te.

(I know there's a Melrose Place thread, but I feel this needs a WIGERVERSINNARY... okay that sounds wrong but it's the thought and so on)

I'd argue that CBS will try and secure what they'd consider the main players of the soap for as long as possible. It's been incredibly long since we've had a new soap, so who knows how long that'll be? The reason why established soaps aren't known for giving long contracts it's because they've already mapped out who the important cast members are and those aren't going to sign long-term contracts because short-term is usually a better deal for them. 

They gave it an hour slot because that's the show that's being replaced (The Talk). It was either that or try and develop a companion piece, which in itself would be riskier than just doing a hour show. Personally, I think the soap format - especially with the gigantic growth on streaming - probably works better as a half hour (or ~20 minutes). It makes for very easy catch up viewing at the very least.

That's just imho of course. But after watching old soap episodes I think a daily format works better shorter.

Called it that they were going to go straight from The Talk to The Gates. Now lets see if the name sticks.

Whenever I hear how soaps end up over-indexing on AA viewers I always wonder if it's because AA viewers love seeing white people act insane; Dynasty also over-indexed as does apparently shows like Grey's Anatomy.

I forgot that this was the moment when Sami truly went after Austin because Carrie is such a bitch.

Since ReRon loves his recycling this should be a plot point for Allie and Sydney (who whould be a red head).

Nothing against Guiding Light or As The World Turns, but I don't think either really has a huge interesting premise to appeal beyond their original fanbase that would make them worth rebooting over just creating a new show. The reason why many people point towards Edge of Night or something like Dark Shadows is because both shows have an instantly recognizeable point of view beyond just being a soap. Guiding Light might have an up there because it's well-known as one of the longest running shows and the oldest long-running soap, but it'd like end up doing "meh" like the Law & Order reboot.

6 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

After a couple of well regarded but low rated seasons in various 10 o'clock timeslots, ABC moves it to the prime  8pm Sunday up against MSW and Family Ties. It was certainly counter programming but very odd nonetheless.

 

My understanding is that at least a part of it was because Spenser was quite expensive, so airing it in a time slot that got lower ad rates might've been not been practical in order to make a profit on the show. I don't think it was a tank job as much as they were trying to find a way to keep an expensive, but moderately rated series, going.

8 hours ago, kalbir said:

I think The Gates will launch after the March Madness break, so going by the March Madness 2025 dates on March Madness Final Four: Future dates & sites (ncaa.com) , I say series premiere is Monday March 24, 2025.

To be honest, I don't see why they wouldn't just run The Talk until March if that's what they planned to do. It makes no sense for them to have to get filler programming if they could just smoothly transition from The Talk to The Gates and The Talk could literally end any Friday as there's no need to wrap anything up. I still think The Gates will premiere over the winter break and they'll just use March Madness as further promotion to keep any "hype" going. Daytime soaps aren't as reliant on having huge premieres as much as keeping people tuned in so for me it makes more sense as they would hopefully start having storylines heating up and gelling properly by March.

27 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

I wonder what CBS will air in the Talk's timeslot till the Gates premiere's? 

I can't see why they wouldn't just air The Talk until The Gates is ready to premiere. It's a show that can literally wrap filming at any point in time if needed, so I think we've gotten a timeline on when we can expect The Gates.

I just hope they'll re-build the set as it was and not go with the far too glitzy (but at the same time cramped) look of the reboot.

Yep, was about to post that. The Talk cancelled and ending in December. I'm guessing they're going to aim for The Gates to premiere either late 2024/early 2025. There's literally no reason for them to end The Talk earlier if they didn't have a plan for The Gates.

Maybe they can kill off Matt again.

[!@#$%^&*] YES. 

This whole show is essentially cat nip for the gays. There's a bit of annoying anachronisms in there, but overall, if you like things like Desperate Housewives, this is a show for you essentially.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

I could swear she appears dead on a gurney in the hospital scenes filmed for S4, but otherwise yes.

She doesn't. Richard informa Jane she's dead despite casually passing by the alcove she died in.

Off screen deaths. Never dignifying.

Sorry, but no penis no sale for me.

On 4/9/2024 at 2:21 AM, Vee said:

Yes and yes. She was on a handful of episodes at best.

Technically, Morgan Brittany only filmed to appear in The Big Bang Theory aka the two hour finale of season 3. Since the explosion was post-poned to the season 4 premiere, but she technically didn't film anything for that. You can tell that post-explosion there's no shot of her when the others get up with fabulous new hair-do's.

ETA: I've said it before, but I suspect that the episode was first set to end with Amanda mouthing "oh my God", then the explosion of her apartment pushing her down the stairs. Post that you can clearly see Sydney has a new hair-do:

5 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I think that not giving these characters an exit was deliberate.

I guess if we view these soaps as viewers only being given a slice of daily lives of a dozen or so people that live in a town of thousands it makes sense that sometimes people will just "disappear" off screen without much fuzz and we as viewers are kind of expected to think they're just living their lives. Of course, with people like Marie and Doug / Julie being so interconnected with the main families that makes it problematic that they wouldn't be mentioned.

I could kind of see Tylo in the role in those early episodes when Taylor was meant to be "mysterious", but I think Rinna's energy quickly took over everything on screen and then it translated into the scripts (as it should tbh). But I think it was originally meant to be more of a "quiet" desperation about her, especially when she did everything to try and keep Peter. Season 5 of Melrose Place was meant to be toned down (and you can kind of tell by the storylines being - as someone eloquently put it "daytime slow at a breakneck speed"), but Rinna certainly didn't get the memo.

Another in example I thought about is Taylor and Kyle's relationship - I think it was meant to come across as she was kind of the neglected wife, which is why she went off to look for Peter in the first place. But then Lisa's energy entirely took over and she comes across as a bit of a flying harpy and yeah, of course Kyle would cheat.

ABC's Not Dead Yet comes across as very much something they ordered because of the success CBS had with Ghosts. Apparently it went through three re-toolings in season one alone.

10 hours ago, Cheap21 said:

A pregnant Taylor wouldnt have worked with the show's original plans for the character but I dont get why they didnt just pivot.

To play devil's advocate - Tylo announced that she was pregnant in March and gave birth in November; the show would've started filming in mid-July, so she should've been like five months pregnant when the show started. I can see how they would've had big issues with working it in, but also it would've been hard to hide at that point. 

It goes without saying that they could've handled it better than they did, but I can see why they thought it was a headache for the arc they had planned for Taylor.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. It was driving me a bit nuts. I had forgotten she got on Melrose after what happened with Hunter. I guess being on Melrose ended up being the better decision.

I had to look it up - Hunter Tylo was fired mid-May:

May 14th 1996:

This appeared May 29th 1996:

Lisa and Rob were announced as cast in mid-July, presumably shortly before production was meant to start:

That's absolutely Lisa Rinna. I assume since this was a 6 episode order to air in the late spring, Lisa was either able to get out of her contract, or replaced or Spelling actually bought her out. It's worth to remember that she was a very late addition because of the Hunter Tylo mess and you can tell this pilot was filmed a few months earlier due to her short hair.

Since Hilary Swank also starred in this and then re-appeared on Beverly Hills the next season makes me think they might've shared a casting agent with Spelling productions.