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

[John]

Nope Brian Frons canceled it

[~bl~]

P&G went down when Ed Trach was out of as the head. Ken Fitts at least had P&G history, but MADD not such much. She took her golden parachute in 2005 when they slashed and burned the GL budget.

[Marco Dane]

probably OLTL or AMC would had be canceled or it would had aired at 11 and The View might would had been canceled

[jfung79]

You're welcome! This is the article in SOD that R. Scott Collishaw wrote: http://www.igs.net/~awhp/chat14.html ... The ABC rumor is briefly confirmed in the April 26, 1999 entry. I just speculated as to why P&G may have turned it down though (wanting to keep the characters particularly, like the ones who were going to ATWT), so that part is not confirmed.

I think if ABC had bought AW, they might have replaced the already-struggling Port Charles with it as a half-hour soap. I don't think they would have cancelled OLTL or AMC, although they might have cut one of them down to a half hour. The main thing is I think they would have cancelled AW pretty quickly though and just taken some characters from AW like Felicia.

[dragonflies]

not to get off topic, but I remember years ago ABC was also interested in DOOL, cause word was NBC was ready to cancel it, and ABC was rumored to be cancelling OLTL if they did get DOOL

That would have been a disaster, imagine the backlash cancelling OLTL for DOOL

[Marco Dane]

I still think ABC wants DOOL

[saynotoursoap]

It is semantics, I know, but technically a network cannot cancel a series unless it owns it. CBS owned neither GL nor ATWT; it merely leased them from the production company. CBS elected not to renew the contracts to carry the programs, but Televest could have continued producing them for another network, first-run syndication, or an internet outlet, similar to TOLN. Thus, in the end, it was P&G's decision that both cease production permanently. P&G had wanted out of the soap opera business since the 90s. Ask anyone no longer working in the business, and they will tell you this. Soaps were discarded along with divested legacy products such as Jif, Folgers, Duncan Hines and too many more than I should recount here. It was a business decision to maximize profits and refocus on a global market, nothing more. Sadly, if one is not part of their very narrow target demographic, networks and production companies are not interested in you. Unfortunately, they are also not interested in providing a superior product to their marketed audience, thus we get the Doritos Locos of soap opera instead of filet mignon and are expected to be eternally grateful that the program is still on the air.

[robbwolff]

I thought the rumor was that Port Charles would have been axed and Another World would have moved into its time slot.

[Soaplovers]

I remember ABC loved Edge of Night since it attracted desirable demos such as younger viewers plus male viewers as well. However, a huge number of affiliates were ready to drop the show in early 1985 and P & G knew they couldn't financially handle producing the show once that happened so they opted to cancel it despite ABC willing to move heaven and earth to keep the show going.

I read somewhere that NBC wanted to keep Search on the air for at least another year or two probably since there was a very expensive revamp a few months previous... who is to say if that was true or not.

[Soapsuds]

I agree...neither gave a damn for either show to save them.

[NothinButAttitude]

Thanks for that article. I'm on igs.net so much in the past, I'm surprised I never stumbled upon that article. And I too was imagining that they would've replaced PC with AW, which would've been fine with me (personally) b/c AW had the long standing audience, and PC was already starting to flop. I get why P&G didn't sell, but again, my selfish side would've loved for the show to have lived on a little longer. I always felt that the final months of the show, the show was getting back on track after suffering four years of creative hell (95-98).

Ole' fat head bastard. Not surprised.

[cnathanielrichardson]

AW would have changed if it had gone to ABC...if ABC wants Days, there's gonna be a LOT of conflict between ABC and Ken Corday for creative control

[BingCherry]

Around the same time ABC was trying to pursue DOOL, they were also gouging interest from their affiliates about giving the 12:00pm half hour back to the network. So the lineup would've likely went The View/DOOL/AMC/OLTL/GH nonstop from 11-4 with Port Charles cancelled. This would've probably been a nightmare for the central and mountain time zone affiliates, a lot of whom didn't carry Port Charles to begin with.

Columbia had also showed interest in buying the P&G soaps on several occasions; the most serious was during the early-'90s, when PGP had scaled down their productions away from TV-movies and solely into soaps. The deal at hand would've had Columbia buy a majority stake in AW and GL and produce them in association with P&G, while P&G would have kept full ownership of ATWT. That deal didn't end up happening, but the two would later team up on a venture to produce primetime and syndicated programs. http://business.highbeam.com/137332/article-1G1-19220218/columbia-tristar-television (subscription needed)

[All My Shadows]

First, let's not talk bad about the Doritos Locos taco.

Second, I've always aimed my blame at both CBS and P&G. Neither did anything right.

[KMan101]

Man, P&G ALWAYS avoided selling their programs. And now they are doing nothing with them. I just don't get it.