Eric, I have such great respect for you, but we will have to agree to disagree on this matter. This is an unpopular thing to say, but since SON is a very pro-Nixon soap board, I think that it is often easy to forget just how much more rabid GH fans are than AMC/OLTL fans.

I agree with you that the GH fans are rabid (although I think the OLTL fans have become equally so) but rabid doesn't translate into ratings. A small group of angry fans is still a small group. Once you pull back and look at things outside of the soap echo chamber, it's pretty clear that ABC just doesn't care.

EW article about this:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/showbiz/tv/general-hospital-future-primetime-ew/

So long GH...

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2012/01/18/56807/marinelli-sees-katie-as-cantmiss-talker

With Katie Couric, Disney-ABC Domestic Television has arguably the biggest name in the plethora of new talk shows set for debuts this fall in the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s departure from syndication. "We are projecting profitability in year one," says Disney-ABC Domestic Television President Janice Marinelli. Her confidence stems from Couric herself. She credible and "relatable" and she's made a commitment to doing whatever it takes in production and promotion, she says. "How often do you get a talent of this caliber to enter the syndication marketplace?"

Eric, I have such great respect for you, but we will have to agree to disagree on this matter. This is an unpopular thing to say, but since SON is a very pro-Nixon soap board, I think that it is often easy to forget just how much more rabid GH fans are than AMC/OLTL fans.

Thanks for saying that. I admit that GH fans are up there with DAYS fans (even if neither's ratings show that) with loyalty, etc. But I stand by what I said--either way ABC does NOT care about being "hated" and it's already been proven that daytime viewer's boycotting etc has had ZERO effect on their primetime ratings--which is their concern. Not even ever so *slightly* so even if the reaction is worse for GH (and I don't think it will be) it won't make more of an impact.

So long GH...

http://www.tvnewsche...cantmiss-talker

With Katie Couric, Disney-ABC Domestic Television has arguably the biggest name in the plethora of new talk shows set for debuts this fall in the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s departure from syndication. "We are projecting profitability in year one," says Disney-ABC Domestic Television President Janice Marinelli. Her confidence stems from Couric herself. She credible and "relatable" and she's made a commitment to doing whatever it takes in production and promotion, she says. "How often do you get a talent of this caliber to enter the syndication marketplace?"

Ask CBS how profitable she is.

She's an ice cold has been.

Exactly--and with ABC less and less concerned about having a daytime brand, it becomes less of a concern. ABC got a lot of anger about the soap cancelation, but either way it hasn't affected their primetime lineup ratings enough to worry ABC.

I have a question. I know once upon a time (80s) that ABC Daytime was making a bucket load of money and was basically funding the prime-time shows. When did it switch to not being profitable? Surely, it seems like ABC Daytime was going out of it's way to make soaps look worse by the 2000s. Was it already not profitable by then or was it just not making enough in their eyes? What exactly happened that they wanted to get rid of their soaps altogether?

I have a question. I know once upon a time (80s) that ABC Daytime was making a bucket load of money and was basically funding the prime-time shows. When did it switch to not being profitable? Surely, it seems like ABC Daytime was going out of it's way to make soaps look worse by the 2000s. Was it already not profitable by then or was it just not making enough in their eyes? What exactly happened that they wanted to get rid of their soaps altogether?

I don't think my opinion is shared by many around here, but I don't think declining quality has much to do with where daytime has gone in the last 10 years. Ratings dropped slowly for many years as new technologies emerged and viewing patterns and audiences changed. I think that as late as the early 90s, the networks would have been able to gain enough viewers in high school and colleges to keep the audience young enough for them to sell advertising space at profitable rates, but by 2000 those high school and college students were going elsewhere for entertainment. They had options I didn't have at that age in the 1980s. I don't think the networks lost interest until GL's efforts at a cheap model didn't turn out to be the financial savior Ellen Wheeler touted. (As the popular belief is, Frons' fingerprints were all over the ABC shows so I don't think it can be argued that they lost interest earlier. They probably had too much interest/interference). At that point I think the writing was on the wall. At some point, you can't cut anymore out of the budget and still have a product. You have to get advertising revenue, and you can't get that without an audience, and you can't get that because of the non-television network competition. I think daytime will go the way of prime-time Saturday night within 5 years.

Having said that, why not give GH a shot in primetime? Unlike any other new primetime show, it comes with at least some audience. Maybe it would fail but most primetime shows fail.

http://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/big-news-about-katie-couric-show

Katie Couric's talk show — KATIE — has already been cleared for broadcast in 93 percent of the country and has been sold in 95 of the top 100 markets. The show is set to premiere in September 2012. No mention was made of GENERAL HOSPITAL in the Disney/ABC Domestic Television press release; however, the live, one-hour daily daytime talk show is reportedly taking over the soap's time slot.

Just to add to that last post: http://www.c21media.net/archives/75404

Also in Miami vying for Oprah’s mantle (and following in CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s footsteps into daytime) is former newscaster Katie Couric, whose show Katie has been cleared in 93% of the country, including ABC O&Os, Allbritton, Belo, Cox, Gannett, Granite, Griffin, Hearst, LIN, McGraw-Hill, Media General, Meredith, Raycom, Scripps Howard, Sinclair and Young – some 95 of the top 100 markets.

“Oprah was in a class of her own and since she left there’s been a void for smart talk with relevant take-away,” said Janice Marinelli, president of Katie syndicator Disney-ABC Domestic Television. “It was that need and opportunity that persuaded Katie to move into syndicated talk.”

Katie is also getting good slots, added Marinelli. “Since Katie is a household name for news, her show has news-adjacent, early fringe time periods on around 90% of our stations.” Katie will also stand out from the talk pack, she added, by being “the first afternoon talkshow to be shot live five afternoons a week.”

It’s not only Ricki and Katie who are eyeing the talk gap. Debmar-Mercury’s Jeremy Kyle Show has been renewed and Jeff Probst has a show launching this fall through CBS TV Distribution (CTD), with about 80% clearance thus far. Likewise, Family Feud host Steve Harvey has teamed with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution for another talker for fall 2012.

http://www.soapopera...tie-couric-show

Katie Couric's talk show — KATIE — has already been cleared for broadcast in 93 percent of the country and has been sold in 95 of the top 100 markets. The show is set to premiere in September 2012. No mention was made of GENERAL HOSPITAL in the Disney/ABC Domestic Television press release; however, the live, one-hour daily daytime talk show is reportedly taking over the soap's time slot.

Adios GH

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-1.811968/good-news-for-couric-s-syndicated-show-1.3473152

Good news for Couric's syndicated show

3:07 PM By Verne Gay

Photo credit: Getty Images

Katie Couric, who joins the ranks of Those Who Would Replace Oprah this fall, got reasonably good news from ABC, which formally announced this Monday that her syndicated show has been picked up by enough stations to cover 93 percent of the U.S. TV population.

One hundred percent is the optimum, but the show will probably get that number by the spring if not sooner. (Advertisers pretty much require universal coverage.)

How good is this pace for "Katie?" ABC calls it "truly remarkable" in a release but that may be a bit of an overstatement. Still, it's quite good.

This show, by the way, poses some concern for soap fans, who fear it may end up replacing "General Hospital." No word, however, on exactly what time it will air on WABC/7 this spring.

I can't wait for Katie's show to flop so hard, and they all look like fools for signing off on this LOL. Most people can't stand KC anymore