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Y&R's Eric Braeden Defends Daytime Drama, "They're Replacing The Soaps With Crap!"
Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
Leave it to The Young and the Restless’ Eric Braeden, who plays the iconic Victor Newman of Genoa City, to fire back at network suits and programming executives who over the past few years have canceled beloved daytime dramas and taken them away from its huge fan base and audience, only to replace them with game shows, cooking shows, or failed lifestyle/makeover shows. (Yes, The Revolution, we are talking about YOU!)
In a piece this weekend from The Hollywood Exclusive with noted Tinseltown columnist Marilyn Beck, she asked the Daytime Emmy winning actor how it feels being on one of the four remaining soaps, and his thoughts on the decisions made to replace them with alternative forms of programming. Braeden replied, “Not very good, to be honest. They’re replacing the soaps with bull#$@!, with crap. It’s what happens when huge corporations take over, and things are reduced to the lowest common denominator. You cannot tell me that all of a sudden, people who have been used to the novelistic form of entertainment, soap operas have suddenly lost interest. This form of serialized storytelling goes back to radio, to serialized novels. Dickens was essentially a soap opera writer. The desire to see, to be part of that has not died suddenly. I think it has died in the minds of some executives.”
Braeden is currently being seen on the big screen in the Oscar-winning Titanic as John Jacob Astor, which is currently been re-released in 3-D in honor of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the real-life Titanic.
So, what do you think about Braeden’s remarks? Let us know in the comment section below!
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He gets to the brilliant point: Suits are replacing beloved soaps with garbage all in the name of money. Huge fan bases and quality programming be damned!
I agree with that completely,They cancel our beloved soaps and want us watched the shit what they call a talk show.Shame on them.
I agree with Eric. I did watch As The World Turns, Guilding LIght until taken off. I started when they were on for 15 minutes. Have watcched Y and R since it came on tv. I have choose not to watch the stations in the afternoon for the crzp on there. I will watch the Western channel 1st. At least these people know what is a goo d show and not crap. Soap Opera Fan for 54 years.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. IMO, Eric is spot on with this thinking. Kudos to you Eric Braeden for putting it out there exactly as it is!
I also feel it could not have been said better. I enjoy my soaps and am tired of watching TV reality shows, Survivor, etc. I am tired of these shows. We live a survivor life do not really need to watch on TV. Besides I don’t call this a reality show it’s just another reality show. Survivor show should be people left on an island and left to make it on their own. Bring back the soaps.
I get your point, Edie. While I don’t mind shows like Survivor, as I watch it myself, I would be willing to give up that show and shows like The Amazing Race and ALL the reality shows for scripted shows, especially soap operas. Everything is just so cheap, cheap, cheap. The networks don’t want to pay writers. And when they do have something scripted, the writers want their fair share (e.g., the writers’ strike). Networks and the studios just think they can get rid of the middle man and we will just sit there like idiots and lap up whatever… Read more »
I no longer watch ABC for the 2 hours of “crap” they have put on…..and if they make it 3 hours with Katie, so be it I will not watch….the world will go on, but I will miss GH as I miss AMC and OLTL….but I will not be a party to the crap. ABC you had better listen
gh has been extended for 1 more year……………..
I would be wary of this so-called “extension” as there has been no official word from ABC. I think they are going to pull the rug (GH) out from under us sooner rather than later.
Don’t mess with Victor Newman! Love that he doesn’t filter himself, he says what we are all thinking!
Yep, Guiding Light replaced with a game show, ATWT replaced by a lame View knock off, and those stupid shows AMC and OLTL were replaced with.
I couldn’t agree with him more! I cried when GL was taken off. There are such talented, hard working actors and actresses who do daytime tv. What the networks should be looking at, is the crap that’s on at night!
Hopefully his comments start makng the corporation executives rethink their failed plan to change the landscape of daytime television.
These executives are truly out of touch to what the public wants.
I couldn’t have said it better. If ABC keeps up its philosophy of low budget, low quality shows, they’ll soon be running infomercials all day. If only they’d smarten and and turn around what they did to AMC and OLTL and give them the rebirths the loyal viewers of those soaps are still asking for…then I’d put my ABC boycott to rest. I watch nothing on ABC except for GH. Are their any mourners for the forthcoming cancellation of The Revolution? I think not…
Exactly what we all have been saying and yes it the large corporation executives that have no idea what we want to watch. What has happened and will continue until someone gets a clue, it has eroded daytime. I will never watch ABC again except GH. Not one network cares about its established viewers.
he is right on the money we love our soaps and tape them so we dont miss them i’m so sick of reality tv give me my soaps any day over that crap
Dayitme TV will never be the same without any soaps. You can only have so many game, cooking, or talk shows. How boring to have way too many of them.
Amen! He took the words right out of my mouth! I’ve been saying that for over a year now! i can’t even stand the crap on in the evenings too much reality crap!
Rock on EB!!!!!
Well Mr. Braeden I ask this one question concerning Y&R when was the last time you had a GOOD storyline on your soap? Answer 2005 Cassie’s death! No, the soap opera decade is not over with but your writers and producers are going to make it that way, you put some pressure on MAB & the gang with the thought of cancellation & they start writing good story and all my friends will be back in droves I have never liked talk shows or game shows but this drivel that you are calling story telling is awful I keep thinking… Read more »
Unfortunately, those suits (Sony for ex) have a large say in what is written and what is broadcast, so it’s not all the writers fault…Could we stand to have some new (GOOD) ones? Yes, but to put them blame solely on them is completely unfair…Not to mention it is a matter of tastes…There was a time when I didn’t watch at all, and couldn’t stand to, and that was BEFORE MAB…While I see flaws, I still watch, and not out of habit
abbie you took the words right out of my mouth – soap writers can only write what “the suits” allow them to write…………
I totally agree with your comment
Totally agree with Eric, hope Y & R will survive. Love the show and have been watching for 30 years.
Good for him ! I very much agree with Eric ……..so sad to have seen these soups to end !
THANK YOU !,ERIC
Does this mean that The Talk is crap? If my memory is correct, Braeden did appeared on this show.
several y&r actors have appeared on the talk & both shows are owned & run by the same people – they use actors/stars from other cbs shows to make a guest appearance to bring the ratings up on the talk and yes basically the talk is crap………………
I agree 100%. Television is HORRIBLE now. Everything is reality-based. It’s a real shame.
More actors should come forward but I guess they are afraid for their jobs and don’t want to go against their network.
Braeden made NO mention of the obvious poor writing on his show as reason for the decline. I don’t think that was an oversight. My guess is that the other actors you reference are not the only ones “afraid for their jobs.”
I agree 100%. I cannot believe we are losing our soaps for MORE talk shows. The problem is TPTB are not listening to the people that actually watch Daytime TV. They take these polls, but they leave out all the people that work all day and DVR/record their soaps and/or watch them later on soapnet. I assure you I do not miss a day of Y&R or Days of our Lives. If we lose the soaps, I assure you I will NOT be recording the crap they replace it with! Thank you, Mr. Braeden for speaking up! Believe me, many… Read more »
Thank you Eric for a defending the soaps…The crap the put on tv is terrible I hate reality tv shows. I still miss OLTL so much and want it back.
Thank you ERic for speaking up about how you really feel and maybe someone will listen to him and do the right thin and bring back the soaps.
agree completely!! i have blocks of time that i used to watch amc and oltl and now nothing on then so i started watching B&B AND Y&R ,AND GH AGAIN
We have to support the soaps. If a storyline is not working, write the execs of the shows and complain. PLEASE don’t stop watching, because that is the death sentence. I applaud Mr. Braeden, because he always speaks his mind. If soaps are dead, there wouldn’t be a resurgence of the night time soaps.
I agree with you,I have hated the mob stories on general hospital and for years I kept watching ,never missing a day because I want to support the soaps.If a fan leaves because of stupid reasons that will kill the soaps and that we dont want to happen we only have 4 left,those crap, talk,news and food shows are taking over ,I will never watch those shows I love the soaps thats the real daytime programming not katie couric ,the chew ,the revolution ,OOps thats gone.Now we have to boycott the other dopy talk news shows that will be taking… Read more »
I can’t resist: Y&R story telling! Victor involved with women half his age can anyone say PERVERT! Phyllis writing for the National Inquirer having sex on desks,dumpters,walls mooning over a man 8 to 10 years younger looks it. Daisy & Chelsea both getting pregnant by drunken men still trying to figure how that happens. Cane rewritten back story how many times? Neil no chemistry with either Harmony or Sophia. Chloe & Kevin who cares. Ricky the demon seed has not been on camera with his father Paul in how long. This is bull/s & crap at its finest and the… Read more »
Sounds like a typical soap opera to me…These complaints always miss me b/c soaps have ALWAYS written these kinds of storylines…Not sure why everyone acts like it is something new…You want to complain about storytelling, talk about the ridiculous Phyllis and her father and how that was poorly written storyline, or this wholde Shadam mess…An old man marrying a woman half his age is nothing new (In soap or real life)…Sometimes I think the execs don’t take the fas seriously because of these kinds of complaints,and I don’t blame them
thank you abbie – i could not have said it better myself!!
And Kay for every one of those plot points that you dislike you have to know that there is someone out there that just loves it. It is the way it is. There is some nut on a message board that just LOVES the weakest characters (Heather as played by Eden Regel for example) and then there are those that have all but started a petition to bring “Sam” back. People like what they like. I happen to agree with you on most of your points, though. There is an awful lot of bed hopping going around and not a… Read more »
I love Eric Braeden, he has ALWAYS spoken his mind! He’s right on the money this time too. I couldn’t have said it better myself!
What is sad to me is all the garbage that they are writing for YR and BB. I don’t know why E.B. can’t understand why they are yanking the soaps off the air when they keep repeating the old used plots day in and day out. No one but a select few get camera time, while others wait in the wings. I am not impress by EB(Victor), who’s character has never respected women or children or his family, nor the women who let him. No one respects marriage, and all of this bed hopping is stupid. I see why all… Read more »
I agree 100% with Mr. Braeden…..
Right On!! You tell em Eric!! Kudos….
Eric is exactly right – Soaps are far more entertaining than crap, like The Chew. Those TV executives need to wake up and give the people what they want, like more soaps!
i could not agree more with Mr. Braeden! They are decimating daytime tv with all kinds of crap. we lost three iconic soap operas amc and oltl and atwt because of shows like “the talk” “the Chew” “the revolution” all of them dont hold a candle to ANY of the three soaps that we lost on daytime tv. They are cheaply produced garbage! I hope the remaining soaps survive and these daytime tv executives realize that if we wanted to watch that kind of garbage we have at least 10 other stations to do so on other cable channels specifically… Read more »
Funny that Braeden seems to trash the networks for their decision to cancel soaps but he never hints that a significant problem is the unoriginal craptastic writing that is commonplace on many soaps for the past decade.
His own show is a prime example of the inexusable decline in the quality of the soap writing today. I’ve watched Y&R since before Victor ever appeared. I can’t how far this once great show has fallen in its writing.
the remaining four soaps left are experiencing the same thing BUT we all have to understand the writers do not have the final say in what actually airs the network executives do & that is the problem
Right on Eric! I’m with you and back your speaking your mind!
Right on! Thank you, Eric Braeden, for saying what so many of us want to say. Of course people still want serialized drama.
i love eric braeden as victor newman. like victor says listen to me all right you punk. eric speaks his mind and knows what he is talking about. i am so happy that the revolution finally got cancelled. but they picked up the chew for a second season. i have finally accepted that one life to live is not coming back. lets face it and fight for our remainder soap operas.
I agree with you completely!
wow someone who actually is not afraid to speak up how he really feels that is awesome i agree 100% all these big suits as he calls them make the decision to put on all these crappy shows and then expect us to watch them like brian frons had said that we will watch anything we will not watch these replacement shows at all after many years of watching these soap operas we were used to quality tv programing maybe some day we will see it again
I would like to take the word corporations out of the arguement. There is too much corporation bashing. Within these corporations they have creative people… people who are in the business of creating programming… these are the idiots that somehow think we want and need this crap. Yes… any business be it a small or a large corporation needs to make money to succeed… but it’s how they make money that is being addressed. There are people who think the soaps address family and family types values that they would rather replace them with shows telling you what to eat… Read more »
I would like to add to what I started. I think the model has to change. If ABC for instance had more Frank Valentini’s who knew how to take a budget and work with it we would get more soaps. Look at Crystal Chappell and Venice… I am guessing Venice doesn’t begin to cost what the Chew costs. We could get these types of creative project managers that believe in the genre after their management believe in the genre and give them the time slot and the budgets to bring something on. The person who developed the Chew wasn’t just… Read more »
My soaps are something that I have watched everyday for years. Can’t say that about any primetimes shows. In fact, I was thinking about this the other day. Some shows I have started to watch and then after a couple years or so, stopped watching them or even the same season they are not must-see TV. I don’t feel that way about my soaps. I don’t know why they are not getting the ratings they should or why networks want to cut them and replace them with garbage.
I agree, there was no reason in the world they had to cancel One Life to Live, it was a stupid move on ABC’s part and now they are suffering the consequences. I will not watch ABC daytime anymore until OLTL has been put back on and that garbage the Chew and Revolution are History.
Also not how ABC is trying to quiet the soap fans down by importing some of the OLTL cast on to General Hospital. Dosen’t work for me, its good to see some of the OLTL cast on GH and working but its not the same as being on their own soap. BRING BACK ONE LIFE TO LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that Eric Braedon is not just a great actor, but a brilliant man. He has hit the head of the nail dead on. The executives are thinking with their wallets and not with the Fans wishes. Ultimately it is a catch 22…..Soaps are (supposedly) to expensive to make, but they aren’t going to be making any money with the cheaper shows because you need an audience; they don’t have one. We have either moved on except for the the 3:00 GH slot on ABC. Or planning our stradgedy for the next network that decides we don’t want one… Read more »
Braeden’s comments ring true to me. Still, I do wish the storytelling on our soaps was better. I do not believe our plots are as good as they once were or could be. Rough seas do calm at some point,and I would not be surprised to see a resurgence in soap operas down the line. Everything old is new again.
I feel strong agree from Eic Braeden and Maurice Bernard are both right about they can’t take anymore to heard CBS,NBC and our favorite ABC who been good boys or girls this year to keep GH on the air forever. I do love GH over 31 years. Eric’s right.. CBS or NBC might take it away from Bulls**t to put bad stuff like talk show/cooking show/doctor in the house show and other. I means that’s bunch of crXp. I didn’t like it at all. GH got one more year to stay on the air until 50th Anniversary.. One more thing(my… Read more »
Does anyone else thing that THE CHEW is the worst name for a show ever? Every time I hear it I envision someone trying to eat something really big like a piece of cube steak or something. It’s almost like nails on a chalkboard to me. Anyway, I just wonder how long it will take until Hollywood, which is very close to running out of new ideas, is going to realize that they need to bring back the soaps. You know it is going to happen SOME day. First it will start with one network and then they will all… Read more »
Leave it to Mr. Braeden to tell it like it is. Long live the soaps!
The main point I was trying to make is no one ever takes resposibility for their job and wants to start pointing fingers it is news to me that the executives tell the writers what to write but maybe you guys know something I do not know and I never meant to imply that Eric Braeden liked the stories with the younger gals I was just making a point why I think Y&R is hurting in the ratings. MAB has ruined a lot of the characters on this show especially the women Sharon,Phyllis,Ashley are nothing like they were as created… Read more »
Actually everything I read said Maura West was too OLD for the part. That is why they gave her that short hair cut to make her look younger. I, however, am biased because I am the same age as Maura. Ha! Ha! In any event. I agree they ruined her. What a waste of a great talent. Maura and the character of Diane deserved so much better. It is TRUE that the attorneys have a lot of say in how things are played out. I worked for one of the studios that owns a certain daytime drama and saw many… Read more »
Yes, I also know Daniel was drugged and now we find out Billy was drunk.. So my question is this. Did they also slip them Viagra so they could have sex and have a baby! Or has something changed I do not know about that you just look at them and get pregnant! I think you know what I am getting at now we have Jack having sex but I thought he was paralyzed from the waist down you see where I am coming from I do know it is a soap opera but come on! I thought they canceled… Read more »
We knew Billy was drunk back when Melissa Claire Egan first came on screen back in the fall, I think it was. He admitted to Victoria that he was drunk. He mistook Chelsea for Victoria, kind of. But it was just revealed that Billy was drugged by her friends. I am still not convinced it is Billy’s biological baby to begin with because Victor had access to his DNA via Delia’s bone marrow transplant. Yeah, the whole logistics does not make sense and then there is Jack who is paralyzed from the waist down with Nikki. I’m not even going… Read more »
I missed the ages on the certificate. Gen is 33??? First of all, yeah right. Look at GF. Shes no 33 year old. Secondly, that must make Kane about 10 years old at the most then!! LOL!
I think what Kay is trying to say is that if a man is too drunk to know with whom he is having sex or even that he had it at all, then more than likely the certain part of the male anatomy that needs to function for the act isn’t working. Medical fact.
Mr. Braeden is spot on with his comment. I live on the east coast, and you can’t convince me that replacing Guiding Light with ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ was a deal breaker decision when it comes to daytime programming, OMG! I would bet CBS lost a lot of viewers.
I agree. I also strongly believe corporate America is destroying all we hold dear.
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