The Empire Effect

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Fox has a megahit on its hands with the primetime soap Empire. Over on OWN, Tyler Perry’s The Haves & Have Nots has better ratings than anything else Oprah’s network has aired. These primetime soaps are redefining the word “diversity” while also telling strong, character-driven stories... so why has daytime failed so miserably on this front? Will the success of these shows and others bring about some much-needed change where the soaps are concerned? Why has daytime had more success crafting storylines about same-sex couples than it has any other Tonight, join Soaps in Depth executive editor Richard M. Simms as he takes your calls on this and all things soapy, including a last look at the recently concluded February sweeps period and a few predictions about what we might expect during May sweeps!