The decade of the disappearance? Change we’ll have to believe in
Maybe it’s day after day of cold rain.
If there is one certainty in life, it is change.
2009 began with a promise of change, and this annum sure has delivered.
As we begin a new decade in a few days, I took notice of talk show host Greg Budell’s interesting post on his website about ten brands that will disappear in 2010. Following the link to AOL’s Money and Finance page, I read on.
The survival of the fittest game will play out in coming months, as the economic fallout from the 2008 panic continues to reverberate.
On the chopping block is my favorite newsmagazine, NEWSWEEK, which recently underwent a drastic format change in an attempt to gain new readers. I like the new format, which is more opinion-based, since there are plenty of outlets that provide instant news coverage 24/7.
NEWSWEEK has lost $30 million in 2009 despite heroic efforts to save the brand – including a much-talked-about cover featuring a tanned and rested Sarah Palin in short Soffe shorts. Still, 2010 is predicted to be the periodical’s last year.
Motorola is also predicted to become a casualty in the next 12 months. A pioneer in telecommunications – in fact, our first bag phone was a Motorola – their market share has dwindled and they are courting various other cell phone entities to bail them out.
Another company whose fortunes have virtually disappeared is Blockbuster. Once the go-to source for video rentals, CD purchases, and game equipment, their clientele has simply dried up and they, too, are seeking to liquidate their assets in the near future.
There has been a lot of talk about the death of traditional print media, but we’re not in the shape Eastman Kodak is in. Kodak has been wallowing in financial misery for years now, and not turning profits in a digital age will inevitably kill the print film industry as we have known it. The worst news is that KKR is in negotiations to take over the company. Remember what happened when KKR helped Bruno’s and Delchamps?
For years, television has been feeling the changes as more people find their entertainment on the internet. Traditional delivery of not only the news, but of sports, comedy, drama, and adventure has been, and will be, changing in the coming years. Advertisers and networks are constantly looking at the bottom line.
That’s why I shouldn’t have been surprised this past week when CBS up and cancelled my favorite TV show – one I have followed for nearly 25 of its 54 years on the air: AS THE WORLD TURNS.
AS THE WORLD TURNS is the longest-running soap opera on television. For 20 years, 1958-1978, it was the #1 show in daytime. As recently as early 2008, ATWT was in 3rd place in the Nielsen ratings. However, the ratings spun into freefall throughout 2008 and 2009, particularly when CBS chose to cancel the long-running GUIDING LIGHT earlier this year.
Both shows were owned and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions, the company that virtually invented soap operas and gave them their name.
When CBS cancelled GL, ATWT was put on notice that if ratings and ad revenue weren’t up by November, it would be over. Budgets were slashed, actors were fired, storylines moved at a breakneck pace, but it was all for naught.
Les Moonves, the President of CBS, publicly stated that “the day of the client-produced soap operas are over.” Indeed, the fact that P&G owned ATWT might have been the determining factor in the network’s decision to end this historic series in 2010.
The show’s Brooklyn studios have been closed to reporters all week, but the first response to the cancellation came from the diva of daytime, Eileen Fulton, whose character, Lisa, has been married nine times during her 49 years on the show.
“It’s a h—l of a Christmas present,” she said to the NEW YORK TIMES.
And so, as a new decade begins, we had better prepare to say goodbye to some old friends. That’s a change we have no choice but to believe in.
michael bird is a band director for tallassee city schools. send email to michael.bird@tcschools.com
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