F R I D AY, O C TO B E R 2 7 , 2 0 0 6Daytime Soaps Are DeadBy the way, it's a little acknowledged fact that daytime soaps havefallen on seriously hard times.</p><p> Viewing levels are WAY down from theheyday in the Eighties.</p><p> I'm surprised all three networks still supportthem.</p><p> The ENTIRE viewing audience for all eight daytime soaps perMediaWeek is 9.47 million viewers.</p><p> Total.</p><p> Lump them all together -- allseven and a half hours of programming -- add up all their viewers andthey'd barely rank in the Top 40 for primetime shows.</p><p> Why they keepgetting made is beyond me.POSTED BY MICHAEL IN NEW YORK AT 3:24 PM 2 C O M M E N T S :Jimmy said...First, what else would they put on during this time? Shove it off to localaffiliates? They couldn't afford to fill that much time on a daily basis.Second, what is the cost of producing this fluff? According to mymother, who does watch these religiously, soaps are around 30-35minutes of content, the rest commercial.</p><p> How much can it cost toproduce these shows compared to primetime dramas? Something telsme it's a hell of a lot cheaper to produce daytime drama that even oneprimetime show.11:35 AM Michael in New York said...All reasonable points.</p><p> Soaps are indeed cheap programming.</p><p> But whenyou used to attract say 20 million viewers (I have no good access tototal soap viewers in the 80s or 90s) and now that same programmingis attracting half that audience, something is wrong.</p><p> They've got lots ofcompetition now but still, that's a dramatic fall-off akin to whathappened in primetime with encroaching cable.</p><p> And what didprimetime do? Reinvigorate their schedules w variety shows like Idol,game shows like Millionaire and Deal Or No Deal, falshyuber-expensive serialized dramas like Lost and Prison Break and so on.Lots would be done to regain those lost viewers in daytime.</p><p> I haven'ttimed it out but your mom is certainly right that daytime shows includeNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Daytime Soaps Are Deadhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/daytime-soaps-are-dead... 1 of 37/28/09 4:27 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SAaronMichael in New YorkBiboy POPSURFING.COM: Daytime Soaps Are Deadhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/daytime-soaps-are-dead... 2 of 37/28/09 4:27 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Daytime Soaps Are Deadhttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/10/daytime-soaps-are-dead... 3 of 37/28/09 4:27 PM
