August 31 - September 4, 2009

[MarkH]

Brimike's already laid out one part of the financial equation. The other part is this: You point out just how close the ABC soaps are to cancellation. They'll linger a little longer due to the financials, but we're in the final years for sure. I'm still thinking 2012 or so for the ABC soaps. I don't know if the LA move changes anything for two of them.

[Soapsuds]

Hogwash!!....LOL It is great that GL isnt limping out. It would be great if GL beat all the ABC soaps during that final week of airing just for Brian Frons....LOL. Gl cancelled but yet beats all the ABC shows...LOL. GL's numbers remind me of Dallas. Dallas had two awful years ratings wise until it was cancelled. The last epidsode of Dallas brought back a lot of viewers and the show ranked #2 for the week. No other primetime soap opera accomplished that...Dynasty, Knots Landing or Falcon Crest.

[JaneAusten]

Can someone explain to me how ABC owning their soaps is better financially? I keep hearing this but I have yet to understand why. I mean I know CBS pays licensing fees for Y&R and all their shows as does NBC for Days but they also don't incur the costs of producing the show as ABC does with their shows. So while ABC owns their shows, they also pay for studios, upgrades to HD, sets, salaries, staff, producers, writers, etc. while CBS and NBC does not. And if ABC was in such solid financial shape, why did all their actors take pay cuts? So I guess call me stupid I just don't understand how ABC has the big advantage.

[JaneAusten]

aside from cost reduction, I dont see the move to LA being anything dramatic. Maybe it actually gives AMC another year of life. Or maybe it leads to OLTL finally getting chopped. AMC's ratings have again dropped to where they were, actually lower than they were under the prior regime and they were allegedly very close to cancellation at that time or in danger of being dropped by some key affiliates if I recall.

[Evil Twin]

Owning vs. renting. Think about it...

[JaneAusten]

Well I get the benefits in terms of owning a home, You build up equity and it becomes an asset for you. Same as owning a business. But as an owner, you also have costs to incur that as a renter you don't. I can't fathom to understand how these agreements work. Perhaps the value for these shows on ABC are incredibly high(like the value of a home) and that outweights the costs you have to expend to manage and maintain it. But I am looking at a genre dying off. It's almost like the housing market today and trying to sell a home. The value of the home is not what it was, it still costs me the same to maintain it, and I can't sell it because there is no market for it. But if ownership is so much stronger, why is ABC moving AMC to LA. They are trying to reduce costs I assume. Why did ABC ask their daytime actors to take paycuts. I assume for the same reason. they are doing nothing different than what Y&R is doing in renegotiating contracts or Days in cutting the salaries of their actors. Maybe I am overthinking all this. I still don't understand it but so be it.

[JimTolkien]

I think most were just kidding themselves if they think Y&R was so untouchable. CBS prides itself on having very good to sometimes excellent shows on air, especially if there are supposed to be #1. If you know about Leslie Moonves one would see why. I am sorry but a 3.5 for Y&R and losing well over 600,000 in the past year just does not cut it. The company (CBS Corp.) has more people it is responsible to report to and it is all about the money especially now and they are probably looking at EVERY LINE OF BUSINESS to see who and where is not performing well. More cuts are coming if things don't look up soon. I definitely think this economic downturn have caused more companies to look at their business to see how it can be run more effectively and cheaper. At this rate, we might have soaps with instead of live people, animated characters!

The sad part of this all is the most we can say is that Y&R is still #1 but #1 in what exactly, certainly not the redundant storyline telling. And even more sadder is that as viewers we so don't want to see the genre die that some are starting to rationalize this pathetic and mediocre form of s/l telling and production. I see nothing about the show anymore that shows me they are #1 in the categories that I have loved for well over 30 years. The only thing that has remained constant thank heavens and proven is that it is the VETERAN actors of this show that OWNS this show and always will. And it is so very wrong to try and change the formula at this stage of the game - whoever thought this was a good idea to do was so wrong. It like CBS suddenly removing the "eye" from its brand or Sony changing their product line to sell white paper when that industry is dying off.

I want to see my JC, MS, MTS, EB, PB, CLB, TB, JW, JM, ED, DD, and now add Tricia Cast and Beth Maithland (who they should bring back as often as the budget allows) all the time until they all decide it's time to quit or they "kick the bucket"..then throw in the younger actors to balance it out because at least to this viewer the younger actors on the show don't have 1/4 of the charisma and onscreen presence as our vets.

I am going to start doing the "raindance" and forget this aberration of a summer for Y&R and start throwing coins in a wishing well that MAB (and I so want her to do well but she is DISAPPOINTING ME BIG TIME) can turn this around come fall because if it doesn't get better....OH WELL!!!

[brwnsugar33]

Well the way you feel about Y&R is almost the same way I feel about GH and other ABC Soaps.

GH is not even recognizable and the sad part of it, no one really cares at ABC/Disney network.

If all ABC Soaps are cancelled would anyone be left to care.

[Cyberologist]

I would listen esp during long commutes...

[JaneAusten]

Amen. I guess I am not as invested in Y&R so I can watch it with a more undetached eye than AMC or GH. The stories are not good but the vets make it worth watching. I adore all of them on Y&R. They are the show. On GH and AMC they have lost the vets and legacy characters IMO that made both shows worth watching or they are so under used it doesn't matter. David Canary is the exception. And I really don't know which show is worse, GH or AMC. AMC still have DC and Susan Lucci but the Zendall overkill is too much.

[brwnsugar33]

Well that is easy for me GH is so bad I don't know what the hell is going on at any given time. The lead men are jokes and the mob is running the show and more sleazy ho's are everywhere. Instead of calling it General Hospital it should be called Mobs R Us or Skanks R Us because you never see that much of the hospital and when the doctors are turning into wanna be pi's then you know your show is in trouble.

[Ann_SS]

The owning/renting analogy is not really helpful to understanding this circumstance. Here is a basic overview why ABC is better off financially owning its soaps. CBS pays P&G and Sony & Co. a licensing fee to air its soaps. If ad revenue declines, CBS cannot reduce the fee until they are contractually allowed to do so, hence they make less profit or can even lose money. We heard recently that CBS slashed Y&R's licensing fee by almost 50 percent which means that Y&R producers have to cut their budget and make the show for less money while still making profit for themselves. ABC owns its own soaps so when its ad revenue declines, Frons will tell its shows' producers to cut production costs which includes pay cuts and lay offs behind the scenes. ABC gets these savings back directly and almost immediately, thus they are better off financially owning their own soaps and the CBS soaps are more likely to be canceled sooner. By moving AMC to LA, ABC must have determined that the show would be cheaper to produce in the long run. The only practical way for the soaps to stay on the air is to keep reducin production costs because the ratings are systematically declining with no reversal in sight.

[JaneAusten]

Thanks for the explanation. It makes complete sense now.

[JimTolkien]

Perfect explanation re: CBS and all round!! This is even more compounded by Sony's Steve Mosko having to actually go to the Y&R set and explain what's happening. They can dress this up all they want and try to make it look pretty but this was most likely driven from the higher ups from both CBS & Sony but basically all this boils down to is that Y&R is on probation for 2 years to improve and then we will see where we go from there. How ironic would this be..a Bell started the show so long ago and it could very well be a Bell that takes it out - only fitting.

Here's a suggestion for the Bells since they think they are all that and can do whatever they want, why not go start your own bloody network and put out your own shows! And make it a private company while you are it so that if your network starts tanking you don't have to answer to shareholders except yourselves, yada, yada!! They also need to get out of the blooming PAST and move forward! I am so bloody angry because so far MAB has managed to further decimate the show and make it COMMON when I so was looking forward to her doing the exact opposite.

[soapydoc]

As always, thanks for the ratings. Any idea when we might get the dailies for last week?