SoapNet: Why One Tree Hill & The OC?!?!?!?

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Soapnet has added One Tree Hill & The OC, when shows like Santa Barbara, Capitol, Loving, and others could be shown. Even Classic Episodes of Todays Soaps could be in those places. Nothing against those shows, but they aren't classics they just left the air last year, same with Falcon Beach. I want to see classic soaps with the old fashion storytelling.

[Mason]

Because Frons salivates over those all-important 12-17 demos.

[dragonflies]

Probably cheaper to air, LOL I have no idea

[Cheap21]

you forgot he also added Falcon Beach not too long ago. I honestly couldnt give 2 sh-ts about these teen dramas. Show me some classics. Frons is screwing up Soapnet.

[heatherwebber]

Ratings. Recent prime time soaps with a following will bring in higher ratings than an older soap that most people have forgotten or never knew. And in some cases the ones we might want may have never had a very large audience in the first place.

I'd love to see the first few years of Santa Barbara (before it became awful) or Loving, or any of the ABC soaps prior to the dumbing down of the late 80s to the present. I'd love to see Y&R and Days from any past time. I would even like B&B or the current P&G shows run. I'd be very happy if they picked up Dark Shadows. I'd even like for them to run Falcon Crest, Hotel, Flamingo Road, and a couple other 70s prime time soaps. I'd be delighted if they ran Coronation Street or Neighbours or Home & Away.

But unfortunately I'm sure they think they'll get much higher ratings from OC & OTH then they ever would from those other choices.

[KLN]

I really doubt that popular recent shows like "One Tree Hill" and "The OC" are cheaper to pick up and air than a 'long-forgotten' show like Santa Barbara, or even Sunset Beach, The City, etc.

[Bree]

Simple...Frons is courting the kiddies.

[LumiLove]

... Um One Tree Hill is still on .. and still new episodes people!!!!

[Drew]

not really. We heard Sci-Fi had to shell out alot for the back catalog of Passions episodes, and I believe we heard the same thing for Soapnet and Another World - its also whats prevented other P&G shows from airing.

[jcar03]

I heard quite awhile ago that portions of Santa Barbara catalogue are missing (I think they mentioned a fire at the place they were stored in but I could be confusing it with another show). Buying a daytime program probably does cost more or at least the same if you think about it.

[Mason]

You're probably thinking of Another World.

[Chris B]

The classic soaps should be cheap considering it's take-what-you-can-get from SOAPnet or get nothing. It's not like there is a bidding war.

As for Another World, I think it cost them so much because they didn't have as much money then. Now they clearly have more if they can shell out 50 mil for OTH/OC. Now that I've thought about it, this is a smart move to get new viewers to the network who will hopefully check out the daytime lineup and boost ratings.

I have to keep the faith that they use this to get more money and visibility then give us some classic soaps.

[Canfan]

I heard the problem with Santa Barbara is the music. Apparently the amount it would cost to play the episodes with a certain musically score etc., is very high. Its what is keeping the show off the air. Otherwise I think Frons would grab it. Did'nt he play God in one eppy. No doubt he would love to see that on the little screen again.

[sheilaforever]

-->

The classic soaps should be cheap considering it's take-what-you-can-get from SOAPnet or get nothing. It's not like there is a bidding war.

True

BUT - I'm no expert on this legal field - we have to consider the music rights and the compensation for the cast of those cancelled shows. There probably was no licensing agreement signed when they originally produced those shows so everyone involved would get one cent or so which adds up in the end. This seems to be a big difference between a network produced show like Ryan's Hope etc. and Santa Barbara...

[Cheyenne]

Not that it's important. But OC's last episode aired only a couple of weeks ago, and OTH is still on.