Hiatus and the show going forward[merged]

[Wild Horses]

I am one that will watch all the reruns that GH is going to show and am grateful for them, better than nothing. There was so much I missed and others seem to enjoy flashback Fridays and now these reruns too.. But I think it will be at least fall before we see some new episode so this is going to be a long haul. What do you all think asof right now. I am looking at fall possibly later?

[frozengal]

After 44 years of watching GH, I am really concerned. Yes, it is my favorite show. But, Soaps-in-Depth-ABC just sent me a letter, they are stopping printing the magazine. It will not resume even if the show does. I can't help feeling sick about it.

[Ineedsun]

• https://boards.soapcentral.com/core/core/avatars/0/0/3/9/9/4//thumbs/avatar150736_2.jpeg
  chebbo commented
  May 23rd, 2020, 08:28 PM
  A lot of businesses have had to shut down permanently due to the virus. My daughter hung onto her small business by the skin of her teeth. We are in Georgia so she was able to open it back up a month ago. And all is well here.
  
  I read somewhere that the higher ups are talking about ways to get back to work but the unions for the actors are not so keen on sending them back to work just yet.
  
  So let this all work out. GH will be back.

Georgia had 498 new cases yesterday and 21 deaths. I wouldn’t say all is well.

[Lady Killer]

There is literally no reason to worry that it isn’t coming back

The magazine and the soap have nothing in common

[bbgamer]

Will we see TV return??????????? All TV productions are halted.

[jodyb22]

There is so much speculation right now about if GH will return. Many think it will and I wonder if it does, will the shows format change in an effort to save the network money.
After watching the Story of Soaps, I'm starting to think the network might have used that show POSSIBLY as a platform to give a little preview of what they have in mind.

The Story of Soaps made it clear that soaps are not profitable right now "as is". They also spent the last 1/3 of the show trying to make us all believe reality shows are the new soap.
What if they were trying to tell us that a subtle change is coming.

Prime time shows run on a seasonal schedule. (Sept through May for most of them).
Prime time soaps ran on this schedule, ended with a cliff hanger and picked back up in the fall and they were quite successful for many years (Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, even Desperate Housewives and more).
Daytime talk shows also run on a similar schedule - (I know Ellen and Kelly Clarkson do...not positive about the Talk and the Chew and similar.)

So why not a similar format for GH?
I could see GH running seasonally Fall through Spring, and end with a cliff hanger to entice us back in the fall. (Isn't that how Spanish Telenovellas operate?).
The summer storylines tend to focus on the teens anyway but teens aren't watching - at least not in big enough numbers to satisfy the demographics they want.
If they cut the summer they could save operating budget by shutting the studio down, give the cast and crew a break and give the writers some down time to really think through the storylines and not just write fast and furiously to fill content whether it makes sense or not.

In that summer they could potentially do a daytime version of Real Housewives called Real Divas of Daytime or something like that and have real castmembers of GH and other defunct ABC soaps do a reality series to fill the 3 months break. Reality shows film fast. They could film 3 months worth of material in about a month - again major cost savings.

Anyway this was just a thought running through my head as I couldn't sleep last night. Would you enjoy GH more if it ran for a typical show season and took an annual summer hiatus which would slow the pace for greater creativity. Even if the summertime was some reality show filler - but could potentially use the actors as the reality stars. Lisa Rinna was already on RH of Beverly Hills - and although I didn't watch, I heard it was entertaining so why not Genie Francis, Erica Sleazak, Susan Lucci, and others be part of a Real Divas of Daytime type cast?)

Just curious on your thoughts.

[2020recalibrate]

Lots of great ideas presented by all posters. I like a combo of several scenarios. I don't like the Reality TV part, but I do like the concept of filling the hiatus gap with Special Soap Character ensemble pieces focusing on a health/wellness/lifestyle/marriage theme related to the cliff hanger; maybe even a retrospective on the how or why roots of the cliff hanger. The show would still come on at regular local time (to keep you in the habit of watching) but would only utilize a set number of characters/actors for the 2-3 month gap. Segments could be shot both on location (vacation to the characters) and in CA studio.The budget could be cut in multiple ways by the 4 days per week plus flashback Friday schedule; fewer actors utilized; limited sets, etc. The teen s/ls don't work for me, never have, I tuned out; would prefer a focus on the veteran characters instead. AE2recalibrate.

[cali815]

I definitely do not want reality tv replacing soaps. I don't like them, I don't watch them. I don't think the summer break would be a good fit for a daily drama. I'm thinking that the networks are going to be moving away from the Fall/Winter/Spring season even more after this pandemic.

Rather than have a "hiatus" I would say the soaps could continue a Mon-Thu play of new episodes with Friday being a compilation or "talking" episode (like what Talking Dead is for The Walking Dead) where fans and actors talk about what happened that week on the show. That is the most "reality" I go with. For example, I could see Matt Cohen (Griffin on GH and now a correspondent for ET or EW) hosting a weekly GH talk show where they talk about the high points, cliffhangers, trivia with fans, actors and celebrity guests (former GH actors or anybody). That would keep me interested. Each soap would have their own Friday talk show.

[jujubees]

I have no clue what the answer is but I don’t care to watch anything that is labeled reality TV because there is no way that I believe Real Housewives (insert city) is real. I have seen that show one of once or twice and thought it was horrible.

plus who wants to watch a bunch of plastic bimbos pulling each others hair? its all staged and raunchy.

[soapgirl9]

I think September at the earliest. Los Angeles is on stay at home orders through July. So if they could start filming August 1 at the earliest (I'm not expecting it to be that early), it would probably take a month longer for the episodes to start airing. I know one of the networks, The CW, already moved their new series that were supposed to start in October to January at the earliest.

[Pamcho]

Since it will most likely be 3-5 months until new shows are back, I would rather they show continuous episodes than random episodes skipping around in time. I'd love to see 90's GH, as I missed it the first time around. And if I have to watch all the Nurses Ball's every day for weeks, I will lose my mind!

[CashierJudy]

This is a great idea. They could have some speak to "where we are at when we pick up the story" at the start of the decade. Maybe start with the 80s and tell some stories about Luke and Laura, about Scotty, Bobbie, etc and about Dr Hardy, and the Scorpios. There are so many good stories to tell.
It would beat the heck out of the Nurses Ball.

[Wendall Wilcox]

An when it comes back social distancing

Will anyone even shake hands let alone kiss or have sex

[Wild Horses]

Right like I am reading this might be the new norm.

[stopthefall]

I don’t think it will be the new norm. For movies or television. You have to be able to touch each other. I think people are jumping way ahead.

[MCBAMFAN]

i didn't reallize gh is on a hiatus. how long? i thought only friday's are repeats.

[soapgirl9]

They ran out of new episodes May 21. Los Angeles is on stay at home orders through July. They don't have an exact date to start filming again, but a few cast members said they might start in August.

[Soaper15]

The fact that they have to do this totally stinks!

[Adriane]

The fact that they have to do this totally stinks!

It does. My cable does not even tape re-runs so I assume I would have to tape each individual show if I want to watch them. I was never a nurses ball fan. I will just skip the next few weeks and try not to think about it. I already taped some shows on cable I normally don't watch, to view in its place.

[stopthefall]

I would rather they show continuous episodes than random episodes skipping around in time. I'd love to see 90's GH, as I missed it the first time around. And if I have to watch all the Nurses Ball's every day for weeks, I will lose my mind!

Never been a big fan of the Nurses Ball. Or I really should say I’m not a fan of the musical acts of the Nurses Ball. I too do not wanna go through months of watching every nurses bar. They usually last like at least three days, and they’ve had how many 20? Yeah I don’t wanna go through all of them. I too would rather they go through a continuous arc even if they skip episodes in the same time that aren’t part of an arc, they could do that…

[december rose]

It seems like the only NB that are being shown are from 2014 forward. Not exactly classics Only NBs produced by FV. So no worries about 20 years.

Personally I would prefer classics to things I have recently seen,

I doubt FV will have the guts to show older shows after showing the recent ones.

[louisesnell96]

GH stopped in production in March. I wonder if they had filmed any of May sweeps before shutdown and I was wondering because they had to stop production will some storylines have to be rewritten or changed.

[december rose]

They did not shoot any of the Nurses' Ball. The shows that were already filmed would have ended on April 17 without all the flashbacks edited it and the Friday flashbacks. The NB was just starting to be mentioned on the show.

[louisesnell96]

So they didn’t film any episodes for May before they stopped production in March? december rose

[december rose]

I have no inside knowledge. I am going by what WDV posted on Twitter when production was halted. He stated at that point there were enough episodes taped through April 17. since NB is usually in May, So no, I don't think they did. In fact, I don't think GH had even announced the dates of this year's Nurses Ball when production stopped.

TPTB stretched the filmed episodes out to May by adding in Flashback Fridays and all the flashbacks into the already filmed episodes.

[Wild Horses]

i didn't reallize gh is on a hiatus. how long? i thought only friday's are repeats.

Last Thursday the 21st was the last episode they had banked and filming might not resume again until maybe fall.

[samson2]

After 44 years of watching GH, I am really concerned. Yes, it is my favorite show. But, Soaps-in-Depth-ABC just sent me a letter, they are stopping printing the magazine. It will not resume even if the show does. I can't help feeling sick about it.

That’s scary, I know between that, and the special on soaps that threw in reality tv.....

[soapgirl9]

I'm worried about reality TV. It isn't my thing at all, but people love them..

[Flur]

Ugh, I cannot stand reality tv. Nothing is further from reality than reality tv.

[soapgirl9]

Exactly, Flur! People think it's real, but they clearly script who gets into fights with each other and provoking drama.

[Flur]

I’d love to see them move to a radio format for the duration of the pandemic, where the scripts are written for sound only and the actors can record their voices from the homes. That way we can keep getting new episodes and the actors, writers, sound techs, and others can keep working. Or do the same but have them on video in their homes so we also get facial expressions and some body language. The network can air it in its regular time slot (with or without video) and also offer it via website or even as a podcast.

[O_Snap!]

I'll take anything. Old episodes, not so old episodes, NLG and WD doing dramatic readings of smutty Julexis fanfiction over zoom... I just don't want a talk show, reality show or another hour of GMA.

[Wild Horses]

Me too and I am enjoying watching them. Show us the old stuff!

[jodyb22]

sign me up for smutty Julexis dramatic readings! Oh my!!!