GL-Frons Interview on GL's Demise and Daytime's Struggles

[rsmith2k2]

http://blogs.wsj.com...after-72-years/

Thanks to LoveTeeVee at TWOP's GL thread for the tip.

[MarkH]

The man has NO nostalgia. It is all about ad revenue, and THAT IS IT. It is all about 18-49.

But this is not a surprise. And maybe it is a good thing. As marceline has often reminded us, maybe nostalgia is the ultimate reason why the daytime genre is dying. The normal cycle of cancellation and new shows stopped happening....

Maybe the optimal life span for a soap is 5 years or less.

[marceline]

The thought that I have anything in common with Brian Frons makes me want to throw myself off a tall building and slash my wrists on the way down.

[baller]

You know, but at least for Frons it has been about that. He's not trying to cover it up. And I give him props for stopping things that didn't work production wise, like the bouncing cameras a couple of years back on AMC.

I give him credit for speaking out about GL--I thought the life support comment was actually quite fitting. GL has been there for a while, and all their new production changes haven't helped.

[Soapsuds]

The guy is full of himself. So GL has been a poor performer for many years?? Agreed...but so has his hack shows on ABC. OLTL and AMC have been at the bottom of the ratings for some time now. GH is no better either. I won't shed a tear when one of his soaps is canned!

[dragonflies]

I don't give him props for anything, he still has a job, he is a main reason why ABC soaps are dying.

When he gets rid of Pratt, Guza and Carlavati then I will give him props

[NorrthCafe]

Given the state of ABC soaps? All I'll say is he has SOME nerve! Yikes! I will agree that the production changes were a huge tragedy. It's hard to believe that no one at CBS realized that after the first week. (Or maybe didn't care?)

[Soapsuds]

Agreed

[LeClerc]

So basically Frons is saying that GL has sucked since about 1991. Wonder what JFP thinks about that!

[MarkH]

No, I think he's saying that the ratings and demos have been awful for decades. That doesn't speak to quality.

[Ann_SS]

I have got no problem with anything Frons said. I will never understand the outrage that soap fans express when network executives point out correctly that the soaps are part of the television business.

Also, ABCD is NOT dying because of Frons. Our society has changed. There are no longer women at home to watch the soaps and for those women who are at hoe, there aree tons other stations to watch. If anything, the soaps have held their own for many years. It is now at the end.

I give Frons credit for trying to save AMC by making the move to L.A. I only wish he would do more and overhaul the TPTB at each of ABC's soaps. I think that the quality of the ABC soaps can be improved even if the ratings do not reflect it.

[Sylph]

True. However, he has systematically derailed and undermined his own soaps. He destroyed his own product.

Soaps would have died anyway. Only he made them plummet at light speed.

:lol:

Wake-up call, Mark!

[baller]

word to all of this! Frons may have done some shady stuff at times, but the anger of these comments makes me wonder--especially since he's write about a lot of it.

[R Sinclair]

I'm not angry. I'm just wondering why go to him? Because he worked for CBS 30 years ago? They couldn't find anybody within CBS to get a statement from before going to the president of daytime for a rival network, who would, of course, have less than flattering things to say?

And who keeps jacking up the threads by making every post bold?

[ChiTownBoi03]

YES! I know me personally, I don't even watch my soaps on a *television*, so I definitely think changes in viewing habits today and the availability of the internet can only hurt daytime television ratings. Primetime soaps may be more successful because by the time they come on, everybody's tired and lazy from work/school. They lay on the couch, grab the remote, and kick back (except for me, I lay on the couch kick back and surf the net, but to each his own.) It's also on like once a week, so the anticipation is heightened.