Insert foot in mouth, please.
During a recent interview with USA Today, Brian Frons continues to make excuses for the cancellations of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live.” Let’s blame the Baby Boomers…
In reference to the Daytime audience Frons stated, “It’s change that’s generational. Serials for the most part are Baby Boomer programs, and as Boomers age out of the key selling demographic, we need to look at alternatives.”
Soaps.com feels Brian Frons has not only gone another mile to offend the fans who are still grieving over the loss of their favorite ABC soap operas, but did he not look at the crowd who was blatantly full of Baby Boomers screaming their disgust of his cancellations at any of the New York City based protest rallies?
If Frons took some of the calls clogging up the ABC phone lines and did a tally on how many Baby Boomers were making them, well, maybe he’d reconsider his statement. Here’s what just a few of our Soaps.com posters had to say…
tllsmi states, “I am on the tail end of being a Baby Boomer and it frustrates me that we can’t have anything because they have to cater to the younger generation. Well, when I was young I worked full time for 30 years and recorded my shows on VCR’s once they came out and what a pain that was at times. Most younger people are out working during the day. Do they really want to come home to a bunch of recorded shows telling them how to look and eat? Sounds awfully boring to me. I guess times have changed. I liked to come home from a day at the office and escape for 30 minutes or an hour to my shows. It is like reading a book and getting a new chapter every day. I for one will miss this show a lot once it is gone. It is actually the only Daytime TV that I watch.”
HappyAndy states, “It is frustrating that Baby Boomer viewers are so easily dismissed. I too will miss this show.”
Piqueroi states, “If Frons were slightly aware, he’d realize that soaps were established a good decade before the creation of Baby Boomers on network radio. There was a pre-TV time when listeners in 15-minute installments thrilled to the romance and drama of Joan Davis, Sunday Brinthrop, Helen Trent, and Mary Noble as well as turning to Drs. Jim Brent and Jerry Malone as well as barber Bill Davidson for advice and guidance when facing overwhelming problems. One of the top radio writers, Irna Phillips, with the advent of TV successfully transferred “The Guiding Light” from radio to television and created “As the World Turns,” the first half-hour soap opera. Her protégée, Agnes Nixon, went on to create not only “OLTL” and “AMC” but several other soaps and seems to have the talent for this type of continued escapism entertainment in her genes. Brian Frons seems cold bloodedly bent on destroying ABC’s Daytime ratings completely by replacing these entertaining scripted dramas with talk/reality dreck.”
Not only did he speak on behalf of what Baby Boomers are watching, or not watching, these days, he went on to claim that the younger viewers are “looking for an upbeat tone, they want entertaining relevance, more talk and reality than scripted drama. They’re looking to us for shows that help improve their lives, rather than escape from their lives.”
One of Soaps.com’s younger viewers only proves in their statement that Frons is simply incorrect in his analysis.
beanie315 states, “I am one of the younger generation viewers… and I have no problem feeling like I need an escape from the pressures of daily life. There is nothing wrong with taking that break. All of my other time is spent trying to not only improve my life, but even just keeping up the pace. I need that break for rejuvenation! Why would I want more shows showing me what my life should be!? I don’t need any more pressure! This is coming from an on and off college student (too wealthy for financial assistance, too poor for college) and even if I were to get my degree… most of my friends who have them are either working at a job having nothing to do with their degree, or unemployed! Who wouldn’t want to take an hour to escape these days!? Hello Frons Wake Up!”
So again, the fans speak for themselves and don’t need someone telling them what they want out of a Daytime line-up.
If you missed what went on at a few of the fan rallies, including the reaction of Brian Frons as fans screamed in disgust, visit Fans Rally At ABC Studios.
Join us on Twitter @soapoperafan and Facebook. Come tweet and Facebook with us about “One Life To Live,” all the other soap operas, “Glee,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Vampire Diaries!”
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