This week, ABC unveiled their new daytime makeover TV series, The Revolution. As soap fans know all too well, it replaced One Life to Live (OLTL), the venerable daytime drama that was cancelled in 2011 and went off the air last Friday.
Based on what we’ve seen, it looks like The Revolution is going to be a ratings disappointment right out of the gate. While it’s too late to save OLTL, this show’s failure may be enough to buy General Hospital some more time.
ABC has signed Katie Couric to host her own daytime syndicated talk series beginning in the fall of 2012. Since there are only so many hours of daytime, it’s been widely speculated that Couric’s new show will take over General Hospital’s slot, at least on ABC-owned stations.
If The Revolution and The Chew tank and end up being cancelled however, there will be enough space on the schedule for both General Hospital and Katie Couric. If fans follow the four OLTL characters to General Hospital, that soap’s viewership could increase enough to justify keeping it.
ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee recently said, “I am a fan of General Hospital, but we have not made a decision on its future and don’t really have a time frame for it either.”
The network execs probably haven’t made up their minds yet about the fate of any of the daytime shows. Those decisions will likely be made in the next several months and, as in any business, it’ll all come down to profits versus expenses.
What do you think? Realistically, do you think General Hospital will survive into the 2012-13 season? What about primetime? Do you think The Revolution or The Chew will see a second season?
Image courtesy ABC.
I should rephrase by saying that when I viewed a photo of Brian Frons for the first time I noticed that he had a pompous or smug look or smirky facial expression and therefore felt that he is or was acting like an idiot. In fact I believe the general consensus by ardent fans of AMC and OLTL is that he is an idiot.
I like both the chew & the revolution…but I wasn’t a loyal ‘soaps’ fan. The chew took a few shows for some of the hosts to grow on me, but now I watch every episode & use their website to print tips & recipes. Some of the hosts & segments on the revolution aren’t my favorite, but already I’ve gotten some great info.
I totally agree with all above. I now find myself watching reruns of Murder She Wrote and other reruns. I still watch GH. I really miss OLTL. I agree with what someone said above. They could save money on soaps by reducing the number of characters on a show or cut the shows to 30 minutes. But the replacements with the Chew & the Revolution can’t go on forever. What can they talk about day after day after day for years. I WANT ALL MY CHILDREN and definitely OLTL back.
Do you think The Revolution or The Chew will see a second season? In my opinion they NEVER should have seen the light of day!
I refuse to watch “The Chew,” & the “Revolution.”We have food channels,clothing channels,home make-over channels.If that was what we wanted to watch we would,that’s what we pay cable for.ABC has lost me as a viewer,they took off the only 2 soaps I watched.I will watch GH,as OLTL characters will be on then.Katie Curic,I am not at all interested in anything she does.I prefer movies,AMC,OLTL,NCIS,NCIS:Los Angelous,Southland,The Mentalist,Criminal Minds,some Bravo,Movies.I don’t like sitcoms,reality,food shows,fashion,& scarey shows.ABC or Disney will do what they want to do no matter what damage they do to the loyal viewers.Money talks and bull-crap walks.I hope they lose… Read more »
epic failures like the chew and revolution will be kept despite the poor ratings or replaced by a different equally epic failure all because abc wants to do it cheaper. They may not have officially announced it but i am certian gh is a done deal as far as cancelation they just won’t announce until the last possible second to avoid (or so they think) angering the fans.
I think is would take a big disaster for abc to save any soap.They will just use there lost of revenue for a tax right off for that big corporate american Disney.It isn’t about loyal viewers its about the easiest and cheapest way to produce a show.They know the lost but they could care lessIts like shipping jobs out of the country for cheap labor.Someone’s gonna buy that product because they need it.If we stuck to out guns when our TV’s ,air cinditions etc.goes out we wouldn’t replaces them because they are no longer are made in America.But we need… Read more »
Inadvertently saw about 15 min of Revolution today…I’m being kind in calling it a terrible show. It’s a bunch of regurgitated info that you’d google if you ever needed. Complete waste of a time slot.
GH ROCKS GOOD DAYTIME DRAMA!!!!!!! PEOPLE LIKE DRAMA!!!!!!! LIKE A GOOD MOVIE!!!!!! THE REVOLUTION AND THE CHEW IS BORING!!!!
I want to see more game shows on during the daytime, not more talk shows! even 7live is better than the revolution!
please no games shows! There’s a cable channel for that too!
How can they even want another talk show? 80% of the talk shows on right now need to go. I’m sick of everyone with a mouth getting a talk show. I don’t care what you have to say. Katie should be smart enough to know that only Oprah could pull that off. Stop this bs right now! Soap opera fans need to stick together on this. I won’t even let my remote go to abc one secong before general hospital now in case the execs over at abc try to count that as watching their crappy revolt o lution. They… Read more »
Are they kidding? Speculating taking GH to replace with network killer Couric? Apparently they haven’t learned yet from the FAILURES of the spew and revulsion. CBS didn’t keep Couric because she didn’t bring in the ratings. What drugs are those who run ABC on? Because they are not thinking clearly at all over there. Oh yeah, sure, they didn’t renew Frons’s contract, AFTER he already killed 2 shows! All I’ve got to say is if they take GH off, I’m done. ABC and Disney will not be on in my house. Sure, these replacements don’t cost as much as soaps,… Read more »
ABC has found a new way to make me barf! The Chew and the Revolution are the stupidest shows ever. I agree that adding Katie Couric puts ABC over the top for “barfing” programming. Maybe if ABC should go off the air for daytime hours and that will save them enough money and they won’t have to worry about their pitiful programming choices.
This is just absurd. Seriously, they want to take off one of the last remaining soap operas and put on another talk show? How stupid! I can’t take it! They are setting up general hospital to fail. I watched OLTL and I watch GH, but I prefer OLTL over GH. Sure it saves them a lot of money, to pay Katie couric over all the soap actors, but where in the world do they justify having another talk show. I hate talk shows merely bc everyone has one. People we grew up on soaps. For some of us they are… Read more »
I agree w/ Cynthia. I watched OLTL for 39 years and it was certinly MY “release” after 38 years of diabetes and 2 cancers. GH only has TIME on its hands, and trust me! ABC saved the worst of the 3 for last. Brian Frons openly confessed his disdain for the other 2 and that the audience can be “trained” to like these reality replacements! “Trained”! Imagine, Are we all supposed to equate ourselves now as one of “Pavlov’s dogs”????????
Speaking of Brian Frons when I saw a photo of him where he had a smug look or smirk on his face so therefore I felt that he’s a smug faced idiot.
Speaking of Brian Frons let me rephrase by saying that the only time when I saw his photo I didn’t like his pompous or smug look or smirk on his face so therefore I feel that he is or he was being an idiot. In fact I believe that he gets the vote by many viewers that he is an idiot.
And guess WHO GOT FIRED FROM ABC! RIGHT AFTER ALL THESE STUPID DECISIONS!!? BRIAN FONS! HE DOESN’T EVEN WORK FOR ABC ANYMORE! AND YES! I AM YELLING-AT ABC! LOL!
This is just absurd. Seriously, they want to take off one of the last remaining soap operas and put on another talk show? How stupid! I can’t take it! They are setting up general hospital to fail. I watched OLTL and I watch GH, but I prefer OLTL over GH. Sure it saves them a lot of money, to pay Katie couric over all the soap actors, but where in the world do they justify having another talk show. I hate talk shows merely bc everyone has one. People we grew up on soaps. For some of us they are… Read more »