Are Daytime Soaps Dead? (June 27, 2002)

Back in the days when cable and VCRs were not plentiful, and there was no SoapNet, people watched the soaps during their lunch breaks or in college lounges between courses.

But in the year 2002, where VCRs and satellite dishes are rescheduling the soaps so the fans can watch them when they're ready to watch them, it's a chore for a soap to get the kind of ratings they once enjoyed even 10 years ago.

The problem: the ratings do not count for soaps that are delayed by VCR. There are untold millions of viewers who remain uncounted because they are watching their stories on at prime-time, many times instead of the fare that the network is airing opposite its own delayed VCR broadcasts.

Ratings are down. More women are in careers. Men are not picking up the slack; they're watching ESPN and HBO in daytime!

Soaps think they are supposed to program in the 18-49 demographic. The fact is: they have to program them friendly enough for the older demographics or 3/4 of your collective audience is not going to watch. Demographics don't mean crap if the overall numbers are crap.

``Soaps are a dying art form, and they have to find ways to revitalize the genre and appeal to young people,'' said Emmy historian Tom O'Neil. ``There's still the impression that soaps are for old ladies living in trailers in middle America.''

Although most network executives understandably objected to the first six words of O'Neil's statement, some longtime fans concurred. Allyson Bright, a 43-year-old computer programmer from Cincinnati, has been watching soaps since elementary school and she's seen it all. Again and again and again.

``I've lost so much interest that I don't even tape them anymore,'' Bright said. ``Soaps went to hell when ``General Hospital'' broke up Luke and Laura and made Lucky hate his parents. Plus, the story lines are really weak. A lady's husband dies, and she's so upset she goes and sleeps with her husband's brother. And in the Viki/Niki (multiple personality) story on ``One Life To Live'' -- are all the people in Llanview so crazy that they can't see this coming?

``Plus it seems like they just trade one young blonde for the next. They have all these good veteran actors, but they waste all their time on teeny-boppers who can hardly get a line out.''

One case of viewer erosion is demonstrated by the number one daytime drama's fall in the weekly Nielsen ratings: The Young and the Restless. Although it has been the #1 ranked soap on the weekly charts for over 12 years, it's #1 rating and share has free-falled along with all the others ranked below it.

CBS' ``The Young and the Restless,'' which has been the No. 1 daytime drama for 16 years, has seen its Nielsen ratings drop from a 30 share during the 1991-92 season to a 19 in 2002. ``Y&R'' lost more than 2 million viewers in 1994 when the O.J. Simpson trial pre-empted it during the day for months, and only about two-thirds of those viewers have returned. Second-rated ``Bold and the Beautiful,'' also on CBS, was averaging a 20 share during the 1990 season but has dropped to 14. No. 3 ``Days of Our Lives'' was pulling a 21 for NBC in 1996 but is now at 12.

Four of the 12 shows airing during the 1990-91 season -- ``Loving, Generations, Santa Barbara'' and the long-running ``Another World'' -- are gone. One short-lived soap, "Sunset Beach," lasted only three years from 1997-1999.

Even viewer apathy is affecting the ratings of the Daytime Emmy Awards. When people lose interest in the soaps, the ratings will tank like it did in 2002.

Another problem with soaps: many people just cannot find five hours out of their week to devote to just one soap anymore. Also, with prime-time soaps, many people eschew taping the daytime soaps and watch West Wing instead to save on VCR wear and tear.

Also: since the soaps went to one hour in the 70's, the storylines were diluted with minor stories that don't interest many people as filler between the big storylines since it was basically impossible for the same actors to appear in all five hours of the soaps every week.

Even more amazing, Another World was also once a 90-minute soap opera in the early 80's for a few years. None of the other soaps ever went that length.

At that Emmy presentation, several actors voiced their concern about the fate of their industry. ``I think the important thing is that producers and writers need to realize that there has to be less pizzazz,'' said Wally Kurth, who plays Ned Quartermaine on ``GH.'' ``You can't play with audiences like that anymore.''

``One of the best things about daytime is that a story can take as long as it needs to take to unfold,'' said Jill Larson (Opal Cortlandt) of ``All My Children.'' ``And I think in a certain sort of anxiety about losing audience, we've started trying to compete with nighttime shows or things that have to be told in an hour and we're losing some of the richness of character.''

But other daytime stars were more optimistic.

``It's starting to reverse again and the numbers have stabilized,'' said Linda Dano, who plays Dr. Rae Cummings on all four of ABC's soaps. ``I think since 9-11 that has happened. People need an escape route and they want something familiar. Daytime has always been a part of everyone's life. I think making it many things -- funny, heartfelt, staying with the relationships, good and bad -- is what we need.''

Added ``AMC'' Emmy winner Susan Lucci: ``People are watching and people are talking and loving it, and that's the main thing.''

The big question for the writers and producers: How to make viewers feel they can't do without their daily dose of soap?

Although CBS tends to stick to the tried-and-true soap formulas -- romantic triangles, life-threatening illnesses, multiple marriages, long-lost children returning to the nest -- on its four daytime serials, and ABC straddles the line between formula and fantasy on its four shows, NBC has embraced the bizarre with its two soaps. There's an ongoing story line on ``Passions'' involving a witch and the human doll she created, and a 1998 ``Days of Our Lives'' story line concerned hypnosis-induced demonic possession.

Arguably, the more far-fetched the story, the better.

Yet, ``Days'' executive producer Ken Corday said gimmicks will only get you so far and he, too, has pretty much gone back to basics. ``It's a big mistake, a huge trap,'' said Corday, whose parents, Betty and Ted Corday, co-created ``Days'' in 1965. ``People are looking for a quick fix -- dealing with the paranormal, doing the show live and things like that. ... If you try to muck it up with lots of special effects, you end up observing the show instead of participating in it.''

Corday must be doing something right because, according to Sheraton Kalouria, NBC's senior vice president of daytime, ``things have never been better. We're No. 1 in 18-49, and ``Days of Our Lives'' is up 20 percent and ``Passions'' is up a similar amount this year. So we're actually bucking the trend.''

Viewers still embrace ``Days''' Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristin Alfonso), even when they're on the back burner. Likewise with Luke (Tony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) from ``GH,'' and Josh (Robert Newman) and Reva (Kim Zimmer ) on ``GL.'' And what would ``All My Children'' be without Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) or ``Y&R'' without Victor Newman (Eric Braeden)? Although some of these characters may come and go, they're seldom forgotten.

That's why ``Days'' routinely brings back characters from the past such as Jennifer Horton (Melissa Reeves), Billie Reed (Lisa Rinna) and Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis). Recently ``AMC'' brought back one of its most popular actresses, Eva LaRue Callahan. These rebirths and reincarnations are good for the fans and the bottom line.

What the producers of these shows need to do is make friends with the Internet, offer the broadcasts at different times and pump up the magazines to support these shows.

At SoapCity.com, fans can not only catch up on the latest goings on in Genoa City, Pine Valley and Salem, but also listen to some classic soap episodes from the past. ``Soap Opera Digest,'' the leading soap magazine, can be accessed online. But the thing that irks ABC's Gary Tomlin is Disney's Soapnet network. This premium channel not only offers shows from the past like ``Knots Landing, Falcon Crest'' and ``Ryan's Hope,'' but also airs multiple rebroadcasts of episodes from the current ABC shows at night.

``You'd be hard pressed to convince me that (Soapnet) doesn't hurt our ratings,'' said Tomlin. ``Soapnet gets access to three hours of very expensive network programming right away. It seems to me that this concept is oddly defeating. It should just put shows on that are no longer on the air and advertise the new shows.''

Super soaper: Five over-the-top daytime drama plotlines

When it comes to soap-opera plots, there have been some real doozies over the years. Evil twins, characters returning from the dead (those dreams of feature-film stardom having fallen flat), demonic possessions, heavenly tours and so many multiple marriages that eventually everyone on the show has some genetic connection.

Some, however, have really been over the top. Check out our picks for the five most outrageous soap story lines:

The Ice Princess on ``General Hospital'' (1981) Port Charles, the small, mythical, northeastern town where ``GH'' is set, always has its share of drama. You'd think it was New York or LA. But the last straw for this one-time faithful ``GH'' viewer was when Luke (Tony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) went after madmen trying to freeze the planet with a weather machine. To remedy this most dire situation, the dynamic duo had to locate the Ice Princess, the largest uncut diamond in the world and the key to thawing the freeze. To get to it, they had to make it past the diabolical Cassadine clan.

Marlena's demonic possession on ``Days of Our Lives'' (1995) Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), one of Salem's most respected citizens, found herself in a rather sinister situation when she literally fell under the spell of Satan after a series of meetings with the notorious Stefano DiMeara (Joe Mascolo) at his secret underground compound. Marlena turned into the Desecrator, wreaking havoc on all of Salem. Initially she was able to hide her darker side from her friends and neighbors, but they finally got a clue when she began levitating during afternoon naps. Fortunately, her ex-husband, John (Drake Hogestyn), was a former priest and performed an exorcism to rid Marlena of her demons.

Reva's cloning on ``The Guiding Light'' (1998) When Reva (Kim Zimmer) was supposedly killed in a plane crash in the tropics, her husband, Josh (Robert Newman), was so distraught that he decided to have his beloved wife cloned. The new Reva, however, did not resemble her old self. Instead, Josh was presented with a newborn baby, who was given some sort of aging serum that allowed the clone to grow from infant to adult woman in a matter of weeks. But wait! The real Reva didn't die after all and came back to claim her man. So what happened to the clone? She died of old age after taking more aging serum.

Timmy the Talking Doll on ``Passions'' (1999) The last time we'd seen Juliet Mills on television, she was starring in ``Nanny and the Professor.'' So it was rather unnerving to see her in the role of Tabitha, the aging witch who created a little companion doll to help alleviate her loneliness. The result was Timmy (Josh Ryan Evans), who initially was a 4-foot-tall rag doll. But, thanks in part to Tabitha's powers, Timmy became more lifelike, much to the delight of his creator. To this day, Timmy is still doing Tabitha's bidding.

The turkey baster on ``Sunset Beach'' (1998) In this show's most outrageous story line, one woman tried to stick it to another. Virginia (Dominique Jennings) fell in love with Vanessa's (Sherri Saum) man, Michael (Jason George), and was prepared to do anything to win his love. First, she gave Vanessa a potion from a witch doctor that caused Vanessa to believe she had a disease. When that failed, Virginia broke into a sperm bank and stole samples from Dr. Tyus Robinson (Russell Curry) and used them to impregnate Vanessa via a turkey baster while she was asleep. Because Michael was sterile, he knew the baby couldn't be his and broke up with Vanessa. Eventually, however, Virginia's schemes were revealed and she was hauled off to the psych ward.