TV Guide: Could 'GH' Move to Primetime?

[Eric83]

Yeah I'm confused. When I saw novella,I figured it would air nightly during the summer.

[Cheap21]

Man I really wish they had considered this for AMC. I think the Martin family opening I made a while back is something that could really work. Michael E. Knight, Bobbie Eakes, Jill Larson and Ricky Paul Goldin especially have great comedic timing and I could see them heading up a sitcom. MEK's Tad as lead dealing with an upcoming marriage with his longtime love Dixie, while dealing with a full house consisting of his ex wife, Krystal, his mother, Opal and all their kids is like a classic sitcom plot. Throw in his wacky younger brother you got an ABC primetime comedy. They could approach it kinda like Modern Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4pNO06Gy4

[OldGHFan]

Great post. ITA. You already have a built in audience that wants to see these characters. And if people like Ron and Frank are in charge (as opposed to Jill and Bob), I think this idea might work. Plus, it takes the sting out of canceling GH outright. Then again, this could be another smoke screen (like PP), so fans of GH aren't so vocal when their show goes off the air. Who knows? It may work.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

The Martin Family should be a sitcom. I want MEK in a sitcom so damn bad I can taste it!

Also. GH in Primetime? I'm for it!

[aMLCproduction]

I think ABC is jumping the gun. ABC needsd to build GH up like RC and FV did with OLTL. I am sure in time they wil get the ratings up. When does RC and FV start?

[OLTL_fan]

If this is the only way to keep GH going, then why not.

[SFK]

I think the average American viewer would find the sight of this daytime soap opera on their televisions during primetime hours jarring, off-putting even, and would flip the channel with the quickness. Sure, some new fans would be attracted to it, and folks without cable in particular may watch, but I think this is basically moving your daytime GH audience to a later hour. Back to the visual element, if they filmed or did something at least filmic in DV, that would help. I also think late or "later" night could be a fun idea, in lieu of Kimmel reruns for example. ABC takes back their Sunday night 7pm slot from syndication for AFV, that's another possibility if they'd be willing to tinker with "family night". Shoot, even if they cut GH to an half hour.

[AMCHistory]

Cheap! I loved the video and love the idea! A Martin centric sitcom would be so hilarious to watch (w/ one off cameos from non-Martin former cast members when they are available).

I wish they played up that side more of the Martins in the final year. That is a fine comedic ensemble: MEK, RPG, Jill Larson, Bobbie Eakes... even Ray has been good at playing up the goofs and had the reputation of being an on-set jokester. If AMC was still on, it would have been fun to watch a web-series based on little vignettes in the new Martin home.

[Vanguardian]

This would definitely work for GH because it doesn't even play as a soap anymore IMO, it's a crime drama for the most part. There's just not much soapiness left anymore. I think GH would be one they'd try and save. I also see it being re-tooled to having a COMPLETE crime drama format. If it's in primetime, the show can be a lot more darker and edgy with even more dark storylines and over-the-top characters.

[KMan101]

I think Ron and Franks work starts airing in Feb but they are tweaking Jan i think

[reallyhateskateonlost]

GH did a primetime showing of Twist of Fate. If this can be done now like they did then

then maybe it will half a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfN5iNlebKA

[EricMontreal22]

I agree. Unless a lot is done with the look and even feel of the show, I can't see it gaining new audiences at primetime. I do think--and have ever since I heard about 13 Bourbon Street--that a late night soap OTOH makes a TON of sense. ABC has about ahalf hour less of after 11PM news programming than NBC or CBS, right? (both those networks have two hour long talk shows back to back, ABC has a 30 minute Nightline and then one hour talk show. Couldn't they shove a 30 minute soap in between both or something?)

[quartermainefan]

They just need to ditch the cheap looking video and not shoot the show like a televised stage play. GH is already than the other soaps in that aspect, they just need higher production values to look like it belongs in primetime.

[EricMontreal22]

The thing is OLTL in the current run of things did have better soap ratings than many are. But they really are not THAT much better. I'm not sure if GH moving to the ratings that OLTL had would be even slightly enough for ABC to consider saving it past 2012. Yes they want better ratings than they have now--but in the meantime I'm sure they're just waiting till they can cancel it for a cheaper show. I admit the huge amountof crowing about OLTL's ratings the past year just boggle my mind--the soap press and bloggers have gone on and on about them. In the current soap hating, cheap daytime geography does a .1 mean anything really at all?

Cheap that Martin Family opening is *brilliant*! i love it. It would have been nice to see the soaps try things liek comedic web based spin offs, etc--while none fo them were brilliant, I did appreciate that even in 2010 they seemed ot be toying with some of this--like the web vignettes introducing Griff and Cara. Of course then suddenly they all stoppe d and I guess the writing was on the wall.

But not shooting it like a stage play (ie the three camera format that traditional sitcoms use too) is a HUGE reason why it is relatively cheap. This will up the cost a lot (unless it looks like GL which would be even worse--I had a friend from Australia who loves soaps visiting during GL's final year and he was checking out the US soaps and said when he flipped past GL he didn't even realize it was a legit network tv show--it just looked like home movies).

[SFK]

GH is a soap and there's nothing wrong with being a soap as long as it doesn't try to be something that it's not. IMO, that would have to happen in primetime. I really don't even see the point of this discussion as much as I enjoy fantasizing because never in a million years is ABC going to give a sweet spot on their schedule to a s-s-s-soap opera, let alone a couple of times a week. Like Eric, I love the late night idea however and I think that actually lends itself to the kitschy appeal of a soap. Valley of the Dolls seems like it was trashy late night fun, and I think we really missed out with 13 Bourbon St., which actually seemed like it was going to be much more intelligent, no offense, than Valley. So I'm all for GH or any soap airing at night, I just think we need to be realistic about our expectations.

BTW Eric, do we know if 13 Bourbon was film or tape? I guess it must have been tape but for whatever reasons I have always imagined it on film.