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Did CBS Cancel "GL" and "ATWT" or Was It Procter & Gamble?


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The whole thing makes me angry every time I think about it. If P&G had cared the shows would still be on, and likely thriving, today. GL and ATWT both thrived when P&G actually cared about repair work. And now, as mentioned above, there is nothing, not even DVD releases. There was nothing like the P&G soaps, yet they do nothing but spit on their own legacy.

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NBC cancelled Another World on April 12, 1999, and gave the show about a month of taping time to wrap up the show. Then, they gave Sunset Beach a 6 month extension knowing full well they would cancel it as well. I really believe they did not give AW the 6 month extension because they knew that AW's ratings in 6 months would have been higher than Passions especially if fans knew that it was on the chopping block. It would have been interesting to have AW end on 12/31/99 just like both of its spinoffs, Somerset and Texas, did. At least the last week of AW did a good job of wrapping everything up pretty well- the wedding guests wishing Cass and Lila well- when in reality they were speaking to the fans and Rachel's sweep of the Cory living room with all the pictures of past stars of the show- especially when she stopped and kissed Ada's (Constance Ford's) picture. Also, ending the show with Mac (Douglass Watson) toasting the audience was a nice touch. The only thing I could have done without was the Carolyn the gorilla stuff, but it was a nod to the past adventures of Cass and Felicia. By the time As the World Turns was cancelled, it was clear that P&G and CBS did not care. The show was cancelled in December, 2009, and left the airwaves the next September. This should have been the best planned send off in the history of soaps. TPTB knew Helen Wagner was sick. They gave her a one day funeral. Everyone who ever interacted with her should have been invited back for a cameo with great flashbacks. In addition, TPTB treated Eileen Fulton (Lisa) like garbage. Her scenes in the finale were a disgrace. There were no flashbacks or pictures of past stars. The show ended with a cheap plastic globe spinning on Bob's desk. The very least, the show should have done a tribute or ended the final show with Helen Wagner's picture. In addition, CBS did nothing to promote this finale like they did with GL. GL was even featured on 60 Minutes.

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I really don't blame CBS for GL/ATWT cancellation.

GL: Go on the ratings archive and look at GL numbers in the final months, and you will be surprised that CBS even kept GL for as long as it did. GL only had around 2 million viewers, sometimes even slipping below that (!!!) It was a good move for them, as LMAD now has WAY higher ratings (almost 1,000,000 more viewers) than GL did at the end.

ATWT: Again, the numbers were awful, they weren't that much better than GL final numbers. Another good move for CBS has I do believe The Talk is doing slightly better than ATWT (or at least the same), but at a cheaper cost and CBS owns it so they get the profit.

Also, CBS was not the ones writing/producing ATWT and GL. That was P&G. They are the ones who should have cared more. ATWT and GL final months (especially GL) were both disasters. CBS gave them a year to fix ATWT (GL numbers were no longer sustainable), and they blew it. CBS has to do what is best for their daytime lineup, and it appears that they have.

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I would say it was more of P&G then it was CBS. When P&G did away with the Executive In Charge of Production position they more a less made the statement as are done with soaps. I remember in an interview P&G stated the Executive in charge position was not needed as they only had to shows left. Let the executive producers deal with us and the network themselves we need no intermediary. For as much as people hated Mary Alice Dywer Dobbin working for P&G, she kept some stability to the storylines and what was happening. If they still had the middle man person, GL would have never landed in New Jersey. P&G was done with soaps plain a day, espically when they began working with TeleNext Media; they outsourced their need to run the shows.

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GL's ratings nosedived after it was forced by CBS to take huge budget cuts and move to Peapack. In 2007 before that, the ratings were still relatively healthy, just a little behind the pack in total viewers (though demos were always an issue). Looking at post-budget slash, post-Peapack ratings is highly misleading as to whether CBS wronged GL.

For the season September 18, 2006 to September 16, 2007 (http://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/22157-september-10-14-2007/) from the Ratings Archive:


"HH
1. Y&R 4.2
2. B&B 3.0
3. GH 2.7
4. AMC 2.5
5. OLTL 2.4
6. ATWT 2.3
6. DAYS 2.3
8. GL 2.1
9. PSNS 1.5

Women 18-49 Rating
1. Y&R 2.0
2. GH 1.9
3. DAYS 1.6
3. OLTL 1.6
5. AMC 1.5
6. B&B 1.3
7. PSNS 1.2
7. ATWT 1.2
7. GL 1.2 "

The week where I got those season numbers from, GL was also ahead of DAYS in total viewers. And as we all know, DAYS is still around ... GL was still saveable at this stage, but CBS, P&G, and the show itself failed to rise to the occasion. ATWT was obviously still saveable as well at this time -- if Goutman and Passanante had been replaced, I think it would still be around.

"Ratings for the week September 10-14, 2007

(Compared to Last Week/Compared to Last Year)

Total Viewers
1. Y&R 5,462,000 (+73,000/-108,000)
2. B&B 3,673,000 (+32,000/-390,000)
3. GH 3,366,000 (+86,000/+221,000)
4. OLTL 2,996,000 (-125,000/-56,000)
5. ATWT 2,973,000 (+85,000/-210,000)
6. AMC 2,792,000 (-112,000/-198,000) <----- new low
7. GL 2,576,000 (+39,000/-192,000)
8. DAYS 2,453,000 (-135,000/-723,000)


HH
1. Y&R 4.0/15 (same/-.3)
2. B&B 2.8/10 (same/-.3)
3. GH 2.5/8 (same/same)
4. OLTL 2.3/8 (-.1/-.1) <---- ties low rating
5. ATWT 2.2/8 (same/-.3)
5. AMC 2.2/8 (-.1/-.2) <---- ties low rating
7. GL 2.0/6 (+.1/-.2)
8. DAYS 1.9/7 (-.1/-.6)


Women 18-49 Viewers
1. Y&R 1,173,000 (-97,000/-285,000)
2. GH 1,119,000 (+66,000/-48,000)
3. OLTL 1,013,000 (-7,000/-82,000)
4. AMC 901,000 (-58,000/-143,000)
5. DAYS 869,000 (-11,000/-300,000)
6. B&B 810,000 (-17,000/-134,000)
7. ATWT 717,000 (-47,000/-103,000)
8. GL 683,000 (-36,000/-59,000)


Women 18-49 Rating
1. Y&R 1.8/13 (-.1/-.4)
2. GH 1.7/11 (+.1/-.1)
3. OLTL 1.5/10 (same/-.2)
4. AMC 1.4/9 (-.1/-.2)
5. DAYS 1.3/9 (same/-.5)
6. B&B 1.2/8 (-.1/-.2)
7. ATWT 1.1/7 (-.1/-.1)
8. GL 1.0/7 (-.1/-.1)


Girls 12-17 Viewers
1. Y&R 62,000 (-17,000/+21,000)
2. GH 43,000 (-14,000/+1,000)
3. OLTL 26,000 (-14,000/+2,000)
4. B&B 23,000 (-6,000/-8,000)
5. ATWT 22,000 (-4,000/-3,000)
6. GL 20,000 (-17,000/+7,000
7. DAYS 18,000 (+3,000/-28,000)
8. AMC 16,000 (-11,000/-4,000)


Women 18-34 Rating
1. GH 1.2/8 (+.1/-.2)
2. DAYS 1.1/7 (-.1/-.7)
2. OLTL 1.1/7 (same/-.2)
4. AMC 1.0/7 (-.1/-.2)
5. Y&R 0.9/7 (-.2/-.7)
6. ATWT 0.7/4 (-.1/-.2)
7. B&B 0.6/4 (-.2/-.2)
7. GL 0.6/4 (-.2/-.3) "

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AW was canceled before SuBe because they wanted Passions to have a DYAS lead-in, and AW was way more expensive. Better to keep the cheap show for 6 months that airs late night in most markets then the expensive 35 year old soap occupying the spot you want for your new show.

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Yes, it's pretty clear that they didn't chit about the fans in both cases. GL only got the 60 minutes thing because it was the longest running program in TV history,

They both got horrible send offs for extremely long running shows. The Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow and Love of LIfe to a lesser extent had great send offs. They ended by saying personal good-byes to the fans.

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JMO but it always looked as if P&G thought about their soaps as a means to well...sell soaps.

Even at the height, it seemed as if their approach was using the soaps mostly to sell product, not as creative entities that themselves needed nurturing and promoting.

Just from my observations, P&G was only too happy to capitalize from the immense popularity that their shows experienced but when it came time to try and give greater support to flagging shows, P&G seemed that it had already washed it's collective hands of these shows and their issues. Probably because these shows were 'selling less soap' so to speak.

As for CBS, ever hear the joke about the studio executives with heart? Exactly! I bear no illusions about CBS should've, could've done. Network execs are rarely in the saving business.

It is/was the job of the producers/production company to 'go to bat' and fight for the entity that they love so much.

P&G, I don't think, ever loved these shows, or if they ever had, they never treated it as such. I doubt they even fully appreciated/valued what they shows meant.

I was left with the impression that they were no longer wanted to help these shows survive because these shows had ceased being profitable in the way they were in the past and it wasn't worth it for them to continue to produce them.

So P&G just allowed the shows to 'rot on the vine' so to speak.

Just my take.

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I get the predicament that P&G was in. There is a difference between interest groups stating they will never watch "The Practice" again if Bianca on AMC is a lesbian, and interest groups encouraging people to boycott Pampers if Luke Snyder is gay. They had to get out of the business. What I don't understand is why they did not just sell the shows to Viacom.

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I don't think they left the business because of boycotts from the gay storylines ... If that was the issue, they would have just shut down Otalia and Nuke/LuRe. ABC and OLTL had no problem shutting down Kish and didn't fear the backlash. Say what you will about P&G, ATWT, and GL, but I have to tip my hat to their sticking with those stories. Luke was on ATWT as a gay man, and never completely backburnered, for almost 5 years.

I think P&G just felt daytime soaps were dying as a whole and producing them would not be profitable for much longer. At the time the conventional wisdom was that all soap ratings would keep dropping and it was just a matter of time before Y&R and B&B were the only soaps left. And pretty much ratings were dropping across the board, it was just a matter of some soaps falling faster than others.

So instead of fighting to turn things around like they should have, P&G pretty much just gave up.

Fortunately, the conventional wisdom of the time that soaps were on a permanent ratings slide now appears to be wrong.

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I didn't mean the gay storylines in particular, just anything anyone didn't like and threatened to boycott P&G over. It still doesn't explain why they had to let the shows die instead of just selling them.

I really love DramatistDreamer's characterization of the shows. DAYS, loved by the Cordays. Y&R and B&B, loved by the Bells. AMC and OLTL, loved by their creator Agnes Nixon. GH, loved by Frons. And then ATWT and GL, the bastard children with no surviving creator, loved only by their fans, with no advocate to fight for them.

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