THR: Is the Sun Setting on Daytime Programming?

It's actually been a while since we've had another doom and gloom story published so we were probably overdue. The Hollywood Reporter has ended the drought with a new article by Randee Dawn published today.

The Daytime Emmys will make history this year, but not necessarily the kind of history anyone wants: For the first time in 36 years, the awards ceremony will not appear on a traditional broadcast television network.

Call it the culmination of a gradual weaning process; while the three old-school networks once traded off airings of the show, NBC stepped back entirely in 2004 and left the trade to ABC and CBS. This year, CBS declined to participate.

"It was an economic decision," explains Barbara Bloom, CBS Entertainment's senior vp daytime programs. "Ratings dropped on the awards show -- as they have on most awards shows -- and at a certain point you're looking at what the purpose is of doing it."

Bad news for NATAS -- which is itself retrenching (see sidebar) -- but a bad sign for daytime in general. The leeching of viewers from primetime is an oft-discussed topic, but little real attention has been paid to the slow degradation of daypart numbers. According to Nielsen (parent company of The Hollywood Reporter), the highest-rated network program in the daypart hours is CBS' THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, which has held that spot for more than 20 years. But those ratings can't match the numbers generated by the top five syndicated daypart shows, which include THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW, JUDGE JUDY and reruns of TWO AND A HALF MEN.

So is daytime dead? Ron Simon, curator of radio and television at New York's Paley Center, say it isn't yet, but it's not healthy either.

"Daytime pioneered so much, but so much of its uniqueness has been incorporated by other services," he says. "The whole idea of dayparts is evaporating quickly. The question is, do you have to totally rethink things?"

Currently, each of the major daypart-concerned networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- all operate on different concepts of what daytime should be. CBS, the unquestioned king of the road for years, exercises a careful, traditional strategy: It sticks with what works, and spackles over cracks in the foundation.

Not that there are many: CBS daytime is primarily comprised of "The Price Is Right," which earns numbers second only to Y&R, despite the 2007 change in leadership, when Bob Barker traded microphones with Drew Carey. Along with PRICE is a block of soaps: Y&R, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS. The last original show launched in CBS daytime, Bloom says, was BOLD -- and that was 22 years ago.

But, she notes, "I don't believe any one of them is mired in the past. We constantly work creatively and collaboratively with our studio partners to keep these shows engaging and relevant for their audiences. That's validated by their success."

"Relevance" is a key concept at each network, which has led to tweaks at CBS with its two TeleNext Media-produced shows, GUIDING LIGHT and WORLD. Those shows have a particularly strong Internet component; LIGHT has been experimenting with resembling a reality show in terms of cinematography and storytelling.

Brian Frons and Bruce Evans also weigh in.

Which comes back to that concept of "relevancy" -- daytime programming has to keep moving forward, like a shark -- or it risks dying. "The ability to grow and change," Frons says, "is the key to survival."

"DAYS is daytime for us," says Bruce Evans, NBC's senior vp drama programming, adding that the network's sole soap is up 4% in viewership from last year. "That's the one show we have a marker for. My job right now is to keep it on as long as I can. I don't want it going down on my watch."

While many networks are happy tinkering with their daytime programming, a complete revamp appears to be out of the question, as is taking back some of those locally available hours for original network programming.

Asked if that might be an option, Evans says he hasn't been asked to go find more programming to compete with DAYS, Bloom insists that's a decision that would have to be made "further up on the food chain," while Frons explains, "once the network gives up those time periods, they're gone. I've never had a station calling me to say, 'Would you mind doing more programming?'"

I totally agree with the concept of being relevant. But it's the storytelling that is always going to make or break daytime. If you tell a current story in a clumsy way, it's not going to work. But if you tell a well-written human story that fans can relate to in a slow building format that only daytime soaps can do, the chance of hooking fans is so much greater.

To survive, the writing across the board has to become relevant and not just the production values or story ideas alone. The dialogue and long-term plotting of storylines are in dire need of an overhaul. Luckily there are some bright spots on daytime right now that those in charge can look to for guidance.