That is true about the way things are being done today. But it wasn't always the case. Until about 18 yrs ago, soaps (particularly the P&G owned shows) had a creative team approach. HWs & EPs had a lot more creative input into what happened. There WAS a difference when TPTB (Corp) changed HWs & EPs. Each soap had its own 'voice'/perspective that was unique. They may have all done similar storylines, but their perspectives were each unique. That isn't the case anymore & hasn't been for many yrs, to the detriment of the genre. P&G used to have a team approach, w/the Exec. In Charge of Production being a conduit between the creative team of each show, Corp. & the network. That just isn't the case anymore. In recent yrs, Corp. put an end to the position of Exec. In Charge of Production. Fans said for yrs, that 'if only Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin (MADD) was gone, everything would improve'. I have yet to see that & she has been gone for any positive changes to have been made. If anything, both ATWT & GL have gone further downhill. They certainly haven't increased viewership or strengthened their fan base! eom
Posted by: Matt & Vanessa fan
Date posted: Mon Jul 21 23:49:47 2008
Message:
I am sure they could decide to end it whenever they choose, but at the moment GL is renewed with CBS until September 2009. I don't imagine that they would end the show much earlier than that because of contracts set in place. A lot of people on contract with GL (head writers, producers, others) would have to be paid until Sep 2009 anyway, so I imagine P&G will stick to Sep 2009 at the minimum.
When GL started its new format, CBS said they wanted to try it out for at least 2 years. If they are indeed saving a lot of money, they must have more profit than they did before, which is really all the business people care about.
Soap ratings are down in general. And you're probably the millionth person to predict that GL will be cancelled. Well, as I've said before, yes, eventually it will be, and everyone can come on here and make posts with message lines that say "I told you so."
The good thing is that even though a lot of you make these predictions, you still seem to be tuning in. We just need more viewers. Let's hope they start tuning in soon.
Posted by: Starla
Date posted: Mon Jul 21 10:38:54 2008
Message:
Walter, you're not the only one to feel that way. I listened to the Daytime Confidential podcast with Michael Fairman. Everyone involved is a HUGE soap fan, and they all agreed that GL is dieing. The only thing I can say is that this isn't a death - it's an execution.
http://tvfanonline.libsyn.com/ is the link for the podcasts.
Posted by: L.A.
Date posted: Mon Jul 21 0:18:07 2008
Message:
Mmmm, I stand corrected. But I jumped over to whats left of AW's poast board and things seem to be very different for the two shows. Viewers of AW all said that there were no significant changes(maybe some extra suckey SL's..)or drastic things that would suggest cancellation, here today gone tommorow apparently. But Gl has tried everything, old and new, under the Sun to keep relevant, to keep up with changing times and trends, and appeal to a younger audience. Now how could anyone, or anything (P&G)invest that kind of time, and I'm guessing some money, in to something they want to see DEAD??
Replies: (list all replies)
Because P&G can. For them, the millions that it costs to produce a soap every year is a drop in the bucket for a worldwide conglomerate like P&G. They do business the way they want to, because they can. They see themselves as being 'above' basic business theories & practices. If any other business said that millions of customers standing outside their doors wasn't enough to open for business, they would be considered bad business people. P&G does it & it is considered no big deal! AW was having a turnaround in viewership numbers just before the cancellation was announced. They didn't change their storylines until the announcement was made, then they did what many other soaps have done at the end, doing more outrageous, unbelieveable stories. But the show only had a few weeks' notice of the cancellation. Just a few weeks prior to the announcement of the end of production by P&G, the same company was saying that they had 'no intentions' of ending AW's run, lying to the audience/fans, cast, crew & staff! eom
Posted by: RoseVioletDaisy
Date posted: Sun Jul 20 23:05:51 2008
Message:
The thing I've never understood about the P&G conspiracy theory is why would they bother killing GL, or ATWT for that matter, so slowly in the first place? That in and of itself has cost them money. If they truly wanted out of the soap business, they could've been out of it completely 10 years ago. They could've pulled the plug on GL and ATWT as soon as possible after AW got canned, but they didn't. Why not? P&G didn't even cancel AW in the first place, NBC did because they wanted to own the show in that time slot and P&G couldn't get AW on any of the other networks because their daytime lineups were full.
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Trying to understand WHY P&G does things the way they do is pointless. As with a lot of things they do (most having nothing to do w/soap operas), they do it because they can. They don't think that basic business sense applies to them & never have--at least for the last 50-100 yrs. While they keep crying about the cost of soaps, they don't appreciate the cost of the loss of good will that is generated by their actions towards soaps. But then, they've said before that they could lose (collectively) the entire soap opera audience as customers & it wouldn't impact their bottom line negatively--because they are looking at the worldwide numbers. What they also don't appreciate is how successful soaps can be/are in foreign markets, some of which have not seen soaps before! American/US soaps are very popular overseas & many countries have used the model to generate public health education because of the proven success in reaching people through drama rather than some dry, cold piece of literature or some public health workers. These big businesses don't blink an eye on spending a year's budget for a soap on some executive's salary, bonuses & golden parachute. But they balk at it when it comes w/the 'soap opera' label. eom
Posted by: Roxie
Date posted: Sun Jul 20 22:48:32 2008
Message:
Oh yeah walter, I used to be an overnight cashier at 7/11 many years ago in Houston, TX. It was not that bad. I kind of enjoyed that job! The pay wasn't great, but it was one of my most interesting and likeable jobs I've had, so where did you come up with that particular job for EWs hell? I've had a lot worse jobs I'd like to see her in! I'd say a chicken plant, eviscerating fresh killed poultry, pulling the guts out over their opened 'bottom-side' on an assembly line. I did that and the 7/11 job was great afterwards.
Replies: (list all replies)
Maybe he's factoring in the number of fatal late night robberies that happen at 7-11(and others..).Like a kill-em-all vid game, maybe. L.A.
Posted by: Roxie
Date posted: Sun Jul 20 22:38:24 2008
Message:
walter, you may be right, you may be wrong. Who knows. I do know that with all your negativity and whining and complaining that you would have to be proud if it is cancelled. Some of us wouldn't be so happy about it. I don't know why you are still around since you hate the show so much and you continue to remind us every day how bad it is and an embarrassment. We all watch the same show and all have our opinions. If Reva and Josh getting back together is for a finale, so be it. It just may be that they are trying to save the show. YOU don't know.
Posted by: walter curtin
Date posted: Sun Jul 20 21:45:00 2008
Message:
You can scream at me all you like. But P&G wants out of this business. They have cancelled Another World, Search for Tomorrow, Edge of Night, Love of Life, Somerset, Secret Storm and a couple of others. They want OUT. They've reduced Guiding Light to a joke with NO budget. You may not like Harley on this board, but she was a MAJOR part of the show and they let her leave. They forced Martha Byrne out at ATWT, treating her like krap in the process. Ehlers too, And Ricky Paul Goldin. Most of the GL cast is now recurring, not on contract. WAKE UP! There are no sets, no editors. They've picked it apart until nothing is left. A 'bible' is written. Josh and Reva re-wed, there'a big finale. It's in the works. As it should be by now. Watch GL on You Tube. The current show is an EMBARRASSMENT.
Posted by: L.A.
Date posted: Sat Jul 19 14:36:09 2008
Message:
The last time a Soap was cancelled it was Passions, that was a strange concept type show, not traditional Soap fare, so it didn't catch on. GL has been around in one form or another for 75 years for cripessake!! You think a little tooling with locations and filming styles is gonna end up in cancellation? Writers come and go, some capable of great SL, some not so much, but it will take more than a crappy sl patch, I think. And the 'new' filming is being copied already by other Soaps (AMC for one) so somebody must be watching.Cheer up WC, you'll have years to complain about GL.
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P&G pulled the plug on AW after 35 yrs. Hardly a flash in the pan, or momentary 'success'!! AW also had a strong, loyal following, which didn't stop P&G. They had no desire to sell ANY of their shows or put them on cable. They just wanted to errode them to nothing, for no good reason, except that they want to. Yes, there are good storytellers out there, but this is no longer a storytellers' medium! More than one career soap writer has left because of the change from being part of the creative team to being nothing more than taking orders from non-storytellers & disregarding established history. eom
Some people really took the cancellation of AW extremely hard! They bring it up all the time like there's a comparison, which I don't see (but I'm sure I'll hear..AGAIN). Personally I didn't care for AW and didn't care when it was cancelled. GL is totally different. Roxie
They didn't just
Roxie: There are those out there who don't like soaps & who could care less if ANY of them air. That is where P&G is. That doesn't mean that there aren't passionate fans out there who want soaps, in general, to stay as part of the daytime landscape. Secret Storm, Search For Tomorrow, Edge of Night & even Loving had their fans who didn't want to see the end of those shows either. There are still fans of those shows who are talking about them, decades after cancellation. That wouldn't be any different for GL. Since there aren't new soaps filling the void when a soap is cancelled (for lack of a better term), it IS different. TPTB (Corp) are constantly looking for ways to do things on the cheap & airing Infomercials or syndicated programming are cheaper than producing a daily drama. A lot of Suits are penny wise, but pound foolish about this. They don't appreciate the decades of good will that have been generated by soaps & that just don't exist for what passes for high brow tv these days--like the daytime version of Deal or No Deal and the newest 'judge' on the market. IMO, there is no comparison when it comes to what replaces soaps--even Passions. As I've said before, there is nothing 'natural' about the death of the genre of soap opera! eom
Posted by: Leprechaun
Date posted: Sat Jul 19 13:49:35 2008
Message:
I'm still trying to catch an episode once a week but usually only end up watching for 10 minutes before turning it off because it's just SO wretchedly depressing. The show is depressing and what they've done to the show is even more so.
If they kill off Harley off-screen in the coming week, we'll know they have no soul left.
Replies: (list all replies)
I think that's coming....with Harley.
Posted by: rainydays
Date posted: Sat Jul 19 13:22:05 2008
Message:
Walter, your such a bundle of fun!
Posted by: crackers
Date posted: Sat Jul 19 11:53:15 2008
Message:
Yeah, he's right, GL will be canceled. Someday.
Putting Josh and Reva back together might be setting up for the end, but it also might mean they are trying to turn things around, starting there. I am not a Josh fan, but even I can see they have that certain something together. More than Reva and Jeffery and more than Josh and Cassie. Since everything is new, the show needs some sense of comfortable, and Josh/Reva are the only ones left who can provide that.
Posted by: muffin
Date posted: Sat Jul 19 0:45:46 2008
Message:
ya know, i've held my tongue for awhile now. i realize that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and can say whatever they want on this board, but i must say walter, that i'm tired of your negative comments. i know, i know, you're gonna say if i don't like them then don't read them right? well, all i'm gonna say is IF YOU DON'T LIKE GL THEN DON'T WATCH IT! i admit, it's not the same show i used to watch with my grandma, but i still enjoy it. so turn your tv off if you don't like what you see....'nuff said.
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I'm with you. I enjoy it. If you want a different genre of show...watch it...or don't watch anything if you like but we who do like GL want it to continue
Problem is, if Walter and a few others take your advice, they'll be nothing for you to
muffin, used to watch with my grandma too; she died in the mid 80s. I'm still watching it, and enjoying many of the SLs, and LOVE all the bright greenery they have here! It's so pretty! I'm hoping it will still be going for quite a while! I think Reva still has plenty of fight left in her! fee
I have a similar story with my grandmother too fee...
Posted by: fee
Date posted: Fri Jul 18 23:03:55 2008
Message:
I'm totally shocked! I thought you always thought it was going to be going off the next week! Do you REALLY think it can last until December?????
Replies: (list all replies)
nice shot, fee! vh
I mean, every day he's back on with a ''they're going to cancel it by the end of the week or something!'' I mean, does he do nothing but make predictions of the days GL and ATWT will be cancelled? Maybe it's his job and he's paid to do it? I can't think why anyone else would spend their life worrying about something like that on a daily basis! fee
Posted by: Rosebud1
Date posted: Fri Jul 18 19:39:04 2008
Message:
P&G was doing this long before EW came along! They've had the end as an agenda for a long time. But I don't count the show(s) out until P&G makes the announcement. They didn't give the creative team much time to come up w/a really good finale for AW, why would you think they would do something different this time around?
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Rosebud1, if you discovered that someone in your city was embezzling large amounts of money from the school, would your only response be to say, 'Well, she's hardly the first embezzler who ever lived.'?
No, I think it would be more like, It's not really the embezzlers that are doing it. It's someone else's fault, and they won't let embezzlers just be embezzlers. fee
fee: You haven't got a clue about what I would like to see happen to an embezzler. My grandmother had the majority of her funds embezzled by a family member, who wanted more $$ from the family when they got caught. EW isn't embezzling $$, she is being paid to do a job that her bosses are happy with! That isn't embezzling, it is earning the $$ that she is paid. The reality is that the damage being done isn't being done by EW personally, it is mandated by her bosses at P&G. If EW was gone tomorrow, nothing would change. How long did people say that 'if only MADD was gone...' Well, MADD has been gone for quite awhile, but the problems blamed on her have only continued! eom
Did I switch over to Judge Judy by mistake? L.A.
Oh yeah, I think fee has a clue. I think we all have a clue as to the way you think. You tell us every day. The only one clueless about any of this is YOU, Rosebud. Any complaint about EW is justified by you and the problems ''are nothing new'' and you go to comparing to other HWs. We don't care. This is now and EW is responsible and EW sucks and EW is the one who is RIGHT NOW driving this soap into the ground all by herself and you cannot blame it on anyone else. EW will go down in history as the one who destroyed GL. She may not be embezzling $$, but she is doing far worse and you are supporting her for it! And do not dare come back and say that it has been done before!! I ain't the only one sick of hearing that tired line! Roxie
Roxie: I'm not supporting EW. I'm saying that we aren't really seeing HER work, we're seeing her making mandates from her Corp. bosses happen. If she wasn't keeping them happy she would be out of a job! It isn't about her personally & never has been. She wasn't hired to be anything but a loyal employee. She has worked, in one capacity or another, for P&G for a significant portion of her professional life. Soaps in general would be doing far better if they were left in the hands of the writers, producers & directors. Even most of the actors would do a better job telling stories for their characters than we've been seeing, across the board. eom
Posted by: Spaulding Butler
Date posted: Fri Jul 18 17:50:49 2008
Message:
Your comment regarding test patterns is hilarious, Walter. And don't forget -- test patterns are also much more interesting to watch than contemporary GL!
Replies: (list all replies)
Wow!! you two old crabs should think about 'hookin up'!! seriously. L.A.
Spaulding Butler} I didn’t realize that this board prohibited the expression of opinions contrary to your own. And all this time, I thought I was free to state whatever opinion I had regarding GL, whether positive or negative. Sorry! (And I would never recommend match-making as a sideline career!)
I'm all about freedom of speech! I just think you two would make a cute couple, so Barbara Streisand I'm not.lol. L.A.
