USA Today story on death of soaps

[Sylph]

He's going to cancel a show in the next 3 or 4 months.

[MarkH]

Well, that's the rumor that is going around almost everywhere, eh? And since ABC OWNS its shows, there is literally NO hope for rescue/salvation.

[EricMontreal22]

Frons isn't in charge of cancelling a show or not though (unless I'm wrong?)

[DRW50]

Because we know that GL and ATWT were snapped right up after their cancellations, since they weren't owned by CBS.

There's really no hope of any soap being bought after cancellation at this point.

I don't really see Frons as this noble caretaker of dying soaps. He seems fairly invested in all of them, given that they all continue to bear hallmarks of his meddling and his issues. I think he just likes fiddling around with them, and will continue to do so until ABC pulls the plug.

[Max]

I really resent the comment made by Frons where he suggested that "in the end, the strong shows will remain." (This is similar to Les Moonves' comment that the "special soaps" will survive.) Such a comment indicates that quality is the sole basis for determining each soaps' particular Neilsen rating (and, in turn, whether or not it gets cancelled). Yet, we all know that the quality of a soap is a subjective matter; my own opinion is that I strongly disagree with the assessment that OLTL and the P&G soaps are "weaker" and inferior when comapred to Y&R/B&B/DOOL/AMC/GH.

While quailty is one factor in determining the lifespan of a soap, there are other factors at work as well (which are never mentioned in articles such as this one). For instance, Y&R, DOOL, GH, & AMC have all tremendoulsy benefitted from the endless pimping they have received from the soap media over the past three decades (while OLTL and the P&G soaps were treated like dirt). And as for B&B, who here doesn't believe that it's post-Y&R time-slot is the main reason why they do so well in the ratings?

[EricMontreal22]

I agree to an extent but for some of that it is earned--AMC and Y&R earned their success by quality--I doubt anyone would argue that, even if it maybe hasn't been true for a while.

[Sylph]

Let me re-phrase: he will announce the cancellation in the next 3 or 4 months.

[Juliajms]

I think we all know that soap will be OLTL if it happens, but I think if they do that GH is going to go down with the ship due to time slots. Maybe they don't really care as long as they can stagger out the cancellations and find something cheaper to produce.