The part of that Suds Report that stood out the most was Jackie Zeman saying TPTB told her their audience doesn't want to see "old people kissing." Here's an idea, folks -- why don't you f***ing ask us what we do and don't want to see?
I guess someone should tell Y&R's showrunners to get rid of Victor, Ashley, Nikki, Kay, Jeffrey, Gloria, and Jill, because nobody has told them that their audience doesn't want to see older characters in romantic storylines. Who knows? If Y&R takes the advice, they might get as many viewers as GH!
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"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
Does General Hospital consult its audience? (What ever is left of it?) I don't recall, when I was watching, being asked whether I no longer want to see Jacklyn Zeman on screen as Bobbie. (My answer is yes. In fact, what I don't want to see is what GH is showing.)
Originally posted by DS0816: Does General Hospital consult its audience? (What ever is left of it?) I don't recall, when I was watching, being asked whether I no longer want to see Jacklyn Zeman on screen as Bobbie. (My answer is yes. In fact, what I don't want to see is what GH is showing.)
I jsut called the comment line to let them know that i WANT VETERAN PERFORMERS ON THEIR SCREEN!
I loved the Bobbie/Roy pairing and was sad when it was ended. I was hoping for a Bobbie/Scotty pairing or a Bobbie/Noah pairing when those characters returned. I WANT JACKIE ZEMAN ON MY SCREEN.
Jackie if i were you i'd tell my agent to call CBS and get my butt on The Bold & The Beautiful or As The World turns.
Praying The Daytime Emmys air on TV in 2010!
Posts: 20035 | Location: just outside Providence, Rhode Island | Registered: July 28, 2002
Nelson, I totally agree about Megan Ward. She really kicked a s s on that episode, but she's being sacrificed for the Claudia/Sonny relationship which boggles my mind because Claudia is the one Zaccara (sp?) that no one seems to give a damn about. I agree with 742 and everyone else. GH gives us what we don't want. Save for Megan Ward's one episode, the show has been so awful that I've fast forwarded most of the show the last two weeks. Most fans adored Cash. They get rid of him. Most fans want Zeman and Damon on the show. They get rid of them. Most fans want more of the Quartermaines. We get more mob stuff. Most fans want more Diane and Alexis. Instead, we get goth biker chick. GH goes out of its way to p i s s off fans.
Originally posted by nbgemini: BRILLS 742! Just BRILLS. You said it better than I.
Thanks Nelson!
I can't properly express my anger at this industry without using words that would be censored by the message board.
The people who make decisions like these are indescribably, inexplicably, persistently, pathologically stupid. They think so very little of us and don't even try to hide it anymore. The audience doesn't want to see old people kissing. Are they serious? Of course they're serious. They believe what they're saying. It's their job to please us; our viewership fuels the advertising that supports their shows and keeps them employed. And they think they're pleasing us because someone has given them pie charts telling them that 18-49 year olds are likelier to buy dishwashing liquid from 14-year-old incestuous cousins and career killers than from gays, blacks, hispanics, or anyone over the age of 40. We're just statistics to them, but they don't even have their statistics right!
These people will look you in the eye and tell you the sky is green, not because they're liars but because they really do think the sky is green, and they're too stubborn to look out a window. If they did, they'd see how to create a hit show. "The Closer" features a 40-something woman in a relationship with a 40-something man, and it gets more viewers per episode than "Gossip Girl" and "90210" combined. On cable, no less. "Brothers and Sisters" is a consistent hit, and it features a happily married gay couple and a 60-year-old woman who has an active sex life. "Desperate Housewives" manages to draw millions of viewers who clearly haven't been told they're not interested in watching 40+ characters kiss.
I wish I knew how to get through to them the simple fact that viewers like the posters at GoldDerby represent the only demographic that matters anymore: people who still give a damn. We're the demographic they're losing in droves, and chasing those 18-49 year olds is as useful as trying to attract elderly leprechauns or stay-at-home unicorns. They're not coming. They're figments of your imagination.
Reading these posts every day from people who are sick and tired of this mess is to read opinions diametrically opposed to the party line. More veterans, not less. Character-based drama, not plots and stunts. Diversity, not a whitewash. Talented actors of all shapes and sizes, not vapid hair models. Old people kissing, not young cousins humping. Attention to writing, not special effects or new production models. More family, less violence. They have no idea who we are, but we are their most powerful promotional department. We are their marketing reps. "Philip happens here"? Give me a f***ing break. No one who values his time will take that crap seriously. But if one GL fan tells another GL fan to watch the show, they're going to do it. However, if the first GL fan can barely work up the strength to watch it himself, he's not going to tell anybody anything, and soon he'll give up, and there's another real viewer you'll never get back.
Last weekend, I watched Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage." It's a complete masterpiece, but the sets are shockingly modest. The "production model" is to put two characters in a series of rooms and have them talk to each other. It was originally made as a miniseries for Swedish television. Do I think daytime can achieve the brilliance of Bergman? No. But why not aspire to Bergman? He proved what's possible on inexpensive sets if you have the right actors, script, and direction. And it doesn't matter what the hell age they are.
I want to scream this at the powers that be, but they're not listening. They have their idea of who I am and what I want to see, even though I stopped watching GH, ATWT, B&B, and DAYS more than six months ago because they kept giving me so much of what I wanted to see. There's an impenetrable barrier between us and them. So we bellow at the citadel wall for change, and they keep tossing their garbage at us and calling it gold.
"Our market research and focus groups have told us you enjoy this. Aren't we generous?" they're calling down to us.
"Hell no!" we yell back, but they're too high up to hear us. When the whole place burns to the ground, they'll shrug their shoulders wondering what went wrong, but by then there will be nothing left to save.
"A movie is not good because it arrives at conclusions you share, or bad because it does not. A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it: about the way it considers its subject matter, and about how its real subject may be quite different from the one it seems to provide." - Roger Ebert, from the introduction to "Awake in the Dark" (2006)
And that ladies and gentlemen is the case for the prosecution.
I wish every producer and network head would read 742's post, but that would require a degree of literacy I'm not sure these morons possess. There's nothing more dispiriting than watching soaps these days. Just when I think GH can't get worse, I turn over to ATWT, and I realise that a soap can get much, much worse. I get so angry that I want to physically shake these people--pull a Cher, "Snap out of it!" It's pretty sad when I derive more pleasure out of watching clips from Another World and Sunset Beach--two soaps which were cancelled ten years ago.
I can't properly express my anger at this industry without using words that would be censored by the message board. … …
Dear 742,
A splendid post from you!
…Bravo!
In the meantime, I have a different take on this matter. And it comes in the form of encouragement along with the following suggestions.…
I think the current "saving graces" of daytime should transfer their "qualifications," their "skills," their "talents"—and especially "themselves"—to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee.
It is the GOP where they would "best advance"—a place where they can also be "proud to serve."
If Michael Steele were to, "unfortunately," "fail" as RNC "head"…let us see the former Maryland Lt. Gov. replaced by "The True Leader of the Republican Party" Rush Limbaugh.
In this "unique process," let us find a "new" and "reinvigorated" political party of "mavericks" that these behind-the-scenes daytimers (big wigs and all)—particularly those who have done such "wonders" for today's serials—who could "wow" with their "brand-new contributions" of "extraordinary vision." It would, no doubt, successfully "fix" the "discouraged" GOP.
I believe daytime is not, "unfortunately," the proper venue for such "remarkable" figures.
The results of all of this might be quite "magical"!
I used to think a change can come for Daytime and we can at least get a taste of the days of old, but not anymore! Those damn TPTB doesn't give a f.u.c.k. about the viewers that still care, b/c they got the dollar dollar bills yall, and Barbara Bloom, Ken Corday, Brian Frons and most of the other EP's should be ashamed of themselves for letting this business continue. I guess that statement is true that money is the root of all evil.
Posts: 5344 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
So more of Ron Carlivati getting passed over for the WGA award for the likes of Bob Guza and Jean Passanante-sauce! Great. Too bad the team over at Y&R won't be eligible. But, and even though you don't realy care for the regime at GL, maybe the team at GL can get in. IDK if those writers went fi-core.
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Posts: 5344 | Location: New York/California | Registered: September 30, 2006
I was just pondering to myself whether we'd prefer watching the soaps with the characters (and storylines) we're getting now, or one with all the people who are no longer on the shows we once loved. With DAYS, it's easily the latter. It's a shame when the show is being mishandled so badly.
