http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/arts/television/after-some-soaps-cancellations-others-adjust.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&sq=soap%20industry&st=cse&scp=1

Good article. The Times will always give a fuller picture than another paper.

As long as we can keep the ones we have now and weather this period, I think we will have many more years of B&B, DAYS, and Y&R. I'm not too optimistic for GH but you never know what will happen. In 2007 everyone basically had wriiten off DAYS and here we are 5 years later and DAYS is still going strong. I just hope soaps stay on daytime television.

The fact that GH didn't take part has me worried.

As for Days...u need to work on the pacing bc its horrible!

And a more efficient one. Maria Arena Bell, executive producer and head writer for “The Young and the Restless” on CBS, said: “Once upon a time soaps wrote to Fridays, where things would slowly build throughout the week, and Friday you’d have a stunning cliffhanger to keep your attention. I still build to Fridays, but my motto is that every day has to be a Friday.”

“The Bold and the Beautiful,” also on CBS but a half-hour show (the others are a full hour), has also quickened its pace to keep up with changing attention spans, and modernized in other ways. “We’re no longer the schmaltzy, fluffy romance of the ’80s,” said Bradley Bell, the show’s executive producer and head writer. (Mr. Bell and Ms. Bell are in-laws.) “Women are more independent and edgier,” he said. “The dialogue is clever and witty.”

They're joking, right?

who played Marlena on “Days” from 1976 until she was fired in 2009 (except for a brief hiatus during which she appeared on the prime-time show “Our House”);

I'm not sure 4 years is a brief hiatus, but OK...I guess she's using the same math Helen Wagner used

They're joking, right?

I KNEW you were going to say something about the independent women comment, Carl!

And MAB has said the Friday quote before. Granted, I liked some of the midweek cliffhangers OLTL did in its last year or so, but it doesn't need to happen every day.

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by MissLlanviewPA

Who watches B&B and thinks "independent women"? The whole point of the show is women who are desperate for a man, any man.

Who watches B&B and thinks "independent women"? The whole point of the show is women who are desperate for a man, any man.

I guess it's all relative. They are independent compared to the ladies on Y&R and GH these days.

I guess it's all relative. They are independent compared to the ladies on Y&R and GH these days.

I don't see a big difference, really. They are all obsessed with men and with the love lives of their daughters or granddaughters. They have no other purpose in life.

Who watches B&B and thinks "independent women"? The whole point of the show is women who are desperate for a man, any man.

I know I didn't when I saw the fight between Hope and Steffy the other day. It was funny, but I can't say it showed them as independent women.

Who watches B&B and thinks "independent women"? The whole point of the show is women who are desperate for a man, any man.

All I think of when I watch B&B is "JER-REE! JER-REE! JER-REE!"

Maybe the reason why there are so many "dependent" female characters on soaps today is because they're acting out of their natural impulses. Perhaps the powers-that-be have agreed what a good portion of the viewing public has known all along: that a cookie-cutter feminazi character on a soap isn't palatable.

Maybe the reason why there are so many "dependent" female characters on soaps today is because they're acting out of their natural impulses. Perhaps the powers-that-be have agreed what a good portion of the viewing public has known all along: that a cookie-cutter feminazi character on a soap isn't palatable.

I love that "not being obsessed with a man" = feminazi. Good one.

Edited February 25, 201213 yr by Darn

Maybe the reason why there are so many "dependent" female characters on soaps today is because they're acting out of their natural impulses. Perhaps the powers-that-be have agreed what a good portion of the viewing public has known all along: that a cookie-cutter feminazi character on a soap isn't palatable.

Let's give a gracious welcome to our newest board member, Mr. Archie Bunker!

When was there ever a "cookie-cutter feminazi character" and how come I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her?