Over they years soaps and the networks made some huge mistake that could actually save them in years to come:

Another World:

Killing Frankie Frame

Doing Away with the Matthews

Never bringing Iris Cory back

Days:

Killing Off Renee DiMera

Recasting Roman & Mickey

Creating the New Salem Island

Although I liked Stephanie Cameron, Recasting Jennifer Horton

The Tale of Two Romans

Billie return as a cop.

Days:

Getting Rid of Deidre Hall 2008

Not Bringing back Elieen Davidson when they had the 2 chances...

Not firing this hack writer Dena H.

Not Bringing back Horton's to the fold.

Making Alison Sweeny the star of the show when she's not.

Horrible Story for Louise Sorel/Crystal Chappel

The Lighting budget

GH

Killing Alan and AJ and Emily Quartermane

I think CBS owns this topic. Two come to mind but I might have a specific wrong here and there.

First, EON was doing well in the late afternoon but P&G and CBS decided it needed to form a block with other P&G shows, was moved earlier, and its audience dropped never to recover.

CBS again and the bizarre way they detached GL from the rest of daytime, to air as affiliates see fit.

I think CBS owns this topic. Two come to mind but I might have a specific wrong here and there.

First, EON was doing well in the late afternoon but P&G and CBS decided it needed to form a block with other P&G shows, was moved earlier, and its audience dropped never to recover.

CBS again and the bizarre way they detached GL from the rest of daytime, to air as affiliates see fit.

Wasn't around when EON was on the air, what was the show centered around? Fashion? Hospital? Or what?

ATWT:

-Letting Goutman and Passanate run the show into the ground over a five year period.

-Giving no hope to ATWT after GL's cancellation.

AW:

Expansion to 90 minutes

CBS/P&G:

-Getting rid of SFT in favor of Capitol, not giving the 1981/82 line up a chance; then P&G demanding NBC air it at 12:30 right against Y&R.

-Lack of promotion for GL and ATWT

NBC:

-Canceling so many soaps over the years not giving them a fair chance see NBC 1968-1975

Y&R:

-Getting rid of Alden and other Bell-hand picked successors in favor of letting Smith, Latham, Griffth and more recently MAB/Rauch/Sheffer/Hamner let the show run into the ground with no hope of a future.

Wasn't around when EON was on the air, what was the show centered around? Fashion? Hospital? Or what?

Crime/Mystery. Oft described as the daytime Perry Mason.

Crime/Mystery. Oft described as the daytime Perry Mason.

Ok, that seems like a good show! Seem like it was before its time, but it last a very long time.

NBC Mistakes:

Cancelling Generations

Letting Paul Rauch take over Santa Barbara (can you imagine SB today? No Alexis Davis for GH, Brenda Epperson probably would have been back as Ashley after Shattuck.)

Not keeping its three soap line up when Passions came along.

DAYS: Whoever decided in early 2003 to yank Peter Brash & Paula Cwikly as headwriters and put Dena Higley in their place. Without that domino effect, perhaps James Reilly's epic fail of 2003-2006 would've never happened.

I think CBS owns this topic. Two come to mind but I might have a specific wrong here and there.

First, EON was doing well in the late afternoon but P&G and CBS decided it needed to form a block with other P&G shows, was moved earlier, and its audience dropped never to recover.

CBS again and the bizarre way they detached GL from the rest of daytime, to air as affiliates see fit.

CBS definitely does own this topic.

Not only messing with The Edge of Night (thank God ABC aired it for almost 10 years), but the cancellation of Capitol for The Bold and the Beautiful was incredibly senseless to me. Have to add Search for Tomorrow to the list.

AW:

Expansion to 90 minutes

I didn't think it was bad as many people claim it was. There was some great stuff with Rachel and Janice. Some other good stuff with Blaine and Hazel.

Crime/Mystery. Oft described as the daytime Perry Mason.

according to wikipedia that is literally what it was

The Edge of Night (the working title of the show was The Edge of Darkness) premiered on April 2, 1956 as one of the first two half-hour soaps on television—the other being As the World Turns (fifteen-minute-long shows had been the standard to that point). Both shows were aired on CBS and sponsored by Procter and Gamble.

The show was originally conceived as the daytime version of Perry Mason, which was popular in novel and radio formats at the time. Mason's creator Erle Stanley Gardner was to create and write the show, but a last-minute tiff between him and the CBS network caused Gardner to pull his support from the idea. CBS insisted that Mason be given a love interest to placate daytime soap opera audiences, but Gardner flatly refused to take Mason in that direction. Gardner would eventually patch up his differences with CBS and Perry Mason would debut in prime time in 1958.

It was in 1956, however, that a writer from the Perry Mason radio show, Irving Vendig, created a retooled idea for daytime—and The Edge of Night was born. "John Larkin, radio's best identified Perry Mason, was cast as the protagonist-star, initially as a detective, eventually as an attorney, in a thinly veiled copy of (Perry Mason)."[1]

I was thinking about this one just last week... when all's said and done, I think we'll look back and, all snark aside, see that AMC's decision to place Ryan as the heir apparent to Erica was a bad decision. I'm a little baffled by how his initial popularity for taking off his shirt was parlayed into his spot as the show's chief male protagonist several other characters have been anchored to. He certainly has his fans, but I think he's also alienated a good many viewers. I don't think AMC needed a male figure like him when they'd traditionally soared on the strength of their ensemble. I think Ryan has in certain ways been a conduit for sexist and uncreative storytelling.

Days:

Getting Rid of Deidre Hall 2008

Not really.

Biggest mistakes?

Racist and sexist, bigoted, regressive storytelling.

No longer letting shows have individual identities.

Enabling people like Sheffer, Guza, Rauch, et al who have open contempt for soaps and the daytime format.

Chasing after viewers who have no interest in soaps.

Anything Disney did after taking over ABC - while you can praise them for keeping all the soaps (minus PC) on the air, there have been some heinous "creative" minds running ABC Daytime for many years now. Even before Frons, you had the pointless Linda Dano crossover, the rape me Todd doll, etc.

Focusing more on who is to blame for failures than actually correcting the failures, and profiting from those failures.

Allowing rape and child molestation to dominate stories year in and year out, especially when you do not have the guts to seriously deal with these issues.

Edited January 4, 201114 yr by CarlD2

I was thinking about this one just last week... when all's said and done, I think we'll look back and, all snark aside, see that AMC's decision to place Ryan as the heir apparent to Erica was a bad decision. I'm a little baffled by how his initial popularity for taking off his shirt was parlayed into his spot as the show's chief male protagonist several other characters have been anchored to. He certainly has his fans, but I think he's also alienated a good many viewers. I don't think AMC needed a male figure like him when they'd traditionally soared on the strength of their ensemble. I think Ryan has in certain ways been a conduit for sexist and uncreative storytelling.

I must co-sign this. It's the exact reason I refuse to watch AMC anymore. Nothing against CM, but truly dislike the character Ryan Lavery.