I think what you will see talked about is NBC's overall destruction of its lineup. You'd have been stuck because NBC wouldn't have given up 12:30, nor would they have moved Days back to 12:30. But you had Days, AW and Sunset Beach... and then they wanted to throw Passions in there. What NBC did was criminal. To put fans of AW and Sunset Beach against each other saying "one of you is going to go" and then having it be AW... that didn't win Passions any brownie points with pissed-off longtime AW viewers.

Then NBC goes six months later and cancels Sunset Beach.

I think if NBC had left its lineup alone, Passions might have had a fighting chance with viewers. As it was, so many were driven away before Passions even premiered.

Major + 1

It was a slap in the face to axe AW like they did, and that's coming from someone who wasn't a dedicated watcher (my mother was). The network was so desperate at the time to recapture the ratings magic that JERk brought with Days' Devil storyline that they got rid of a show that was on for decades and was considered one of the best of its genre (though, according to my mother, the last year, while not horrible, wasn't the best).

The funny thing is that Passions never had the ratings during its peak that AW had at its lowest, but because of their all "important" demographic that the network was adamantly pursuing, legacy got destroyed and camp was nurtured.

It was a sh!tty move, yes, but a blunder/mistake? Had they kept AW and passed on PSNS, AW probably would have gotten the axe within five or so years. If not that soon, it definitely would have been out before GL.

I can see what sungrey's saying though, that the mistake was in cancelling AW to make room for PSNS instead of just adding PSNS to the lineup.

Although I believe that Frons was not the most destructive person to the soap genre (that distinction belongs to JER, although--of course--many other individuals caused the demise of soap operas as well), I do believe that appointing him as ABC Daytime chief should have ranked around #4 or #5 on the list. (#9 is much too low.)

While AW is my very favorite soap, its cancellation (on its own) was not the most damaging thing to happen to the genre. (And it was justified based on the ratings it got on the time, although it pisses me off that the much lower-rated SuBe did not go first.) However, the failure of Passions was one of the very worst things (if not the worst) to happen to the soap genre. (That being said, Passions deserved to fail because it was a piece of s#it.) I think most of us agree that the main thing that doomed the genre was the high failure rate among "new" soaps. Yet, many new soaps were practically guaranteed to fail as a result of poor network promotion and/or being placed in erratic timeslots. In fact, during the last 35 years, only B&B (which obviously succeeded) and Passions were handed that precious combination of intensive network promotion and great timeslot. When a new soap is this lucky, there is no excuse for it not to succeed, but of course Passions did fail because JER fu*ked it up so badly. (One can also blame Passions' failure on the horrendous "actors" who were on the show, but that is ultimately JER's fault becuase he hired those people.) And because of this failure, all the networks concluded that the soap genre was irreversibly in decline. (Thus, it is no coincidence that Passions was the last ever daytime soap to debut.)

I am thrilled that JER's first stint at DOOL made the top ten. Although his ardent defenders loved the Marlena possession storyline and others that he wrote, his tenure forever ruined the credibility of soaps. And while it is true that nobody held a gun to the heads of the executives of the other soaps who copied JER, immense pressure would not have been put on those executives had JERs first tenure at DOOL deservedly flopped in the first place.

Edited September 9, 201114 yr by Max

How much longer was AW going to last pulling in 2.2's in 1998 and 1999? The show had been in the bottom portion of the ratings for 2 decades. I think some are letting the stories and things Passions did affect their view. If the show's ratings stink replace it with something new and cheaper. Same thing as now except it was another soap. The only reason AW went first was because they wanted Passions to have Days as a lead in and if replaced SuBe it could have gone anywhere.... 11am, midnight, 3am, 9am lol...

I am thrilled that JER's first stint at DOOL made the top ten. Although his ardent defenders loved the Marlena possession storyline and others that he wrote, his tenure forever ruined the credibility of soaps. And while it is true that nobody held a gun to the heads of the executives of the other soaps who copied JER, immense pressure would not have been put on those executives had JERs first tenure at DOOL deservedly flopped in the first place.

I can totally see your point in respect to the Marlena possession storyline being the final nail in the coffin of Days' credibilty (a coffin that would remain nailed shut for years and only occassionally come loose), but I have to give credit to where credit is due.

I am the first person to judge the bad moves by JER, though with many faults during his time on Days ( I don't count his second stint because that was just an unbelievable piece of excrement without any merit whatosever), he DID introduce some pretty long lasting and loved characters/storylines. Kristen Blake Dimera became one of the best vilians in daytime history. Austin, Billie, Lucas, Kate, and Vivian became staples on the show, and are even today (even off screen, they're talked about). Carly being buried alive was twisted, but it was mesmerizing. The Carrie/Austin/Lucas/Sami storyline was epic. He brought back Laura. He penned the Alan Stalker/Rapist storyline which fueled the hatred/rivalry of Carrie/Sami. The Who's Will's Daddy? storyine was great too.

The best thing about JER, besides creating a ratings spike almost unheard of at the time, was that he created a very gothic atmosphere on the show, but yet grounded it in family and love. I bitched a lot, but I watched because I couldn't stop myself. He did his job in that aspect.

During the last year on Days, if I miss more than one episode, I don't care. That never happened during 1993-1997.

With all the horrid mistakes, he did have some pretty amazing moments. That I have to give him credit for.

Edited September 9, 201114 yr by Shawn

I have to wonder if anyone will touch on the SuperCouple fixation as being one of the top 5.

I have to wonder if anyone will touch on the SuperCouple fixation as being one of the top 5.

That didn't even cross my mind. Good point.

Frons at #9? I wonder what will be top 5 bc I sure thought he would be.

I agree on the Kay/Jill debacle. I didnt mind them as mother/daughter mainly bc I wasnt watching in the 70s/80s but I hated what MAB did as she did make it even worse

I dont agree on Marlena's possession. I thought that was good for Days

I don't think the Jill/Katharine rewrites should be so high. Jill as a character has been damaged by neglect, more than anything else - I even think making her Katharine's daughter could have worked if the writing had done something with it.

I also don't understand why they make it sound like MAB came after the disastrous Cane and Phillip rewrites (the cattle mafia and Philip being a self-loathing gay man who abandoned a newborn son)..

While Maria/Hogan are as equally destructive to Y&R as LML?

All of what's currently wrong with Y&R really began with Jack Smith.

That's what really needs to be in the number 10 spot.

Odd that they didn't mention AMC or OLTL of the 70's or early 90's when talking about diverse casts.

That particular "blunder" really should've been #1.

More have been posted. 6-10 http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/09/blunders106.html

We discussed those for a page and a half

I think they are bringing up some good points but are also getting too narrow focused. I don;t think changing Jills backstory was a top 25 blunder but changing the backstory and retconning so much of a characters history is and many soaps have done that with Y&R the most transparent

But Frons should be number 1. I said I forgot how many networks actually lived through his destruction.

Agreed on all accounts. If this was a list of issues that helped destroy Y&R then maybe (and I'm not a regular viewer so can't really comment) the Jill thing deserved a listing, but did it really help destroy soaps in general?

We discussed those for a page and a half

Yes I just realized this... now lol.

How much longer was AW going to last pulling in 2.2's in 1998 and 1999? The show had been in the bottom portion of the ratings for 2 decades. I think some are letting the stories and things Passions did affect their view. If the show's ratings stink replace it with something new and cheaper. Same thing as now except it was another soap. The only reason AW went first was because they wanted Passions to have Days as a lead in and if replaced SuBe it could have gone anywhere.... 11am, midnight, 3am, 9am lol...

It's too bad, because at its best (which definitely weren't the first few months) SuBe was everything, IMHO, Passions should have been but wasn't. Fun, irreverent, fast paced, campy.

Brian Frons #9?? WTF????

I still can't believe FM Behr ALMOST got his job. While you can love or hate her, she truly loves the format--I wonder how different things would have been now under her. (I still suspect soaps would ultimately be doomed, but we would hvae had to put up with an awful less).

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/09/blunders51.html#more

Top 5 - not sure I agree sorry.