Soaps Killed The Talk Star
And about 3 decades ago, talk nearly killed the soap opera
Daytime fans were stunned when Grammy and Emmy winner Kelly Clarkson confirmed the rumors that she made the decision to bring her talk show to an end. The Kelly Clarkson Show was enormously popular and often ranked as one of the most watched talkers.
In even more shocking news, Sherri, hosted by Sherri Shepherd, was outright canceled by its distributor. While never a breakout success, in terms of ratings, the show was beloved and on a viewership upswing. Debmar-Mercury only said that it was because of the evolving economics of daytime TV.
Does that excuse sound familiar?
It was one of the reasons given for ABC axing All My Children and One Life to Live at the same time. There was a lot of hand wringing that this was the end of the genre and there was no way the soap opera industry would ever recover.
Sentiments that are being shared with the talk show industry right now. Many are worried that the once booming economic powerhouse genre is slowly being drained of its life and there is no way that another show will be greenlit.
Even if a new does come about, viewers habits are changing. They aren’t watching the way they used to. Which makes it increasingly difficult to gain traction. Is it even worth it?
The answer is yes.
If Clarkson didn’t want to end her show for personal reasons, it is believed that it would have gone on for a long time without studio interference. The Kelly Clarkson Show was well integrated into the NBC-Universal corporate ecosystem and helped promote countless projects.
More than that, the host is beloved by nearly everyone. Her returns to The Voice or other shows always see a spike in the ratings. The talk show was one of the must go shows for celebrities.
Many believed that Clarkson could have had a career like Oprah or Ellen DeGeneres.
What will replace the talkers that we are losing?
Some doom and gloom insiders say that the local stations will add even more news to their lineups. It’s cheaper to produce, and many stations already have a live-streaming system going for other channels.
But there’s a chance that the rumors that have been slowly gaining momentum since 2018/2019 could very well come to fruition. After all, one of those rumors came to be last February.
CBS canceled The Talk in favor of launching a brand new soap opera, Beyond The Gates. Right away, the numbers told the story that viewers truly wanted more daytime drama.
Some people claim that the audience’s appetite for these shows is changing. They are wrong.
One thing that sets the daytime audience apart from other fandoms is they crave stability. There’s a reason Oprah was able to keep her show going for 25 years, why Ellen was reluctant to bring her show to a close.
The fans would have watched and kept them on air forever.
Shows must also begin to evolve. They need to take some chances, with the formula or with the format.
When CBS announced that it was splitting The Drew Barrymore Show into two half hours that could be played together or separately, the entire internet groaned. There was no way this could work. It would end the show and make a laughing stock out of its iconic star.
But something funny happened along the way. The Drew Barrymore Show’s ratings grew. The talk show went from a floundering mess to finding its way and stabilizing.
Beyond The Gates, daytime’s newest soap, didn’t reinvent their format, but they did go back to the origins of soap operas. One of their production partners is P&G, so their products are sprinkled throughout the show.
Is it subtle? No. Do they get snarked about it on The Snark Beyond The Gates? All the time. But fans also accept that it must be this way. The show is well into its second season, and every indication is that it will be around for a good long time to come.
What can Sherri, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and other talk shows learn? Take a chance. Experiment with the format a bit. Hell, bring on an episode or week-long sponsor for the show.
The talk show genre is not dead or dying. Neither was the soap opera industry. All that needed to happen was for someone to care enough to try something new.
Vertical dramas are absurdly popular right now and borrow heavily from soaps. Jenny McCarthy is working on a new talk show that is produced like a visual podcast but will be marketed like a talk show.
Sherri, Colbert, and rumors suggest Jennifer Hudson do or may feel this way soon. It’s never too late to experiment. And it could save a show.