Meanwhile, over at Mark H's, there's a conversation about whether "the suits" are really letting the genre die, or are attempting experiments to save the genre.  MarkH firmly comes down on the side of "genre-savers", and applauds Soapnet's attempts to re-invent itself, GL's trip to Peapack, the idea of ATWT going to three days a week, and other gems.  In the course of the discussion, MarkH mentions how Soapnet is still keeping soaps in primetime, a timeslot period where soaps flourish in other parts of the world.  MarkH has previously written about that aspect here.

Patrick Erwin supports the idea of cutting ATWT and GL  all soaps, except maybe Y&R, and I assume B&B to a half-hour each, and using the free hour to create new soap operas.  Patrick says:

Producing half the product you used to means fewer crew members, fewer writers and fewer actors as well. But I think this may be the kind of business decision that can save the genre and the industry. The same sort of changes have happened in other industries.

I also think it would be a boon for the shows creatively. They may have to pare their casts down (to 15 or 20 core actors), but I think that the changes could inspire new ideas - or perhaps give network heads an excuse to hire new blood. In the best of circumstances, it would allow the shows to jettison extraneous stories, and focus on core families and couples that we want to see.

The worst of circumstances would be that TPTB use this as an excuse to dump everybody over the age of 40.  "Why, we can't afford to produce an hour show anymore, so we certainly can't afford YOUR expensive salary."  Honestly, I think Patrick's idea is great--if this were 1986.  But we are no longer in an era where soaps are basically good, but have some extraneous fat that needs to be cut, due to the shows expanding to an hour.  Soaps aren't weighed down by a couple of weak B-plots--they're creatively bankrupt across the board.  It's also clear that TPTB don't want to "focus on core families and couples we want to see."  They want to focus on who they think will bring in their magical elusive young demo, and that will just get worse if these shows are pared down to thirty minutes.  Less airtime will equal more focus on youth which will equal more viewer tuneout which will equal an even hastier end to daytime soaps.

*Sigh.*.  I always like to start the morning off with a good doomsday rant, don't you?  Enjoy your day, everybody.

(Update): Patrick Erwin, whom, contrary to rumors, has not been flying around on Ellen Wheeler's magic unicorn, gives more thoughts here.

Do you want to be interviewed by a soap writer?  Tom Casiello is testing the theory that Internet soap fans are not indicative of soap fans at large.  He is asking viewers to write him, and answer some basic questions about their favorite soap.  He wants to see what happens when people are away from the message boards.  Do a few loud, outspoken fans dominate the message board debate?

My guess is that the same loud, outspoken fans who "rule" message boards will probably be the ones responding.  I also think we'll have a form of selection bias.  If you're taking the time to read a MySpace blog by a soap writer, you're probably more engaged than the average soap viewer, which means the results will automatically be labeled abnormal.  Also, there's no group of non-Internet soap fans to compare against.  Still, it should provide entertainment.

For more information, click here.

But, let's start with the setup of the interview itself.  Goutman was not alone when he was interviewed by SOD.  He was joined by CBS Daytime President Barbara Bloom.  In fact, Bloom probably said more in the interview than Goutman did.  Isn't this a little weird?  Since when does the daytime president sit in on an interview that concerns just one of their shows?  It's not as though Bloom has been silent lately, with a two-part interview in SOW, and an interview in SID.  Why is she sitting in?  Is that a leash I see in her hand?

The interview was conducted by Stephanie Sloane.  Now, you may be thinking: Stephanie Sloane?  Can't be.  That means she would have to tear herself away from the DAYS set.  How'd they get her back to ATWT headquarters?  Well, I don't know for sure, but I hear SOD management used a technique similar to the one the A-Team used every time they needed Mr. T to fly a plane.*

The interview started with Sloane asking Bloom why she's so excited about ATWT:

BLOOM: Chris has been working on some wonderful story with Jean [Passanante, head writer].

Proving that there is a first time for everything.

BLOOM: Not only is it cross-generational, but it focuses on each core group of families.  The logo is, "In a heartbeat, your whole world can change."

I hate to be nit-picky, but that's not a logo, that's a slogan, right?

After taking some time to pat themselves on the back for featuring having more vets and featuring them more than any other show,  Bloom notes that their appearances depend on the direction of the story.  "And their vacations," says Goutman with a laugh.  So, apparently, Eileen Fulton's vacation clause says two days on, six months off.  That's some contract.  He continues:

GOUTMAN: Because Helen Wagner's [Nancy] 90'th birthday is coming up, so we are coming up with a special show to celebrate her.  It's essentially a prequel, what happened before anything ever happened on the air.  So, our characters are playing characters of yore.  For instance, Carly playing Lisa, and you'll let your imagination go from there.

I did.  It conjured up visions of people standing next to a fence being struck by lightning, and white girls donning dark wigs and speaking in bad Mexican accents.  Forgive me, if I can't work up much enthusiasm for this idea after OLTL's recent 1968 storyline...or ATWT's Christmas episode last year...or ATWT's wacky sitcom episode from 2006.

Next, conversation turns to the current Lily/Holden/Carly story:

SLOANE: Were you concerned at all with this story coming right as Noelle Beck was recast as Lily?

Goutman says that the timing wasn't perfect, but the story was too important to hold off, and Beck is doing well.  Then, Bloom jumps in:

BLOOM: I actually think it's better, because the window into the story was Carly and Holden.  I don't think it's better that it wasn't Martha; I think it's better in that it helped the recast.  If the story is in the character, then you tell the story with the character.  The story isn't in the actress.

I've read that paragraph nine different times...I don't understand it.  Can somebody translate it for me?  I feel like I'm in Advanced Latin.

Next, we turn our attention to the return of Dusty:

BLOOM: It was Grayson's [McCouch, Dusty] chice to leave the show; it was not our choice to lose him.  Actors have windows in their lives that they need to explore and we are both very respectful of that.  So, I said to Chris and Jean, "He has to be really most sincerely dead until he is not."  Then they called me up a couple of months ago and they said, "Well guess what?  He is not."  Grayson was ready to come back and Jean and Chris came up with a really great way to bring him back that made complete sense.

Dusty was syringed to death back in January, but he resurfaced on Thursday, saying he faked his death so he could underground and look for his son Jonny, who was taken by his ex-girlfriend, Lucy, whose father Craig is Jonny's biological father.  And just as Dusty was starting to get close to locating Jonny, he was captured and imprisoned by an unknown person, who subsequently appears to be James Stenbeck.  Sadly, when compared to OLTL's imprison-fest 2008, ATWT does make more sense.  (Does anybody else think James Reilly needs to sue OLTL?  Natalie and Tess are so Marlena and Kristen.)

Later in the interview, Sloane asks if they would like ATWT to be on Soapnet:

GOUTMAN: Absolutely.  Absolutely.  I have talked for years about it, but that is not within my domain.  Listen, I would love to do a Sunday marathon of GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS.  Brian?

Brian Frons did not respond as he was too busy writing a proposal for Soapnet to acquire Star Search reruns.  Chris, baby--it's a little late in the game to be trying to get on Soapnet. 

Finally, the most mocked moment of the interview came when Slaone asked Bloom and Goutman where did they both see the future of daytime?  Bloom flatly said that nobody knows, and anyone who says they do is lying.  Indeed, she believes the future of network television is in flux.  This is a perfectly adequate answer, but Goutman takes it a step further:

GOUTMAN: This is me speaking personally, but I do think five shows a week is an antiquated model.  All over the world, serial storytelling is three days a week at most and repeats on the odd days and weekends.  I don't think there is an appetite in this society right now to watch this show five days a week; they don't have the time or the energy.

Nobody has the energy to watch this show five days a week?  Hey, Chris, your Freudian slip is showing!  Come on, man.  How hard is it to say, "I don't think there is an appetite for watching soaps five days a week."  Guys like me give you enough trouble, don't make it easy for us.  I bet Bloom tugged hard on the leash after that one. 

Honestly, Goutman has a germ of a point here.  Our society has become a mixture of always being on the go, along with always needing instant gratification.  These traits are not helpful in creating a culture of soap watchers.  Unfortunately, Goutman gaffed further when he tried to bring in the whole world to back up his viewpoint.  The U.K. has multiple soaps that air five days a week.  Germany has multiple soaps.  Australia has two daily soaps.   Ireland has a daily soap.  In fact, may of these soaps started at two days a week, but have now expanded to four-five days a week.  (Until recently, one U.K. program, Emmerdale, was airing six days a week!)  Apparently, Goutman hasn't updated his research since 1993.  In many places over the world, the appetite for daily drama has been increased over the long-term.

As for Goutman's larger point, some pundits say that we can't really know if U.S. viewers have given up on daytime drama, until we get a good one.  Sara Bibel said that Goutman sounded like a defeatist, and that he's the one who should take a few days off.

Even the ubiquitous Roger Newcomb did some rare editorializing, saying, "Goutman may or may not be correct with this theory. But why doesn't he produce a quality show five days a week before he determines no one wants to watch it? ATWT is a mess right now moving from one plot point to another going from one overly dramatic outdoor "event" to another...Why can't anyone confront Goutman, Bloom, Frons, Corday, etc. on the fact that the lack of interesting and imaginative writing is the biggest issue with these soaps? Why can't anyone get a straight answer about the lack of diversity on daytime?...There was an opportunity for real journalism here. Fans are thirsty for it, just like they are for a well-written daytime soap."

Indeed.  But until that day comes, we wander in the daytime desert.

RELATED: Patrick Erwin on Bloom and Goutman's brief, but telling comments on Nuke.

*Allegedly...which is a good word for bloggers to know.  Gets you out of lots of trouble, and saves on legal fees.  Practice saying it with me...allegedly.  MMMMMMM.  Nutrageous.

Broadcasting & Cable reports that beginning this week, ABC Daytime will launch yet another ad campaign for its soap lineup.  You would think that after getting such luminaries as Jesse from Saved by the Bell, an ex-Spice Girl, and that guy from The Sopranos to promote their shows this past summer, ABC would relax, rest on the old laurels a bit.  But, you don't get to be a champion by napping.

The campaign is called "Take a Look Now".  The ads will run 60-seconds, and highlight upcoming storylines, set to current pop songs.  ABC says they're doing this now because their soaps have some great stories coming up that would make natural entry points to new viewers.  As an example, B&C notes that an enormous natural disaster will hit Pine Valley in mid-October.  Damn, is Megan McTavish back already?

There will also be an ad for AMC that promotes their new Head Writer, Charles Pratt, Jr., and the fact that he used to write for Melrose Place, "a nighttime soap with a more youthful cachet."  Apparently not youthful enough for Soapnet, which stopped showing the reruns a while back.

So, what say you?  ABC Daytime does seem to be stepping up its promotional arm lately, even getting itself inserted into some print ads for the entire network.  Are you for promoting the soaps anywhere, anytime?  Or do you think daytime should wait until the quality of soaps is worth promoting?

Y&R: Measuring the Impact

Sudden Impact!  The phrase conjures up visions of Clint Eastwood, but it was also the title of Y&R's recent ad campaign designed to let viewers know that the show was re-inventing itself yet again.  A series of TV and internet spots counted down to "the moment that will rock Genoa City forever!"  Now, nearly two months after the promo blitz has faded, we stop to measure the impact.

The story so far: On again/off again lovers Victor and Nikki Newman were very much off again.  Nikki was married to her shady former campaign manager David Chow, while Victor had taken up with his daughter Victoria's best friend, Sabrina.  Victoria and younger brother Nick weren't thrilled with either of their parents' choices, but Victor and Sabrina seemed to bear the brunt of their wrath-if you can call Nick's sneers, and Victoria's occasional bitchy quip "wrath".

Sabrina continually reached out to Victoria, trying to convince her that she was truly in love with Victor, but Victoria would hear none of it.  She saw Sabrina as a gold-digger.  When she found out Sabrina's ex, Philippe was in Genoa City, she suspected that Sabrina was still seeing him on the side.  (Actually, Philippe had been lured to town by Jack Abbott, who needed dirt for an expose he was running in his magazine.)  Sabrina couldn't believe her best friend was treating her this way...which brings us to the first flaw with the way this story is structured. 

If these two were such good pals, wouldn't Victoria know Sabrina's heart, and what she was capable of?  Instead, Victoria quickly pegged Sabrina as a predator.  This was exactly the wrong way to handle this part of the story.  Victor and Nikki have been making up and breaking up for decades.  This is hardly the first time they've taken up with other people, only to drift back towards each other, leaving broken hearts in their wake.  Wouldn't it have made more sense then, if Victoria was opposed to the marriage, not for her dad's sake, but for Sabrina's?  "You don't know my father the way I do," she could have said.  "He is just using you to comfort himself and hurt my mother.  Sooner or later, he will discard you, as he has so many other women.  You're my best friend and I don't want to see you end up in my dad's ex-wives club."

Now, Victoria would have been pitted directly against Victor.  In years past, this wouldn't have been a problem.  Victoria loves her father, but she's also been capable of calling him out, and even slapping him.  Unfortunately, the current administration seems almost completely unwilling to have Victoria get in her daddy's grill.  Is it because Amelia Heinle can't sell it?  The writers seem to think so. 

Case in point: When Victor, tired of his children putting Sabrina down, decided to cut them out of his will, everyone got to react to the news. Nick, Sabrina, even Michael.  But when Victor delivered the news to his daughter, what happened?  The show went to commercial.  And when it returned, Victoria told Nikki, who went over and berated Victor for his action.  Huh?  This was Victoria's time to berate her father.  Why is Nikki berating him, when Victoria is sitting a foot away?  This berating didn't rate!  Whether it's a writing choice, or "playing to the actress' strengths", the character of Victoria has been severely weakened, and it has dragged the story down considerably.

Meanwhile, Paul's investigation of David Chow just kept hitting dirty deed after dirty deed.  David was addicted to gambling.  This didn't faze Nikki too much because she was a recovering alcoholic, who wanted to help David work through his addiction.  His first two wives died under mysterious circumstances?  Weird, but there's no proof he did it.  Now his stepdaughter, who accused him of murdering her mother, is dead of a drug overdose, after years of being clean and sober?  Well, it happens, and besides she was cut out of the will.  Wait, David is still gambling?!

Eventually, Nikki began to realize that her marriage was a mistake, and told David she wanted a divorce.  David agreed, but convinced her to wait until after the grand gala that Sabrina and Victoria were co-chairing (don't ask) for charity.  Nikki agreed, and David began checking to make sure his insurance policy was in order.  He then got on the phone, and scored himself a bottle of Dreamer, a deadly drug that would take Nikki out for good.

It seems that David Chow was really Angelo Serafini, and he had connections to the mob.  In fact, one of the ways he used to work off gambling debts, was to carry out hits in such a way that no one would ever know who the killer was.  Now Walter Palin had arrived in Genoa City, at the exact worst time, asking David to carry out a hit.  David explained that he was a little busy at the moment, but Walter said David was their best hit man.  He had proved that after the way he killed Ji Min Kim, and then planted evidence on other people.

Say what now?  Oh yes.  David killed Ji Min. In a vague, "let's just wrap this up and give as few details as possible" sequence, we learned that Ji Min had apparently tried to enter the American market before he hooked up with Jack, by borrowing money form Palin's people.  At some point, Ji Min reneged, and the mob finally caught up with him in retaliation.  The best howler was when Walter said, "You were so good at keeping secrets, you two never even acknowledged that you knew each other."  This of course was because they didn't know each other, until the writers decided they did.  How clunky can you get?

Meanwhile, Paul's junior detective daughter Heather was still smarting over losing her D.A. job because of the Ji Min case.  Paul gave her advice that amounted to "Go over everything you can find with a fine-tooth comb."  Of course with a setup like that, they were going to find a big clue, and in going through Ji Min's boxes of papers, they located a photo of Ji Min with David, Walter, and other no-goodniks.  All of this while sitting on the patio at Crimson Lights.  Does Paul have an office anymore?  Shouldn't Kevin be charging him rent?

Paul and J.T. extracted Nikki from the gala, but not before David had dropped the deadly dreamer into her drink!  Eventually realizing that Nikki had been drugged, they rushed her to the hospital, where she was saved.

Back at the gala, Victor requested Nick and Victoria's presence at the ranch the following day to share some news with them.  He had planned to tell them that Sabrina was pregnant.  But, Victor got a call from Michael letting him know that Sabrina's ex, Philippe was at the ranch, as requested.  Victor excused himself, and said he would send a car for Sabrina. 

At the ranch, Victor, who had lured Philippe there on the pretense of being interested in his artwork, questioned him about the article, and the things he had said.  Philippe puffed himself up even more, claiming that Sabrina had hitched herself to his rising star, and without him, she wouldn't be a receptionist at an art gallery, much less a mover and shaker in the art world.  Philippe was obviously full of it, but why did Victor feel the need to question him?  Hadn't he already told everyone who would listen that the article was a bunch of lies?  Why would he leave his pregnant wife stranded at the gala to go to talk to this man, behind her back? 

Sabrina was ready to leave the party, but there was no driver in sight.  David was also waiting for his driver, so Sabrina decided to hitch a ride.  But the mob had already decided that if David was gonna play ball with them anymore, it might be time for him to have a little "accident."

So, David is killed, and Sabrina is badly injured...and loses the baby.  One could easily argue that Sabrina wouldn't have died if Victor had remained at the gala with his wife, instead of interrogating her ex.  Will this be followed up on?  It hasn't so far.  Just like Victor inadvertently causing the Clear Springs explosion, and almost costing Victoria her child, has not been followed up on.  Just like Victor hiring David Chow to manage Jack's campaign, thus helping him to set down roots in Genoa City, hasn't been mentioned, every time he accuses Nikki of "bringing that David Chow fellow into our lives."

(Speaking of which...David Chow is a known associate of mobsters, a gambler, an adulterer, and a suspected multiple wife-killer...but none of this comes up when he's managing political campaigns?  If Obama and McCain are seen in the same restaurant as an oil baron or a bank owner, they're accused of having special interests running their campaign.  How did Chow get around all this?  Who does he think he is, Bobby Reno?  Michael Malone, have you been shadow consulting all this time?)

The biggest flaw with this story is that it has been constructed as Victor and Sabrina against the world.  Their love was pure and unselfish, and it was taken away by outside forces!  And now everyone must wring their hands in shame for the innocent, pure love that has been destroyed.

There is a reason why viewers didn't buy into the marriage, and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, kept waiting for Sabrina to be revealed as a schemer, a gold-digger, a secret-keeper, a woman with daddy issues, security issues, something, anything other than what she appeared to be, which was a Polly Pureheart who just happened to be in love with her best friend's father.  Because if that's all she is-she came, she loved, she was mistreated, she died-then Sabrina is nothing more than the biggest Mary Sue that ever existed.  But, apparently, that seems to be the case.  Sabrina's entire existence was apparently nothing more than network-sanctioned fan fic, written by Eric Braden's most devoted groupie.

After Sabrina's death, Victor unleashed his fury on Nikki, distanced himself from friends and family, and even misled everyone as to what time Sabrina's funeral was, so he wouldn't have to deal with them.  (And did anybody say, "First, John Abbott, and now this?  What the-?!  I'm tired of putting on my best black dress for funerals that never take place.  Even in Salem, they let you have the funeral!")

Victor then headed down to Mexico in pursuit of the dastardly Walter Palin, and you knew he meant business, because you know how he got there?  Not by plane, not by train, not by Rolls-Royce-he took a bus.  Yep.  When Victor wants to lay the serious smackdown, he goes Greyhound.  And he wore dark sunglasses, a black shirt, and jeans on the bus. Oh yes, Walter.  The Black Knight was gunnin for you, incognito style.  Victor hung out in a dive bar, waiting for Walter to show up, which he eventually did.  Walter came to rent a boat and hire a fishing guide.  Victor talked his way into being that guide.  You would think that Walter would have at least recognized Victor from the papers or TV, but apparently Victor borrowed his glasses from Clark Kent.

Nikki and Paul tracked Victor to Mexico, but, by the time they arrived, the boat Victor and Walter were on had been caught in a storm and smashed to pieces.  Walter's body was found, but Victor's was not.  Victor was presumed dead.  This led to some of the better sequences in the storyline.  Impact has done wonders for Melody Thomas Scott, whose Nikki is perfect as a woman whose life has been turned upside down, largely by her own doing.  From her nightmare of hallucinating a meeting with Sabrina's child (after the crash) to dumping David's ashes in a deserved resting place of horse manure to drunk-dialing Kay after Victor's "death" and taking an inebriated walk down memory lane, Scott has had Emmy reel scene after Emmy reel scene.

Joshua Morrow and Amelia Heinle did well as the sad and confused children who, in fact, were not completely cut out of their father's will.  While Adam received the bulk of his father's estate, and control of Newman Enterprises, Nick and Victoria were given letters.  These basically amounted to letters of apology, of Victor admitting that he had been too controlling, that he had tried to make them too much like himself.  He even admitted that he was the one who had driven Victoria out of town all those years ago during his payola scheme against Jabot.  How sad that their father could only admit these things now in death. 

Adam also got a letter from Victor, telling Adam how much they were alike, and that he should really reach out to his siblings, and he could learn a lot from them.  In other words, don't be an emotionally distant grudge-harboring control-freak like your old man.  Adam promptly threw this letter in the trash, and fired Victoria, as well as Neil.  Hell, he even put Zapato in a kennel.  He brought in Brad Carlton, gave an interview to Jack, and asserted that it was time to move Newman into the 21'st century.

Victor, of course, is not dead.  He and Nikki had a less than joyous reunion in Mexico, where he basically cursed her for finding him.  He was apparently willing to let everyone think he was dead, but Nikki made it clear that she would tell everyone that he was alive.  In a few short lines, the complicated relationship that is Victor and Nikki was encapsulated:  

NIKKI:  Look...you wonder why I came here to find you? I've loved you almost my entire life. I love you now. I'll love you till the day I die. It's simple.

VICTOR: It's a sick love.  It's a love that deserves to die...And I wish one of us had the guts to kill the other to put us out of our misery.

Victor has since returned to Genoa City.  When he learned of Adam's antics, he tossed him out of the company, and turned the reins over to Neil.  He told Nick and Victoria he forgave them for their attitude toward Sabrina, and even gave Nick a loan to buy the rest of the magazine from Jack.  However, Victor was not looking for a happy family reunion.  Victor quickly ushered his family out of his home, fired his staff, and released a videotape to the media, saying that he wanted to be left to grieve in peace, and neither the media, nor friends & family should attempt to make any contact with him.  In short, Victor is now Greta Garbo.  And now, everyone wrings their hands over how terribly sad and low Victor must feel.

There's been too much pitying of Victor, both from himself, and from other people.  I do hope it ends soon.  Victor works best as a force of nature, and other characters work best when they're angry at him or bewildered by him, not feeling sorry for him.  Watching Victor walk around his boarded up house, still wearing his shirt and jeans (apparently grieving means never having to take a shower) doesn't cut it.  Victor is too much of a jerk for me to feel sorry for him, especially over the loss of his "great love" (ha!) Mary Sue-brina.

So, has there been a sudden impact on Y&R?  Yes.  There have been some stellar scenes, even stellar episodes since this storyline began.  But the overall storyline still feels like its moving too fast and taking too many shortcuts.  Bill Bell could have gotten a year out of what Maria Bell has speeded through in the past couple of months.  Hopefully, Y&R will focus less on the "sudden" and more on the "impact."

LATER THIS WEEK: The Newmans aren't the only game in town.  What about the other storylines in Genoa City?  Snark Weighs In on the rest of the show.  Plus, behind-the-scenes turmoil rocks Y&R, as yet another new executive producer enters the fray, and Victoria Rowell unloads on the Daytime Confidential podcast.  Can the nation's No. 1 soap pull it together, or will it become just another Days of our Lives?