No other entertainment genre has to deal with pleasing fans who may have been watching six months or may have been watching 50 years. AS THE WORLD TURNS probably has the most difficult job of balancing the show's history and trying to entice new viewers. I will always believe that you should do both and include the familiar faces longtime fans have come to recognize and new faces that can energize a show. GUIDING LIGHT lost a lot of history through the years either because actors left or, sadly, passed away. But ATWT still has much of their core intact. The problem is - we never see them.
Having the Hughes familiy serve no real purpose on AS THE WORLD TURNS is like watching THE WALTONS without any Waltons or watching DALLAS without the Ewings. If the top-rated soap, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, was thriving because of all new faces, ATWT could make the argument that this strategy works. But Y&R is prominently featuring 80-year-old Jeanne Cooper in a frontburner storyline. Eric Braeden turns 68 tomorrow and I suspect he'll be front-and-center for years to come.
Taking a look at the 2009 episode count for AS THE WORLD TURNS, it is obvious the show wants to feature its current "stars" or who they consider the leading characters of today, but at what cost? Jon Lindstrom is fabulous, but to my mom, a 50 year watcher, he's a brand new face and she doesn't know who he is no matter how many times he is called Craig Montgomery. Grayson McCouch's Dusty has been terribly written since his return last fall. Michael Park and Maura West always thrill as Jack and Carly, but unfortunately the characters mostly just talk about the unpopular Parker and Liberty whenever they are on. Paul and Meg have proven to be the most unpopular couple possibly in AS THE WORLD TURNS history but they are always front and center.
Meanwhile, we haven't seen Helen Wagner since September (please let her be happy and healthy) or Eileen Fulton or Marie Masters in 2009. Don Hastins and Kathryn Hays only appear in very supporting roles and usually to characters not in the Hughes family. With all these longtime familiar faces, the ones fans like my mom recognize, not on the canvas, the sense of community continues to disappear. And the current storylines on ATWT are not compelling enough to make fans want to watch every day. Showing more familiar long-term characters would help. Fans like my mom are loyal to Bob Hughes and Lisa Grimaldi more than they are AS THE WORLD TURNS itself. She is not outside the desired 18-49 demo but can the show afford to lose any viewers at this point?
So what is the solution? It seems more and more the old way of doing things is not going to work for ATWT or daytime soaps in general. I'm praying GUIDING LIGHT can find a way to stay on the air whether it be a cable channel or the internet or on-demand. But can we really expect a show like ATWT to keep Bob and Lisa and Nancy in the mix, even in supporting roles, decades after they first appeared? For me personally, I wish they could. I wish there was an attempt to honor the show's history so a new fan would know that Bob and Lisa were once married and are Casey's grandparents. But financially, does keeping all these actors around prevent the show from fully reinventing itself? Should these shows have a shelf life which ends before they are fully dismantled and fans no longer recognize the small town we grew up watching? Or how about the cast being trimmed to the 15-20 most popular characters with others appearing as guest stars as needed? What if a 30-minute soap is the best approach?
I don't have the answers. But someone needs to come up with some. As long as the stories are engaging and well-written, there may be multiple correct answers here. I will likely be writing more on this subject in the coming weeks. The cancellation of GUIDING LIGHT by CBS was a wake-up call that a new business model wasn't something to be thought about a few down the road. It is urgently needed today.
Continue reading for episode count
1. Jon Lindstrom (Craig Montgomery) - 42
(16/12/14)
2. Grayson McCouch (Dusty Donovan) - 38
(17/12/9)
2. Maura West (Carly Tenney) - 38
(14/12/12)
4. Michael Park (Jack Snyder) - 28
(12/6/10)
5. Marie Wilson (Meg Snyder) - 27
(8/12/7)
6. Terri Colombino (Katie Peretti Snyder) - 25
(8/9/8)
6. Roger Howarth (Paul Ryan) - 25
(7/11/7)
8. Bailey Harkins (Johnny Montgomery) - 23
(13/6/4)
8. Mick Hazen (Parker Snyder) - 23
(8/5/10)
10. Austin Peck (Brad Snyder) - 22
(6/8/8)
11. Julie Pinson (Janet Ciccone Snyder) - 21
(6/5/10)
12. Noelle Beck (Lily Walsh Snyder) - 20
(8/5/7)
12. Marnie Schulenburg (Alison Stewart) - 20
(7/8/5)
14. Meredith Hagner (Liberty Ciccone Snyder) - 19
(5/4/10)
14. Van Hansis (Luke Snyder) - 19
(5/6/8)
14. Billy Magnussen (Casey Hughes) - 19
(6/8/5)
17. Ellen Dolan (Margo Montgomery Hughes) - 18
(6/6/6)
18. Kristen Connolly (Josie Anderson) - 17
(10/7/-)
18. Trent Dawson (Henry Coleman) - 17
(2/8/7)
20. Jake Silbermann (Noah Mayer) - 16
(3/5/8)
20. Davida Williams (Jade Taylor) - 16
(6/8/2)
22. Sarah Glendening (Dr. Lucy Montgomery) - 15
(4/2/9)
23. Ewa Da Cruz (Vienna Hyatt) - 14
(2/5/7)
24. (uncredited infant) (Eliza Ryan) - 13
(4/5/4)
25. Jon Hensley (Holden Snyder) - 11
(3/4/4)
25. Eric William Morris (Matt O'Connor) - 11
(-/8/3)
27. Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily Stewart) - 10
(2/2/6)
28. Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara Ryan) - 9
(2/7/0)
29. Scott Holmes (Tom Hughes) - 8
(4/2/2)
30. Allie Gorenc (Sage Snyder) - 6
(3/2/1)
31. Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda Walsh) - 5
(4/0/1)
32. Alex Charak (Elwood Hoffman) - 4
(-/3/1)
32. Benton Greene (Derek Coburn) - 4
(2/2/0)
34. Karl Girolamo (Kevin Davis) - 3
(0/1/2)
34. Don Hastings (Dr. Bob Hughes) - 3
(0/2/1)
34. Kathryn Hays (Kim Sullivan Hughes) - 3
(1/0/2)
34. Laurence Lau (Brian Wheatley) - 3
(2/-/1)
34. Paolo Seganti (Damian Grimaldi) - 3
(-/-/3)
39. Lannon Killea (Mark Vero) - 2
(0/0/2)
39. Chaunteé Schuler (Bonnie McKechnie) - 2
(2/0/0)
41. Kelli Barrett (Maddie Coleman) - 1
(1/-/-)
41. Adam LeFevre (Judge Berlin) - 1
(0/0/1)
41. Mark Sullivan (Reg Addington) - 1
(0/1/X)
41. Kathleen Widdoes (Emma Snyder) - 1
(1/0/0)
45. Ellery Capshaw (Natalie Snyder) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Eileen Fulton (Lisa Miller Grimaldi) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Ashley Marie Greiner (Faith Snyder) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Daniel Manche (J.J. Snyder) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Marie Masters (Dr. Susan Burke Stewart) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Wolé Parks (Dallas Griffin) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Sam Stone (Daniel Hughes) - 0
(0/0/0)
45. Helen Wagner (Nancy Hughes McClosky) - 0
(0/0/0)
There is another model, which is keep your vets front burner, and your ratings may actually stabilize.
ReplyDeleteClearest examples are B&B and Y&R.
It shocks me that -- especially on CBS -- this "lead with your vets" strategy was not the norm. It could be done in ways that would keep show costs down. I'm sure the feeling is "veterans don't bring in newer viewers", and that is somewhat true. But the corollary is "no veterans mean you lose older viewers AND you don't bring in newer viewers".
Mathematically, which one makes the most sense?
If ATWT has a brain, given how many vets it still has in reach, it will go on a rebuilding strategy based around vets. But it won't happen. They think they can recast over there -- willy nilly -- with no ratings impact.
Well said, Roger. Unlike "Guiding Light", who managed to decimate much of their core family, the Bauers, the Hughes family astonishingly still remains after 53 years. If it does occur where the show is picked up by another network but is reduced to 30 minutes, I feel the solution is to center the show entirely around the Hughes family (maybe also include the Snyders) and a few choice characters that impact them. If we include my beloved Helen Wagner, that's about 5 generations there, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI think even the vets realize that the industry is trying to survive, and I can't believe that Helen, Don, Kathryn, Marie, Eileen, Scott, Ellen, etc. would balk at a pay cut knowing the stakes involved, but perhaps I'm wrong about that.