Here's a plan:
A nightly 'General Hospital'
ABC is reportedly looking to move the soap to primetime next summer
By Diego Vasquez
Jan 19, 2012
Daytime soaps have long been ailing and headed to extinction, but ABC may have a plan to save at least one of them, its long-running "General Hospital."
The network is floating a daring idea of moving the show into primetime.
"Hospital" would adopt the telenovela model employed so successfully by Univision and Telemundo, airing every weeknight at the same time.
The limited run would take place in the summer, according to TV Guide, when ratings expectations are lower and scripted fare is limited.
ABC has yet to comment on the rumored plan, but it would seem a no-lose way to satisfy both fans of the show and accountants at the network, as soaps have become fiscal problems.
Primetime soaps flourished three decades ago during the era of "Dynasty," "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest." ABC's own "Desperate Housewives" revived that craze a few years ago, and now the network's soapy "Revenge" has been building buzz.
If there was ever a time for ABC to test a primetime run for "Hospital," it's this coming summer.
"Hospital's" survival has been in doubt ever since the network's syndication arm signed Katie Couric for a new daytime talk show. That show is expected to take over the "Hospital" timeslot on many ABC owned and operated stations when it launches in September.
Soap fans are among the most loyal on television, and presumably a number of them would follow "Hospital" to primetime. And there's always the prospect that the show would win new fans among all the viewers who grew up on soaps but had to give them up when they joined the workforce.
Soap fans are enraged at the prospect of losing "Hospital" so soon after "All My Children" and "One Life To Live," which
went off the air earlier this season to make way for two new daytime talk shows.
The show's production costs are cheap compared to most scripted primetime programs, and it would be filling time where the network would usually air reruns or low-rated reality fare.
Trying new ideas in the summer represents a much lower risk than during the regular season, when ratings are much higher.
If "Hospital" drew poor ratings, the network could always cancel it for good at summer's end.
If, on the other hand, "Hospital" drew good ratings, ABC would have a new summer franchise, something it could build its schedule around.
And media buyers and planners could be pleased. They're always encouraging the networks to attempt more summer scripted fare and play with new ideas.
"General Hospital" recently had its worst week ever among the key women 18-49 demo, and
the future of soap operas generally seems dim. Four have been canceled in the past three years.
|
|
|
