Will he have a nervous breakdown when deciding whether to keep Kelly Monaco with Burton or put her back with Easton?

Wait...dual role!

Sam and Pam.

I don't know what he'd do. He has to realize that the arrival of Mr. Easton would leave Jason vulnerable to the advances of the dreaded Elizabeth, who has barely ever even handled a firearm, let alone worn black leather year-round!

Maybe he has Alicia Leigh Willis on speed dial.

Maybe he has Alicia Leigh Willis on speed dial.

I think Guza would sooner quit, and we can't have that.

Off topic: Who is that in your avatar?

Ketty Lester as Hester-Sue on Little House on the Prairie.

I've never watched much of ABC soaps, mainly because from my samplings of them over the years they seemed more like dramedies that soaps and I wasn't hooked like the CBS and NBC soaps. Loving and AMC were okay but just never got into them much. Well AMC always struck me as a sitcom.

I do understand the significance thought ABC soaps have contributed to the genre and I've familiarized myself with major ABC stars. I must say I am saddened to hear the possibility of two historical major soaps being canceled at the same time. Unfortunately I have read over the years how ABC itself has declined much the same way P&G soaps were decimated by terrible decision making and bad writing. It's a plague that has now affected all soaps. I guess the grass isn't always greener.

Edited April 2, 201114 yr by soapfan770

Riddle me this. How many effing sources are there at ABC? Why are they all not on the same page? Why aren't Jamey, Raven, Nelson and whoever else is out there not getting it from their sources? When ABC actually say it, until then, 'm going to sit back and enjoy my show.

Riddle me this. How many effing sources are there at ABC? Why are they all not on the same page? Why aren't Jamey, Raven, Nelson and whoever else is out there not getting it from their sources? When ABC actually say it, until then, 'm going to sit back and enjoy my show.

Nelson tweeted this not too long ago:

I did hear from a GREAT source two weeks ago: "What do you think of ABC canceling both soaps?" I brushed it off....

https://twitter.com/#!/SudsReport/status/53940580434194432

Edited April 2, 201114 yr by dragonflies

Ravenbeauty is not an insider, she's a troll. The rest are united on one thing, they're all confused but scared. That's enough to give you pause.

Ravenbeauty is not an insider, she's a troll. The rest are united on one thing, they're all confused but scared. That's enough to give you pause.

Even Richard who tweets for ABC SID who wasn't putting alot of stock into the "rumors" is now saying:

Yes, I've seen the Logan piece saying #AMC and #OLTL are both goners. No, I don't know more. But ABC's non-denial denial scares me.

https://twitter.com/#!/soapsindepthabc/status/53984432113188864

Frons

Will he have a nervous breakdown when deciding whether to keep Kelly Monaco with Burton or put her back with Easton?

Wait...dual role!

Sam and Pam.

Don't forget his favorite (multi personalities via sexual assault)!

Its possible for a network to only have one soap successfully, NBC has done it with DAYS. Although DAYS has a 1pm EST timeslot,

early afternoon the affiliates wont mind a show with DAYS ratings and demos, now a 3pm EST timeslot is a different story, I believe

ABC affiliates would KILL for that 3pm timeslot, the later the afternoon, more viewers are home, so what makes ABC think affiliates

would keep GH at 3pm EST? ALSO maybe ABC wants the 3pm timeslot for their reality show? Afterall if they want the teen demos shouldnt they try to air it later in the afternoon as possible? So manybe ABC will screw GH out of their decades long 3pm timeslot, move GH to 1pm

against DAYS and Y&R/B&B? will GH lose viewers with a timeslot change? I suspect so. I predict either the affiliates or ABC moves GH's

timeslot and that will screw GH.

GH moving to 1pm would probably provide a boost in the ratings. Look at Y&R and B&B, that air in the 1pm slot and have higher ratings. 1pm usually falls during your typical 9-5 workers lunch break. GH has a strong following that just can't watch at 3pm. But if GH was on during their lunch break I'm sure they would tune in and get reacquainted with the show. I could see ABC totally shuffling the schedule around. Regis & Kelly like talk show with Tori Spelling at 11am. 12pm slot goes to The View. 1pm is now where GH resides. Reality show at 2pm. 3pm given to the affiliates in exchange for the 12pm slot. With that kind of schedule the Tori & ______ talker would have a lead in from the affiliates 9am & 10am talk shows that are similar. The View at noon isn't a drastic change and wouldn't affect the ratings negatively, being on at noon might actually boost the ratings. The View would also provide a strong lead in for GH at 1pm. The reality show would air at 2pm to end the day and would be on just in time for the high school kids getting home from school.

God I hope that JHC was being honest when she told the cast that the show was not being cancelled. Though I guess now there's some discrepancy as to whether that is what she said, or if it was that she just didn't know, and the people who tweeted like BE & RPG were just putting spin on her "I don't know" statement.

I can assure you that no one behind the scenes on either show know whats going on. They don't know. They hear the rumors from the same sites and sources as everyone else. The network heads do not confirm or deny to them. If a decision is made the EP's will be informed early next week, cast & crew meeting held on set the next day, press release sent out soon after the meeting.

Not OLTL!!! I thought it was safe. GH will BLEED viewers if they do this, the ABC soaps have a bunch of crossover viewers unlike the Bell soaps with the P&G soaps. This will kill their daytime lineup. They need to do one at a time. Pull AMC this year, and OLTL in 2012.

I do have a question though, AMC and OLTL have been hitting ATWT/GL demos lately, but wouldn't ABC be making more money with those numbers then with CBS considering they own them 100%? It's very confusing to me.

ABC's soaps do make more money than the other soaps. ABC gets all the revenue. There isn't a third party production company and distributor involved so the money isn't being split three ways. But, while ABC soaps make more money in revenue ABC soaps also spend a lot of money. 2/3 have gone HD, OLTL went 16:9. All three have amazing facilities and equipment. The cast and crew are essentially spoiled. Compared to where other soaps tape and have taped ABC's studios are like the penthouse while the other soaps are living in an efficiency apartment. So while they bring in more money the majority of the extra money goes right back in to the shows.

True, but if you're going to have something on 5 days a week that is dirt cheap and crap quality, then it will still make minimal profit and ultimately do nothing for your daytime lineup. CBS Daytime has bled viewers since ATWT left, and I don't think that's because of ATWT's departure so much as little of quality being on there to make people care. I'm not saying The Talk is that bad - I think it's OK - but LMAD and the terrible Price is Right revamp, and just a lack of cohesion all around. It seems tired.

If it's about the cheapest profit then they should just show reruns of primetime shows. That would make more profit than Tori Spelling and husband.

While alternative programming could potentially draw less viewers the risk is worth it. Even if the two shows coming in to replace AMC & OLTL draw only a million total viewers theyd still make more money. Talk shows cost significantly less to produce than soaps and are easier to produce. Reality shows are even cheaper to produce than talk shows. The cheaper cost for producing the program will result in a profit that is at least equal to what they were making from AMC and OLTL. As for reruns of primetime shows in daytime, thats just a messy situation due to a variety of issues

Not sure if this was already posted somewhere else, or if it even means anything, but Lucci addressed the cancellation rumors on the Rachel Ray Show, saying essentially that they're unfounded rumors from a source other than ABC and that she just got her work schedule for next year. Go figure!

Had a link, but I deleted it since I realized it takes you to the USA Today homepage.

Susan Lucci doesn't know what is going on. She is an actress. Forget the fact that she's been there since day one, at the end of the day she is just an actress and is no different from any other actor on that show when it comes to network decisions. As for her schedule for the next year... I have not seen any soap, or scripted production for that matter, that has a production schedule ready for a year in advance. I call bs

That dual cancellation rumor came out a month or two ago, but the version I heard claimed it was AMC this year and OLTL in mid-late 2012. I thought it was too far-fetched because I didn't see the network announcing OLTL's cancellation over a year ahead of time.

I think it's a stupid move. What ABC doesn't seem to account for is that without either of the soaps, GH has no cushion and no protection, and I think a lot more people put up with GH's bullshit due to the multi-soap block than the network realizes.

GH will be fine without the others. Look at DAYS, they've done just fine.

I guess what I don't see is if it's only about saving money then why have original programming on daytime at all?

Because it's a great way to target women 18-49, a key advertising demographic. There are viewers in daytime, you just need to find them. They clearly are not watching soaps so there really isnt anything for ABC to lose with this change. Maybe shaking the schedule up would draw some buzz for the daytime block and attract new viewers. "The NEW ABC Daytime"

I don't see them merging the shows. What would they call the show? Where would it take place? Who would write the show? Any merged show would undoubtedly be taped in LA, and would any OLTL signature vets even make the move? Honestly, it would be a logistical nightmare. If no one is watching the shows now, no one will watch a merged show. It's the soap genre that's dying, not AMC or OLTL specifically. I'd think they'd move some AMC or OLTL refugees to GH. Budig and Easton would probably top that short list. I mean they could easily move Easton's McBain to GH to take over the commissioner role and just fire John J. York, who's a glorified extra anyway.

I could see a few AMC and OLTL actors moving out west and relocating their characters to Port Charles. Majority of the AMC cast has permanently relocated to LA, select few still commute cross country. As for the OLTL actors, if given the opportunity most of them would relocate. They are actors, this is their career. Acting jobs are far and few between in NY, television is mainly done out in LA. If they want a job they have to be willing to relocate. Thats how television works. If you want to work in this industry you need to be able to go where the work is, if you can't then you will not get very far. They know this.

Edited to add: Also with the Guza rumors floating around I could see Frank and Ron taking over GH once OLTL is done. ABC has them contracted for 2 more years. Frank has a proven track record of staying under budget while maintaining production value. I think in time all the recent rumors floating around will link together to form one big picture.

Edited April 2, 201114 yr by Jack

While alternative programming could potentially draw less viewers the risk is worth it. Even if the two shows coming in to replace AMC & OLTL draw only a million total viewers theyd still make more money. Talk shows cost significantly less to produce than soaps and are easier to produce. Reality shows are even cheaper to produce than talk shows. The cheaper cost for producing the program will result in a profit that is at least equal to what they were making from AMC and OLTL. As for reruns of primetime shows in daytime, thats just a messy situation due to a variety of issues

This was the reason given for why Soapnet got so much reality programming. Yet Disney did not hesitate to replace it with Disney Jr.

Because it's a great way to target women 18-49, a key advertising demographic. There are viewers in daytime, you just need to find them. They clearly are not watching soaps so there really isnt anything for ABC to lose with this change. Maybe shaking the schedule up would draw some buzz for the daytime block and attract new viewers. "The NEW ABC Daytime"

I think there's always something to lose. More viewers moving away from the overall lineup - or, as is the case with what CBS daytime was facing, older viewers replacing younger viewers. LMAD somehow managed to have a worse 18-49 demo than GL the last time I saw their ratings - maybe things improved since then, I don't know.

I just don't believe that Tori Spelling or The View for Men are going to bring buzz or attract new viewers. ABC is only good at drawing away viewers. They have had approximately one popular reality show and about a dozen failures, and some of their failures were wretched.

I really think if the soaps are going, original programming might as well go too. The networks don't know how to find popular talk or reality programs for daytime. Even The View only became popular after quite a few years, and no network would be that patient now.

I could see a few AMC and OLTL actors moving out west and relocating their characters to Port Charles.

The only ones who would even be asked are Budig, Easton, and Mathison.

Really a heartbreaking time, to see soaps flicker out like this. But, honestly, it's been foreordained for so long due to simple market economics and viewership falling steadily. In retrospect, the analysis I did here on SON on 6/21/2008 was based on several false assumptions (I should have looked at 18-49 ratings, not households, for example). But it's looking a bit scary, no?

But Jack, do you think the lunch break thing will really figure in when we're probably talking about people watching little black and white TVs at their cubicles with no Nielsen hookup? I agree that GH for what it is would be fine without the other two. GH fans are GH fans, period, and like it or not, there are probably a healthy amount of people who in spite of themselves will be soap hungry and put their AMC/OLTL eggs in GH's basket. There are also a lot of passive TV watchers out there, young and particularly old, many of which don't even have cable, and they'll have the tube on playing whatever they plug into those 1pm and 2pm Eastern slots. Some of them will have Nielsen boxes.