April 11-15, 2011

[DRW50]

Does LMAD make money? If so I wonder how much. The show seems to be in a black hole.

[Cyberologist]

I read this week on a message board that Disney stock went down 3%.

[JimTolkien]

Yeah, No...it did not..that probably happened for just a few hours. Company has added about a billion dollar in market cap since then. But it's those line items on their income statement that unfortunately for us will look a whole lot better if they didn't have to produce soaps nor pay its actors.

Soap writers have nothing left in their arsenal to offer anything that can hook new viewers and longtime viewers like myself are just simply fed up with regurgitated and recycled storylines. And it appears that is all MAB is capable of. Not to mention it's not even Y&R anymore. It's the "Shadam show and the rest of them". Has done wonders for the ratings don't you think?! Not to mention she can't execute a storyline worth a damn.

[jfung79]

At this rate it really does look like Y&R will be the only soap left in 2 years. Very sad.

[fanOLTL]

I fully recognize this is just wishful thinking on my part, but instead of talk shows or game shows, the networks should air telenovela style programming - soaps that air for just 13 weeks. They would be fresh, people could commit to such a short run, and if they cast the show with a mix of former soap stars from various cancelled shows, you'd have a healthy audience. Plus, you keep your daytime fans happy, it would be a nice change from talk talk talk, and if the show is a flop, it's only on for three months.

Just sayin'

[jfung79]

I think telenovelas would be even more expensive because you couldn't reuse the sets.

[tylerbo20]

its ok with Days...Ken Corday has a plan he said were going back to traditional story telling something about bread and butter...lol.... FIRE THAT WITCH who's Writing DAYS OF OUR LIVES cause she's not capable of writing a commerical.

[Bella1974]

Being number 3 would mean something if the numbers for all of the soaps weren't bad. The networks don't want expensive shows that are just going to bring in 2.5 million viewers, especially not when the vast majority of those viewers are over the age of 50, and the show isn't showing any signs that it can attract a younger audience.

For all of the accolades that people used to throw at Y&R, the last two writing regimes still tried to make major changes. They made those changes because even though Y&R was drawing 5 to 6 million people, it's 18-49 numbers weren't a lot better than any other soaps. Of course, the changes have driven away younger and older viewers, so Y&R isn't in any better position than the other shows.

[Saving ATWT]

I was speaking to the statement by ABC saying that OLTL was loosing money. Don't get me wrong, a lot MORE money will be made with the new chat shows; however, I highly doubt that the network has been airing the show at a loss for over the last year while expanding cast and without making much deeper cuts.

As for Y&R, I do think the show is in a slightly different situation. The soap ranks the highest demos on daytime television and the network has been careful not to swing the budget ax too deep. (If The Talk can make more money than Y&R, it would be down right dumb for CBS not to give them Y&R's timeslot, pronto!) The show is far from perfect, three different teams have made various efforts to 're-invent' the show for the sake of demos; but, it would appear, for the time being, that the show is on semi-solid ground. There will be massive budget cuts, firings and probably a few more years before cancellation. I'm actually suprised that there haven't been more cost cutting measure such as the elimination of rehearsals as is the case on most of the other shows.

[Saving ATWT]

I've read that Days is planning a big gay summer story. This should get them some short time attention and a boost. Corday talks out his ass, always! Anyway, haven't they been trying traditional story telling for over the past year? They got big praise for this during the baby switch thing and the show has not gone all innovative since.

Maggie in a love story earns you bad demos and house hold ratings!I love Susanne but her overall story hurts the eyes

[Saving ATWT]

New young viewers won't even sample soaps anymore. They are seen as lame, uncool plus there is the entire stigma issue. Soaps are seen by mainstream America as bubble gum for the feeble minded. Over at Huf Post, people were praising the death of soaps and thanking god. I think a lot of writers, like Guza, have basically given up.

With that said, I still think soaps are often smarter and better than silly CSI, NCIS ans Harry's Law. Y&R, once in a while, can put out a good story--Hogan was great at ATWT and can still be good, sometimes. Ron Carvatti with OLTL has been very smart with his use of camp and irony. Ford with his waxed muscles and James always in his underwear are clever spoofs poking fun at A&F kids. Everyone (except Clint) ending up over at St. Anne's says a lot about how we over use and mistreat mental illness.

There are still a few soap bright spots out there to enjoy.

[JackPeyton]

The baby swap helped days because it was well planned, consitant storyline that lead to a pay off. they ahd nothing planned for after the swap was over and then tried to keep going with the story and it failed.

Maggie/Victor hurt the demos? I doubt a nice older love story thats one 1-2 days a week in a b level story hurts, and most of their scenes are around the younger set.

[Bella1974]

How can a show that's 2 points lower than it was last year in the key demo, and that seems to be losing younger viewers at an alarming rate be on solid ground? The drastic (but wrong) moves that M. Bell has made are due to the demo numbers tanking.

This has been the problem with all soaps. I don't know when it started, some people blame GH others blame James E. Reilly, but at some point they started being all about the stunts, and forgot that these are continuing stories, and that the stunt storylines need to have a lasting impact on the characters, and be reflected in the next story arc that the characters encounter. Without this, a show is really not a serial drama, and there is no reason for people to be loyal to a show, get attached to characters, or get hyped up about the next stunt, because it will only be followed up by another over the top stunt.

[jfung79]

I agree that OLTL and maybe even AMC have not been losing money. Brian Frons said after the cancellation it was getting harder and harder to make money from them, especially AMC, which rather implies that OLTL at least was still making money for the network. The final decision to cancel two soaps instead of one came near the end, and it wouldn't have been that close a thing if OLTL was already losing money.

[Bella1974]

I don't think it's hard to believe that neither was making money. High profile advertisers have been steadily removing their support from soaps for years. Maybe OLTL wasn't losing money, which is hard to believe, but that's different from being profitable. The most important thing is that the shows looked like they were never going to significantly gain viewers. The 12 to 49 demo for soaps has dried up.