Soaps In The Time of Crisis

[soapfan770]

Weird question but was Days really the only soap to actually acknowledge 9/11? I don’t recall any other soaps doing much about it on air other than Days at that time for their Christmas episode that year.  

[Chris B]

CBS has shut down production on most of it's series, including Dynasty which films out of Atlanta. They get to wrap up the episode they're filming now and whatever was left to be filmed (likely 1-2 episode per show) will be scrapped due to the cost of resuming filming after a break. Grey's Anatomy is shut down as are Netflix shows. You can't tell me soaps aren't far behind. DAYS of course will be fine, but I wonder what would happen with the other three soaps. They only have like a 3-4 week backlog of episodes right? If production is halted you also have to consider the time it would take them to resume and have enough episodes ready to film. This could be a mess. 

 

I know in the UK and Australia soaps have taken regular hiatuses so it might not be a bad idea to craft cliffhangers and simply announce that they will be taking a break. We'll have a better chance of regaining viewers that way as opposed to just ending on regular episodes. Of course we have to h ope they care enough to even do that and then promote the shows when they return.

[Vee]

It's coming.

[Paul Raven]

Well this could work in Days favor if it is the only daytime soap still airing.

 

What would ABC/CBS program instead?

 

They could go to 3 eps aweek say MTW and air classic eps the other 2 days. That would give them a little breathing space...

[Fevuh]

I don't watch but this will be weird. No current sports to watch, reruns for the forseeable future when they're out of new episodes for all primetime shows, talk shows with no audience and I wonder if celebrities will stop booking talk shows just because of fear.

[Fevuh]

Does anyone know for sure how far in advance exactly each show shoots?  I know DAYS is like 6 or 8 months in advance.  But I was reading for the others it's about 3 weeks or a month.  I thought at one point (this is years ago)...most were shooting Christmas episodes in September....so it was like 2.5 to 3 months.  Are Y&R and B&B and GH now at 1 month or 3 weeks?  

[te.]

 

As awful as it is to say this, but Days really could just benefit from shutting down for a few months, period. Soon it'll be the only soap running and then it'll catch up in production.

[Aback]

Soaps will have to take a long break.

 

Even DAYS will run out of episodes, trust me.

 

The networks will become CNN-like all-news outlets. People are gonna crave news and updates. Rightly so.

[Toups]

So many shows are shutting down. I can’t see the soaps continuing to tape. I’m surprised they haven’t announced it yet. 

[DAYS]

Do you think the ratings would go up due to coronavirus?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I'm surprised by this too. I know that this is an industry where the fans and public are often among the last to know but this is a pandemic not a ratings call.

[Darn]

 

That would make sense. Soap ratings used to increase over winter breaks and summers, not so much anymore.

[Aback]

Ratings won't go up. The shows will be pre-empted even if there's still a bunch of unaired episodes. Networks will broadcast news. The real ratings maker is the coronavirus.

[Vee]

GH's suspended production.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Your move, Y&R.