22 minutes ago, Khan said:

NBC wants to keep it, because they don't have anything to replace it.  Pure, and simple.

Yeah. Look at abc. All the shows designed to replace amc and oltl have been cancelled.

5 minutes ago, AdamNewmanFan said:

Yeah. Look at abc. All the shows designed to replace amc and oltl have been cancelled.

 

And THAT explains why GH isn't in imminent danger either.  ABC, CBS and NBC would love to eighty-six the four, remaining soaps.  However, they know that audiences will take only so many game shows, talk shows or extra editions of this-or-that morning news show.  Ergo, it's either stick with what they have (even if it means shrinking each show's budget even more) or cede those time slots to the affiliates (which would mean losing revenue, as measly as it is).

 

That's why I keep saying DAYS should take risks beyond mere narrative time jumps.  They literally have nothing left to lose.

They could've produced a decade with what they wasted on Megyn Kelly. They would be dumb to cancel it with no foolproof plans.

25 minutes ago, AdamNewmanFan said:

Yeah. Look at abc. All the shows designed to replace amc and oltl have been cancelled.

 

Exactly. Only CBS was successful in replacing GL/ATWT - TT and LMAD do quite well and I'm sure they are quite profitable.

 

ABC thought Katie Couric was going to be so much better than GH - good thing they didn't act first. I wish ABC had just trimmed AMC/OLTL as 30 minute soaps. I think that block could've worked well for them and if one faltered badly, expand the other.  

Eventually, though, and I hate being Debbie Downer here, the ratings will no longer justify the financial costs for keeping these soaps on broadcast TV. We can complain that Nielsen is outdated, but it is still the barometer, and the numbers keep playing the limbo dance game with "how low can you go?!" Eventually, they will be gone, and if NBC. CBS, and ABC have no replacements for those hours, I can see the local affiliates getting the afternoon slots to schedule as they will.

 

After this, I want to say these soaps will end up streaming. At the very least, B&B seems to have the international revenue to help it, but even streaming takes money. So in reality, I'm not sure how much time the US daytime dramas have left.

 

Nighttime shows have become serialized in many cases now. From sitcoms to dramas. And it seems like - for some - they don't need daytime soaps to fill that void anymore because of it.

7 minutes ago, edgeofnik said:

 

Exactly. Only CBS was successful in replacing GL/ATWT - TT and LMAD do quite well and I'm sure they are quite profitable.

Actually the ratings for The Talk have been tanking for some time. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten canceled. It must be cheaper than a soap though. I'm not sure how well LMAD is doing.

18 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Actually the ratings for The Talk have been tanking for some time. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten canceled. It must be cheaper than a soap though. I'm not sure how well LMAD is doing.

 

I didn't realize TT had been slumping. I recalled it had past TV a couple of years ago, but I'm not surprised with Chen/Gilbert gone. I'm sure the 2 replacements were a lot cheaper than those two. 

 

It's too bad that daytime ratings are stuck in the L+SD metric and we don't get L+3/L+7 and now L+35, which also include streaming platforms. People here complain about daytime ratings, but Primetime ratings have tanked far harder and so the networks are resorting to touting delayed viewing. ABC just joined FOX in not reporting L+SD for primetime this week.  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-35-day-numbers-show-huge-gains-as-abc-stops-reporting-same-day-results-1253987

On 11/12/2019 at 1:02 PM, Soapsuds said:

Are you referring to the actors or writers? Because if the writing continues to suck...no great actor can make Ron's sh!tty writing work.

 

Valid point, I meant on the acting side.

1 hour ago, AdamNewmanFan said:

Yeah. Look at abc. All the shows designed to replace amc and oltl have been cancelled.

 

Plus, that GMA Strahan/Sara or whatever they call it now hasn't exactly set the world on fire since it replaced The Chew.

2 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

Plus, that GMA Strahan/Sara or whatever they call it now hasn't exactly set the world on fire since it replaced The Chew.

I’ve watched that just once. The only good thing about the show is Keke Palmer but they’re determined to keep the bland white woman around. 

4 hours ago, Wendy said:

Nighttime shows have become serialized in many cases now. From sitcoms to dramas. And it seems like - for some - they don't need daytime soaps to fill that void anymore because of it.

 

Agree.  As I was saying to a friend on Facebook, people will always want serialized storytelling, it'll just morph into something else after the last soap leaves the airwaves.

 

 

7 minutes ago, victoria foxton said:

 

 

Ummm....the first part...isn't that what @Errol said? And what sets? New? They look crummy and not new at all. Those cost peanuts to do since most of the set comes from another set already on air. 

And it seems Freddie was happy about days trending but as someone here already stated it won't help them ratings wise especially when the stories in the one year jump still stink.

 

At least some of the cast members are doing what I suggested - get out there and push the narrative. It's their show/livelihood, so they have everything to lose by being complacent and nothing to lose by being out there promoting the show. The beauty of social media is that actors don't need to be booked on a talk show - they have their own platforms.

 

Even a relatively small percentage increase in streaming (it ain't happening in live viewing) regardless of the source (TJ, cast firing, actor visibility), only helps further the case DAYS is still an asset to SONY/NBC. But if there's no increase after all this buzz, it solidifies the argument that a viable audience just isn't there. 

This situation is similar to what the German soap "Unter uns" faced in the summer of 2009. Back then, the show suffered from low demos and was rumoured to be canceled.
Instead, broadcaster RTL slashed the budget, fired a few cast members, and decided that production would shut down twice each year for roughly 4 months (December to February and June to August) to save costs. From then on, they filmed 7 to 8 episodes a week so that the show could still run through the whole year.

 

Before each hiatus, all the cast members were released from their contracts and had to register as unemployed (in Germany, you receive ~ 60 percent of your former salary for at least a year if you're registered as unemployed). Departing cast members were usually written out before a hiatus, so that most of the cast returned when filming resumed. In the meantime, they could pursue any other project they wanted to (doing primetime guest spots, playing theater, etc.)

 

In 2016, they reduced the hiatus to 2 months in total and went back to filming 6 episodes a week.

 

10 years later and UU is still on the air. This year, they've managed to increase their demos quite nicely.

 

So not all hope is lost