THE LAST "DAYS" OF OUR DAYTIME LIVES?

[Russell W.]

And how long before SoapNet follows "GSN" and begins airing reality shows and other @#$% totally unrelated to the original mission?

Ahh, but Russell I disagree with you.  Because SoapNet produces very little original content related to its original mission (Which I suppose is a good thing), they'll only use "Reality" TV shows to fill in the rest of the schedule (Like during the day when the networks are running the current episodes of the shows SN airs at night).

Just like Game Show Network at the beginning .... IIRC, it was nearly all repeats of classic games interspersed with some interactive contests here and there.  Original programs like Extreme Gong, Inquizition (I miss that show!), and the revolting Burt Luddin's Love Buffet didn't come along until, what, 1998-99?

SoapNet, to their credit, has broadened their scope beyond the soaps aired on its parent, ABC.  I just hope, for the sake of its fans, that the network does not go in the same direction as GSN.

That's because they either don't know how to write or are being paid by the networks (In this case NBC) to utterly trash the show.

Color me not surprised.

You can still find them as well as original episodes on this website.  You have to become a member with them (This is to offset the costs of maintaining the site), but considering what you get in return, it's worth it.

Yeah ... I used to pull up those clips on the WOST site from time to time, but they lost me when they went "pay."   If I were a soap fan I'd have long ago ponied up.  But I can't bring myself to part money just to be able to hear "Ritournelle" and, for a couple of minutes, be 12 years old again. 

If, however, WOST has since added entire episodes of vintage soaps from the '60s/'70s, with the original commercials intact, they'll have one more paying member.   

--Russell

[bpatrick]

Hi everyone:

I often wonder if most of the daytime soaps currently on the air will go to
cable at some point, especially since there is a channel devoted to soaps
24 hours a day called "SoapNet"

And how long before SoapNet follows "GSN" and begins airing reality shows and other @#$% totally unrelated to the original mission?

Ahh, but Russell I disagree with you.  Because SoapNet produces very little original content related to its original mission (Which I suppose is a good thing), they'll only use "Reality" TV shows to fill in the rest of the schedule (Like during the day when the networks are running the current episodes of the shows SN airs at night).

Speaking of which, I wonder why it is that SoapNet simply doesn't drop its West Coast feed when the networks start running the current episodes.  I mean, it looks a little funny to see DAYS from the day before listed on SN @ 11:00 AM mountain when in fact NBC is airing the current episode to those in the East & Central time zones.  Personally, I think SoapNet should either drop its West Coast feed altogether or at least run in simulcast with its East Coast feed.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, but anyhow....Thoughts?

The new ATWT opening looks like an imitation of one of those telenovela opens on Univision.  The music even sounds Latin.  I say, bring back the globe spinning in space!

And while you're at it, how about pulling Dan McCullough (if he's still alive!) out of mothballs.  The voices of both he and Bill Wolff (announcer for Another World), were full of such elegance.

I doubt Dan McCullough is still alive, but I'd be willing to bet his successor Dan Region still is.  He's another one who knew how to announce a soap.

As I mentioned earlier, I was never that much into soaps (to me they took up valuable timeslots better used for game shows ), but I mourn the loss of an institution.  It seems with these outlandish storylines -- don't even get my wife started on what's happened lately on Days -- the writers are deliberately trying to kill the genre.

That's because they either don't know how to write or are being paid by the networks (In this case NBC) to utterly trash the show.

What I remember most were the open/close sequences (the classic ATWT globe with the original theme music - I'm just old enough to recall the live organ version - and the mid-late '70s Guiding Light "Ritournelle" theme - beautiful!) .... I'd hear them as background noise as my mother was watching them.  Looking back, they all conveyed class.

You can still find them as well as original episodes on this website.  You have to become a member with them (This is to offset the costs of maintaining the site), but considering what you get in return, it's worth it.

But "elegance" and "class" don't pay the bills anymore.   

Not on today's network TV, no.

Just my honest opinion...

Cheers

Dan Region is very much alive; you can go to his website by typing in "Daniel
Region" or "Daniel B. Region," then hit enter.  I'd like to have him back on ATWT,
too.

[Ultimajock]

Memphis wasn't the only place that passed on NBC's daytime gameshow lineup. WTMJ-4/Milwaukee also did the same thing back in the '70s , '80s and '90s.

...in fact, weren't two of the latest NBC games also passed up by the UHF independents and finally picked up by the low-power America One affiliate in Waukesha?...

[bpatrick]

Bpatrick,

Have you forgotten that Reva and Brooke are supposed to be the sluts of CBS daytime?  (In Kim Zimmer's case, it came in the form of that infamous fountain scene that won her an Emmy.)

But your assessment is dead on, and I agree with all people about back from the dead being way overused. It may of have been a shocking novelty when Bill Bauer on Guiding Light(yes I'm old) came back after being presumed dead for over a decade, but the cases of Stefano DiMera, James Stenbeck(they actually at one point finally retired the character and he was off the air for at least eight of nine years before some idiot brought him back) and Sheila Carter just stretch things to the point of implausibility. Hell, it was only a few years ago when Days of our Lives killed everyone off and then brought everyone back alive on some island

And their new opening sucks.  But I'll still be there with them 'til the end, whenever that is...

Doesn't it? We saw it here at the station, and everyone was "YUCK"!

agree that a larger percentage of women are now working professionals, and just don’t see the point in wasting their time with soaps. They have outlived their purpose.....if they ever had one....LOL

Different strokes for different folks I guess, just depends on your taste. I sort of grew up around them, and working in TV(sales) I do still follow now and again for oldtime's sake. You actually make a valid point about Capitol though; it wasn't a very good show in my opinion, which is why it only last five years...

I think the reason James Stenbeck was off "ATWT" for so long was that actor
Anthony Herrera was undergoing treatment for cancer; I remember reading about it in TV Guide a few years ago.  And does anyone remember that Roger Thorpe was off "GL" for about a decade? (I always preferred him to Alan Spaulding as that show's villain; he could be bad, then show a good side, while Alan just seems to be a bully.)

Which brings me to another point about straining credibility.  How many times has Barbara (ATWT) gone running back to Stenbeck, and how many times did Holly (GL) go running back to Roger?  I'd think any woman with any sense (or sense of decency) would tell both of them where to go, given the abuse those guys dished out.

[bpatrick]

WOW!!!!  Thanks bpatrick.

That explains so much now.

I knew a lot about the daytime strength of NBC in the early to mid 1970's, but I had never
understood what Harding Lemay (HW Another World) meant in an interview where he said
the "morning juggernaut" was yanked out from under the soaps which caused ratings decreases
from poor lead-ins.

I kept wondering, well what the heck other than DOOL was the lead in?

So NBC had a powerhouse game show line up much like "Price Is Right" for CBS today.

Yeah, you're right.  That's sad. 

It looks to me like that network has never been too smart about daytime t.v.  This latest idea
to launch a bunch of news and information stinks  really bad.  Isn't that what MSNBC is for??
Why bore the heck out of us?

Thanks for the details, partner ( LOL, I'm saying that in a John Wayne way, bud).

The influence of Pat Weaver also still hovers over NBC daytime.  NBC had a strong block of radio soaps (Stella Dallas, Just Plain Bill, even Guiding Light and Ma Perkins before they switched to CBS), but when television came along Weaver didn't want to do the same things NBC had been doing on radio.  He went in heavily for personality-driven shows like the Today show, the original Home show (Hugh Downs and Arlene Francis), and variety shows with Kate Smith and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Meantime, over at CBS, Bill Paley (a true radio fan) felt that what had worked on CBS radio could work on CBS television: Arthur Godfrey in the morning,
a soap block (different from the one on CBS radio, except for GL, which aired on both from 1952-56) and Art Linkletter in the afternoon.  Paley turned out to be the big winner; most of Weaver's shows were a bust, and when he was finally turned out of his job in 1956, NBC chose to concentrate on a form largely ignored on CBS:
game shows.  Consequently, NBC never really made a strong commitment to soaps;
only Days, The Doctors, and Another World lasted more than ten years, and some (especially in the '50s) were gone almost as soon as they came on the air.

ABC's long-range plan was to duplicate CBS, but since it didn't have a full daytime schedule until 1958, and needed instant credibility, it went largely with game shows in the early years; as a rule, a game will catch on right away or not at all, while a soap needs at least 18 months to prove itself.  ABC finally put on its first soap, General Hospital, in 1963, and we all know how committed ABC has been to the form since then.

But NBC did have some great games in the early '70s: Concentration, Sale Of The Century, Hollywood Squares, Jeopardy!, Who, What Or Where, and a pretty good one in Three On A Match. Thus a strong lead-in for NBC's soaps.  From about 1970 to 1973  everything seemed to click for NBC daytime, but Lin Bolen took care of that...even though Pat Weaver planted the seed for NBC's daytime struggles as far back as 1950.

[anotherguy]

Although they didn't do so good in the ratings in some cases, NBC did have some good game shows in the late 70's and 80's: Wheel of Fortune, High Rollers, the first version of Card Sharks, the second version of Sale of the Century, and Password Plus and Super Password. It's just too bad they were difficult or impossible to see in some areas.

[briancraig]

Just to show how far daytime soap ratings have fallen here's the numbers for the 1976-1977 season.  Due to more choices among other things,  ratings for all network shows have fallen in 30 years.  The population is also bigger so a rating point=more households today, so this is not an exact apples to apples comparison but is still interesting.

1976-1977

1.   As The World Turns--9.9
2.   Another World--9.0
3.   Guiding Light--8.9
4.   The Young & The Restless--8.7
5.   Search For Tomorrow--8.6
6.   All My Children--8.2
7.   Days Of Our Lives--7.8
8.   One Life To Live--7.3
      Ryan's Hope--7.3
10.  General Hospital--7.0
11.  The Doctors--6.9
12.  Love Of Life--6.3
13.  Edge Of Night--6.2
14.  Somerset--5.2  canceled by NBC on December 31, 1976
15.  Lovers & Friends--2.9  NBC debut on January 3, 1977

Compare to the week of April 23, 2007 where the highest rated soap got a 4.0, 7 of the soaps were in the 2s and the lowest rated show got a 1.4.   

[briancraig]

One more thing about Days.  It seems to be the one soap where the ratings really go up and down.  For the last several seasons it seems like most of the other shows stay at about the same level, but Days will be the #2 show for awhile and then drop to #2 from the bottom. 

There must be more now and then fans of this show than the other daytime soaps.  I don't watch it much, but even I will tune in to see the return of Tony and especially Stefano.

[easttxtv]

You can still find them as well as original episodes on this website.  You have to become a member with them (This is to offset the costs of maintaining the site), but considering what you get in return, it's worth it.

Yeah ... I used to pull up those clips on the WOST site from time to time, but they lost me when they went "pay."   If I were a soap fan I'd have long ago ponied up.  But I can't bring myself to part money just to be able to hear "Ritournelle" and, for a couple of minutes, be 12 years old again. 

If, however, WOST has since added entire episodes of vintage soaps from the '60s/'70s, with the original commercials intact, they'll have one more paying member.   

--Russell

Well, if today's posting at WoST is any indication, the vintage content that is there now is the last you will see...the webmaster has sadly decided to quit updating the site and is not taking any new membership fees.  He's also dumping the twice-monthly webcast after the next one and has closed out his WoST MySpace page as well.

Was hoping he'd do a 45th anniversary salute for Another World as he has done for As the World Turns and Edge of Night for their 50th, Dark Shadows for it's 40th, and Bold and the Beautiful for it's 20th, but oh well, the ol' AW site needs a little work to come back from hiatus (while a bit of attention from well-known alums have come along at the new MySpace annex site), guess I'd better get that webmaster's attention....   

[Pat Cook]

Hi everyone:

You can still find them as well as original episodes on this website.  You have to become a member with them (This is to offset the costs of maintaining the site), but considering what you get in return, it's worth it.

Yeah ... I used to pull up those clips on the WOST site from time to time, but they lost me when they went "pay."   If I were a soap fan I'd have long ago ponied up.  But I can't bring myself to part money just to be able to hear "Ritournelle" and, for a couple of minutes, be 12 years old again. 

If, however, WOST has since added entire episodes of vintage soaps from the '60s/'70s, with the original commercials intact, they'll have one more paying member.   

I don't think they come with the commercials intact (I think there's some law against that, which is sad ), but just to even see those shows again...

Plus there's one other source I forgot to mention.  The P&G Channel on AOL Video.  It has complete episodes of Another World & Search for Tomorrow as well as other stuff on there too.

Cheers