Why did syndicated soaps never work?

[soapfan770]

You know there's been of syndicated shows that have had major success (Baywatch, Star Trek TNG etc.) especially during the 80s and 90s so I've always wondered why a syndicated soap never really took off. I mean Another Life managed a few years but the rest came and went. Too many poor station clearances? Was it because of low viewing on those independent stations destined to be Fox, UPN, or the WB? Did network stations feel like not carrying syndicated soap fare?(I've seen a few network stations that did carry Another Life). Have I answered my own question?

[Paul Raven]

I think the issues were,firstly,getting enough stations to commit to the show.For any syndicated show to be viable they need a lot of coverage and sales in the bigger markets.Often,I remember various syndicated shows making sales,even sometimes in some of the Top 10 markets but not building on that and therefore not going ahead.

Timeslots are another issue. When Another Life was being launched,Variety did an analysis of the type of ratings the show would have to get to be viable.Few network stations would be interested as they already had daytime programming and would unlikely to be interested in slotting in another soap in morning time periods available.The earlier slots that network affiliates had available for syndicated fare had fewer viewers,therefore lower advertising rates,so programming had to be cheap to be attractive and AL didn't fit the bill.

Independent stations were in the same situations.They wouldn't slot AL in the afternoon against the network soaps,so that left less desirable time periods.

I think the only reason AL made it to air was that the CBN stations would play it and CBN had deep pockets to initially bankroll and support it.

[Cheap21]

I loved Swan's Crossing but they screwed that up, taking it from afternnon (perfect for after school) to airing it at like 6am, which killed it

[DRW50]

Lack of patience. Lack of support. Lack of funding. Lack of publicity that will hit some type of cultural zeitgest. I would say it's also down to shows that aren't in tune with the time, but it sounds like Tribes and Swan's Crossing were in tune with a lot of stuff in the early 90's.

[John]

Loved Rituals, Swans & Valley Of the Dolls

[Max]

Perhaps more than any other kind of genre, soap viewers have historically been loyal to just one network. Thus, if a soap failed to get on a network, there was no built in loyal audience for that soap to begin with.

[StevieM]

I loved Tribes. My sister and I used to watch it every day. It was just a little bit ahead of its time, both in terms of the content of the show, and the strength of Fox as a viable fourth network.

[BingCherry]

I think it's all about timeslots. If you're on at 4:30pm in Boston, 12:00am in San Francisco and 9:00am in Indianapolis, how do you expect the ratings to be any good?

[CCCapwell]

Certainly one is more inclined to watch a new soap that airs before or after a current soap they watch than find one in syndication. We may have forgotten than once upon a time networks heavily promoted their soaps, so that was a huge factor against the syndicated soaps as they didn't have a network airing promos for them.