Sam, you make some excellent points. The shows...

2008-09-19T09:55:48.660-04:00

Sam, you make some excellent points. The shows and networks seemed to be focused so much on stunt casting, reworking their business models (in all the wrong ways) and everything other than good writing that soap fans would enjoy and that doesn't insult their intelligence on a regular basis.

There are plenty of shows outside of the daytime s...

2008-09-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

There are plenty of shows outside of the daytime serial drama that are drawing millions of viewers in as well. Look at the viability of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, for instance, which comes on four nights a week in an hour block. Or look at World Wrestling Entertainment, which produces five hours of first-run TV each week, not counting the weeks they have PPV events, which would then be eight hours of new scripted drama. And add those to the millions upon millions who watch soaps every day, when you look at viewership across the genre.

The key is, it looks like there's a significant number of people still happy with many hours of their programming per week. I don't think the genre's broke from an overall standpoint, but part of the problem is giving people a product that's consistent enough that they feel comfortable not just with tuning in themselves but recommending it to past fans who quit watching or, perhaps, new fans. In order to recommend, you need a show worth recommending on a consistent basis. And that's the problem with soaps...good or bad, many of them deal with a lack of consistency.

I think it has to do morewith not caring for what ...

2008-09-19T02:39:00.000-04:00

I think it has to do more
with not caring for what
most viewer want
That why they are not
watching as much!

Comments on We Love Soaps: Christopher Goutman: Goodbye Five Days A Week?

Sam, you make some excellent points. The shows...

There are plenty of shows outside of the daytime s...

I think it has to do morewith not caring for what ...