Oprah Won’t Save Soap Operas — Bad Decision
Devastated fans inundated Oprah’s message board with pleas to save their favorite soap operas. Oprah denied their requests via YouTube video, saying that “the bone marrow truth” is that there are just not enough people who are home in the daytime to watch them.” Though Oprah’s theory is true, she’s still missing a gigantic point. Oprah’s new network, OWN, has a different ratings standard, and if her shows had the same ratings as All My Children at the time of cancellation, it would be considered a huge success. Let me break this down for fear that I’m being unclear. Major networks have a higher ratings standard for their shows. What’s considered good ratings in cable, is considered horrible ratings on a major network. For example, All My Children had 2.6 million viewers at the time of cancellation. Oprah’s viewership for her OWN shows averaged 310,000 an episode. Basically, Oprah would thank her lucky stars for those ratings. Not only would she look like a hero for saving those shows, but she’d also carry an existing audience to her network. Translation? — Save the soap operas!.