Is Autumn already?

So where did the summer go? Oh, yeah! I was working on a project that required a lot of travel and a lot of my time. We're in the home stretch now and I may still not have a lot of time but I did want to post a few things.

First things, I haven't gotten out to see too many movies this summer. In fact, I think I saw a total of ONE in the movie theaters -- and that was in Austin, Texas, of all places. I got really spoiled all the years I was a working critic because screenings generally started at 6pm. So now when I get out of work at 5-ish ... there's nothing. Most movies in theaters don't start until 7 or later. Which means I either have to hang out and be bored -- our office usually shuts down at 5-ish so there's no staying late -- or go home and then go back out. And truthfully, once I'm home -- I do NOT want to leave again. I'm lazy. I admit it.

I also haven't watched as many DVDs over the summer as I might have. In fact, I bought a couple for my birthday more than 6 months ago -- and they are still in the celophane wrappers! There were a few things I did watch -- mostly Showtime series like THE TUDORS and BROTHERHOOD (although I still have the last disc to finish on that one)

Over the summer, my choice of viewing has turned to Soapnet -- and catching up on some of the daytime dramas that I used to watch. Of course, the channel doesn't carry AS THE WORLD TURNS and it didn't carry GUIDING LIGHT which just went off the air after 72 years of broadcasting on radio and then TV. When I was a kid (and I'm dating myself here) -- like many of my generation -- I got hooked on DARK SHADOWS, which was perfect as it came on at 4pm when we were already home from school. But I do recall my bedridden grandmother watching her "stories" -- now defunct shows like SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and EDGE OF NIGHT.

Over the many years that have passed, I've basically watched every "soap opera" for a time, depending on a storyline or a particular actor or actress. When I was out of work in the 1980s, the CBS shows took precedence -- especially GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS. When I first moved to NYC, I actually harbored the hopes that I might one day write for these shows. (For a college class, I wrote a pilot and a bible for a series set in and around a college campus.) But I was never able to crack the seemingly tight-knit industry. I would hear about writer development programs, submit the proper applications and writing samples and then . . . find out the program had been suspended or ended or whatever. Eventually, I just realized it wasn't meant to be.

This did not stop me from watching the show, however. But now the daytime industry is going through a major upheaval. Only 7 shows are left and a couple of them are close to being on life support. Part of the problem seems to be that this industry is one of the few where if you fail at one job, you are rewarded by being hired at another show. The same group of writers and producers play musical chairs. They may "fix" a show for a time but often viewers/fans are alienated and then these people are fired and hired by another show either on the same network or at the same production company. This insularity can result in a form of inbreeding that makes it very difficult for shows to prosper.

Of course, the whole industry has undergone a sea change since its heyday in the 1980s. Cable channels and counterprogramming have eaten away at the audiences. Once upon a time, daytime dramas cost little to produce and earned large sums in advertising revenue -- money that was used by networks to fund primetime and news divisions. All that began to fall apart in the '80s. Some blame the O.J. Simpson trial for a decline -- but that was only a small part of it. The companies that were the stalwart funders -- like Proctor & Gamble -- more or less decided to get out of the business. And, of course, there were other cyclical things -- the rise of the talk show, followed by the rise of the judges shows. CBS now seems to think that people are going to want to watch game shows. I certainly don't.

What are the solutions? I don't know if there are any. I'm not sure if the genre can survive. When Soapnet, which was formed as an alternative for people working to watch their "stories", has lost its way and broadcasts crappy "reality" series like HOLIDATE and THE BANK OF MOM & DAD instead of legitimate dramas, then things are in a pretty sad state.

It seems to me that most of the shows have lost their way. There are a couple that still do the job, but they are few. The majority are like, as an example, GENERAL HOSPITAL. In the 1980s, they introduced a mob story line and ever since then that has been the thrust of the series. There was a long time when few storylines involved the titular hospital. Long-term characters -- that is veteran actors and actresses over a certain age -- disappear from the canvas. Fans become disillusioned. Sets get turned off and ratings take a nosedive.
I guess one of the "fix" I might suggest is to try to do what THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS does -- and what AS THE WORLD TURNS and GUIDING LIGHT did in the 1980s and 90s: utilize the entire cast. Jeanne Cooper who is 80 years old drove a major storyline over the summer on Y&R. While some of their plots may be disappointing to some viewers, you have to give props to the writers because they involve veterans and relative newcomers in storylines. Young actors get to work with the veterans. Unlike some of the other shows. Audiences aren't just interested in seeing teenagers and twentysomethings -- they want to see all ages and all sizes and all races. There is something very wrong when so many of the shows have so few African American and Hispanic actors and actresses.

I know there's no real solution. Although I had stopped watching GUIDING LIGHT years ago -- in part because the show was aired at odd times around the country (and I maintain that was one of the factors in its poor ratings -- it was not on at 3pm eastern when it was meant to be), I did mourn its demise. I'm saddened for the many actors and crew members put out of work. And somehow the world of daytime got a bit smaller. I know it probably will continue to happen -- at least 3 shows are on the chopping block now -- and sooner or later we'll be down to four or less. It's the passing of an era.