ABC/Patrick Wymore
-
Entertainment
Photos
-
Entertainment
Photos
-
Beauty
Stuff We Love
Ever since the demise of All My Children and One Life to Live, no soap seems particularly safe from cancellation. Now comes news that ABC's popular and long-running series, General Hospital (weekdays, 3 p.m. ET), is down in its ratings since last year -- by a pretty significant 21 percent.
It's no secret that come September, the network could use GH's late afternoon time slot for Katie Couric's new syndicated talk show.
ABC entertainment chief Paul Lee must not want that to happen, because he's considering an out-of-the-box idea to save the show. What about moving this daytime soap to a primetime slot? The show would run as a summer series, when established primetime shows are on hiatus.
Of course some will balk at that solution. (It's called a daytime soap for a reason, Mr. Lee. It airs in the daytime.) And people who aren't into soaps might not welcome GH into their living rooms just because their regular primetime shows are off the air. Summer is full of new programming options these days, from reality shows to high-quality, scripted series on cable.
On the other hand, what's the alternative? These aren't just hard times for soaps with dwindling ratings -- they're downright dire. Even creative solutions like rebooting AMC and OLTL in an online format have fallen flat. If ABC's only other option is shuttering the show, the network might as well try moving GH to primetime as a last ditch effort.
It's sad to think that just five years ago, critics were crediting GH with blazing the trail for shows on both daytime and primetime. "Today, we've really seen the soap-ification of prime time TV," Marc Berman, a TV critic at Mediaweek, told ABC News. "Shows like Grey's Anatomy, The O.C., The Sopranos, they're all modern versions of soap operas, and in many ways, General Hospital paved the way in the early '80s, when they added younger stars, hipper storylines and better production."
Now, that trailblazer is just trying to survive.
