Which Soap is Next to Go?

[quartermainefan]

I remember visiting London in the late 90s, maybe 2000, and my straight married friend, father of two, watched Sunset Beach religiously. His wife hated all soap operas and thought he was nuts, but he liked it for some reason. Then again, I knew a college jock who inbetween trying to sleep with every girl at college loved to watch Passions because it had an ape, a witch, and a midget and he thought it was the greatest thing that someone was actually named "Lopez-Fitzgerald".

[DaytimeFan]

It's quite the swift race to the bottom.

Either OLTL or DAYS will fall first, followed by AMC, B&B and GH. Y&R will be left standing for quite some time and by that I mean 2013.

Yes bellcurve, it was I who suggested that Brad could produce telenovelas that could be distributed through BBL. Depending on what he'd want to produce, he could center each telenovela on a few B&B characters...plenty of options, it's up to Brad to figure those options out.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

Wow...some of you have real low expectations. I really don't see AMC, Y&R, GH, or B&B getting canceled within the next 5 years,

[quartermainefan]

Well, I guess we do have to look at what the ratings were when Passions, GL and ATWT got the axe, and things do start to look dire. ABC canceled Port Charles with similar ratings. Perhaps online viewing mitigates things in a way that didn't exist even a year ago.

[DRW50]

The question is if the people at the networks and running the shows care. That's why I believe more and more that most of the soaps, if not all of them, will be gone within 3-4 years. No one cares anymore. The networks may find something cheaper, and the producers just shrug and stare at their own navel.

[marceline]

I think OLTL will announce sometime this year. Hell, Disney had to be reminded to include them in SoapNet press release.

[Steve]

Yeah, I suspect they'd move GH, partly because AMC has pretty much had the same timeslot for most of its run. I just don't see ABC moving it now. I'm not a statistics guy, but I don't know how much of GH's audience also watches AMC and vice versa. As a long-time AMC watcher who gave up on GH years ago, I suspect putting GH on as the lead in wouldn't help AMC.

I don't see it happening either. ABC is invested in their shows even if they're letting Soapnet go. After OLTL goes, I don't think they'll cancel AMC or GH in the foreseeable future. Y&R and B&B being #1 in America and worldwide, respectively, should be safe.

[DRW50]

CBS doesn't get any of the international money for B&B so I don't know if they would care about keeping it on the air for that reason.

[Sylph]

Which reminds me: could Brad try to sell B&B to Univision or Telemundo?

[bellcurve]

That's like asking if Grub Street Productions would try to sell Wings reruns to BET.

[Ann_SS]

Since cancellation is based on a combination of bad ratings in the key demos and the availability of cheaper alternative programming, I think that B&B is the next to go. The success of LMAD has led to the death of CBS's weakest soaps and the report of the daytime shows for Julie Chen and Emeril suggests that only Y&R is safe on CBS.

If Days cannot make up ground in November sweeps, then this is its final year.

On ABC, I think that AMC and GH are safe for the next two to three years. The move has made AMC cheaper to produce and GH is their number one soap. Alternative programming will determine OLTL's fate. I really don't see it lasting more than one more year though as the only NY based soap.

[DaytimeFan]

He could after B&B is dead on CBS. Telemundo is tied in with NBC-Universal-Comcast-Whatever so it would be in conflict to sell it while it still airs on CBS. In addition to that, B&B already airs in Spanish via SAP on CBS as it is. A number of years back when Tony and Sofia were on B&B I felt that they were there strictly to boost the show's debut via SAP.

That said, after B&B concludes on CBS, he sure could and it would probably be a great idea, he wouldn't even necessarily have to sell it, rather, he would perhaps get lucky and Univision or Telemundo could pick it up or partner with him in production. There are lots of modes whereby B&B could survive, it's just that none of those options involves the classic idea of American Network.

[Sylph]

Of course. That's what I meant.

Then he needs to do it: either sell (part of or the whole of) it or, better, enter in a production partnership with any of those Latin American TV networks.

[DaytimeFan]

It would be great, it's just up to whether Brad and the cast want to do it. I can see them throwing in the towel after the show's 25th anniversary (if they make it to that)...but for the right price it could absolutely continue, the cast would be changed up a bit, perhaps Tony and Sofia (loved Sofia!) would return, up the ante with the OTT stuff, make the show fun like it used to be. There's plenty of things that a partner like Univision or Telemundo could suggest that would greatly improve the show without gutting it.

In addition, partnering with a Latin American TV giant would help B&B crack another market in a big way because it isn't distributed much in the Latin American market, it's really the only market that it isn't in...

[Sylph]

Yep. Instead of his half-a*sed ideas and bad execution, these people would be able to suggest real ideas on how to suck the Latino audience into this show. If he really wants to keep this show, he should enter negotiations as soon as possible to see what they offer and how things can be sorted out. There are plenty of possibilities.