From: http://www.backstage...004055934.story

3. Goodnight, daytime

At the beginning of 2009, four daytime dramas were shot in New York City. By the end of 2010, there will be one—and that's if you believe that "One Life to Live" still has life in it, which few do. Soap opera ratings have been in decline for years, but this year was especially hard on the genre. CBS aired the last episode of "Guiding Light," then the oldest scripted program in broadcasting, in September and replaced it with a game show. Then the Eye Network announced Dec. 8 that "As the World Turns" will leave the airwaves in September 2010. Elsewhere on the dial, ABC announced in August that it would move production of another New York–based soap opera, "All My Children," to Los Angeles in 2010. The move was widely received as a cost-driven effort to avoid canceling the show.

Holter Graham, president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' New York division, summed up the situation facing daytime scripted television when he spoke to Back Stage in early December regarding "As the World Turns." "The writing was on the wall about daytime and that it was a changing market a long time ago," Graham said. "The economic crisis given to us by the Bush administration sped up that process and made that writing on the wall bright yellow highlighter."

Only five dramas will remain on daytime network television after September 2010.

I'm beginning to think these stories specifically mentioning OLTL when ATWT is the show just got cancelled are a concerted effort to seep the "inevitability" of OL's demise into the public consciousness. Why else would EW run a shot of a tombstone with Viki's face on it? (Foregrounded as well, while ATWT is in the background)

Also, there is a Freudian slip in there: They claim five soaps will be on the air as of September 2010. The soaps left, not counting ATWT, are six: Y&R, B&B, DAYS, AMC, OLTL and GH. Unless they intend to claim OLTL will be off the air as well by September (which I seriously doubt, even if it cancelled in the first six months of this year), that is another odd move.

Edited January 1, 201015 yr by Vee

Vee, something tells me they actually were counting OLTL as being gone by then.

There's a weird sort of almost gleefulness to some of this coverage, especially smug EW. I sometimes underestimate just how much a lot of the media hates soap operas, perhaps because of the old belief that they are somehow superior to As the Stomach Churns, even though their journalistic standards give us things like Jayson Blair, or TV gives us Balloon Boy.

Vee, something tells me they actually were counting OLTL as being gone by then.

Not going to happen. Look at how long it took GL and ATWT to wind down. Unless they do it in the next two months, which I don't believe they will, I really doubt that will occur.

I think it's far more likely it was just another case of mainstream press getting something big wrong about soaps...again. They do it all the time and seem to enjoy misprinting stuff about daytime, just to prove how far away from it they are. While running cover stories on the latest "comeback plan" for Heroes. Gee, I've never seen coverage like that in the soap press...

Edited January 1, 201015 yr by Vee

Misleading, melodramatic thread title. I was expecting a lot more.

I think that OLTL may have more time because it doesn't seem like ABC has any alternative programming lined up, then again ABC could be working on something we don't now about.

Edited January 1, 201015 yr by Ann_SS

Misleading, melodramatic thread title. I was expecting a lot more.

Misleading, melodramatic thread title. I was expecting a lot more.

:lol:

I think that OLTL may have more time because it doesn't seem like ABC has any alternative programming lined up, then again ABC could be working on something we don't now about.

Like someone funnier than Aisha Tyler or a Days-to-ABC coup.

Misleading, melodramatic thread title. I was expecting a lot more.

I like it! It's very "Bringing. Drama. Closer."

Like someone funnier than Aisha Tyler or a Days-to-ABC coup.

I have seen Aisha Tyler's comedy routine. I don't find her particularly funny so finding someone funnier can't be that hard.

I think ABC will give OLTL and AMC a chance to settle in after the move to the new studios. The reduced production costs should buy them a year or two as long as the ratings don't collapse.

People seem to be forgetting or ignoring the fact that OLTL is coming in under budget, so it's not causing ABC to bleed money right now. It's just not pulling in a gigantic surplus, either. I agree with Ann. Also, I wish fans of ABCD lineup would stop running scared based on CBS. CBS doesn't own their soaps. Sure, any cancellation isn't good news for the genre as a whole, but we've known for years that CBS/P&G do things differently from ABCD. They were the ones that wouldn't cast Real Andrews(ex-Taggert, GH) and Julie Pinson(ex-Eve, PC) for their shows in the mid 90's because they were "too sexy."

Misleading, melodramatic thread title. I was expecting a lot more.

For real. There's nothing new in that article.

The ABC soaps are the safest on the air, IMO, and that's one of the few positive results of Frons's BSCness. He's obsessed with the shows, even if he's [!@#$%^&*] them up, and I don't see him dropping any of them right now because losing an hour of programming means losing an hour's worth of power.

For real. There's nothing new in that article.

The ABC soaps are the safest on the air, IMO, and that's one of the few positive results of Frons's BSCness. He's obsessed with the shows, even if he's [!@#$%^&*] them up, and I don't see him dropping any of them right now because losing an hour of programming means losing an hour's worth of power.

Except that it really wouldn't be his decision. It will come from up above. So he can be obsessed about them as much as he wants.

For real. There's nothing new in that article.

The ABC soaps are the safest on the air, IMO, and that's one of the few positive results of Frons's BSCness. He's obsessed with the shows, even if he's [!@#$%^&*] them up, and I don't see him dropping any of them right now because losing an hour of programming means losing an hour's worth of power.

I don't believe ABC is that much safer. We know AMC was actually in danger of cancellation a year ago and that's why he focused so much attention to the show. In the end I doubt it will be Fron's decision. I'll say again, once any of these networks find that magic replacement or the next generation programming, all the shows will be gone. And it's not Judge Judy or LMAD. I still think it will be some sort of news/talk show hybrid.