The Biz: Not Much of a Revolution

ABC's new talk show The Revolution may be the best thing that ever happened to General Hospital.
In its first three weeks, ratings for The Revolution are just over half of what canceled soap opera One Life To Live was pulling during a comparable time span in 2011. The lifestyle program has averaged 344,000 viewers in women ages 18—49; OLTL had 654,000. "ABC has to be concerned," says Bill Carroll, an analyst for Katz Television Group
The network has to cut one of its daytime programs — General Hospital, The Chew or The Revolution — to make way for Katie Couric's talk show in the fall. GH has been the likely candidate as soap audiences are down and talk shows are cheaper to produce.
But if The Revolution doesn't improve, it becomes a much tougher choice. The Revolution was expected to draw fewer viewers than OLTL, but to be more in line with how The Chew has performed in the former All My Children time period. In recent weeks, The Chew has retained 82 percent of AMC's 18—49 audience and has slowly grown over its run.
Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!