1 YEAR LATER: DRAWN-OUT SIMPSON PROCEEDINGS HAVE PUT U.S. JUSTICE SYSTEM ON TRIAL
By David Margolick
The New York Times
June 18, 1995
The appetite of television viewers for trial coverage has proved substantial.
When such soap-opera staples as Procter & Gamble and Clorox shift some of their advertising dollars to Court TV, a cultural sea change is clearly under way. Millions who once watched AS THE WORLD TURNS or GUIDING LIGHT now tune in to the Simpson trial instead.
Lynn Leahey, editor of Soap Opera Digest in New York, said those viewers may never come back.
"When you have a choice between a traditional soap opera and a really juicy real-life soap opera, people are going to tune into that," she said. For those who create soap operas from whole cloth, she said, the Simpson case "has been a major wake-up call."
DAYTIME SOAP OPERAS
