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a tale most sudsy
How vampires brought new life to an ailing soap
By Elizabeth White
If soap operas are a dying breed, becoming too expensive to produce for ever-smaller audiences, then no soap has been in more danger than the four-year-old "Port Charles."
The half-hour ABC show rested at the bottom of the ratings for most of its existence and recently came close to cancellation as the network mulled a daytime reality show.
But "Port Charles" has been saved, given a two-year renewal from ABC instead.
Just how is something of a tale in its own right. Faced with the prospect of cancellation, its creators decided to adopt some clever innovations, and rather startling ones, for the tradition-crusted soap genre.
They worked. Ratings started trending up, particularly among younger viewers.
The rescuing of "Port Charles," no small feat, is of more than passing interest. Viewers can expect to see the technique that was used by its creators adopted by other soaps similarly troubled by sinking viewer numbers and rising costs.
"Port Charles's" producers tried a number of innovations over two years, but several seem to have clicked.
Last December, "Port Charles" switched to a telenovela storytelling format, giving the show faster and more cohesive 13-week story arcs.
Then in the summer the soap's creators introduced supernatural elements, like vampire characters.
This month the show announced a new production schedule that will make the soap significantly less expensive to produce.
"Port Charles" will shoot two episodes each day for six months, then go on production hiatus for the remainder of the year. More than anything else, says the network, the cost-saving measure has kept the show alive.
"In its original schedule, ‘Port Charles’ was very expensive, and the network was losing millions of dollars. We would have lost ‘Port Charles’ for the financial aspect," says Felicia Minei Behr, senior vice president of ABC daytime programming.
"Now they’ll have a six-month hiatus, which is unheard of in soaps. That production model saved the show. The most expensive part of production is time in the studio."
But certainly no less important have been the creative changes to "Port Charles."
The show has marked steady growth since introducing the telenovela format last year, and the vampire plot was its most popular story.
Season-to-date, "Port Charles" is up 15 percent in women 18-49, more than any other soap in the demographic, and up 7 percent among women 18-34 and 18 percent among women 25-54.
During the November sweeps, which coincided with the end of the vampire storyline, "Port Charles" was up 23 percent versus a year ago among women 18-49, to a 1.3 rating and 10 share.
"With ‘Port Charles,’ we went into the year knowing that we were going to do a lot of different things," says Minei Behr.
"The telenovela format jumped out and was an immediate success. The audience seemed to really like knowing that it was a 13-week story. We also wanted to tell a different type of story–that’s why we brought in the vampires."
As a result, ABC says that similar changes could be in the works for its other soaps, despite the fact that "Port Charles" still earns about half the women 18-49 audience as "General Hospital," "One Life to Live" and "All My Children."
Viewers can certainly expect faster story lines.
"We’re beginning to integrate some of these techniques into other shows," says Minei Behr. "We’ve heightened and quickened the pace on a number of story lines. The payoffs will be quicker and more gratifying."
Viewers may have to wait longer, perhaps much longer, before they see vampires donning scrubs on "General Hospital."
There are some traditions of the genre that will remain sacred, and one of them is the sanctity of the operating room.
December 17, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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