Vee

I think you can train an audience's attention span just as streaming or premium cable shows have. It's a question of molding the beast, not just feeding it anything in desperation or only hunting for 16 year olds.

Shari Headley (AMC) returns in Coming 2 America with Eddie Murphy, reprising her role as his love interest turned queen. (Yes, she's in the trailer.)

The pacing is what concerns me more tbh. I've watched primetime soaps in the last decade-plus - most of them are super-choppy, breathless on plot and character points to get to the end of the 40-45 minute block. If they're not on streaming services they're almost all like that unless (and sometimes even if they are) prestige dramas. You look at the attempts at updating Melrose or 90210 for example - both breathless, super-choppy in cutting and pacing.

I just think most modern primetime soaps these days are either very overly campy, very poorly paced and thought out or both. They're ashamed to be what they are and be substantive. We'll see how this goes - I am cautiously hopeful.

I always thought it would be interesting to try to bring Cathy back - I know they remodeled her into the model of playing a 'modern feminist' as an adult, vs. Catherine Burns who I guess was the original and a wallflower, or Amy Levitt the damaged young addict. Said it before, but Burns was incredible in Last Summer. I've never gotten to see Kavanaugh or Harmon as the adult Cathy and I'd like to. Years ago, when Michael Malone brought on Daniel Colson and his son Riley, and Riley rather randomly announced that he was named for crusading reporter Joe Riley who his mother had known and admired, I sometimes wondered if they were trying to imply Riley's mother was Cathy Craig.

I would hope they'd give Julia Barr a cameo at some point with Brooke as Adam's widow. I don't expect to see everyone in key roles when you're reinventing a daytime soap for primetime (the mind still boggles at the logistical dangers tbqh), but I do think you can make those little allowances. Nader, I'm not sure ABC would've ever brought him back but PP did and he was wonderful in 2013. I would kill to see Dimitri once more, but it's a question of a) whether the network would allow it and b) if anyone involved gives a solitary shít. They need to run Debbi her dollars and have her there on a regular basis. I don't care about what's practical or realistic with primetime in that case. But she did just have an extended run on Power.

@DRW50

I don't think any of those people run the conversation in serious progressive circles these days. But other very annoying people sometimes do.

Yep. I remember on 2.0 they said Wildwind was abandoned and Dimitri had little to no contact with Sam and Maddie who were not in town. I imagine the Santos-Grey situation will have changed in the intervening years, assuming this show ever even acknowledges 2.0 existed which I have doubts about. Man, this news is bringing back how much I was amazed and pleased to see Dimitri, Opal, Brooke, etc. in key roles again. I hope we can at least see them in cameos from time to time. It is surreal to find myself fairly certain SMG will be playing Kendall again soon after all these years. Exactly. Though I don't necessarily think we'll see Erica leading the show this time.

Oprah better make another appearance. AMC is close to her heart.

I am not going to trash British soap talent out of turn, either. A lot of the UK soaps' day to day/episodic writers are still incredible and primetime/cable-ready, it's the larger plotting on shows like EastEnders that has gone to the dogs. Even Mal Young may have had a specific skill set in his heyday across the pond years ago but he was ill-equipped for American daytime. Richardson may be quite talented. As for the 90210 thing, that was clearly a Tori Spelling vanity project which was neither what the network nor the audience was looking for. She had brought back her first meta-reality sitcom people from So NoTorious for it, too. It was a waste of a great opportunity. This is a different beast, and hopefully true to the spirit.

I can usually dig up a pilot script if I need to, assuming one exists. I'm going to start looking around.

I know what I'd want for OLTL, and it's streaming and an Eastenders-like schedule and runtime, not a primetime hour. But we'll see how this goes.

I can't see Kelly or Mark (or the showrunner who allegedly is a huge fan) wanting to pretend this show is out of continuity with GH and the rest of the old ABCD line-up. That's not how the network worked. I would fully expect references to Port Charles or Llanview. I mean, obviously P&G isn't gonna do it so maybe ABC finally will, lol. But I think it's extremely possible this show flops or runs a year or two and that's it. I can't see it becoming a massive new franchise. I think streaming is and has always been a better hope for reinventing and reinvigorating the soaps. But I'm open to this.

I don't think we can know how dark the show will be based on that logline. I think there's a difference between simply doing a mystery plotline and being grimdark or trying to posture and cannibalize something like Riverdale (still my worst fear). So I'm not going to pre-judge too much just yet. I will not be at all surprised if they pretend AMC 2.0 doesn't exist given the very brief and relatively obscure revival. It will always be canon to me, and who knows if we'll see any of the relevant characters, but fortunately most of the events on the show don't need to be retconned per se. Realistically I expect zero nods to it. Still, if we happen to not see A.J. or Miranda right away and some scheming superfan set dresser happens to leave a picture on the mantle of Eric Nelsen or Denyse Tontz (before the inevitable recasts, of course)... I might die.

I really don't worry about that tbh, because I disagree. Sadly I don't think most people have much of any awareness of AMC 2.0 due to the circumstances and timing. AMC prime is what AMC is remembered for. In the best case scenario, this show is a hit and the larger whole is what becomes known for both. But I don't think AMC will necessarily be wholly supplanted by PV whatever happens. Not if they do it right.

I think Susan, Sarah and Eva LaRue are likely locks. I'll be upset if Eden and Debbi aren't at least announced to appear. I do hope they let MEK and Cady do a bit. I want a lot of things we probably won't get, like getting to see Michael Nader again once more. 2013 spoiled me. I presume they'll recast J.R. again - I can't see them working in Hayley and not having Chandler Enterprises in some fashion.

I'm just not interested in them purely sending up AMC like it's Devious Maids. That was an original property designed for that specific purpose. AMC had enough light and humor to it, we don't need to piss on the genre that has proved hardier in various forms and formats than TV cares to admit. You can absolutely poke fun at AMC's ludicrous history without dogging the show itself, and still having a sense of love for it. I think we're all going to project the best or worst onto this project sight unseen, but I am cautiously hopeful. I do think it's extremely likely we'll see Sarah play Kendall Hart again, given the existing relationship with Kelly and SMG continuing to have TV cachet.

In fairness, albeit with a grain of salt: This dude apparently turned down a deal elsewhere bc bringing back AMC was his dream. I wouldn't do that shít, lol! But I admire that. I just hope they don't turn the show into a CW-flavored widget. It sounds like he's implying on social media the Hubbards will be back. Any wise show would invest in Debbi Morgan and presumably a lead role for Frankie, quickly.