While CBS has issued a warning about the future of As the World Turns, the top-rated soap opera for the network, The Young & the Restless, has been given a two-year renewal, according to SoapCentral.com.

The renewal came with strings attached, the report said. Producers for the number one Nielsen rated daytime drama have been told to trim the budget and cut production costs. Steve Mosko, Sony Pictures Television president, met with cast and crew to announce the renewal, as well as to explain that a cut in the soap's licensing fee may result in reduced salaries and job losses.

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2009/08/the-young-the-restless-gets-tw.php

More bad news for the highly endangered daytime drama industry. I guess more and more actors will threaten to walk if their pay is cut, but I don't think the producers of the show will be given the funds to keep all of the actors at their current rate of pay. The soap world really needs to have an economic summit to plan ways to survive the next few years or face extinction. I'm not sure how the soaps can do this or if it is even possible at this point. Studying different production models is one way, but this didn't work for the cancelled Guiding Light. Cutting all shows down to a half hour might be a possibility as well. I rather like the idea of the Spanish language novelas, dramas with several story arcs that run for a short period of time, usually six months to a year. The actors on these dramas are going to have to understand that their medium is an endangered species and they can either accept a pay cut or not work period, as unfortunate as that sounds.

I agree. I heard Melody Thomas Scott threatened to walk rather than take a pay cut, but I have no sympathy for her. At least she HAS a job, and one that still pays significantly more than the jobs us regular folks get. If Susan Lucci can take a pay cut, so can everyone else in daytime. In other words, put up or shut up.

thank you monika! i agree. its selfish to threaten to quit your job (especially when you're making a fortune) when so many others have lost jobs and are unable to find new ones. as much as i hate my security job i am lucky to have a job to report to everyday and i need it to survive. melody thomas scott is paid generously and i'm sure has banked enough money over the years to endure a paycut. she should be relieved she didn't suffer the same fate as her guiding light counterparts.

^ Exactly! I have no sympathy for stories like this, especially now that I am losing my job and have to find a new one. She should consider herself LUCKY!! :mad:

Melody re-signed with the show two and a half months ago, and Nikki will be returning to the canvas very soon.

Melody re-signed with the show two and a half months ago, and Nikki will be returning to the canvas very soon.
That's right - she and Eric Braeden are featured on the cover of this week's Soap Opera Digest.

That is actually a great idea to cut the shows back to 30 minutes. That way they could run them back to back and people aren't stuck for a whole hour waiting for their storyline to appear. I wonder if the shorter time period would have any effect on viewership?

If Y@R goes under Soaps are gonna be on their last legs pretty much,which would be a damn shame.