Toxic34

I happened to find, via the Wayback Machine, an interesting PC fansite that ran up through 2007, and even included fan-fic scripts for a continuation past The Gift: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.portcharlesexplosion.com/

Does anyone remember this site? And if so, does anyone know what happened to the webmaster of this site after he closed things down?

Here are ideas of my own in terms of creating several arcs past "The Gift."

-The Crisis: Livvie is conflicted over carrying Caleb's child, Rafe and Alison are now expecting, Jamal wants into Imani's world, and Lucy, continuing her quest to eliminate vampires, discovers a witch's coven.

-Parallel: Serena discovers a gateway to an alternate dimension where her mother is alive, but every other character is acting differently

-Exposure: PC/GH crossover arc (events influence each other in both shows) in which Caleb and Sonny become allies of convenience, and Lucy receives unexpected help from Stevie Nicks

-Dark Shadows: Lucy and the others uncover a shared secret history of Port Charles being connected to Barnabas Collins and his world

-Desperation: Caleb extends his aims to the entire ABC Daytime universe, and the characters of all shows interact with each other, with events spanning all series

-Hope: The "proper" finale of PC

Now, I really would like to know this: does anyone have any idea of what would have been done in future arcs? I want to hear ideas of what might have happened.

Just now, Vee said:

Dude, those things have never been relevant. The networks pay zero attention to them.

Why has ABC suddenly been airing older GH episodes, complete with an announcement to air the New Year's Eve '97 episode this upcoming New Year's?

Supernatural elements have been shown to work in soaps, as Dark Shadows has demonstrated. In many ways, PC was stuck being GH's kid sibling until the arcs. Arguably, the arcs kept the show around longer, and some might feel that they'd work even better today in the post-Twilight world. Why did the critics enjoy the arcs more and soon have Emmy buzz building?

I'm also saying, that when you have a series known for elaborate kidnapping plots, faked deaths, bouts of amnesia, plastic surgery to "hide identities", lengthy comas, and a premiere episode involving POWER DRILL SURGERY, it really isn't that much of a leap.

You might really want to take a look at this Facebook group right here: https://www.facebook.com/SaveAMCandOLTL/

I just had an interesting dream involving PC last night. Now, keep in mind, as dreams are wont to do, the details are changed considerably. In fact, the character names very much changed. But of course, I could recognize the details enough to see that it was involving PC.

Anyways, apparently I was in the position of Lucy, and she was being part of some kind of strange "Intervention/This Is Your Life" hybrid, also framed as part of some kind of ID channel investigation as well. It was basically some kind "look what your life is, and all the drama you cause." The response is "you don't know how things work in Port Charles." Suddenly the entire history of characters in GH/PC suddenly appear, spilling their guts. Except for Caleb, and suddenly it becomes. "All the people you asked to come, and who's not here? Do you now believe that he is a vampire and  poses a great threat? There is suddenly an outcry of panic. And that's all I remember, given how fuzzy the details tend to become after you wake up. I wish I could be more helpful.

Well, with all due respect, soaps love to go for the unbelievable and the uber-dramatic, over the likes of realism. Which is part of the fun, after all. I mean, PC's debut started with Audrey being operated on with a power drill while the hospital is taken over by armed terrorists. So when we're already operating on the absurd, how is it really any different when we add vampires, angels and time travel to the mix?

I'd like to hear what people think is all. All right, if you don't want to talk about the idea I mentioned, fine, but I'd like to know what people thing would have happened in PC after "The Gift." What kind of direction would the arcs have taken?

On 12/7/2018 at 12:50 PM, Toxic34 said:

Well, so what do people think of my idea of how things unfold for PC in the Kurt Cobain lives timeline idea, including where ABC has the freedom to reshuffle their daytime lineup without having to cede time to their affiliates, and PC has a better time slot and is able to continue past "The Gift?"

 

If you do like that, I'd like ideas of what kinds of arcs would have been done afterwards, and whether there should be yet another paradigm shift in which events in PC affect those in GH and vice versa? For example, what are people's thoughts about the Fleetwood Mac appearance and Stevie being a witch idea?

Any thoughts to share about this?

Well, so what do people think of my idea of how things unfold for PC in the Kurt Cobain lives timeline idea, including where ABC has the freedom to reshuffle their daytime lineup without having to cede time to their affiliates, and PC has a better time slot and is able to continue past "The Gift?"

If you do like that, I'd like ideas of what kinds of arcs would have been done afterwards, and whether there should be yet another paradigm shift in which events in PC affect those in GH and vice versa? For example, what are people's thoughts about the Fleetwood Mac appearance and Stevie being a witch idea?

I wouldn't know. Obviously I have no insight into the dynamics of what was going on behind the scenes at ABC Daytime. If there was such an opportunity to do so for a 30-minute soap from the start, it obviously came too late. As mentioned before, the shift to the arcs couldn't stop the bleeding and the show was simply being judged too expensive to maintain. When PC was cancelled, the cast and crew were still on the hiatus period. This meant that after the finale of "The Gift" airing on October 3, 2003, no one could return to tape resolutions to what was hinted to come in the future. The closest PC fans got was the 2013 GH arc, after Lucy returned to the show and Michael Easton joined the cast of GH, moving John McBain there. The vampire storyline was revisited, but with a resolution effectively saying Lucy lost her mind, which certainly split opinion. Odds are that if PC had continued for another year or so, this wouldn't have been the way things unfolded.

I also can't help but feel that keeping GH and PC basically separate and having no crossover except the Nurses' Ball hurt PC in the long run. If there were overarching plots in which what happened in one affected the other, it would have driven more viewers to tune in.

The arcs were created to mimic the style of telenovelas, where a story would be set up to have a beginning, middle and an end, and be finished in 13 weeks, or 60 episodes. They would then film 2 or 3 episodes per week. By finishing these stories quickly, getting it in the can so quickly, there was no need to work any more than was needed. With traditional open-ended soaps, they'd be working the majority of the year, with no end in sight.

Of course, the telenovela and PC arc somewhat prefigures the modern anthology series, like AHS.

Funny how that when they were "doing things on the cheap", ABC still considered it prohibitively expensive. Hence the shift to the arcs so that they could work only 6 months of the year, but even that didn't stop the bleeding. And it's also funny how a 2.2 rating was considered "dead air" at the time, but now, in today's digital, streaming landscape, 2.2 is a rating shows, especially network TV shows, would kill to achieve.

Does anyone have anything to add about the lineup shuffle idea or an idea for what arcs there would have been after "The Gift?"

Was there any way for PC to have survived past "The Gift?" Or was it doomed to be axed no matter what?

One person I talked to suggested that the problem was the 12:30 timeslot, up against The Young & the Restless, and that no show that was fairly new on ABC was going to stand up against it. So, this person suggested that the schedule should have been refigured as such: move OLTL to noon, AMC to 1, The City could have survived and continued on past '97 airing after AMC, and PC could still have been created and air between The City and GH. Thus, ABC could have survived into the 21st century with 5 soaps. What do you think of this?

I am writing a timeline for an alternate history forum, in which Kurt Cobain doesn't get involved with heroin, and doesn't commit suicide, and thus shows the impact on the world of entertainment because of that. PC plays a small part in it, and ABC does that lineup reshuffling I talked about. If you want to read it, look here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/cobain-continues-redone-a-kurt-cobain-survives-timeline.424961/

I'm also working on what kind of arcs could have been done after "The Gift", especially concerning the continued tension regarding Caleb, as well as the discovery of Imani being a werewolf. Taking a page from the likes of American Horror Story, especially its third arc, Coven, why not have witches involved too? In fact, keeping further inspiration from AHS, why not have Fleetwood Mac make an appearance, and give the revelation that Stevie Nicks is actually a witch in real life? I can picture a character meetup and development occurring at a Fleetwood Mac concert (since this would be in 2004 or so, when the band would be on tour to promote their album Say You Will, and in this alternate timeline, Christine McVie would still be part of the band) at Port Charles Park, and having certain developments and dialogue against the backdrop of the likes of "Silver Springs" or "Gold Dust Woman." Use the following footage from the 1997 live video The Dance as inspiration to use for this scene I'm setting up.