P&G Exec on Daytime Soaps: "I Think They've Run Their Course"

It's sad but it's true.

We will be lucky if there are any soaps left in 10 years.

Time to start saving your pennies soap actors.

Ten years? Try two. Seriously.

I'm pretty sure Soaps will be with us for a while. I'm not worried.

they should be ashamed of themselves yes the genre is dying because of modern advancements but when you sit there and do nothing for your shows it shows you dont care about the people that loved guilding light and as the world turns by them not caring to put fresh new talent instead of hacks to write shows and not give storlyline and characters that the audience loves screenplay they distroy the genre itself what was really sad was the last episode of guilding light horrible i asked a friend of mine who never watched an episide of guilding light to watch the last episode with me and she was falling asleep literally it was painful to watch from revas legendary i baptise myself the slut of springfield to this is pathetic. and the genre is dying is bull these proc and gamble AKA croc and dumbo and network execs only want money revenue if tables were turned and strangley more people woked at night and primetime was dying and people stayed home in the day and soaps were getting average of 5.0 like they use to they would say primetime is dying run its course its about money and lazyness soaps are there for so many people and effects us in our darkess hours when noone was there soaps were there and for many at one point all somepeople had SMH SHAMEFULL

Soaps are dying because they are not entertaining us day in and day out and we tune out or we don't watch as often.

One year ago, I was watching Y&R daily and sometimes watching the episodes twice because they were so good.
Now...not so much...

Soaps are only dying because they do not have fresh blood. Get some new people in to write / produce from nighttime tv. Poeple will still turn in if they have something new to watch. People are tuning out because the storylines suck. It's the same storylines that they've done for years and years and years.

I was tuning into OLTL because of Kish, because it was new and different but since the something new was fired, I'm not watching anymore. See cause and effect?

 I think they'll go to one-hour, once a week (like primetime shows) before they go away all together.

This is complete BS!! They just need to hire people with enough creativity and understanding of what viewers REALLY want to see, as opposed to shuffling the same hacks around that have been writing daytime shows for the past 20+ years!! Most of these people have demonstrated very little, if any, creativity or ingenuity!!!

This genre is too important to be killed by a bunch of creatively bankrupt executives!! Creative writing and interesting characters will NEVER go out of style!!! These people are just lazy and willfully indifferent. They don't care about the culture of daytime soaps, all they care about is making money, but if they did care, perhaps they would do the necessary work to find the right people to get the job done.

Soaps are dying because of lazy executives, not because the genre is no longer interesting or viable. Primetime television is built on the notion of continuing drama, and building characters. Just because primetime is only 25 episodes a year as opposed to 250 episodes, people still want to be told a good story!!!

Just roll over and admit defeat??? What a pathetic and cowardly way to run a business!!!!

Irna Phillips is probably rolling over in her grave at this man's statements.......As is William Bell Sr, and Douglas Marland. They would've never subscribed to the notion that daytime dramas are "dead".....

The only thing that has run it's course is lousy writing, poor production values, and bad acting.

Good story telling NEVER goes out of style.

I think that for soaps to survive in the future, they need to look to the past and incorporate what was really great about soaps back then - superior writing and story telling.  Back in the 60s and 70s, soaps were able to tell good story in a 30-minute period of time; we aren't getting good story in an entire hour nowadays.

Obviously, the soap viewing audience has changed over the years.  We'll probably never see ratings for soaps like the ones we saw back in the 70s and 80s but I think that soaps can improve their current ratings if they would just tell good story and give us some realism.  Even the venerable The Young and the Restless isn't doing this lately and they set the bar for good writing and realism.  Things need to change or, unfortunately, P&G's comment will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Jesus, take the wheel!!

I think the network suits are what is ruining the genre.  Too many execs sticking their nose into the creative process due to "focus groups", etc.  I'm not saying the writers are perfect, but I think there is a point where the network execs need to just butt out and let the writers write.  When the networks became so obsessed with the focus groups they kind of lost sight of the bigger picture.  I think the reason DOOL managed to raise in the ratings last year was because NBC was all ready to put a fork in it and call it done, so they stayed out of the creative process, fully planning on pulling the plug early this year.  In return, SOMEONE (Gary Tomlin maybe?) managed to slow down the pace to an actual soap opera pace, and crafted the often frustrating, but fully soapy baby switch storyline. 

I also think that we're in a day and age where the viewer is not an idiot, and soaps often treat the viewers like they're idiots.  This trial on GH is a perfect example of that, there are so many loopholes, so many things wrong with the whole trial.  GH isn't a bad soap, it's actually quite compelling and has been for months now, but there are still random moments where the ends don't justify the means.  Remember when Andrea Floyd broke into the Davis home and sent supposed emails to her husband from Alexis?  Yet no one thought to check the date stamps of the emails to see when the emails were actually sent.  This is nonsense, it's stuff that a child can figure out, yet someone up top (Guza, Frons, I dunno) says to just go ahead and do it because it's necessary to further the plot, regardless of how ridiculous it is.  This trial is a complete mockery, there are so many things that would NEVER be allowed in a court of law, yet we're supposed to just look past it.  Prime time shows don't treat their fans like idiots (well, most don't lol) so why do soaps continue to do so?  Maybe this is why so many people tuned out.  I mean, if the people running these shows think we're stupid, then why keep supporting them?

Exactly people!

Compelling story = we will watch.

Crap (aka wasting our time) = we tune out

Like Ken Corday once said: people watch the show because they like what they saw yesterday.

So true.

Soaps have not run there course I'm so sick of hearing that ish...

IF The Head Idiots In Charge actually cared about soaps as much as the fans did then the raitings would never of decreased. The only times I ever quit watching my shows were do to piss poor writing choices and over pimping of characters that are insane criminals. Viewers don't want to watch that crap or at least I didn't. GH is a damn good soap but once again I got sucked into a storyline that was about abuse and somehow it turned into theSonny story. Then there is Days OH Days your leading female character is a damn joke she was the craziest bitch in Salem now she's a heroine GMAFB folks want to see Sami raising Hell not crying in her couch don't even get me started on the never ending sex romps with folks who have NO chemistry at all.

Want fresh and exciting how this for a twist Sonny gets killed trying to save his kids! There are plenty of fine ass men who can be the next Sonny I don't even watch for him he is even the reason I quit watching the show years ago same with Carly and yes Jason. While they are at it before they kill off Sonny Jason needs to reclaim all of his memories so he can sulk about how he was a total ass to his brother AJ as well as remember that  he once loved a very beautiful Keesha Ward. Then bring on the Keesha/Jason/Sam triangle of the century. Hell they could even put in Liz I'm not picky.
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ONE last note they needs  to stop hiring hairmodels with blank expressions I turn the channel on that shit and I don't give a crap if they are sexy or not I enjoy great acting.

P&G should have admitted that they were done with soaps last year instead of stringing GL fans along with the pretence that they were shopping the show around.

Kill off Sonny Corinthos??? LOL!! Horse puckey!! The ratings for that show would plummet even MORE if that happened!!!!

Maurice Benard and Sonny Corinthos are both irreplaceable on the GH canvas. Yes, we have Luke Spencer, Mac Scorpio and other long term veteran male characters, but the mob influence has made GH stand out from all the other shows, and without it, GH would just be another cookie cutter soap like AMC and OLTL!!!

Sonny Corinthos has over 15 years of history in this town, plus the fact that he has fathered half the people in this town, and he controls the other half through either friendship or various other forms of intimidation!!!! I can't imagine Port Chuck without Maurice, and I hope I never have to!!

Sonny has run his course and is replaceable everytime I tune in I can see that its true. Maurice is a fine actor but Sonny is the shows dead weight he has to be propped up by EVERY female chararacter and his lap dog. It's just not worth it anymore and TIIC need to realize it.  I want sexy and fresh Sonny's not cutting it anymore Dimples can go!

even when they all wrap up in like 2-3 years, the soap opera element will still live on.  you see it everwhere from movies, music, sport promos/openings, wwe/tna, etc.  while the intital shows won't be with us anymore the element will still be there.  however, it still won't be the same, but we'll have to enjoy the genre while we still have it.  because we may wake up one morning and all the networks come to an agreement to cut all these shows off.

EvilSoapFan---

You sound like you need a hug!!! (hugs EvilSoapFan).......will an Internet hug do???? LOL!!

Frankly, I would be thrilled to see Sonny go to jail for a while.  MB doesn't have to leave the show, but seeing him do some time might make me soften toward him some.  But watching him year after year commit crimes, blame everyone else for his messes and treat women like trash gets pretty old.  I'm sure many people stopped watching GH due to Sonny and the mob glorification.  I can admit that I've found Sonny a little more interesting when GH aged his children, but I still think the character is a piece of scum.  I don't think Jason is much better, he's just written more as a "hero" (although as a hired killer, I really don't know why tptb insist on making Jason the superman of the show - get him out of the mob, make him a spy, a PI or a bounty hunter, anything else to make him actually interesting). 

I thought the show was looking up when they introduced Dante as an undercover cop.  I enjoyed hearing his point of view about mob violence, I liked that he had morals and I liked knowing that there was a real good guy on this show worth rooting for.  But I will be very disappointed if Dante begins to change as a result of finding out he's Sonny's son.  GH needs more heroes like him, I think Lucky has some promise too.  And I love Mac.  But they are all three members of the PCPD and yet Jason is still solving all the crimes in town.  That needs to END.

thanks alstonboy4315 hug recieved...lol

Sonny's still dead weight though

The reason soaps are dying is largely out of the hands of anyone involved with soaps.  Many fans have just moved on.  There are so many TV show options out there now, a lot of people won't give time to a five-times-a-week soap.  No amount of great storytelling is going to bring viewers back, because they are OVER the soaps.  Reality shows are the new soaps.

I wouldn't be surprised if one or two soaps survive to become once-a-week shows, maybe on the Saturday night prime time wasteland.  For a while, anyway.  I don't think Y&R or possibly GH are going to be cancelled anytime soon, and they could survive by going this route.

It used to be there were more game shows on daytime TV than soaps, and eventually, they all went away...with the exception of Price Is Right.  Now we see them trickling back.  I don't think ALL soaps will disappear, but if a network is able to make a case for one soap surviving, and the current die-hard soap viewers ALL flock to that show, it might survive.  If anyone is looking for new soaps as we know them to be created on TV, you're dreaming.  They are just too expensive to produce for too little return on the investment.

wow i hated how the conversation turned when it was about p and g soaps guilding light and as the world turns NOT OTHER SOAPS i dont think sonny is dead weight or replacable u cant recast sonny  or to get rid of him even after the court trial not when u brought in dante and he is intertwined with other important GH characters and face it GH is about the mob whats a mob show without the mob boss regardless GUZA is writing a mob show and hes the writer whether u like it or not

TVGord, while I get what you are saying, I don't necessarily agree.  I do agree that soaps' ratings aren't what they used to be, but I do think more people watch soap operas than you would think.  Soapnet's repeat airings garner decent ratings, but I also can't help but wonder if Soapnet is what helped kill soaps on network TV.  As convenient as it is to catch a soap on Soapnet if I missed it during the day, many people simply watch all their soaps on Soapnet.  Then there are DVR playbacks (so many people are gone during the day that they can't possibly watch the shows when they actually air) and now most of the shows are available to watch online.  How is it possible at all to know just how many people are watching soaps? 

Sonny is one of the main reasons GH is so strong creatively right now. Beating up on the character and Maurice has long been the sport of choice for online fans, but Sonny Corinthos is still by and large one of the most popular characters in GH history, and right now GH is spinning epic, character driven stories from Sonny's mythology.

The child he sired as a boy in Bensonhurst is now a cop sworn to take him down, the son he stole from another man has followed him into violence—which was Sonny's greatest fear— the daughter he shared with his former consigliere, who was kept from him, has such deep-seated daddy issues that she blames herself for being brutally abused. If this was on Showtime it would be winning Emmys, be covered in Variety, etc.

I am convinced most of the fans who just seem to "hate" GH don't watch very many other soap operas. I challenge anyone to watch six months of any other soap, then come back to GH and honestly log in and say it's as "awful" as people tend to say.

On GH's worst day, the dialogue and realism is 10,000 times better than all of the other soaps on the air. GH's biggest problem is what Regan mentioned in her spoilers this week, it doesn't spread the wealth. The reason people get so tired of Sonny, Jason, Carly, etc. is because GH is afraid to take them off the frontburner, and rightly so. Listen I love Robin and Patrick, Kate, the Q's, etc, but you start a discussion about who Sonny, Jason or Carly "truly loves" and the reaction is palpable. These are three of the most popular, consistent current characters in daytime. Does GH need to rest them occasionally, sure? But if they ever decide to listen to a minuscule amount of online fans begging them to kill Sonny and/or Jason, the show would lose a million viewers in six months and be on cancellation watch just like the majority of the other soaps. JMO.

Jamey, I get that Sonny is hugely popular, I'm just saying I could do with him spending some time behind bars LOL  Like I said, Maurice doesn't have to leave GH for that to happen, they could write him a storyline in prison, it would possibly make me soften a little toward the character, but he never seems to have to pay for his crimes.  Yeah, he obviously gets a reaction out of fans, and whether good or bad, a reaction in general is probably a good thing for the show.  And honestly, I've found Sonny more interesting since they stopped writing him as this romantic hero and have made him pathetic and miserable.  I prefer him alone, without being involved in a romance, because I don't feel that his character deserves a romance.  He deserves to be alone and bitter, because that is the life he's built for himself.

I do agree about GH's dialogue, and I think GH has the best actors in daytime TV.  I started checking out GL about a year ago and watched for a few months, and while I applaud the Otalia storyline, I felt like the dialogue was absolutely nothing compared to GH, and I credit the script writers and breakdown writers for that.  They definitely have the best in soaps, IMO. 

Jamey,

I have been saying that for a long time. GH is better on it's worst day than ANY of the other soaps, in my opinion, are on their best days. I used to say that about Y&R until Maria and Paul started showing their collective asses, and turning America's most dependable and relatable soap opera into an hour long cartoon!! Team GH all the way!!!!

As far as I'm concerned, none of the other soaps even come close to this show....

The not so secret secret is finally admited (now if the others would admit that also) I cosign w/all of the posters that this is some regular bullshit. Yes the reality is that these soaps are no longer what they once were (all of network television is), but if the heads really want to do something they would, but won't.  I used to be against the move to cable, but I would fully support that now b/c there would be a chance to tackle uncharted territory w/stories that should be happening now and what the genre was the first to do, but they are to scared to freak out an audience who are barley the ones still watching. I can give a perfect example w/me living in the bible belt. When I go to the gym all that is on the tv screens are cable news, lifestyle shows, and judge shows. Once in a blue moon I will see Days. So here's two scenarios: NOBODDY IS WATCHING THE SOAPS PERIOD! and if by some chance they are they are not watching it in the daytime, b/c times have changed!

As much as I hate Sonny, Carly and Jason I must agree with Jamey. 

The majority of the Sonny/mob haters such as myself checked out of GH a long time ago.  Most of us are not coming back.  Apparently many of the viewers that remain must be Sonny and Jason fans or why would they stick with the show the past decade.   Killing off those characters at this point would likely lead to bleeding more viewers.

At this point YR seems like the only other 'safe' soap or at least I don't see it being cancelled in the immediate future.  It's hard to believe I used to be a die hard fan of that show.  It has sadly fallen off the cliff the past year.  

I grew up with my soaps and it's so sad to what has happened to them.  When even the hardcore soap fans are leaving in droves it's easy to understand why the younger generation just isn't as invested in the shows when there are so many other choices on tv these days.  When I was in jr high basically I had the choice of watching the soaps, a game show,  or 'Our Gang' reruns  when I got home from school.

I agree w/the GH comments some what. I think the biggest reason I find GH must see tv and would even rank it up there w/my primetime shows I watch (it's more interesting than Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters, the former I watch b/c it turn around from the fuckery that was last season and the latter I smdh at the fact I still watch) is that they are finally writting those three characters in an interesting and character driven way. It was smart to SORAS those children and cast brilliant actors b/c this should be what the fans want. We are finally seeing the consequences of those three characters choices through their children.
And to always be the conspiracist, I think w/the pimping of AMC and the effort to turn ppl off of OLTL so it can be easily canceled, Frons have left his "story consulting" duties and left the GH team alone. Another fact and one glaring made obvious by Y&R, these soaps don't have the money to do sweep stunts anymore (the GH Carnival makes even more sense lol).

All that aside I think GH is good soap and if the maintain this throughout the yr., it will look like they will be beating OLTL as my best soap of 2010 and it'll be deserved.

i watch days and gh. frankly i'd take days any day over gh, yes the acting may be better but i just hate sonny some time behind bars would be nice but then we would get the jasam hour.