ABC cancels two soaps; replaces with talk shows

[tadixon757]

Wait...this is actually real?  I read those ridiculous names and automatically assumed this was an April Fool's joke I somehow missed two weeks ago.

It's real all right...and in my mind it's also a little creepy. You know why? I actually said that "One Life to Live" had one YEAR to live as part of MY April Fool's joke last year...now here we are one year later, and now the soap really DOES have less than one year to live, set to end in Jan. 2012.

[catdogwheel]

I swear daytime TV seems to be in shambles anymore.

[Johnnya2k4]

Because Jericho's actually a pretty good host?  He's charismatic, and years of promo/acting experience have given him the ability to think on his feet.

And speaking of which, he's putting those to work on "Dancing With The Stars" so far.

But for OLTL, it also means the end of an era: no more soap operas done in New York. All the remaining others -- General Hospital, Days Of Our Lives, Young and the Restless, and Bold and the Beautiful -- originate in Los Angeles (AMC moved production from New York to L.A. not too long ago).

[JohnHolder]

  I'm just disappointed that they went with talk shows over game shows...

Talk shows are far cheaper to produce than games are. More net $ for the network and the production company.

[trytobecharming]

Talk shows are far cheaper to produce than games are. More net $ for the network and the production company.

But game shows are cheaper than soaps. These cancellations will make TPIR the third oldest network daytime show, behind the still surviving GH and DOOL.

[tpirfan28]

But game shows are cheaper than soaps. These cancellations will make TPIR the third oldest network daytime show, behind the still surviving GH and DOOL.

Today Show says hi.

[Ccook]

In consecutive years of surviving shows:

Today Show - January 14, 1952 (59 years)
General Hospital - April 1, 1963 (48 years)
Days Of Our Lives - November 8, 1965 (46 years)
The Price Is Right - September 4, 1972 (39 years)
The Young And The Restless - March 26, 1973 (38 years)
Good Morning America - November 3, 1975 (36 years)
The Bold And The Beautiful -  March 23, 1987 (24 years)
The View - August 11, 1997 (14 years)
Let's Make A Deal - Oct. 8, 2009 (2 years)

Top ten overall:

The Today Show - 59 years (1952-       )
Guiding Light (excl. radio version) - 57 years (1952-2009)
As The World Turns - 54 years (1956-2010)
The Price Is Right (all editions) - 48 years (1956-65, 1972-       )
General Hospital - 48 years (1963-       )
Days Of Our Lives - 46 years (1965-        )
The Young And The Restless - 38 years (1973-        )
Good Morning America - 36 years (1975-       )
Search For Tomorrow - 35 years (1951-86)
Another World - 35 years (1964-99)

[Ccook]

Small bit of erratum: I forgot The Talk among the surviving shows (Oct. 18, 2010 - 6 months).

[PriceFanArmadillo]

I believe you also forgot The Early Show (November 1, 1999 - 11 years).

/The View's been on for longer than that?  Interesting.

[Superballer]

Although not technically daytime, do we also wish to include Sesame Street, currently at 42 years and counting (for now)? 

[imhomerjay]

No surprise really. You simply can't take a smaller slice of the viewing pie and think the high cost of a scripted show is going to win out, at least not when you're the second-place show in the time slot (it's hard enough to be in the lead with that cost structure). Whether or not these replacements do the trick or they need to tinker a bit more remains to be seen, but the end was inevitable, it was simply a question of when ABC would pull the trigger.

[JohnHolder]

But game shows are cheaper than soaps.

$Talk < $Game < $Soap. Dropping a soap for a talk show reduces costs even more than dropping a soap for a game show.

[trytobecharming]

$Talk < $Game < $Soap. Dropping a soap for a talk show reduces costs even more than dropping a soap for a game show.

Would something like a dating/romance type game show cost much more than a talk show?

[Ccook]

I believe you also forgot The Early Show (November 1, 1999 - 11 years).

Sure did. Thanks for the heads-up. Before that it was CBS This Morning, and before that a number of morning news shows and Wake Up With The Captain (a new title for the Captain Kangaroo show).

Also, Let's Make A Deal started on CBS October 5, 2009, not October 8. My bad again.