And bellcurve, what soap pilot for FOX?

wow i hope so. the 30 min would really work well u kut karacters u dont need like all those dummies at days Lawd have mercy

According to Variety FOX is having a 30 minute MINI (!????) soap in development - helmed by some British producers.

You could watch one soap on Monday Wednesday Friday, and another soap on Tuesday Thursday Friday for instance. Devoted followers of only one soap thus wouldn't have to watch everyday to keep up -- so it'd be easier to keep up -- but soaps would still be on every day for those wanting them every day.

IMO, that would be the worst thing that could ever be done to the soaps right now, not including the things that TPTB do to them. The soaps in the US have always been five days a week programs, always, even back to the radio days. Screwing around with that now would be just the first step of stripping them of their identity.

That's why I'm staunchly against filming soaps, putting them in primetime, cutting back on the number of days per week, etc. Soaps were hugely popular back in the 1970s without having to make them primetime-ish shows, and with good production, they can be popular again. Cutting down from sixty to thirty would be another factor in bringing them back to the glory days.

Maybe if some soaps had cut back to half an hour years ago, they'd have more viewers today. I know I like B&B because there's little room for fill in stuff. I like some of the hour-long soaps but even those, I have to FF alot so as not to spend sooo much time on them.

AllMyShadows, you raise a great point. You've convinced me, it has to stay 5 a week!

JoelMTL, I don't agree that a soap cutting back to 30 minutes earlier would have automatically raised its ratings by itself -- especially if the mentality was that this was a "cut back"... A 30-minute soap that's a shell of its 60-minute self would not entice me to watch it. Launches of 30-minute soaps in recent years have also been no more successful than launches of 60-minute soaps.

I support 30-minute soaps, but not at the cost of cast or ambition.

Edited March 10, 200718 yr by jfung79

yea but sometimes writing an hour show kan drain a writer. Thats why daytime is so reptivite. everything has been told. 30 mins shows i feel kould be stronger, make a tighter kast, and overall storylines would be etter. Its like u wont be to stretched out. Its hard wrirint for a canvas of 25 characters or so. BUT BELL'S B&B isnt all that great.

AllMyShadows, you raise a great point. You've convinced me, it has to stay 5 a week!

JoelMTL, I don't agree that a soap cutting back to 30 minutes earlier would have automatically raised its ratings by itself -- especially if the mentality was that this was a "cut back"... A 30-minute soap that's a shell of its 60-minute self would not entice me to watch it. Launches of 30-minute soaps in recent years have also been no more successful than launches of 60-minute soaps.

I support 30-minute soaps, but not at the cost of cast or ambition.