All: One soaps budget cut by 50% according to DC

[Adam]

Of course now anytime someone hears AMC they are going to instantly think Erica Kane. In the 1980's though I think generally the three big ABC soaps were pretty equally well known and it probably went beyond the Luke & Laura and Erica Kane cues. ABC was on fire for the first half of that decade. AMC was once considered the most widely watched program in North America when VCRs first became mainstream.

[marceline]

LMAO! The usual reaction I get when I mention ANY soap is "That's still on?!" Weird to realize you're the connoisseur of a lost art, isn't it? It's like the entertainment equivalent of quilting.

[JaneAusten]

There is absolutely no way in this soap market GH would do that or has the time or bandwith to undo years of centering the show around the Corinthos and mob families. I think people are living in a fantasy world. What they can do is what is happening I think now which is to lessen the screentime of the 3 major characters or at least story and put them in supporting roles in other stories on the show. Micheal's story, Molly's story are all being SUPPORTED by Sonny, Jason and Carly they aren't driving them. And let these younger characters flourish.

Despite what people here think, most of the people watching GH enjoy what they are watching and that includes the stories those characters mentioned to get rid of are part of. The hospital is and will continue to be a secondary part of this show other than stories I would guess centered around or supported by Robin and to a lessor degree Patrick

I get the attachment to all these legacy characters but there does come a time when characters outlive their usefullness. If that didn't happen shows would be loaded with years and years of legacy characters from years past.

[Adam]

Nice comparison, so true. You'd be surprised though even non-soap watchers that I come across seem to have a sense of what's still on the air and what isn't. My friend and I were gushing about Julianne Moore back in the summer after seeing The Kids Are All Right and I said she got her start on As The World Turns.... and my friend was aware it was about to get the boot.

[bellcurve]

Not to say that GH isn't making cuts, but a 50% cut would have meant the release of many other stars.

I'm putting a wager on this BI being about AMC. Which is completely dumb. Carruthers should have been sacked once everyone got settled in L.A. She's completely useless and can't operate on a tight budget.

+1

[marceline]

To paraphrase Karen Carpenter: "They've only just begun..."

[Mr. Vixen]

I agree, and disagree, to an extent. Look at DAYS. When they underwent a 40 percent budget cut, they cut two of the biggest stars the show had. And the show has done nothing but become MORE popular and climb in the ratings since.

Sure, you can say Sonny Carly and Jason are "supporting" this storyline, but the fact is, it just doesn't happen. Even looking at Kristina's abuse storyline. The entire thing was made about Sonny. Look at Michael and Abby's romance...The whole thing is becoming about Carly.

Sure some people like these characters, but people liked Tiffany, Sean, Audrey, John, Monica, Lesley, Alan, Bobbie, Scotty, Laura, etc. too. And like you said, characters DO outlive their usefullness. And Sonny/Carly/Jason/Sam/Brenda are the epitome of just that. Other characters that are never used have much closer ties to the history of GH, and if written properly, would be very integral.

I'm not saying to make the whole show about old characters, I'm saying do what DAYs did. They brought in all KINDS of fresh young blood, but yet people like Suzanne Rogers got to play a matriarchal role and even got more episodes per-year than she had in FOREVER. The same type of thing could be done with Monica/Bobbie/Lesley on GH. For Christ's sake, Bobbie owns a BOARDING house. What better way to bring in cheap young actors to play the future doctors/nurses of GH?

[Eric83]

If this is true, then wouldn't they be just now figuring out cuts. It's only been a few days and they may be waiting until certain actor's 13 week cycle is up and also the cut doesn't necessarily been that it's budget is slashed in half immediately they could have a time frame in order. I just don't see how it can't be GH, when they are in the same ratings boat as AMC/OLTL and has to be awfully expensive with the amount of high paid actors they must have.

[EricMontreal22]

Agreed--she's been the common denominator (aside from Frons) through a number of not very successful regimes. I don't think an EP should interfere the way JFP does, but she SHOULD have a clear creative vision for the show--Julie doesn't.

As everyone knows I think the constant talk about how spectacularly under budget OLTL is is largely talk--we got one pseudo quote over aa year back now, but many still quote it like gospel (I blame DC partly for this ), but I'm pretty uzsre if it is true than AMC is the affected show.

[EricMontreal22]

Ok dumb question, but why doesn't Jamey just say it? Is he worried about some backlash from the industry? Or is this all just utterly and completely an attempt to stir up reactions and drag it out?

[EricMontreal22]

He has so little to do in his life, and has so tiny gossip leaked ot him by "sources" that he has to stretch this out as long as possible? I almost think it IS GH, just because Jamey seems to have had an AMC agenda for several years now, and he's not disclosing the fact that it's GH to rile up AMC fans.

[marceline]

ITA but in this case I'm going to give him a little benefit of the doubt that perhaps there's still some negotiating going on. Assuming this is ABC, let's say GH has been told to cut 50% but they come back and say "Look we can cut 35% really easily right now but anything more than that means no big sweeps stunt when Marcil goes. Can't you squeeze the rest from AMC and OLTL now and we can re-work the numbers after the summer?"

Regardless, all this teasing will kill the impact of that news when it finally "breaks." Tease once then drop it.

[SFK]

And dangling the deep-fried carrot in front of our faces satisfies his needs (as evidenced by the eight pages here) while not totally blowing up his source's spot and risking the loss of future scoops of ice cream. We're mad that we don't know what he knows and we're mad that he's making us mad for that. Y'all know this is his m.o.

[R Sinclair]

I don't give a [!@#$%^&*] what he knows and I don't. It's the immature cliche of a bitchy queen stirring up trouble just for the sake of causing drama. Now, everyone's running off half cocked with no facts playing wannabe industry analysts, furthering the "panic" -- and for what? I just don't like when an alleged "journalist" uses their platform to play mind games.

[All My Shadows]

Clap clap!!!

I don't want soaps to die...but damn it, when they're gone, I can't wait to see Jamey decked out with a headset standing in a McDonald's window, with no less than ten chicken nuggets stuffed in each pocket.

</going to hell>