TV Industry Questions For 2014

What is interesting.....with all the cancelled soaps, who have had fantastic actors within them, and who are now jobless.....casting directors have a hard time finding competent actors to fill the bill? Soap actors are so used to having to memorize pages of dialogue, are definitely ready, capable, and usually don't need 20 takes for a scene. But are always overlooked.
I think I mentioned in another thread about good writers being unavailable for remaining soaps, as so many original cable shows are being produced, writers are not sitting around doing any thumb twiddling.
 
Plus there are so many shows now that are either on their last leg(i.e. Grey's Anatomy) or have already been cancelled(i.e. True Blood, Good Luck Charlie) and all these shows have amazing talent. Hard to believe they can't pull from these pools easily for future pilots. I agree though about using soap actors. I think Cameron Matheson is a good example of someone who has transferred his skills to the mainstream after his show was cancelled.
 
I think that these days networks and show runners are desperate to find a hook to get people to tune in from the start since unlike earlier times, shows can be cancelled after only a few showings, some even after only one outing. With the Blacklist the main draw for many was James Spader (he's the only reason that I watched the pilot online). With another show mentioned, Sleepy Hollow, what got me to watch was the fact that it was from the creator/producers of Fringe, Lost and the new Star Trek film franchise. Even when you have a "hook" to lure people in to give you a chance, it might not be enough to keep them coming back.

Back in the 70s and 80s when soaps were plentiful and at their hottest, many major film stars came from their ranks. Tommy Lee Jones, Laurence Fishburne and Tom Beringer were all on OLTL at the same time, each has garnered Oscar nominations. IMO daytime drama lost a lot of the clout it used to carry back then. It took a long time for the industry to recognize the importance of the genre in helping actors to hone their craft, and at this point, with dwindling interest, the industry has quickly forgotten that fact. Tyler Christopher (Nicolas on GH) has placed a lot of the blame for Daytime actors no longer ascending to Prime Time dramas on the cheaper to produce Reality Shows. Both he and Jonathan Jackson (Lucky on GH) earned high accolades for their work and subsequently left to pursue Prime Time Work. Jonathan even got a few major film roles. However, both subsequently returned to GH and later were even let go when Daytime budgets were cut. Tyler is back and GH now and Johnathan finally did land a Prime Time role on Nashville.

Right now I think the entire industry is being run by corporate honchos with little insight into anything but attempts to reproduce the highest profit margins with very little interest in quality, art, ingenuity or integrity.
 
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