternative to GL, then why not go for it? I'd rather see a boring CBS version of The View or "The Julie Chen Show" anyday over GL. At least they'll have a shot at technical awards.

mmmmk.

And if the O&O's are sick of GL, then CBS will likely give their express approval. Maybe that is the case right now?

Who says it has to be a View clone? Why couldn't it be Bob Scheiffer(who saw ratings increase during his time at the Evening News) in a daily-stripped "Face the Nation" or Lara Logan interviewing politicians and talking about women's health issues and pimping out 60 Minutes and the CBS Evening News?

And I guess we soap fans can just watch SOAPnet, Hulu.com, and YouTube for our enjoyment. I don't get why there ISN'T a need for relevant programming about current events and/or women's health. Whether it's in the package of four women at a table talking or a single host?

And talkshows have proven to be viable, workable, and profitable alternatives. Just ask the late Roger King(Oprah, Dr. Phil) or Barbara Walters/Brian Frons. And so have gameshows.

Maybe GL's cancellation will force lower-rated soaps to get in gear and churn out good story before it's too late.

"Letting Go..."

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think syndicated programming will likely take GL's slot with affiliates should GL ever get canceled...

[Darlotto99]

no problem il turn the lights out as long as it's Brian Fronz's lights that dick

[alphanguy74]

I think ION network should pick it up and air it in PRIME TIME and see what happens (CW is too youth oriented, and cable channels don't air everywhere). GL may be a failure according to the networks... but maybe they just need to move and become a big fish in a smaller pond?

[CSF]

Without a doubt that will be the case. Considering almost all the CBS O&O stations air Dr. Phil in GL's 3pm time period, CBS would put their own new creation, may it be a talk show, on a 10am, the time the O&O stations air GL. 3pm will become local station time. It would be like a switch. It also makes more sense that way because if CBS can come up with a new ratings grabbing show for the morning, it could help out TPIR and maybe the rest of their daytime line up as opposed to being their last show of the afternoon.

[Dan]

I think one could make a good argument that soaps have "looked like [!@#$%^&*]" for the great majority of their lifespans. Hell, GL was on the air when the only "production value" was a person's imagination. And through the early tv years when the soaps were shot in poorly designed and sparsely decorated sets that periodically fell during production. But the stories were so good that viewers never minded the production. Admittedly, storytelling is a big problem with GL even now, but as others have said, there HAS been marked improvement. There's plenty of areas that MUST improve in order for the show to be even close to as good as it was, but it should be given the chance. After all, I think most of us are talking only another year. I think that's enough to see if the show can improve. After all, I think we can all agree that longterm improvement is the only way a show can save itself.

I completely agree! I've seen some of the posts in this and the other thread about the future and I have to say: bullshit! We say that daytime needs to be overhauled and renovated. I'd argue that most of entertainment: from television to movies to books is in a huge rut. Partly because I think we've run out of original ideas in general. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, MAB has proven that a show rooted in history and "baggage" can still be fresh and riveting. So unless future technology can make an actor pop off my tv screen like a Jetsons gadget, I don't see how some new lineup will be any more creative or innovative than the old.

Considering how much more overhead the other soaps have (more vets, more BTS talent, higher production costs in general) and considering how close even they are to GL, I'd argue that GL is probably more profitable than the other shows are.

I dunno. Maybe the fact that I'm trying to defend the show, when several months ago, I WANTED this show to be put out of its misery, says something.

[DRW50]

Considering that GH and AMC supposedly can't even stay in budget, if this is about profit, then they shouldn't even be on the air now. Yet the press and many in the industry still continue to peddle GH as a jewel in the crown.

I agree GL will probably be replaced with syndicated programming, and then time may be freed up to try to help Price is Right. Then if this is a success, the message will be, "Hey, we're better off cutting the soaps out," and we can say goodbye to a few more of them, or most of them, even sooner. That would be some type of amusingly dark coda, if this great wakeup call to daytime (canceling GL) soon turns into a wakeup call to the networks to get rid of most of their soaps.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think regardless or not if GL goes first, soaps will be extinct soon enough. I think all soaps, not just GL, are living on borrowed time.

[bellcurve]

But how can this show be trusted? We've seen it time and time again, how things will make marked improvement only for TIIC to screw this show over again. How many times will the budget be slashed and the cast be forced to embarrass themselves for an easy paycheck? What happens if CBS renews the show AGAIN at a lower licensing fee? More big namkes fired? Will Grant Aleksander become Peapack's answer to Thaao Penglis? Will GL turn itself into an audio show with pictures of the actors? Again, will they do every show from that field they're so fond of in the rain, sleet, and snow all in the same episode? Will they be able to afford their production office space? Or will they do all their work from home to save on production costs?(I know that read like the intro to Soap, but whatever...)

No one is saying the new lineup(sans GL) would be innovative. No one is saying that at all. Certainly a talkshow wouldn't be the most creative or innovative thing ever. But alas, so typical of the nuGL fanbase to put words into people's mouths!

Anyway, Barbara Bloom has to do something to preserve what's left of the CBS Daytime Lineup. No one is saying that daytime doesn't need a renaissance or creative overhaul. But certainly(as I believe marceline mentioned in another thread weeks ago), embracing mediocrity isn't going to help daytime die a death with dignity.

No one blames you for being nostalgic, Dan. I mean, it must be refreshing to see your show finally "back on track." However, there's something to be said about "letting go" when you've exhausted all efforts.

Possibly. But Bloom needs pet projects to keep her job. It's well known that Y&R, B&B, and (to a certain degree, because of FREEmantle Media's control over it) PRICE are all self governing bodies who have "respectful" relationships with the network. If GL gets canceled, that leaves ATWT, which is likely to be canceled right after it. If both of the PGP shows are canned without replacements, then they really don't need her position at CBS. They just need someone in charge of FCC Content and Censorship, which they have at each coast anyway.

Bloom would be an idiot to axe GL without a replacement, whether it be another soap, talk show, or game show. She needs properties on her lineup to keep her job. That's why I take stock in the TVWeek Article that claims she's looking for a cheaper replacement.

[Dan]

Sorry if I gave that hint that I was putting words into people's mouths, but I actually meant it on a larger scale, not just moaning that everyone is "picking on" little ol' GL, lol. I was thinking about everyone's posts from the future thread about how soaps in general should be allowed to die so that something fresh and innovative can take its place, which is easier said than done, I think, in a business that makes its money on sequels and remakes and series of all kinds.

Of course, after posting that, I thought that by the time soaps have all died, network television in general would be close to death as well. On one hand, I like this democratization of television. I like that I can watch what I want when I want to watch it. It just doesn't seem to be as sustainable financially as something more objective like a network's lineup. After all, democracy is hardly the most organized form of government possible. Who knows what the future holds of course.

Some of the news in the not-too-distant future do have me a little bit hopeful. But I do understand the risks. Personally, I think I just want one more year. Give the show a chance to keep the improvement going and if it can't muster up than pull the plug September 2010.

It's funny to read that because I've said it myself to a number of GL fans on this very board over the years. But I think I'm starting to understand why it really puts fans on the defensive. It's kind of like a sibling that's disconnected from the family coming back when a parent is on their deathbed and telling you that you need to let go. Sure that sibling is thinking more about logic and the probable chance of recovery, but they don't have the immediate emotional connection than you do. So instead of logic, you are simply holding on to hope and to hear them saying you need to let go, particularly when they have been gone for years is frustrating and infuriating.

Of course, that sibling also doesn't realize how much easier said than done "letting go" can be...

[UKBoi]

I think the issue, on CBS's part here, would be that GL has been given "one more year" for the few years and P&G's misjudgements have seen the show go through some truly horrible times, trying to emulate other series instead of providing the community/character driven drama that made GL a success in the first place. Now it's just getting back to where it needed to be years ago, so it's understandable that they might want to cut the chord.

Still, I think that if it was renewed when it was in far worse shape (with a far higher budget), then they should give it a chance to see if this creative upswing can continue. My one gripe with GL right now is the opening, it's horrid. When your only issue with a series is those 30 seconds, you know it cant be that bad.

[MarkH]

So, I agree with much of what you have written here.

Here is how I see it going. The "2010s" are going to be the decade during which not only daytime-soaps-on-US-networks are no longer economically viable, but possibly the decade in which broadcast networks are not viable.

So, all our "guiding lights" will blink out, one after another, in domino. Brad Bell's SOD interview points out that some might last longer than I think (I think they'll all be dead by 2016)...but the basic premise that soaps will go -- for both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons -- seems pretty inarguable.

Now the day will come when your "democratic" on-demand universe will be properly monitized. Indeed, I would argue this can't happen UNTIL we get rid of "free" TV. (Why pay for something you can get without payment).

At that point, when the conditions are right, new serials will begin to seed and grow. But, as I have written before, they will NOT again be "daytime", they will NOT necessarily by 5-days a week, and they will NOT last 70 years. They will, at best, capture small cable-like audience shares. Never again will these behemoth soaps capture big numbers. That's true for the whole TV landscape.

That is why shows, from the oldest (GL) to the youngest (B& need to be studied as the artifacts they are...products of a different era. We should enjoy them while they are creatively and financially viable, but we should also gird ourselves -- for 100% of the shows -- for the unavoidable day, coming fairly soon, when the financials just won't work out anymore.

[alphanguy74]

Well... the problem is this. You cannot get rid of free TV, PERIOD. For one, the FCC won't allow it... and secondly, free TV is the basis on which the emergency broadcast system is laid upon. Public safety is much more important than anything else. I don't think soaps will be gone by 2016, I think they will dwindle to 2 or 3. Now, part of my problem is that local network affiliates are LOADED with cable company advertizements, trying to fool people and scare them that the digital transition means they HAVE to get cable service. These local affiliates are cutting their own throats, enabling MORE people to tune into cable channels and tune OUT the big 3. In this crappy economy, pushing the consumer to go back to getting their television Over the air, would mean more veiwers for the big 3. But since alot of the big 3 own cable channels as well.... there are only so many pieces in that pie, and they've made things so each network only gets a bite, instead of a whole piece.