AW: Why is there anger at The OC, OTH, & Frons...

[juniorz1]

They also put it in a time-slot that directly competes with brand new installments of Y&R, B&B, DAYS, and AMC. A good portion of those viewers would gladly tune into AW......say, at 3 or 4 o'clock? Or even in the old 11 PM/12 AM timeslots. The second they started airing it at 1PM ONLY, I knew it was doomed. Frons did this as a calculated move, that way when they pulled AW 6 months to a year down the line for younger-skewing series (i.e. Falcon Beach, OC, One Tree Hill), they could say "look at the demos" "look at the numbers- AW ratings are in the toilet" When I think of Frons, I think of Rob Reiner's character in EdTV- a fat, incompetent, bald slob. Thank GOD we're allowed to bash network executives here!

I completely agree with you here. Plus, with the P&G stuff, I can finally see Steve & Alice's engagement party & Mac/Rachel/Mitch/Janice in St Croix!! Sigh. The Classic AW Marathon I waited four years for and never got......

[Cheap21]

Um that was 8 years ago. Why should people still be expected to be so vocal towards NBC and Passions? It was the case back then but alot of time has passed. AW is dead, cancelled and over. No amount of yelling at NBC will change that. AW fans had a second chance and new hope when it went into reruns on SN and that could go on forever, but it has been cut short for NO reason. Brinigng up NBC IMO is a moot point bc its in hte past and theres nothing that can be done wit that. SN and AW is a different story

[Mason]

I'm sorry, but what does PASSIONS have to do with this? I can understand there being anger in '99, and even still some underlying resentment now, but really....what's the point? Come September, PASSIONS will be no better off than AW.

[juniorz1]

The one thing I could see the AW fanbase being upset about is how NBC is "fighting" to keep Passions going in some way, shape, or form, while they didn't give AW a second thought or much notice for that matter. The AW fans will always harbor a bit of resentment for Passions, since NBC began airing it IMMEDIATELY after AW went off the air (Like, the Monday after....) and the first week was dreadful (save Timmy & Tabitha). The Princess Di references? Ethan & Gwen on the beach? YIKES!

In any case, I do agree that Passions is not the issue here. FRONS and his big fat short-sighted ego are the problem. :angry:

[juniorz1]

Double Post!

[dawn9476]

Frons is the JER of TV executives.

[ZaraB]

I think that the time for anger at NBC for replacing one soap with another is long past, although it is part of the same concept. Passions was aimed at a much younger audience than AW was - NBC was banking on a youth demo to be able to sustain a soap. Its current fate shows exactly how well that theory fared.

Yet, Soapnet is going that same route, replacing a valued old soap with new teenie bopper soaps, during a time when most of the ones who would watch it are in classes. I don't begrudge Soapnet taking out AW nearly as much as the money spent on the replacement = and the replacement itself. Why 1 Tree hill and OC? Why not get season 1 of Desperate Housewives, Lost or Grey's Anatomy? At 30 shows a season, OC may have just over 100 shows. OTH somewhere maybe at 100. It's a lot of money for half a year. I'd think ABC could cut Soapnet a deal.

[dawn9476]

Lifetime already has the rights to DH and GA. I don't know who it is going to get the rights to Lost but it won't be SN. The creators are going to cut a deal with someone who reaches more homes than SN does and who is part of basic cable.

ETA: Which brings us to why The OC and OTH are going to tank on SN. If TIIC behind OTH and The OC were so sure those shows would do well in syndication, they would have gave them to a basic cable station or have their affiliates carry them in syndication like they do with Smallville and American Idol. They saw a sucker in Frons.

[ZaraB]

So even ABC isn't exactly helping its cable station dedicated to soaps out any? It's all about the money, and this venture sounds like a HUGE waste of it.

Frons' youth obsession is a good part of what is driving ABC soaps into the ground - now it's taking Soapnet with it. I confess I am not exactly jumping over to watch a 4th run through of Port Charles or Ryan's Hope (which I really enjoyed the first time round). But how many times can they repeat 90210, Dallas or Dynasty? It seems to me one of those could have gone before the AW timeslot - especially since there are so few episodes.

[Drew]

TVGuide has no reason to make up ratings for SN. They arent even the same people. That statement is baseless conspiracy theory, and it serves no purpose. Plus, the 0.0 was a key demo, not an actual rating. But however you slice it ... that is abysmal! SoapNet is not on the air to make you feel good, or to be a charity to a dead soap opera that no one is watching. They are a business. And if they can't sell ad dollars during AW because no one is watching it - then it's their job to replace it with something that they can.

[Drew]

AW is dead. Passions had no part in it, it could have co-existed in a Days, AW and Passions lineup. NBC chose to not renew it, and P&G chose to cancel it instead of selling it to ABC who was interested in it. And now Passions is also cancelled, and Days is soon to follow. NBC daytime is officially DOA. What more do you people want?!

[soapfan770]

Zzzzz.....

I use to agree with your posts, but then I realized your simply post the same old, same old rhetoric...AW has been off the air for eight years, Passions cancelled, and SoapNet, which HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EVENTS FROM EIGHT YEARS AGO, LET ALONE WASN'T EVEN ON THE AIR EIGHT YEARS AGO...If you want to have a wet dream over seeing outrage about AW's cancellation build a time machine and travel back eight years...Your banging a useless drum...people move on.

Besides, for you "alleged love" for AW I'm surprised you're even defending Frons for cancelling a great classic soap series in favor of two shows who aren't that soapy and mainly as a grab for younger viewers(like Passions yes, but SoapNet is FOR SOAP OPERAS!)

So I have to assume you're either friends with Frons or you had a lobotomy...

[billyjill]

I think the deal at least partly is that trading in AW for OC/OTH is symbolic for some people of a disregard for classic soaps in favor of other genres that borrow heavily from the soap genre. I don't think people would be happy seeing Edge of Night booted for Grey's Anatomy either, for example.

[R!ck]

Exactly!

And if you don't have a Nielsen box it doesn't matter. Nielsen sucks and it's not fair but that's how it's always been. We really need a new system, but it will probably never happen. I have a hard time believing that out of a possible 110.2 million TV viewers only 5.3 million (or 4.5% of all homes with TV's) are watching Y&R or only 1.7 million (1.5%) is watching PSNS.

I do remember reading back in the fall that DAYS & GH were getting around 900,000 viewers and 0.7 Demo on SOAPnet

[Sylph]

Oh, God, how much I hate these clichéd remarks... It's not the dolls per se that are the problem, it is in the way JER uses such narrative devices.