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

[Mitch]

But TPTB really felt that "small town feel," did not attract the young demos and that it was corny and silly (as opposed to everyone hanging out at that bad 7-11 set of Wheeler's.) That small town feel and mult generational thing is a fantasy that people WANT to see...look at shows over the past ten years like Gilmore Girls and Desperate Housewives, a bunch of small town or suburban people up in each other's business all the time.

I think its the same with the core family though ATWT fared better. Bob and Kim I felt were used welll, but they were more te matriach and patriach of the town while their family was ignored. Weird that they didnt bring Frannie and Sabrina (Sabrina I would have used as a younger Babs, part of the family but always causing strife for them. ) Lisa was a screw up..I used watch a ton of scenes that they easily could have placed her in..dealing with the errant youngsters of the time. Never understood why they didnt have her work with Carly and Molly, the horny vixens of their day. I don't think that a show needs to showcase their veterans in meaty front burners all the time, but they should be use effectively as support. It just seemed that Gautman was afraid to move away from the forumla of Carly/Craig/Emily/Babs/Paul/Lily/Holden doing the same thing over and over and over..

GL was weird..I don't know who got it up their ass that the Coopers were the end all and be all of the show but EVERY family was crippled to make them work. The Spaudlings were EVIL , the Bauers were dismantled and weak (I remember the Bauer set got the most use when the Cooper moved in) the Marlers, who should have taken over for the Bauer (Ross was the patriach of town, Blake was softened up enough to become the flakey earth mother par excellance AND they were the only soap couple in 30 years to have all of their younger bio children with each other.) the Lewises were ALL about Jon and Reva.

I really think the show would have worked by moving Ross and Blake into the Bauer house, aging their kids up to college/high school and letting them have normal but heigtened dramatic sitaution appropriate to their ages instead of marrying them off three times by 20 and making them CEOS by 21. Young people would have been attracted by some Degrassi dramatics couched in a family with a loving open mother and a strong father. I would have recast Rick though...they really coudlnt do anything with MOL at the end and I used to love MOL..and really made the Mel/Rick/Beth triangle work and be dramatic instead of dropping us in after it happened and then making Beth a sterotype soap whore. I would have gotten a new hot Rick actor together with Beth, have them marry, maybe get her preggers and then Phillip comes back...but this time, Beth while having feelings for Phillip, would really be in love with Rick. The show would be the constant push/pull between the three of them (the Rick/Phillip love would be just as important as theirs to Beth) throught the years, as Phllip gets an edge (but not nuts)and how Phillip deals with his kids and maybe Amanda or AM, the Marler family issues with their kids and of course Dina-Mite trouble, Reva and Josh and the extended Lewis family with recast kids,and would just got rid of Buzz and the Coopers. Phasing out Alan (have him die like they did) and have Alex and the rest of the vets (Ed, Holly, Van, Billy) come in and out as normal people do to visit family and friends and vote at stock holder meetings and weddings, etc.

[allmc2008]

How much longer? Ball Park figure?

[jfung79]

GL was on the resurgence and had buzz up until 2007. The year before, it had swept a bunch of Emmys. This whole idea that GL was lifeless and plodding along is really only something I could see after the move to Peapack. Also, both before and after Peapack, GL still had a small-town, familiar feel. If anything, I think it was too small-town and Springfield needed to feel like a bustling, alive metropolis if it was going to be shot outside.

Also, to whoever said they should have brought back Leah, Leah was part of the show throughout the final few years as a recurring character, and was being rapidly SORASed to boot. She just didn't have much to do.

The Lewises were also not all about Jonathan and Reva at the end ... Jonathan was gone in 2007 and came back sporadically afterward. Billy had a big role during Reva's cancer storyline in 2006, as well as the year before, and was back on contract. Billy remained prominent until the end. Bill was also prominent, having a romance with Lizzie. Shayne, and Shayne's baby he didn't know about, were also a huge story for the final year.

[Soaplovers]

I remember my mom watched an episode of GL right before the switch to Peapack, and this episode had some scenes shot in the traditional style and other scenes shot the new way. My mom texted me wondering what was going on since she thought the traditional scenes looked more warm and inviting.. and that the new scenes had this green tint to them. When I explained about the new filming technique they were going to employ in order to save the show, she texted back that they might as well cancel the show since this new move would end up killing the show rather then saving it.

Still surprised the show last 18 months with the new filming style cause I thought the last several months had some great stories/scenes playing out.. but could never get use to the new filming style even though it did improve somewhat. Before the peapack filming, I thought of Springfield as a big small town (sort of like St. Paul Minnesota), but after the new filming style, I thought of it as an economically depressed town that was slowly turning into a ghost town. Too depressing and too realistic. I understand that was the aim, but I'd rather they created a new soap to reflect this rather then changing GL, imho

[P.J.]

GL was brain dead in 2005 when TAIC decided to kill off Phillip. Peapack was simply putting it through a "Weekend at Bernie's"-like indignity.

[Khan]

Does it matter who cancelled what? We still have two "dead" soap operas on our hands.

[DRW50]

Khan! We're happy to see you.

[P.J.]

Yeah, I don't know what this shill could possibly say that would be relevant. I suppose it's better than trying to explain the wasteland that is the current CBS daytime lineup though. "We believe in the decimated shells of what Bill Bell created, a stupid 50 year old dress up game and Moonves' wife." *RME*

[Khan]

Nothing, that's what. Anjelica McDeveraux, or whatever the frak her name is, has nothing to say to make up for the way CBS and CBS Daytime have treated all their soaps, past and present. I liked these jackholes better when they were proclaiming soaps to be passe.

And yes, I'm happy to see y'all, too. Sort of. (Damn this GH marathon.)

[Vee]

Most of it looked condemned. Cassie's "house" looked like Leatherface's family estate. There was, like, scrap metal lining the lawn.

[EastMA2]

Exactly! Didn't Les Moonves already address this on camera years ago? What could someone who wasn't even at CBS at the time add to it? It's obvious that both P&G and CBS wanted out.

[DramatistDreamer]

I kind of appreciated the topic, if only to get all that past crap off my chest. Relax, relate, release. Whew, I feel cleansed!

Anjelica McDevereaux...haha, love it!

[CSF]

When will the interview be posted?!

[allmc2008]

+111111

-111111

[Errol]

This week. Waiting on something to add to it.