Follow @DaytimeRoyalty
| Hello, soap fans -- and welcome to Daytime Royalty! For those unfamiliar, we are an uncensored community for fans and lovers of the daytime genre. We have a no-holds-barred atmosphere in regards to the shows, writers, actors etc. but we do not allow member suffering succotash in any form. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member, please log in to your account to access all of our features. |
| Newsweek: Soaps, stars face cost-cutting | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 2 2008, 06:44 PM (604 Views) | |
| Ellie | Dec 2 2008, 06:44 PM Post #1 |
![]()
|
http://www.newsweek.com/id/171805 TV soaps and their stars face cost-cutting by budget-conscious networks FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer December 2, 2008 The troubles that are part of imaginary life on daytime dramas are hitting those shows for real in the form of budget cuts and dismissals. Salaries of "All My Children" regulars including longtime stars Susan Lucci, Michael E. Knight and Ray MacDonnell are seeing their paychecks shrink as part of a cost-cutting policy being applied to all three of ABC's soaps, including "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital." Without offering specifics, ABC Daytime on Tuesday confirmed a new focus on belt-tightening. A statement from the network spoke of "carefully and responsibly managing our costs, which include some production cuts, but in ways the audience will not see on screen." This follows word last month that, in a moneysaving measure, two veteran cast members of NBC's "Days of Our Lives," Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn, will be released after decades on that show. NBC's statement said the soap "has decided to rest" the characters played by Hall and Hogestyn, with both of them "exiting the canvas in early 2009." Hall joined the show as Dr. Marlena Evans 32 years ago. Hogestyn (John Black) has been a cast member for 22 years. Salary reductions at "All My Children" were first reported Monday by Advertising Age in a story that quoted the series' creator, Agnes Nixon, as saying, "All the actors on `All My Children' have been reduced (in salary)." Of the three stars she named, Knight has been part of the ensemble, playing Tad Martin, for much of the past quarter-century. McDonnell (Dr. Joe Martin) was part of the show from its debut in 1970, as was Lucci, who plays Pine Valley's femme fatale Erica Kane. Salary figures aren't disclosed by the network, but as far back as the 1990s, Lucci reportedly made more than $1 million per year. Nixon, who also created ABC's "One Life to Live" and is now a paid consultant to the network's daytime division, told Advertising Age that she wasn't immune to the downturn: "Two years ago, what I got was cut in half. And a year later, that was cut in half again." A drop in advertising revenue during the economic crisis has worsened a plight daytime dramas have faced for more than a decade: audience erosion. After being pre-empted for much of 1995 while networks carried coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, soaps never regained their former loyalty from viewers. The number of daytime dramas has also steadily diminished. Whereas a decade ago, there were a dozen, today there are just eight. NBC currently airs only "Days of Our Lives." |
![]() |
|
| bellcurve | Dec 2 2008, 08:42 PM Post #2 |
![]()
|
Interesting article. No new information really, but here's what I think of a few things:
I think this is the biggest misconception by the TPTB. Pre-Format change, people on and offline clearly noticed that half of GL's characters lived in that one hotel room that they changed the numbers around for. But when the story was good, it didn't really matter all that much. Hell, even B&B(a show that many believe are immune to such things) has had their fair share of cost cutting, just like the rest of the industry. The show is shooting about one half of the year, while the cast enjoys their time off. And, as good as B&B may look visually, a closer examination would reveal the cost cutting in the final product. Characters are having more conversations in those smaller bedroom sets instead of the living rooms, there's occasional location shooting about once a month, the SkyLounge/Il Guardino's sets use natural lighting and are never seen at night*, and the show is shot with such rapid fire that, for a few months after the show began their new taping schedule, I noticed by watching that there were boom mic shadows and even cameras creeping into shots. That seems to have stabilized now, thank goodness. *I put a star by the natural lighting bit to point out the reason why B&B, GL(and probably any other show) will never shoot multiple scenes outdoors at night. The crew and even cast(per union deals) have to be paid overtime for staying after a certain hour(I assume the hour agreed to by their unions). GL would be paying way more than they do now if they did a mix of day and night shots. Not to mention GL's experiment with those night shots were terrible(remembering when the show did a test at Cassie's Slated for Demolition farmhouse with Cassie, Harley, and Alan Spaulding). Digression aside, this is why I say that the above statement is a rose colored glasses one. Of course people are going to notice the cost cutting. It's stupid to assume they won't. |
![]() |
|
| Ellie | Dec 2 2008, 09:10 PM Post #3 |
![]()
|
^ I agree with you on that. I think that even if viewers aren't able to put their finger on what might look 'off' in terms of production, it affects their overall enjoyment of the show. For example, on Days, the Brady Pub currently looks like it has fluorescent lights. A friend of mine commented that many of the actors in one of the pub scenes looked tired, and I replied that I thought it was the lighting. But the point is that whether or not it's the lighting, small things like the actors looking 'off' can (I think) affect viewership. Cost-cutting in any area has an impact, and I agree with you that the shows are making a mistake if they don't see that. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · General Daytime News · Next Topic » |








3:59 AM Jul 11