The Soapgeist: July 5, 2010

[lovely_m]

http://tvguide.ca/Soaps/Nelson_Ratings/Articles/100705_soapgeist_NB.htm

[DeeeDee]

YOU TOLD RAUCH TO BACKBURNER ME!!!!!!!!!

[lovely_m]

Poor John, his character was DOA and he gets blamed for boring writing.

This insider needs to revisit what the word lots means.

[bellcurve]

• Now that all is said, aired and awarded, ATI President James Romanovich shares with Soapgeist his belief, which I agree with, that his company produced a great show. Indeed. Every daytime star, producer, director, and publicist Soapgeist spoke to raved about “the best Emmys in years.” Though the fans aren’t as enthusiastic. To those critics, Romanovich says:

“Perhaps what many genuine soap fans don’t realize is that the Daytime Emmys were allowed back on TV in spite of the soaps, not because of them. Had we not had a 20-minute tribute to Bandstand (which according to the ratings on the quarter hour was the spike that won the two-time period and the night for CBS) and the Las Vegas Hilton, we would have never had CBS. It would have been over. Therefore, the Daytime Emmys would have been a dinner at the Beverly Hilton. For the daytime community, that’s not a bad thing. It’s still a good, fun night for them. But what the Daytime Emmys represent by being on television is the strength of the content of daytime television. If the soaps have a chance in hell at being looked at as relevant in mainstream America, it has to be [related with what the general public considers] mainstream.”

He adds, “As a soap fan, I’m telling you the sad facts, which is why I have worked so hard to keep the Daytime Emmys on television. The facts are that networks really have lost interest in their soaps. They are not the financial boons they used to be. What’s sadder is that if you poll most television viewers and ask them who Oprah, Judge Judy and Jerry Springer are, they know. Ask them again who Agnes Nixon, Susan Flannery and Maura West are and they don’t know. The soap opera fan alone cannot sustain the Daytime Emmys. Like all awards shows, you need entertainment as that wide net to capture as many fish as possible. If I can do that with some magic and music, while still maintain about an 80 per cent weight to the soaps, then we all win. What I’m hoping to do with the Emmys is prolong their relevance so that these six remaining shows can have a life beyond daytime TV when the Internet and à la carte television options presented to us in the near future is our only way of watching TV. That’s what I tried to do with Guiding Light.”

Romanovich continues, “If we never came forward and produced the Daytime Emmys in ‘09, what message would that have sent to the broadcast networks? Everything we did for the Daytime Emmys had a grand plan and last weekend was it — to make it big, on a top network, and relevant. Was it the same as 20 years ago? No, because the soaps aren’t the same (or as plentiful) as 20 years ago. As one who is doing everything for soaps I can, I will feature Lion Kings, Kabuki dancers and the roster of Motown if that’s what it takes to keep them on TV.”

Really dude? Really? Last year's telecast(which your company produced) was one of the best in YEARS, aside from time constraints. It was a celebration of game, talk, soap, and children's shows. For the first time in years, The Emmys felt like a somewhat dignified ceremony that wasn't ashamed of daytime television. [!@#$%^&*] the glitches and the rushing from last year...That's the kind of Emmys ceremony I wanted, in terms of tone.

If keeping the Blue Man Group, Cirque Du Soliel, David Copperfield, and CATS off the stage and waiting until he croaked and died to give Dick Clark his 20 minute tribute meant no telecast and a dinner at the Hilton, then so be it. A webcast would have sufficed just as well or even a press release and livetweets from We Love Soaps and Buzzworthy. I never thought I'd say that, but it really has come to this.

I had a friend come by to watch the Emmys with me. Her only experience with daytime is really court shows, but she was wondering what any of this really had to do with soaps or with daytime television. She expected more content, to understand why these awards and these shows were so important to their fans.

But of course, I bitch, I bitch, and if they are televised next year, I will still watch. I can't resist a good trainwreck or drunken soap actors no matter who's producing the telecast. But this guy made a colossal mistake trying to justify his continuing to air the Emmy Awards. This year was not a celebration of daytime as a whole. Rushing Agnes Nixon offstage, not televising the children's categories or the court category(let's face it, Judge Judy is poised to be the next Lucci thanks to Cristina's Court), but finding time for crappy dated stage shows does not a celebration make. And this is coming from someone who watches just about everything in daytime.

And also, while we're at it, was the production company that hard up for money that they accepted advertising dollars from Mississippi Gulf Tourism? "Hey, if you can't afford Vegas, our sponsor, get chemical poisoning and oil on your feet on the beaches of Pascagoula!"

[dragonflies]

+1

[Y&RWorldTurner]

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Keep telling yourself that Muhney and keep promoting that sh!t on Twitter and maybe it will ring true one day.

[dragonflies]

Uhm note to MM: Super Couples are created by fans, not TIIC

[All My Shadows]

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

The following All My Shadows post contains large amounts of bitchiness.

And? Because the producer of the show and Nelson "Kissass" Branco" say it was great, then it must be true? Keep that, I don't want it.

The CW's show from last year was at least a hundred times better than this year's show, so who cares about "getting CBS?"

Talkin out the side of ya neck.

How is putting on a show like this year's show representation of the "strength of the content on daytime television?" You completely shut out entire genres of daytime programming. I fail to see how adding more and more non-daytime content is supposed to highlight what's great about daytime content.

And "American Bandstand" is currently mainstream? Tony Orlando is mainstream? The Spinners are mainstream? What? Keep that, I don't want it.

If you keep taking the "Daytime" and the "Emmys" out of the "Daytime Emmys," then what's the f'n point of putting the show on TV? Keep that.

But it's not just the soaps, it's soaps, talk, games, children's shows, special class series, etc. This year's show was a middle finger to them all. Was Judge Judy even at the show? I don't think the courtroom award was presented.

Again, it's not just the soaps. And 80 percent? Really? A 20-minute oldies concert vs. a 1-minute ATWT tribute? Keep that, I don't want it.

...what!? I don't even get it. Putting all this extra crap in the Daytime Emmys is going to help out the remaining soaps? What?! If people are only tuning into to watch 20-minute oldies concerts, Lion King performances, Cirque Du Soleil, The Blue Man Group, etc, then how is that going to help the soaps? STFU.

Just shut up. Please. You sound ignorant. Last year's show was perfectly fine. If we keeping the Daytime Emmys about daytime television meant watching the show on The CW with a smaller budget, then that would have been PERFECTLY FINE. I don't think one person complained last year because they wanted the show on one of the bigger networks.

Middle finger.

[dragonflies]

When AB runs 50 something years, we'll talk, till then Nelson and others need to STFU! ATWT deserved a longer tribute in comparison to AB and other stupidity

[chyti]

The reality of the subject is that the networks and the industry does not care about soaps that is the point he was trying to make. If the Daytime Emmy's is no longer broadcast on a major network and shown as a webcast we might as well just start counting the cancellations that is how irrelevant daytime soaps are to the industry as a whole.

I didn't care for the show but I understood what they did and why it had to be done, soaps is bad business nowadays no one is looking to invest in them anymore and from what Romanvich says the networks are looking for fast ways to get out so if this gives the show one more year or even some added weight on getting online then do what you have to.

[alphanguy74]

What's all the hate for an AB tribute? I thought it was fine, and this IS the daytime Emmys, and American Bandstand WAS a daytime show. Granted,it was on Saturdays, but it WAS a daytime show 5 days a week for many years before it went to once a week. For those who are under 25, AB doens't mean much, but it's a HUGE part of our lives for those of use older than that. Now cirque De soilel... that's another story. But oh well, whatever gets it on the air, I suppose.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't think people were against the AB tribute, they just hated how much time it hogged up from the ceremony.

[chyti]

The Bandstand tribute was the most watched part of the telecast which actually gave it the rise in numbers so I guess more people actually care about Dick Clark then soaps

[Ann_SS]

Romanovich is in this to make money so his perspective is understandable. He makes more money if CBS or one of the major networks air the show than if CW does. I don't understand his need to give this interview justifying the show had did relatively well in the ratings and made him profit to Branco. What does he care what a small community of soap fans think? He must be a publicity whore.

[alphanguy74]

I suppose it was a bit *long*, but then again, I don't want the hurrying people's acceptance speeches so dumbass Jeff Foxworthy can tell some stupid joke, either. His sh!t is TIRED. And While Chubby Checker and the Spinners were good, something was VERY wrong with Marie. And she is normally NOT LIKE THAT. her voice is usually on point and strong. Tony Orlando... his voice has been shot for years, if they were gonna have him, they should have gotten Joyce and Telma.. he tries harder when he's onstage with them, and they light up the room, while he doens't. He schmoozes too much, and doens't concentrate enough on how he SOUNDS. I would have made it more a tribute to CLARK HIMSELF, and not just bandstand, because considering his presence on Pyramid, his daytime presence is deserving of such a tribute.