Yeah, but are the networks coming to the same realization? It does the soap fans no good, if the major networks dont see the error of their ways, and fix the mistakes that they have made…..And I’m sorry, I don’t want a new soap, I want my OLTL back!!!

Yessssss! Shout it from the rooftops! From Bill Carroll’s lips to fans ears!
Hiphip hopray! ********

I am an eternal pessimist. It is easier to be a glass-is-half-empty kind of gal then to have high expectations and be disappointed all the time. 🙂

That is really nice for The Hollywood Reporter to do this article considering they had many here wanting their heads for their shoddy commentary on the Daytime Emmys not too long ago.

That being said, this is what I have been saying all along, as quoted: “Says Carroll, “At some point in the future, the trend will once again be soap operas.”

Whether the networks will get into their thick heads that the fans want the soaps to continue and NOT these stupid talk/variety what-have-you shows, remains to be seen. I have said and will always say that everything old is new again. We might lose all our shows eventually, but SOMEday the soaps will be back. It may not be in my lifetime, but it will happen.

I have watched soaps for almost 50 years. I for one love them and am very attached to the characters. This was a false maneuver by ABC that said soaps were dead. They have lost thousands of viewers and if they cancel GH I am permanently done with ABC along with millions of viewers who absolutely love that show. I have a very small amount of hope to get the cancels shows back and would love some kind of a combination. GH talks about Pine Valley and Llanview and shows respect to the loyal viewers. I have not patience left for ABC.

Bill Carroll is full of it when he said soap fans realized we could lose these treasures so we started watching again. WE WERE ALWAYS HERE- the networks were the ones that cancelled our beloved shows, forcing us to go to the remaining soaps to get our fill of daytime drama. Instead of splitting the viewer pool among 8 or 9 soaps as they once did, we are down to four- there aren’t more viewers just less soaps competing for the same viewers. And his words sounded more like a threat to me- watch these remaining shows or they might be cancelled too. I think this is all BS from the PTB to give soap fans a bone- to whet their hope their cancelled show might come back . This article doesn’t make me happy- it pisses me off because so many great soaps should have never been cancelled in the first place.

When and if daytime soaps make this resurgence, there will have to be a LOT of differences! No ridiculous back from the dead stories…no teenagers desperate to be mothers and wives…no villains who ALWAYS triumph..etc. Soaps went wrong and viewers turned away for a reason. Give us honest to goodness heartwarming stories like Gilmore Girls. Give us a campy funny sophisticated hybrid like Desperate Housewives. Give us a crime soap that blends Criminal Minds with long gone Edge of Night. You dont need bloated casts of 40 contract players. Give us a prime time sized cast. They dont have tir every day…air them 3 days a week. Next…don‘t hire the same writers and producers who failed at every soap. Hire new people…get interns…hire fresh writers…and LISTEN to the fans. There has been a statement forever, and it goes like “Happy couples are boring.“ but you know what? I NEVER heard a fan say that. I heard a producer, a writer, a network exec…etc say that. People dont want to be bombarded with constant misery. Keep popular couples together. There is enough human drama in ordinary relationships to fuel story for years. This can happen!

And seriously…get back to writing for characters that people root for. And romance! That breathless anticipation for favourite couples to get together is what drew soap fans in. It was not plastic surgeried psychos, mobsters who murder, violent graphic rape scenes, etc. People want to escape and be entertained!

The soaps need to be brought back, but I do think that, besides GH, the remaining soaps need to fix their writing. Storylines on the shows, notably Days, are very dull and bland. Since there is nothing new, viewers will tune out.

I wish ABC would swallow their pride and bring back OLTL!

Not having all the shows re-air on SN has helped. GH is keeping the surprises and excitement from the 80’s is back and GH is GH. Days is OK, and YR is undecided. Bold is still the Liam and Hope show.

They should admit their mistakes and bring back the two soap operas that all the fans watch . OLTL and AMC belong on tv and it is a real shame what happen .It takes a big man to admit he was wrong and fix the problem.

YES, YES, YES, BRING BACK OLTL!!!!!!! Miss OLTL every day.

We can only hope that this will come close to bringing back something that was so very special! Still have a big hole in my afternoons without AMC & OLTL!! I would be so happy just to have those back even with cast changes!

I’m from the days when soap operas and game shows were a hot commodity on daytime television. Of course, you only had CBS, NBC and ABC then with independent tv stations. The only cable channels may have been PBS and TBN.
A Soap opera could branch off into a second soap opera, such as, Another World and Somerset.
I’m sorry to see soap operas disappearing from the broadcast channels. One Life to Live had a nice send off with some actors continuing their role on General Hospital.
But I think everyone would have liked All My Children to continue and what a cliff-hanger it had.
I don’t see any reason why All My Children could not be brought back at some point or any soap opera from the past for that matter. Maybe a 30 minute format would work well.
Who would like Santa Barbara, Ryan’s Hope or Dark Shadows to return?
I’m surprised Days of Our Lives has not created a spin-off by now.
Okay, talk shows are cheaper, but I’m getting tired of all the phony, scripted chat of unknown people we will only see once and then forget.
Soap operas can still be exciting and with adventure.

What Mr. Carroll said about soaps becoming the new trend at some point may come true somewhere way down the line, but I doubt it will be anytime soon. I bet many people reading this would love for one or more of their cancelled soaps to be put back on the air. I know I would. But I also think that’s highly unlikely. Combos, like the frequent cross-pollenation of GH/OLTL/AMC mentions and characters is a thrilling way to keep some portion of our favorite shows alive and for TPTB to save money.

If soaps become the “new” trend some day, I will be most happy if they employ some form stars from my old shows. But regardless of if actors I’ve watched are on the new show, I’ll always mourn the loss of some of my favorite soaps. I’d love it if they did “specials” where they’d revive certain soaps for a two-hour “update” from time to time. As soap fans, I think we’ve become accustomed to taking the crumbs we’re given by the networks…some might call that loyalty; a quality the “suits” don’t care about.

~ My apologies if I mis-typed any words. I don’t have my glasses on. :0)

The ONLY storyline I care about on GH has been dragging on since March of this year: Robin’s alive and being held against her will. TEN MONTHS!!!! Kimberly’s doing other things yada yada yada. Don’t LIE and pretend like you’ve revolutionized the daytime serial. You’re still doing the same shtick. Besides, all soaps have infused humor and intrigue and high stakes drama for decades. This isn’t something new. You still have work to do, mainly in the storytelling department, but also in the resisting- the-urge-to-hire-useless-newbies front too.

And DAYS, Nicole’s pregnancy that went on forever! It wouldn’t end! And then it did in such a climactic way, only for the conclusion process (fall, blame, reveal) to take 3 weeks. It’s doing some things right (Caroline’s Alzheimers, Will’s coming out, Kristen’s return, EJami exploration) but for every hit there’s been a miss.

B&B is probably the most structurally sound (from the inside and from the outside) than any other soap, and that’s a bit of an issue given that their biggest reason for watching was wasted these past few years and now recently left. There’s not much more pull this show has. L-rd knows the never ending tug of Liam war has aggravated more viewers than it’s enticed.

Don’t even get me started on Y&R.

Ranting aside, I don’t believe we’ll ever see a resurgence in the daytime soap. We’ll be telling our grandchildren about them in past tense. They’ll recognize the format through adapted primetime shows, but a 5 day a week / 52 week per year show? I think this gentleman is being blindly optimistic or just doesn’t want to get booed on the street by soap fans like Frons. Either way, it’s a lovely thought, but my realistic side says it aint gonna happen.

Bill Carroll – “What’s happened is the core audience realized these treasures might go away. They decided they’d better watch, or the shows are not going to be there.”

I hope he’s referring to reality tv shows. Trust me, those “treasures” will go away when the core audience stops watching them.

Love it!!! Somewhat… Vindication! Do it right and it’s successful! Threaten with extinction and you will see angry viewers unite and watch! Just get the measurement fixed to deal with current day watching mediums and they would find there are even more viewers watching whenever they can!

Great news. Love that the ABC replacement shows are failing. Soaps are the only shows that have consistent ratings every day.

I really hope all talk shows fail and reality shows right after them. There is a reason I watch my two soaps and reruns of great comedy shows (Frasier, Cheers); it’s because we fall in love with characters, not regular people airing dirty laundry.

I blame Oprah- she made that whole genre huge and when her show went off the air, every network including cable thought they could create the next Oprah. I agree I don’t find listening to other people’s problems entertaining. Are we are supposed to ” learn” how to be better people from these shows? If so then why do they cater to the lowest instincts of mankind and exploit it for profit? Sure these talk shows touch the same subjects as soaps, but it isn’t so distrubing watching a fictional story about adultery as it watching some poor lady pour her soul out on national television while her cheating husband watches. I know these shows all have their fans, because they wouldn’t be on the air otherwise, but I never understood the appeal. So I say we blame Oprah for the changing the landscape of daytime television from scripted drama to infotalk

I want OLTL back! I watch GH and nothing else on ABC.

They would be so smart if they created a “new” soap with characters from One Life and Al My Kids. But only if Frank/Ron could create along with their work on GH.

I have been struggling to like Bold and Beautiful to get my soap fix, but honestly the writing is just too bad and too much incestuous-like bed hopping. This soap can ever be like AMC, OLT or Edge of Night were. Two years into B&B and all I see is a one-sided soap where writers disregard even recent historical fact to favor one group of characters over another. Obvious that they NEVER hire medical or legal consultants and it is insulting because their audience is educated. Writers don’t realize that ALL contract characters are important and are just not there to move the storyline along for others. They should have their own storylines SOMETIMES independent of others — why many are fatigued with sl. Lastly, women who have done what Brooke Logan has done should NOT be anyone’s matriarch — that is laughable!

ABC really needs a second soap. Since the Mannings moved to GH, why bring back the original Lords, Rileys, Woleks, from OLTL and the Chandlers, Martins, and the Tylers from AMC for a new soap.

Jacob Young was the best Jr Chandler, and the worse Rick Forrester!