Exclusive Preview: TVGN's Who Shot the Daytime Soap?

[Marco Dane]

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Preview-TVGN-Soaps-1074670.aspx

 

 

[Vee]

Oh, lord. Jim Romanovich? Really?

[YRBB]

Is that what they're calling it? I like it!

I do have a problem with them equating slight rises in ratings with rise of the soaps in general, but I can see why it would be interpreted that way.

Other than that, I hope it's a good, honest look at what soaps were, are, and possibly will be.

[Marco Dane]

Frons single handedly killed AW,SB,PC,AMC and OLTL

[reallyhateskateonlost]

I wish I had this channel. This looks good.

[John]

SFT twice.

[allmc2008]

How did he end AW? Or are you joking?

I know!! The graphics/visuals look fantastic.

How did he cancel it twice?

Overall, I think this is going to by one hell of a special!! I love how some actors said PGP wanted out of the business and I love what Robin Mattson said!! I am especially glad and shoked that they mentioned Irna Phillips. Usually in specials about soaps they don't mention her. I wonder what all they will say about her?

[John]

SFT was canned in 1982 when it was on CBS. Frons was at CBS daytime then.

SFT was Canned by NBC in 1986. Frons was at NBC Daytime then

[allmc2008]

Wait. So he actually made the decision!! God!!

[VirginiaHamilton]

That's it in a nutshell...

[All My Shadows]

This looks like it'll be good. I feel like it's been ages since we've had a special on soaps.

[Khan]

The daytime soap wasn't shot. It was smothered to death with a pillow -- and under its fingernails are the skin scratches from every lousy EP, HW and network executive who wanted to fix what wasn't really broken.

[quartermainefan]

I don't think this special will be as investigative as it needs to be to truly answer the question. Will they really go into the Brian Frons details already tossed around in the few posts here? Are they going to track JFP's storied career or how the soaps all take turns hiring the same showkilling writers? In any case it looks like it will be fun anyway, but the answer isl undoubtedly "The focus group"

[DramatistDreamer]

Of course not. For that, someone would need to do a multiple episode, Ken Burns-ian type documentary. No, I'm serious. Look at the history, the creators, the decisions that were made in periods of upheaval and during the Golden Ages to where the industry is now. It's multi-pronged and probably more complex than a hour or so show can truly explore in depth.

[Max]

I am not sure what is meant when folks say that Frons killed AMC and OLTL. I totally agree that he is responsible for the death of both soaps, because of his meddling and his decision to hire poor EPs and HWs.

However, I don't believe that Frons personally made the decision to cancel AMC and OLTL. (Frons' goal was never to kill these soaps; instead, he was totally delusional and believed that he was helping AMC and OLTL.) And even if he was forced to make that decision, cancellation was the last thing Frons would have wanted, because it guaranteed his termination. Particularly in the case of AMC, can you imagine how humiliating the cancellation was for him, given the fact that he gloated endlessly that the move to L.A. was so "brilliant"? Thus, Barbara Walters' story that Frons cried after these shows were cancelled was totally believable.

Also, despite all of Frons' faults (and his responsibility for the deaths of SFT, PC, AMC, and OLTL), I don't see how he is at fault in any way for the cancellations of AW and SB. During his tenure, AW came back from the dead, and SB was a critical success (albeit not a commercial one). Things started to really go South for both soaps (and to a lesser extent, DOOL as well) after he left NBC.