As the writers? strike approaches the three-month mark, it has conveyed new cachet, such as it is, on soap operas. Shows like ?General Hospital? and ?As the World Turns? have become virtually the only reliable option for viewers interested in watching rerun-free, serialized drama on broadcast television. None of the eight daytime dramas on network television have gone into reruns, and none have plans to do so. But in a genre that thrives on drawn-out cliffhangers, the most sensational mystery in daytime may be how these shows are being written at all, considering that nearly all of their writers are guild members on strike. ?There?s just no way three people can be doing that job,? said Sandra Weintraub, a striking writer who has written for one soap opera for more than three years.
See "Soap-Operas Are the Hidden Drama of Strike", Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times, January 20, 2008