The problem for me was that I was on vacation last week and flipped on the TV just to have a look before going out. There were a bunch of talkshows and these "news" pieces that consisted of stuff that couldn't make the prime time news--bullshit. And I knew immediately what was going on. "Talkshows" like Springer rule the daytime airwaves and those networks that can't make a dent in it deliberately show bullshit because it's cheap and no one is watching it anyway. Why show a soap opera if it can't compete with Springer--that's a lot of money down the toilet.

So the eradication of the soap opera isn't about the soap operas themselves but about how our tastes are changing in ways scarcely conceivable 20 years ago. Soaps tried but can't capture this new audience. I know people who watch Springer and they LOVE the tawdry, trailer-trash shit that goes on--they are hooked on it. There's no way these people would ever watch a soap opera for two seconds. Daytime has certainly not gotten any better with the demise of the soaps.