Now, the show, which is based in New York, will be moving to Los Angeles in order to lower production costs. Arguably the most famous and popular actress in daytime, All My Children‘s Susan Lucci, reportedly agreed to take a pay cut last year in order to keep other actors from being let go. Unfortunately, the ploy didn’t work, and Guiding Light‘s final episode will air on September 18.Īs for the other seven soaps that currently air on three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC), the prognosis is grim.
Executive producer Ellen Wheeler (who used to star in soaps, winning a Daytime Emmy for her work on Another World) had cut the show’s costs as much as possible, moving the New York City-based show out to rural New Jersey to save money on set construction and space rental. In April of this year, CBS announced that it was cancelling Guiding Light, the longest-running TV show in history, which started as a radio program in 1937 and made the move to television in 1952. The show, which regularly came in close to or at the bottom of the ratings, had been in danger for some time. (If you’re interested in catching old episodes, your best bet is the ABC-controlled SoapNET network, which shows the occasional vintage soap but is more interested in creating new soaplike series, such as Southern Belles: Louisville.) Soaps air five days a week, year round, and never show reruns. When Harrison Ford was once asked to name an actor he admired, and he said ‘soap opera actors,’ because they have to memorize huge chunks of dialogue in short periods.
Soap tv show reruns full#
Since soaps juggle multiple story arcs at once, they not only require a full stable of actors but large crews and a variety of sets. Because of soaps’ longevity, actors – and their characters – can stick around for decades. In order to keep multiple plots going on at once, soap canvases are crowded, and veteran actors work out deals that keep them well-paid even when they’re not getting a lot of screentime – imagine a House with half a dozen Hugh Lauries. In the age of internet spoilers and fast-paced action-driven shows like 24, what incentive is there to tune into a show where storylines last for years?įurthermore, soaps are expensive to produce, not only compared to other scripted shows but compared to game shows and reality programs, which are more likely to air during the day and compete against soaps.
Soap tv show reruns serial#
My own theory? It has to do with soaps being largely unsuccessful at adapting to a culture which is less interested in serial drama. In addition, many blame soaps’ decreasing ratings to be the result of more women entering the workforce, which makes them less likely to be home during the day. There are many reasons given for why soap operas are becoming less successful and less popular – the OJ Simpson trial, which ate up many hours of daytime TV programming and caused many soaps to be suspended or air at different, less favorable hours, is a popular blame target.
All of those things are often true, but soaps-at-night-with-younger-casts like Gossip Girl and The OC are allowed to become pop-culture touchstones instead of being dismissed as irrelevant. Because they air during the day and are targeted toward women, they’re dismissed as fluffy, melodramatic, and unrealistic. Soap operas have never been considered the most elite medium in our crowded cultural landscape.
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