why are their soap hacks and evil network executives in the first place??

[allmc2008]

From what I understand, soaps were very profitable and respectable (to an extent) before 1994 so why in the past decade or so have there been SO many hack writers, EP's, and network heads? Why can't they try to re create the popularity of the soap by bringing in toleratable writers that can restore the current soaps identity? I mean, if they were to bring back former GH writers to basically take away the boring dark mob crap and work from there I think it would attract viewers. Also, I got hooked on AMC (my first soap) back when Jesse and Agnie came back after 20 years because I was sick with the flu. I didn't become regular until the tornado outbreak of 2008. What made me watch the show was the gross amount of YT videos I watched and mother’s old AMC books she collected. I was basically hoping that something would have made AMC go back to the way it once was. Mother, who was not watching or keeping up in 10 years or so summed up everything up for me by saying that soaps tend to go in a "slope" they have good eras and bad eras. AMC was going through a rough patch. When I started following the soap press, I realized it was MUCH MORE than a slope...lol!

Also, did the OJ trials really have that much of a negative impact on soaps?

[frequentsoapfan]

Because they keep recycling the same burnt out writers from soap to soap, because the writers continue to rely on cliches from the 70/80s instead of writing for the 2000s.

[allmc2008]

Right, but was their ever a time when a soap would promote their long time writers to HW instead of hiring someone who never worked for a certain soap to take over it?

[DRW50]

As soon as the networks began interfering in soaps, because they assumed they best knew what would make money, the soaps began to decline. They were also a resting stop for power mad tin gods who had no real chance of any power elsewhere, like Brian Frons. These people all took the audience as idiots, and assumed that viewers only wanted to see the worst. They also pushed their own issues about women and minorities onto the soaps.

[John]

Yes thery used to promote within a lot especially P&G

EP and HW's also held all the power & Network Heads said crap but after ratings started to slide in the 90's (after OJ) Networks got more involved in calling shots & dictating story

[~bl~]

Brian Frons was causing issues since the 80s. He was a known quantity as he was with CBS first and then NBC before landing at ABCD.

[quartermainefan]

The classic network executive (and his brother, the studio executive) came along when the entertainment companies started being bought up by giant companies and they eventually formed conglomerates. I don't think any network could allow someone like Fred Silverman to run things today.

[gtru1981]

Completely agree with you. Time and our culture has changed a lot in the last 10 years. They still use the same crappy cliches from te 70s and 80s and people don't care anymore and it's to late now to fix it.

[DaytimeFan]

THIS is the real issue. Once the companies became conglomerates it stopped being about good product and happy people and it became solely about numbers and profits because the vast majority of studio and network executives are accountants and lawyers, neither of whom necessarily are cut out for creative work involving collaboration.

[Cheap21]

Theres hacks an evil executives in every creative industry. This isnt limited to soaps. Its the nature of business

[gtru1981]

I like to know what college they went to lol bc Primetime just like Daytime is a hot mess! Many shows can't even reach 10 million viewers and the days of shows hitting 20, 30 or even 40 million viewers are gone!

[DRW50]

Executives have always meddled in daytime. But they had some respect for the power, at least for a while anyway. Irna Phillips terrified executives and for many years they let her have free reign. Only in the late 60's did this start to change, which is one of the reasons Irna was pushed out of the industry.

I think in many ways the big death knell was the huge success of GH in 1981 - that transcended the usual role soaps had in TV and probably made them want to start really meddling and interfering.

[quartermainefan]

the death knell was GH??? If not for GH the soaps would have all gone off years ago. They have been falling steadily since GH and only the inflated numbers brought about by GH bringing a ton of viewers to daytime kept many soaps on the air. That, and the influence GH had on soaps with crazy stories people actually wanted to see (DOOL)

[DRW50]

The death knell in terms of executives deciding to take more and more control.

[DaytimeFan]

That's the whole point, these are business people...not creative types. They work in numbers and research, not creativity.