It all climaxes with a preachy ending about accepting other people and how there's life after high school. The bubble may be about to burst for the soap opera industry. While soaps have been broadcasting staples since the 1930s, the costs of making 260 episodes every year of a show that will never be rerun add up. And with network ratings down across the board, this institution could go the way of TV westerns and variety shows. Speculation has floated around that NBC, which has been in daytime's ratings basement for two decades, may dump both Another World and Sunset Beach .
Loyal fans churn in and out.
New audiences aren't being herded toward the shows. With more choices on the dial, the available audience drops. Those extra channels fill in the titillation factor filled by daytime drama. Soap producers are thus left to do more with lower budgets. Since the days of radio, the networks acted as gatekeepers to the world of broadcasting.