Given all this disturbing talk about pay cuts on The Young and the Restless and the rabid (though apparently, unsubstantiated) speculation about the future of One Life to Live, it’s always nice to hear some good news about the ailing genre: James Franco is finally in the house – or in the medical ward, rather. ABC has confirmed that Oct. 30 was Franco’s first day on General Hospital, a gig we’d like to think he agreed to because he wants to see daytime soaps survive just like the rest of us (though it might have simply occurred because he shares the same manager as GH’s Steve Burton). The Golden Globe-winning actor will play a mystery guy who comes to Port Charles and gets up in the grill of Jason Morgan (Burton). His role will play out over a two-month period that starts airing Nov. 20, but Franco’s only contracted to shoot three days on the sudser’s Los Angeles set. No matter: any kind of star-studded appearance from a celebrity like Franco should do wonders for the soap world. Or can it?
Make no mistake, something has to be done to keep daytime dramas relevant. Viewer averages for soaps on the three broadcast networks have dropped 23 percent versus 10 years ago, and it’s even more dire in the all-important women 18-49 demo, which is down 41 percent during that same period. Going entirely on location with hand-held cameras isn’t the answer – just asking Guiding Light - nor is cutting expensive though immensely popular stars like Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn from Days of Our Lives (though an NBC insider insists that by lowering salaries and by cutting the show’s rich license fee to something south of $1 million per week, it managed to save the sudser). So is it the right idea to lure film stars like Franco? “I suspect if you talk to the network people overseeing these shows, they would say they innovate until the cows come home,” says one veteran TV executive with deep roots in daytime. “Come on… One Live to Live did a Grey Gardens musical number! The trouble is, these shows no longer have the reach or cultural influence where a stunt or even the return of a character can be heard above the din of regular life. Frankly, the last frontier may be changing the form of five hours a week. That’s going to have to be addressed.”
What? Airing daytime dramas only two or three days a week versus five? That’s not necessarily a bad idea since research seems to show that, except for those stuck-in-bed types, most soap viewers only average about two episodes per week. At the same time, it would seem sacrilege to ask the soap industry to cut back on production when it already operates as the most well-oiled machine in Hollywood (you’ll never see primetime soaps like Desperate Housewives or Brothers and Sisters cranking out episodes for south of $1 million a week). Unfortunately, it may have to come to that since many industry observers are already predicting the demise of yet another soap in the next five years – though we can apparently rule out OLTL. Despite rampant internet rumors about the serial’s demise, a spokeswoman for ABC said the soap is simply moving into the old New York production quarters of All My Children, which is heading west to Los Angeles in December (the new digs will help ABC save money because it’ll allow AMC to accommodate more standing sets). Nevertheless, Madison Avenue recognizes that something’s got to change in daytime, especially when game shows and yakkers like The View do a better job of attracting new viewers. And sadly, analysts don’t seem convinced that appearances by film stars – even those as appealing as Franco – will make a difference.
“Committing to five hour a week is a lot,” says Chris Boothe, president and chief operating officer of Starcom, a media buying firm. “There just hasn’t been a lot of innovation in daytime. Bringing in new characters here and there, or various bands or musical acts to appear in the cliché bar or hospital party, is not going to get someone to say, ‘I’m gonna watch this for five hours.’”
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I love that EW.com has covered soaps more frequently in the last months. People love their soaps and I think this genre will always have a special place in people’s heart. Is it a dying breed? Maybe. But so it all of broadcast TV, including primetime. Daytime is just at a disadvantage because it’s always had a smaller audience. But what is hastening the demise of soaps is two things: Network interference and an abandonment of traditional soap storytelling. TIIC (the idiot in control) need to go back and watch old tapes from the 1980s and 1990s and learn from what was successful back then.
I couldn’t agree more. The soaps soared when they were controlled by a creative people who weren’t completely controlled by the network. God bless Brad Bell, Agnes Nixon, & Gloria Monty!!
Sonny and Jason killed General Hospital. I stopped watching because of those two and when I try now I have to change the channel when they are on screen. jonathan jackson and the chance to see original Lucky and Liz on GH brought me back but then they lost me again because of too much Jason and sonny. They are horrible characters that are always made to be the heroes. I think a way to save GH is to kill off those two characters.
i admit that i have not been the most consistent soap watcher over the years. i used to watch Y&R, B&B, ATWT, and GH every day when i was in college (my classes were always in the early mornings and late afternoon/evenings), but now i only watch GH (and that’s because i’m unemployed but go to school at night). as for james franco saving daytime, is he really that big of a star? i’ll watch GH anyway, not cuz he’s going to be on the show. soaps aren’t what they once were, especially with other shows like gossip girl, ugly betty, 90210, etc. (which i don’t watch, but understand that they are kinda like soaps, but i could be mistaken) that are on in primetime. on the other hand, soaps have helped many of the bigger a-list celebs today get started: julianne moore, halle berry, meg ryan, etc. maybe it’s just a trend, maybe soaps will get popular again, maybe a young soap star now will become a big time star in a few years, who knows?
Well maybe if soaps had better writers and stop with all these gimmicks it wouldn’t be going out in flames. In the 90’s I couldn’t stop watching GH if I wanted to. I finally stopped in 2007 after the Liason relationship blew up. I tuned back in now that Liz is has a great storyline. They need Claire back to write for GH. Less Al Pacino wannbe Sonny and his T2 Jason. Also Y&R use to be a great soap. I don’t know what happened. The Black characters are only shown on the 1st and 15th of the month. Victor is super annoying. He causes so much pain and damage and never gets punished for it. For people to stay with soaps, they need to write it better. Like OLTL. Besides the horrible Todd/Blair thing, that show it super good.
I agree about Victor on Y&R. I was soooooooooo hoping Eric Braeden would stick it out and make the show find a different villian.
As much as I love long standing characters on daytime, there is only so much the writers can do with them to keep them in the forefront (Erica Kane, Viki Lord, Lucinda Walsh, Adam Chandler).
Exec’s need to recognize when to cut the cord on some of these actors/characters before they actually start to bring down the shows. Days got rid of Deirdre and Drake just in time. It was not all that they had no good storylines that could have played out for them, it was a question of salary. Each of them had been on the show since the early 80’s. The money that was going to their salaries are probably paying for the salaries of 10-12 younger actors or back stage people, any of whom can come out to the fore as a star/director in the future.
Personally, I’d be cool with a Mon, Wed, Fri soap, since it seems nothing really exciting happens on all 5 days.
” be cool with a Mon, Wed, Fri soap, since it seems nothing really exciting happens on all 5 days.”
So true . That is definitely where soaps could innovate, changing up the predicable rhythms and structures of how stories are told… Have climactic moments and cliffhangers introduced on Tuesdays and Thursdays and not let everything always be a big Friday reveal … but would changing the format in such a way be jarring for some long time viewers, probably. And Soaps still need to work on their diversity of characters – not just ethnically , but in regards to professions and class.
I agree with Kvivik and Buzz. A Mon, Wed, Fri soap format would be something to try. Yes they nedd more diversity in all areas.
I agree with you, Sina. It always comes back to writing. Y&R has had a horrible past few years with stories that don’t make any sense and run off on illogical tangents. Same with GH. Get rid of Sonny. I don’t get how a gangster has become a hero. And he’s not much of a gangster, either! He’s always being investigated by the feds, yet he never seems to do anything, let alone anything illegal. Also, if Sonny was really a Mob boss, he’d be heavily involved in drugs, gambling and prostitution. Not exactly the role model most people want their kids to see on TV. Either figure out what he really is, good guy or bad, or get rid of him altogether.
Sorry, forgot to add that I agree with Sina’s point about black actors, as well. What the heck happened to Neil? He’s barely ever on. He was having what looked like a nice budding romance with Tyra, then she slept with Neil’s son (WTF?!?) and then left the show! Seriously?
I agree with both posts. Remember when the Winters were on all the time. Imiss Malcolm and Drew.
I’ve never watched a single episode of General Hospital (or any other soap,) but I’ll definitely DVR the show for Franco’s stint. I love him!
I say that General Hospital needs to end its Run.Its been on the Air since the 1960s.Its time for a new show to Takeover the 2:00pm spot.
No, No, No GH is in my blood. I have been watching GH longer than I have been alive. Yes, I am addicted and yes, there has been some crappy years for GH but to not have my GH oh, how sad
No, another show on ABC at 2:00 wont do.
its a 3pm spot. actually and sonny and jason make the storyline almost every week, so you should probably stick to what you do as a day job; clearly you can’t see what writing works.
The hell it does. Who cares that it’s been on in the air for a long time. I need my GH fix and so do many others, don’t want to see it end. I hope all the shows you love end soon too.
I am a huge GH fan since ‘72. I was only 2 yrs old but I clearly remember the Laura and Scotty storyline and then when Luke crashed the party. I have watched other soaps, but I have consistently watched GH nonstop. While agree there is too much focus on the Sonny/Jason/Mob storyline, I will never stop GH unless it’s cancelled.
I’ve been a soap watcher since college, especially GH which I have watched on and off since 1977. People (not the magazine but in general) talk about the death of daytime dramas because the ratings are so down. But you have to take into account back in 1977-1978 when GH was in its heyday and made the cover of Time Magazine, there were only about seven television channels to choose from while now some people have seven HUNDRED or more.
GH is a fine example of an excellent cast that is being chained to bad story lines and worse writing. Then you have a show like ATWT which suffers in the ratings but has such excellent writing I don’t understand why! Can daytime dramas be saved? The answer is YES with the condition that the networks want to save them. If they do not, they are already on the right road to kill them…especially such stalwarts like GH that has to be about the worst written show on TV, daytime or primetime.
Linda, check the ratings. ATWT and GH are usually within 1 rating point of another. The only soap not swapping postions week to week is Y & R which has been #1 for 20 some years.
Anyone who thinks that soaps are dead, should come to my office and view the gasping group of professionals that sit around Y&R in our breakroom. It’s hilariously awesome.
I loved GH, and then they broke up my favourite couple and I broke up with them. But now that that couple is apparently back together, I just can’t justify the 5 hours a week. If GH was only 2, I’d probably welcome it back into my life.
I’m sorry but to break up with a show because they broke up your favorite couple…your not a fan because true fans don’t break up with a show because something happens on it you don’t like. FYI, favorite couples are supposed to break up with each other, IT’S A SOAP OPERA!
I don’t get why people don’t understand that. Soaps been breaking up couples since the dawn of time yet when Jason and Sam broke up their fans were ready to riot.
I stopped watching the soaps because my favorite couple left the show. I considered myself a true fan. The rest of the show was horrible. So yes if the only good thing about the show was the couple in her oppinion, and she stopped watching it, it doesn’t not make her a true fan. Why waste your time if the stuff is going to be crap. I also hate it when they break up and make up couples over and over again. There is more to soaps then that and any TRUE fan of soaps would know that.
Better writing would save soaps. Y&R is a perfect example of shoddy writing. They have ruined the Adam character whom I actually liked when he first came on the scene. The new Billy doesn’t cut it either, and the art storyline with Deacon is a snooze.Bill Bell would roll over in his grave if he saw the demise of this one consistently great show.
Y&R is the only soap I watch, I actually think, as far as writing and acting, it’s superior to the others. But I agree with you about Adam. He was always a little shady, but he has turned into full on creep, and just plain evil. And I really hope this Ashley raising Sharon’s baby thing doesn’t go on for YEARS. As far as Deacon goes, I actually like him! I am really intrigued with this whole Deacon/Ryder/Ryder’s mom thing and can’t wait to see how it plays out. And I think Amber is better matched with him, her and Daniel do not go together at all. I actually like Billy, just NOT with Mac. They have zero chemistry and she has absolutely no personality.
I stopped watching General Hospital about a year ago. Both ABC and General Hospital talk a good deal about respecting family, romance and history and yet when they brought all that together with Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber — two of the most historic families in the series’ history — and gave them a child, they took 3 years to get to the point of being a couple, then ended them overnight. It made zero sense. Now Elizabeth is unrecognizable, Jason is intent on taking down a woman because she harmed a childed while sleeping with the woman who harmed HIS child. He looks awful. There’s no romance on the show. No family. No history. Just stunts. They deserve to lose the audience. 5 days of junk or 2 days of junk. It’s all the same in the end.
Yes a Webber/Hardy and a Quatermaine together. That is history also considering that Liz’s father use to be married to Jason’s adopted mother Monica. Also Liz’s father was married to Jason’s birth mother’s cousin. So much history and then nothing. Stupid.
The only thing that can really save soaps is for the networks to stop meddling beyond hiring people that actually love and respect soaps to write and produce them. So long as writers like Robert Guza and Charles Pratt are allowed to dumb down soaps and turn them into live action cartoons filled with morally ambiguous or downright morally bankrupt characters, soaps have no chance of survival. Guza has slowly decimated the quality, creativity and ratings of GH over the course of multiple years and he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere – and Pratt is currently trying to out-Guza Guza.
I’ve been watching General Hospital since I was 8 years old and that was 30 years ago. I tivo it everyday and it’s my guilty pleasure that I look forward to. Yes, it’s stupid. Yes, the writing is pretty bad. Still, I look forward to my 45 minutes of someone else’s drama each evening. I would hate to see it disappear.
I’ve watched every soap that’s on right now at one time or another. I have turned the tv off. The storylines aren’t gripping anymore. I agree with the posters who say writers need to look to the past for inspiration. search the archives of the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s.
All of these soaps need better writing. It needs to smart.
I think it wiser to cut eps to half an hour (ala B&B) rather than only air them two or three times a week. At least they could then have a consistent timeslot, and I think only having to commit to 30 minutes would probably help busy viewers.
I’m in the demographic 18-49 demographic that apparently all the networks are losing and have been faithfully watching General Hospital for the past several months. I’m still a little new to all the history on the show, but I enjoy the show. The writing could be better, but actors on there make the most with what they are given. I think soaps should be less controlled by networks and more by writers who are passionate about writing quality material and hiring great actors to play them. I mentioned that James Franco will be on GH to a work friend who used to watch GH and that got her interested again. As long as something new can be brought to the table instead of the millionth, “who kidnapped the baby” or “whose the father” storyline then maybe more viewers will come. On GH, I came for Maxie and Spinelli, but will keep watching for Lulu and Dante!
Agreed..Lulu and Dante are gold! I hope the writers don’t screw them up.
I really hope daytime can find a way to stay alive. I love my daily GH fix after a long day!! Although there is no way I would watch if I didn’t have PVR.
Totally agree about Lulu and Dante! I started watching GH a few years ago in college, stopped watching for a while and recently started watching again in anticipation for James Franco and because I was intrigued by Johnathan Jackson as Lucky and I have to say that the Lulu/Dante storyline is what’s keeping pulled in.
i agree with what people are saying, soaps need writers that actually care about the show’s history and listen to what the viewers want to see. I mean, Guza over at GH needs to seriously look at what people have been saying about him and his storylines! nobody likes them!
When is Franco gonna hurry up and do the Jeff Buckley biopic
Stunt casting won’t save soaps. What would save soaps would be a return to the good writing of the past and an abandonment of trying to copy primetime shows. I loved GH for many years until the writers decided to make it into a poor Sopranos. Sonny was a good supporting character, but the heart of the show has always been super couples like Luke and Laura. When it became the Sonny show and everybody had a gun, I stopped watching. I have watched this week because of the return of JJ to play Lucky, but I won’t continue if his return is the same as so many other favorites has been–a couple of great shows and then return to bloody gunplay.
I agree. I have so much hate for fictional characters that I can’t watch what was once my fave soap. haha! seriously.
I think the reasons soaps are dying is because of the writing and a perfect example is All My Children. Charles Pratt has made a mess of Agnes Nixon’s wonderful show. We need new blood and writers who write character driven stories not the plot story that Pratt seems to think is so good. It’s awful. My mother was a soap fan and I have watched since I was a child and the one thing that has kept me watching is good story. Bring on all the famous actors and it won’t save soaps unless the writing is good. Story should come from character was the number one rule of people like Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell and Doug Marland.
Brian Frons needs to be fired from ABC. He thought he would come in and make the soaps what he wanted but what he wanted and what the viewer wanted were two different things.
The reason Y&R has stayed on top is because they have stayed the course and by that I mean they write simple stories that appeal to the viewer, charracter driven stories.
I’m in that 18-49 demo and believe me I love my soaps but then I tune into AMC which I have watched practically my whole life and I cringe at what’s become of my beloved show.
Charles Pratt hates woman and yet he’s writing a soap which woman watch. He writes woman as pathetic soles who can’t survive without a man and who are constantly dumbed down. Tell me, what woman do you know who wants to watch this type of story. He’s had the same dialogue going for months now so that you don’t have to tune in to know exactly what’s being said. He’s take a great actors and given them bland stories that they can’t even make real.
This is the problem with the soaps on ABC and we owe their demise to Brian Frons. I watch all three of these shows and see Mr. Frons’ influence on two, GH and AMC, and it’s very sad. I will say that OLTL is the only one out of the three that doesn’t seem to be touched by Frons and it shows (maybe that’s why this is being targeted to be cancelled).
Anne Sweeney should wake up and start doing her job.
I used to watch GH for over 25 years but Brian Frons & Bob Guza have turned that show into a mob show that I have now stopped watching it. As much as I like Franco not even his appearance will get me to watch that soap again. What will it the replacement of Frons & Guza. They like Charles Pratt HW of AMC are the cause of driving fans of soaps away. As long as ABC keeps those incompetent hacks in charger ABC daytime TV will continue to loose its viewers.
Charles Pratt, Gob Guza and their partner in misogyny, Brian Frons, hate women. Really, obviously hate women. The female characters on the two shows they’re most involved in, AMC and GH, are the stereotypical Madonnas or, well, you know. Usually you know. In addition to this, they also seem to think we’re too stupid to realize what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. I simply do not understand how Anne Sweeney can allow this trio of death to continue with their rampage through daytime and not do something about it. Why aren’t any of these execs and writers paying attention to Y&R? Their ratings are usually twice what the ABC shows are, and they all have strong, resourceful women. When Y&R has a story that works, they expand on it, woo the audience with it. AMC, on the other hand, has it sleep with someone for no reason and GH just shoots it in the foot. Respect for the audience is the key, and honestly, OLTL is the only ABC soap that still has it. AMC and GH have estranged their audiences and not cared that we were gone.
Ha! Gob Guza. How appropriate.
yes, it’s all about the writing. nixon, marland, labine…all the old school writers knew how to be innovative while still sticking to the most important soap staples: humor, romance, family, intrigue, etc. AMC has always been ‘my’ show and I still DVR it, but under Pratt’s writing regime, I can watch a whole week’s worth of shows in less than an hour. I hate to see my beloved show this lame.
Yes, it funny/sad/ironic to think of earlier days or GL , ATWT and AW as being classic benchmarks in the genre but they were …then again there were less options to watch other things then
I totally agree. I love AMC but the writing has made the show hard to watch. I used to watch the whole show but now i fastforeward through many of the characters storylines because i find them boring. One of the only reasons im watching AMC is because of Zach and Kendall and the writers are starting to ruin that too. i really hope they keep Zach and Kendall together and i hope AMC writing can finally redeem itself.
I’ve got to give a shoutout for One Life to Live. It does all the right things: good dialogue, interesting storylines (their baby switch storyline was far better than the lame one that Y&R is attempting right now), good use of a multi-generational cast, and they give black cast members good storylines and don’t just relegate them to the backburner (again, Y&R) and then drag them out when they need them. I really hope that OLTL outlasts ALC and GH. It’s a far better show. There are times when I wish it could be on primetime.
IAWTC! IAWTC so much! OLTL is easily the best soap on television right now because of the diversity of its cast and the commitment to excellent storylines. There are several soaps that I like to think of as acting soaps, because the talent has to drive the storyline where the writing can’t, but OLTL has great acting AND great writing. It’s a shame about all the cancellation rumors because it’s the only soap that I think is making an effort to move forward in making its characters reflect the year 2009–an ethnically diverse multi-generational cast with gay characters integrated into storylines. ATWT has Nuke but waste them and can’t commit to showing them as a real couple, and Y&R abandoned its gay characters. If soaps need to be forward-thinking they should all just look at OLTL.
I don’t know why people don’t get why if a favorite person/couple is leaved or fired off, please leave.
More importantly, if new writers kill a character off by having them do something that is totally off character, the same soap watchers will stop watching as well.
I am 41, fell in love with soaps as child, would not go out to play with the other kids but grew up on ABC soaps. Edge of Night talk to me! Continued watching in college, but just focused on GH. Stopped during the Asian Quarter nightmare and came back. I finally gave up years ago when Lucky slept with Maxie and acquired a drug habit. Lucky? Lucky Spencer? I could see the drugs (maybe) but he woudl hav never cheated on Liz. The writers clearly had no concept of the characater and lost me FOREVER.
General Hospital is number 10 in the ratings calling it the
Goodfella’s especially Friday’s show.. James plays a man obessed
with Jason.. Lucky had a drug problem and Maxie worked at G>H
and got him the pills ..
GREG VAUGHN HAS A NEW JOB ON
BH 90210….started taping this
week see his twitter page..
I don’t know if bringing James Franco on GH will boost the ratings for that show, but I’ll watch it anyway! I agree with some of the posts that OLTL is the best and most interesting show on the ABC daytime schedule, but they need to do something with that terrible Stacy storyline! The fact that she got that gay cop Oliver Fish drunk and got preggers by him to pass off the baby as the baby she got miscarried by Rex so she can hook up with him is SADISTACALLY SICK AND HORRIBLE!!!! I wonder how the writers will get themselves out of that messy corner?!?!? I mean they wrote this beautifully touching romantic gay Kish storyline,(Kyle Lewis being the other half of kish)and yet they throw this Stacy baby mama wrench in the middle of the whole show!!! Will they resolve it by Fish and Kyle suing for custody of the kid or drive a bigger wedge or obstacle between Kyle and Fish?
You have to admit though lately OLTL has been dropping the ball. It’s great they have Ross and Elijah as brother, those two are great but Tea keeping Ross from his daughter and Blair acting like a freakin fool over Todd? Don’t forget Dorian’s upcoming marriage to the most boring lesbian on tv. I actually love Stacy now that Kim is with her. I’m waiting for Kim/Bo to hook up. I would love to see Kish fight for custody of the baby just as long as the storyline doesn’t turn into an after school special about gays being about to adopt kids. Seeing Kish being parents and Layla and Cristina as the godparents would be good.
This being a soap, I think it’s likely that we’ll find out the baby isn’t Oliver’s after-all, or she’ll miscarry, or the baby will go up for adoption… there are still a lot of possibilities for this, and considering that OLTL has just pointed out today that Kyle and Fish aren’t ready to be married, I can’t imagine that means they’ll soon be ready for a child. I don’t think OLTL has been dropping the ball lately–okay, I’m sick of the Matthew storyline and Greg/Rachel/Shaun. I think OLTL is making progress in a way I wish all soaps would.
I know daytime t.v. has its cliches and over the top moments, but it is not all that bad. I for one am really enjoying the Kyle and Fish storyline.
I used to watch AMC and GH. Now I watch neither. I feel like both of these shows started their severe decline around the time Brian Frons took charge at ABC Daytime.