The Soapgeist: July 5, 2010

[All My Shadows]

What you are missing is that if the only way the Daytime Emmys can air in primetime is if the spotlight is on stuff that is in no way remotely related to daytime and on a disproportionate tribute to a show that was canceled over 20 years ago, then I don't need or want it aired in primetime on CBS. Screw that. Why should the people of daytime be satisfied to get a few scraps during a show that is supposed to be all about them? To hell with that.

Twenty minutes out of a two-hour performance to celebrate a show that was canceled over twenty years ago (because it was a tribute to the show, not Dick Clark; if it was a tribute to Dick Clark, then the glaring omission of his more visible daytime contribution is yet another strike against this crapfest of a show) while a show that was canceled this year after 54 years gets barely a minute of reflection is most definitely "taking over the show." It's disproportionate. That AB tribute shouldn't have lasted more than 10 minutes.

I DON'T GET IT!! How is filling the Daytime Emmys with non-daytime stuff going to help daytime? I don't get it. I do not get it!!

Exactly. TPTB need to stop trying to buy name brands and humble themselves to get Great Value. The BET Awards came on opposite the Daytime Emmys, so if they thought they had a snowball's chance in hell of getting any young viewers at all, they had to be nuts. They might have gotten the teen numbers in the Midwest and Alaska and places like that, but even that's giving them a little credit.

They have to work within their means. If the audience they get for a purely daytime-focused show can only afford them a two-hour show on SOAPnet on a Friday night or a 90-minute show on ABC Daytime on a Wednesday afternoon, then so be it. There is no need for it to be a primetime affair anymore. When soaps and network game shows were at their highest peak, the Daytime Emmys aired in daytime. Now that the numbers are done across the board for the whole daypart, I don't see why they think they can still get people to watch the show in primetime. It's devoid of logic.

Just let ABC air it from 1:30p-3:00p. They can do half-hour episodes of AMC, OLTL, and GH with just a quick title card at the beginning of each to maximize the episodes' run times. The other two networks...hell if I know.

For real. CBS at least had retrospective-type stuff on the site for GL, but so far, none of that at all for ATWT. I want to see rare clips from the late 60s and early 70s, but looks like nobody cares to put a few measly clips on the damn site. It's sad and disrespectful and ignorant.

[DRW50]

Weren't the ratings for this broadcast only barely up from a broadcast on CW last year, which is in much fewer homes than CBS?

The defensive reaction from the producer suggests to me they may not have gotten the response they expected. If it were just soap fans complaining I don't know if he would have vented so much of his spleen.

[dragonflies]

Yeah it wasn't that much better than when it aired on the CW, which given the CW doesn't air in all markets(I know people who don't get the channel) then I'd say it did better last year taking that into consideration.

[bellcurve]

Then my solution is simple: DON'T AIR THEM!

It would suck, it would hurt, but it would be a lot better than being forced to sit through such inane and utter nonsense.

How do we know if the first half hour high was due to Dick Clark? Maybe people tuned in to SEE the Daytime Emmys, but tuned out because they thought they were watching something else or wondering if the next Emmy Tribute was to Don Cornelius and Soul Train?! I mean, that was a syndicated, daytime show too.

[dragonflies]

You air what it's supposed to be: Emmy's for DAYTIME. Did Dick Clark have that much of an impact on daytime? I was never aware if he did.

This AB stuff should be done at the Grammy's or something else.

[All My Shadows]

Dick hosted and produced AB in daytime for over 25 years and hosted various Pyramid incarnations over a 15 year period, so he definitely the deserved a tribute, IMO. I don't quite understand what the purpose of the tribute was. Was he being given an award? Or was it just a tribute for the sake of having a tribute? Either way, for a tribute that was supposed to be for the man, they certainly left out half of his daytime career, the part that most of the Daytime Emmy audience would associate him with the most. They could have just given him the Lifetime Achievement Award, showcased his work on both AB and Pyramid, and saved Agnes's for next year (or vice versa).

[alphanguy74]

I agree that it would have been better to do a lifetime achievement award, and feature ALL his daytime accomplishments, Bandstand... Pyramid... Where The Action Is... even The Challengers would get a second or two, along with "The Object Is", and "Missing Links"... and let's not forget "The Other Half". And Allmyshadows.. that avatar makes eyes bleed! LOL

[bellcurve]

Dick Clark's production company also produced the Daytime Emmy Awards/Digest Awards for years and gave us amazing gaffes(i.e. Susan Flannery/Lucci, JFP getting her speech cut off, etc.).

I was also pissed about no mention of Pyramid either. Did Dick Clark even stay for the entire Emmys telecast?

[SFK]

And giving Susan the cue to wrap it up once she finally won.

[bellcurve]

Rena Sofer was apparently pissed about that. She was quoted as saying something like, "You don't cue music during Susan Lucci's speech! Period!"

[DRW50]

I always tend to remember the big closeup of Marj Dusay as she encouraged Susan to keep going.

For that one moment I thought the villagers were going to rise up and Dick Clark would run screaming from the auditorium...

[All My Shadows]

LOL

And Kelly Ripa making that face that only Kelly Ripa can make. That "No no no no no, you keep going, honey!" face.

[SFK]

Exactly! I was at that Emmys and Kelly's fans were a trip ("RIIIIIIPAAA!"... "Becky Herbst was robbed!" was also memorable. ). Dick Clark was down on the floor and he'd get on the God mic during commercial breaks. He told us that they had something special for us coming up and he asked that we provide sustained applause. This was of course when they had all of the past Best Actor/Actress winners on stage a la the Oscars.

Marj was raisin' the roof!

[remos]

Well that was the problem - it wasn't about Dick Clark and American Bandstand at all. It was a Vegas Review with AB tying it all together in a nice knot. It would be the equivalent of ABC having the Emmy's in Disneyland and showing their characters for 20 minutes, claiming it's celebrating Michael Eisner.

And I agree with the poster that said all of this is back-peddling and excuse making by those who managed the Vegas Emmys. I think they truly believed we were mindless enough to enjoy the big names and the fancy lights.

After this, ABC is SOOOOO well positioned to give a great "up yours" to CBS next year. It would be so easy to do it right and I hope someone was awake at the switch to take notes.

[Scryber96]

Forced? If your TV only gets one channel and doesn't have an off button, maybe it's time you took a trip to Best Buy.

Otherwise, nobody's forcing you to watch anything.