The Single Biggest Mistake that Resulted in GL's Cancellation

[brimike]

"The Writer" never knew how to correctly write fall-out from death at any show she worked at.

[AllAboutAngst]

I don't know how in the world this statement could be made as if Jammy was the only story occuring in 2006. I don't believe they ever had any effect on GL's ratings whatsoever, I will concede they had buzz, but I don't even think they've had as much buzz as Otalia has now. Besides, wasn't 2006 when Josh/Reva, Gus/Harley and Mallet/Dinah were together also? I don't know how in the world that cousin story could ever be seen as the "sole savior" of GL in 2006 or the sole reason for whatever shift occured and I couldn't care less about Tammy dying, her existence was useless since her mother was nothing but a plot-pointed history rewrite in the first place (and I do blame a large part of the problems that GL had with the incessant focus on Cassie while phasing out so many other veteran characters, along with San Cristohell and the idiotic sci-fi stories).

[jfung79]

2006 was mostly about Jammy, Dinah/Mallet, GusH working their way back together after Harley sleeping with Mallet and the pill addiction, and the cancer story. Josh/Reva actually broke up the middle of that year.

Whatever the secret was for 2006 being a good year for the show ratings-wise, it *was* a good year, and any analysis of so-called "mistakes" would have to figure out what was special about 2006 and then what was lost in 2007. I am not going to insist that it has to have been Jammy -- I'm not a big fan of the couple, and I like the show as a whole, not specific pairings or characters only. But my own anecdotal sense based on how people were acting in the ATWT/GL Facebook group I am in, and also Sara Bibel's recent blog mentioning the lapsed, older GL fan she talked to on the plane to Orlando, is that Jammy was at least a major part of the ratings secret.

[Faulkner]

I admit San Cristobal was when I officially lost all interest in this show, and I never came back, not even for Jonathan.

[AllAboutAngst]

I really don't understand how you take almost an entire cast of a show and move them off to some rinky dink island

[DeeeDee]

*cough*Days*cough*

[EastMA2]

Ellen Wheeler.

[MichaelGL]

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if Hogan Sheffer did chose to write for GL and not ATWT.

[CSF]

Probably much better than the crap we got from B&E. I'm not sure how he would have been able to fix what they started though. I do believe that we would have never gotten the Santos family, that was Claire Labine, and I'm gonna assume she was forced to pen all of that by Rauch.

[brimike]

More times than I can count!!!

:lol:

[CSF]

Well, we have B&E to thank for that. What hacks!

[Gray Bunny]

I think some of the things that happened in the past 10 years that contributed to GL's downfall started with the focus shifting in 1999 from classic Springfield people to newbie Santoses and all the young & recasted newbies that associated with them, and later with the San Cristobel people and their own "islanded" storyline, no pun intended.

I don't think GL got back on track from all that mess until 2002 when everything was geared back towards Springfield and the mob stories were coming to a conclusion (nor was it the main focus the latter half of the year). But then with Weston/Conboy coming in in early 2003 that's where things lost its classic Springfield focus again, and when they did use so-called history, they completely rewrote it... Maryanne Carruthers anyone? GL's ratings took a noticeable dive during that storyline, not just a gradual sign-of-the-times decline, and they never got back to the upper 2's ratings after that story. For a while in 2004-2006, a 2.4 would be GL's goal to be considered successful.

I think 2006 had their strong stories and their weak stories; they're unforgettable tales and their forgettable filler. But 2007, after the Reva cancer story wrapped up and Josh remained with Cassie, and the Jonathan/Tammy arc was over and out, 2007 was just LOST.

Like GL's current "production model," I could've lived with GL's limited sets of 2005-2007 (Main Street, Beacon, and whatever 3rd location was being used that given week) had the WRITING been there, but they lost me around August 2007 and I haven't watched regularly since.

P.S. It was still B&E writing GL when the Santos family was created. Although Claire Labine's directionless storytelling and stupid newbies (May the cigarette girl, Catalina the refugee) caused me to tune out of GL the first time before coming back to watch again in 2002.

[brimike]

Wow. I had completely blocked Catalina and May out of my memory altogether. Wow.

[MichaelGL]

I thought I was the only one who tuned out during Labine's tenure lol

It was really bad, and before I had sat through Nadine's ghastly murder, cloning, and fantasy island. Labine's tenure was the last straw for me. I didn't tune back in until the whole Olivia stealing from Lewis story started in the summer of 2001.

[quartermainefan]

allowing the time slot changes where suddenly affiliates were airing it where they wanted. Y&R is locked in, B&B is, ATWT is, why was GL airing separate from all of them? It was the soap most in need of a lead in, so why didn't it follow one of those three? Sandwiched in between Y&R and B&B might have made a huge difference.