NBC clones its soaps to boost its ratings by Connie Passalacqua Greenfield Recorder, December 15,1984
The most prominent soap opera development of 1984 may have been CBS finally overtaking ABC's six-year hold on the Neilsen ratings crown early in the year, but an easily overlooked statistic may be even more crucial in forecasting the genre's future. NBC, long thought of as the also-ran in daytime competition, managed to up its ratings a sizable 22 percent over last year. Why has NBC made such a determined effort in daytime?
According to Brian Frons, the network's vice president for daytime, "It's because somewhere or another someone noticed the bottom line." Soaps at all three networks are highly profitable, contributing 50 percent-to-75 percent of the networks' overall yearly profits. Investment in improving the shows brings a reasonably quick payoff. So over the last year NBC Daytime itself has actively revamped and standardized its shows, so much so that its strategy has rendered them almost too similar to each other.
In revamping its shows, NBC is using the same elements that ABC innovated and which have kept its soaps on top so long: action/adventure integrated into the standard love stories between extremely young characters, complemented by lush production values using on-location shootings whenever possible.
Right now, each NBC show has a young, star-crossed couple threatened by a dangerous outside force, toughing it out against a glamorous backdrop. On "Days of Our Lives," bearded Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) and his love, Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso), are currently grappling with James Bond-like villain Stefano di Mera (Joe Mascolo) on an island on which they are shipwrecked. On "Another World," convict Catlin Ewing (Thomas Ian Griffith) and Sally Frame (Mary Page Keller) are on the run in Majorca trying to find murderer Ross (Robert Phelan), whose crime Catlin is wrongfully accused of. On "Santa Barbara," convicted murderer Joe Perkins (Mark Arnold) and his love, Kelly Capweli (Robin Wright), are on the run also trying to find yet another real murderer, against the background of an earthquake. Each show's central story lines are exciting and remarkably well produced, yet it seems highly doubtful that any viewer might want to watch the same thing three times in one day. Still, the ratings of these three shows are rising, as is NBC's daytime fortunes. Can NBC's brand of soap opera "franchising" be the wave of the future?
Under Brian Frons NBC went towards a younger, action oriented focus. But only Days managed to get it right(most of the time). There were too many cast upheavals and writer changes at AW and SB to really maintain that focus.
Days had Tom and Alice to provide continuity and stability but AW cast it's oldies out to pasture and SB was too new to have any viewer loyalty. Try as they might NBC just couldn't get a cohesive trio of afternoon soaps.
What could they have done differently?
By
Paul Raven ·
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