GLATWT88

Finally got to watch a classic episode here in the NYC area. This episode was more entertaining than anything I had watched on YR these past few weeks. 

Does anyone know where I can watch the rest of this week's classic eps? 

What happened Thursday on GH? They had a nice jump. 

8 minutes ago, ironlion said:

 Phil Murphyyyyy!!! Is it really in the best interest of ratings to pre-empt programming EVERYday?

 

 

Unfortunately, it comes down to how the affiliates handle it. The ABC affiliate in NYC seems to now cut coverage of the press conferences short to allow General Hospital to air on time instead of preempting. Last week, there were several times that Murphy started his conferences in the mid-afternoon and right before it was 3pm - the local anchors would come on and provide a brief summary before introducing GH. When they did cut into GH because of weather related coverage, they at least aired the episode on their partner network. 

I mean doesn't help the CBS soaps numbers when the biggest TV market in the US keeps preempting their soaps. 

17 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

Cuomo ended early, only for the NJ press update to begin early. We’re missing this in the NYC area.

I was just going to mention this. YR and BB have been preempted regularly because of these press conferences. Last week was probably the best overall in terms of not preempting the soaps on CBS in the past few weeks.

I thought when CBS2 preempted their soaps, they would be shown on WLNY. I finally have WLNY after all these years and I just checked and they're not airing YR. I'm assuming CBS2 no longer has a deal with WLNY to air their schedule when there are preemptions. I haven't really watched CBS soaps live this regularly in a while so I was going based on what would occur in the past. 

Sad I'm probably going to miss all these older episodes, because CBS hasn't even put up Friday's episode online or on the streaming platform. 

Looks like NBC is doing a better job at respecting DAYS in the NYC area because it's on my local affiliate. 

12 minutes ago, Aback said:

 

I agree! I watch these old episodes and I'm immediately invested in the storyline again, only for it to fade away once the rerun is over! They should roll up their editing sleeves and pack some weeks devoted exclusively to a storyline.

I actually searched up the storylines after watching the episodes and I was so intrigued reading the summaries that I wished they were able to show more of it. IMO, since they do plan on being off the air for some time - it would be logical that they played out storylines instead of one off epsiodes, but either way I've enjoyed watching. 

I'm surprised these streaming platforms haven't attempted to do their own soap opera. I think a 30 minutes soap like BB with about 19-22 minute long episodes, if executed properly can do well on these platforms. It will also help them by holding onto viewers that subscribe to watch a particular series and then cancel when done binging as this will run continuously and it will also bring back viewers regularly to watch and then move onto other content on the platform. 19 minutes doesn't seem like much of a commitment which is beneficial with today's fickle viewership. 

I'm sure there are many factors which have also kept these streaming services away, like production cost, a long-term commitment as most shows have a small episode order, and the performance of current soaps on TV. Either way, it would be interesting to see how soaps with perform on streaming platforms with a fresh perspective. 

What confused me most was that they were able to spend all this money for a location shoot in Monte Carlo but Bill has some memory (don't think it was a flashback) to opening some Spencer building (haven't been watching regularly in ages so not sure what was going on) in front of a green screen that looked so cheap it was embarrassing.

I actually find the older episodes exciting to watch, especially since I really only got into soaps in the early-mid 2000s, but watched a bit of DAYS and GH in the 90s when my sister would watch. I know some people argue that the older episodes will not attract new viewers, which is probably true especially since they're not running week long edited storylines, but instead theme weeks around characters so there's not much connection, continuity or conclusion for new viewers to really get into. But I don't think soaps in their current state would attract much new viewers. I think the hope (if even possible) is to lure back some of the viewers they've lost recently. I by no means am a YR fan, although the CBS soaps (B&B, GL and ATWT) have been my favorites to watch and I watched them pretty regularly between 2003-06 and on and off since then. I actually found myself enjoying these one off Y&R episodes. They really show how great soap operas really were...the masquerade even as a one off was exciting for me to watch even though I knew nothing of what had occurred leading up to those events, but I guess knowing the characters helps.

I think instead of theme weeks surrounding characters, Y&R should consider theme weeks around popular storylines. They can air 5 of the more exciting episodes of a particular storyline over the course of the week with actors providing commentary at the beginning and even halfway point to fill in viewers. I know this is probably time consuming and not worth the effort from CBS, but it would be exciting for me. These old episodes finally made me understand why YR has been #1 all these years. Honestly, when I started watching soaps I always wondered why YR was ranked so high, aside from its production value in comparison to some of the soaps, I didn't find it that interesting a lot of the time. Now I get it and I definitely see that it was holding onto viewers from its past. 

I started watching GL when I was in high school around May 2003 and fell in love with the characters and soap operas in general. I watched every day until 2006 when I went off to college and then followed on and off until around 2008 I believe but even in those days it was more challenging to follow along like you can now with streaming services, on demand and on the channel websites. I was sad when GL went off the air, but I wasn't really watching much in those days. I remember there being a transition in the way the show looked because of the filming technique or equipment towards the end of its run. 

I noticed that there are near complete yearly runs of the soap from the late 90s. I know it wasnt the peak of popularity and maybe perhaps storytelling for GL, but which year in the late 90s would you recommend for watching? 

Also, what was the real public and critical reception of the clone storyline?