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KATIE Shifting To Live Format In Final Six Months Of Its Run! Talker Has To Tighten Budget!

Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

Last week, we brought you the news that the axe had finally fallen on Katie Couric’s Disney/ABC syndication afternoon talk show, Katie!   The show will end after only two seasons, but  now in the final six months of production, January to through June, due to budget issues the talker will shift to a mostly live format!

A representative for the series told The Hollywood Reporter, “The content of Katie will mostly be produced live on four out of five days.  In order to keep the production schedule to four days a week, the fifth show will be taped but is expected to be limited to the one-hour time allotted (less commercial time).”    They added that the reason to switch to the mostly live format was in the works prior to the news of the officially cancellation.

THR revealed that originally: “Couric’s tapings ran longer than the allotted time because she wanted to keep going to get as much good content as possible.  In some cases, shows were running twice the scheduled time.  A source close to the show insists Couric’s decision to run longer was made jointly with Rachel Miskowiec, who was brought in last May as executive producer for the show’s second season. The result was that producers and editors often racked up overtime to cut the content to fit the one-hour format, triggering significant budget overruns. Katie was already one of the more expensive daily talk shows ever produced, in part because it had more field producers and news staff than most.”

So, Katie was clearly an over-budget talk show that was made room for in the ABC line-up for affiliates in the original timeslot of General Hospital!  And everyone was complaining how over budget soap productions are!  Well, it looks like it happens in talk shows too!  What do you think of the switch of Katie to a mostly live format, and the troubles the show has had?  Weigh-in!

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mgb357su0000johnnyLlanviewer717Charday Recent comment authors
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d.w.mckim
Guest
d.w.mckim

You know, an awful lot of unexpected surprises can happen when you air live….like a guest suddenly making a speech to ABC to bring back the soaps…or a large portion of the studio audience breaking out into a We Want the Soaps chant….

Llanviewer717
Guest
Llanviewer717

Oh, I’d love to see that happen.

Dale
Guest
Dale

SO happy ABC FINALLY CANCELLED HER SHOW!!! I ONLY WATCHED HER SHOW IELLSB WHEN SHE DID THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL & WHEN RICK SPRINGFIELD WAS ON!! I’M A HUGE ELLEN FAN!!!

Nancy
Guest
Nancy

They can always use reruns of OLTL in place of Katie until they figure out what their going to do. That will save on a lot of money and I bet it gets better ratings.

Jen
Guest
Jen

Honestly, I don’t know what to say about ABC Daytime and their budget problems. But one possible suggestion is that they may want to get out of producing original content, and just become a giant billboard like AOL. Hey, it could be groundbreaking! Just think about it… an all infomercial major network! LOL. ABCommercial! 😉

mike t
Guest
mike t

Good riddance !!!Now please bring back OLTL and AMC !!!!!

johnny
Guest
johnny

That will never happen mike, OLTL and AMC will never come back on abc. Time to move on, I’m over it now. i enjoy watching general hospital and days of our lives.

su0000
Guest
su0000

So true..
I can not understand how some think ABC will air the 2 soaps, again..
It will never ever happen, they are over/done/gone the same as the canceled soaps before them..

Unless! PP by way of a miracle gets them up and running, again, and that is not probable..

The 2 soaps are no longer in ABC’s hands and when or if ABC gets them back they will collect dust on a shelf, forever archived..

Mark in FLA
Guest
Mark in FLA

I have an idea on how they could save even more money-just stop producing the Katie show right now. Then they could broadcast repeats of the last 6 months of OLTL, bring OLTL back into production and give us new episodes after 6 months.
I guess that would be a longshot! A guy can dream, can’t he?

Kate
Guest
Kate

I am happy about anything that shows just how stupid ABC is. It is so sad that our wonderful soaps are being replaced with these awful talk shows. Bring back AMC! Bring back all the soaps!

Daisy
Guest
Daisy

Why bother? Get out now!

jimh(leave it to beaver)
Guest
jimh(leave it to beaver)

Funny, talk was cheap(cheaper than soaps) but in this case it wasnt and the show gets cancelled…but 4 those who dislike Katie…well, she still has her fans and we havent heard the last from her…i wish daytime would experiment with a new soap…it could air for 6 months and repeat 6 months to help keep costs down…also in place advertising would be another way to earn extra money to pay for these shows…maybe a character could be shown ordering and drinking a pepsi or another character is shown buying a Ford truck…it would also add a little realism too…just saying!… Read more »

sue
Guest
sue

I MO the budgets were just an excuse. Wonder what they will do now. If it isn’t our cancelled soaps I will not watch. I am looking forward to Tainted Dreams ABC can’t touch that

mgb357
Guest
mgb357

Here an idea – lets bring back soaps in a LIVE format.
See what rating the Sound of Music got.. people love LIVE (ex. Kelly and Michael)

Everything in TV is cyclical… every ‘genre’ always comes back.. but changes slightly.

What better way to create a buzz … bring back LIVE soaps… you can bet ABC would have an audience increase..

Oh did I mention bring back OLTL…

brian
Guest
brian

These budget and over run issues make me laugh… I’m quite sure that OLTL was giving ABC more value for less money.

aria
Guest
aria

maybe they can barrow Frank Valentini to get them under budget. lol!

Barbara t loves One life to live
Guest
Barbara t loves One life to live

WHO CARES, I DON’T , SHE IS AS BORING AS WET DISH RAG THAT FELL ON THE FLOOR, HOPEFULLY WHO EVER GETS HER PLACE DOESN’T DO WELL EITHER, I WOULD SAY PUT THE SOAPS BACK, BUT ABC/ DISNEY DOESN’T CARE AND WON’T ADMIT DEFEAT, BUT AT LEAST IF THEY DID THEY WOULDN’T HAVE TO REPLACE THEIR DUMB TALK AND FOOD SHOWS WITH ANOTHER FAILURE.

Janet
Guest
Janet

Her contract was too expansive for what the ratings were getting which is what led to her downfall. No surprise here, this woman has always been money hungry since her NBC days. Despite that, her failure will not bring back AMC and OLTL. Katie’s ratings weren’t stellar but they weren’t The Revolution’s numbers either. ABC will just produce another talk show but this time with an host that ask less money than Katie did. And if that talk show with the other host gets ratings similar to what Katie was getting, ABC will keep it. Sad but true. ABC absolutely… Read more »

Rodd
Guest
Rodd

Nothing against Katie or her show (don’t watch it, don’t know), but the fact that the network allowed the show to continually run over budget after what they learned about “inflated” soap star salaries and show production costs, really pisses me off. Soap stars supposedly make less than primetime stars; yet at one time, the soaps were the “cash cows” for the network. Still, the networks have treated their soaps/stars badly with very little support while they paid gross sums of money to their night time stars and promoted the heck out of them. Soaps started being cancelled and network… Read more »

denisefan
Guest
denisefan

Katie and the majority of talk shows are repeats….. unlike daytime dramas.

Charday
Guest
Charday

Going live–a move of desperation. Good riddance!

Llanviewer717
Guest
Llanviewer717

A talk show going over budget!!!!!!! How can that be????????

mgb357
Guest
mgb357

now that Christmas is over – I dont feel as charitable to this woman anymore.
she – along with the past daytime boss – ruined the soap genre…. let her go to yahoo dot com… that way we dont ever have to see her again.

bring back the soaps…. you still own them ABC!

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Marcus Learns He’s Not Trina’s Biological Father

On Wednesday’s episode of General Hospital, Trina (Tabyana Ali) opened the DNA test results that would conclude who is her actual bio-dad. Would it be the man who raised her, Taggert (Réal Andrews) or, the man she more recently has come to know, Curtis (Donnell Turner)?

At GH, Marcus, Curtis and Portia (Brook Kerr) gather to learn the results.  It turns out that Curtis is Trina’s biological father, not Marcus.

However, are these results, correct? Are DNA results ever correct on soaps? Did Selina Wu (Lydia Look) have something to do with switching these in favor of Curtis? Are we digging into this too much?

After the revelation, Trina tells Curtis. they will need to take some time need to figure out their relationship.  Trina makes it clear she’s not looking for a replacement father, and hopes he can understand and accept that.  Curtis promises he will let Trina take the lead on things.

Meanwhile, Taggert, who promised Trina no matter what happens that nothing will change between them, decides to take off and breaks down in the elevator.  Marcus is devastated and in tears, and is left using the elevator as a punching bag for his fists.

You can watch the final moments of the scene, featuring a heart-tugging performance by Réal Andrews below.

Now let us know, are you glad Trina’s bio-dad turned out to be Curtis and not Marcus … or were you hoping it would turn out the other way around? Share your thoughts in the comment section. 

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Days Of Our Lives

DAYS and GH Alum Tyler Christopher Arrested for Public Intoxication

Daytime Emmy-winner, Tyler Christopher (ex-Nikolas, GH; ex-Stefan, DAYS) was arrested for public intoxication at the Burbank, California airport, this past Friday, on May 26th.

According to the Burbank PD and reports obtained by TMZ, Tyler was arrested after they found him asleep and on the ground at the American Airlines terminal.  The officers noted that Tyler displayed clear and objective signs of drinking.  They also reveal he was unable to care of himself.

Christopher, who remains a fan favorite as the former Nikolas Cassadine on GH and Stefan DiMera on DAYS has opened up and discussed his battle with alcoholism in the past.  Last year, he appeared on former GH co-star Maurice Benard’s You Tube series, State of Mind.

Photo: NATAS

Tyler was released from police custody following his airport arrest, cited, and will need to appear in court at a later date.

Back in 2019, the popular actor was cited for two counts of misdemeanor public intoxication and landed in jail for two days, following an arrest in Indiana.

Share your thoughts on this latest situation for Tyler in the comment section below.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Who Will Turn Out to be Trina’s Biological Father … Curtis or Taggert?

This week’s episodes of General Hospital are set to deliver some needed results and some bombshells.  First, Victor’s will is read, but, in true GH fashion, the evil Cassadine delivers his reading via a videotaped message of himself in a return appearance by Charles Shaughnessy,

Meanwhile, Trina (Tabyana Ali), Curtis (Donnell Turner) and Portia (Brook Kerr) have all been awaiting the DNA tests results to prove that Trina is the biological daughter of Curtis, not Marcus Taggert (Réal Andrews) .

At the same time, Curtis is moving back in with Portia, after his lip lock with his ex-wife, Jordan (Tanisha Harper).

Spencer (Nicholas Chavez) and Trina are at the center of both storylines, because Uncle Victor probably left something behind for Spencer, while Trina will be dealing with the fallout from the DNA results.

Photo: ABC

Watch the latest GH promo below.

Now weigh-in, who do you think will be revealed as Trina’s true father? Curtis or Taggert? Share your theories via the comment section below.

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