Members Ben Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Toups: By '98 they had fixed those issues though. Ricardo got a family, and Meg's parents became main-stayers; even Bette was granted a daughter. The pace was definitely slowed down, and the film effect was shelved after 6 months. I'd say the low ratings during the latter half of '99, was down to NBC moving its timeslot to make way for Passions. Grrr. A lot of the affiliates were airing it in the early hours of the morning. Thanks for the interesting article, Sylph. I read in an interview that Aaron Spelling did for SOD, and he said the bible was around 300 pages. That still seems a lot, but it must have been very detailed. There'll never be another show like BEACH. Not one that garnered the cult status that it did here. I don't think I've ever come across a show that's been so popular that the network releases a helpline number after the final episode, to console grieving fans. What a money making plan, huh? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 The mystery to me will always be why SuBe didn't catch on in the US. And why (sorry, Passions fans) they got rid of SuBe *and* AW and kept Passions. I'm thinking timeslots and behind-the-scenes politics played a part. But it is amazing to think that, 10 years later, people are still talking about it, watching it on YouTube and DVDs of its early episodes are being released in Europe. That show had amazing reach. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ben Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 I always thought it had something to do with ownership. I'm pretty sure I remember reading something about NBC wanting a soap they owned (hence Passions); Something which they didn't have with AW, and only partly with BEACH (they co-owned it). Their creative control was limited. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 I'd have to check this, but I'm pretty sure Bill Bell's original Y&R bible had 75 pages or so. And it covered a two-year period. Which makes this one even more monstrous - but I do have a passion for meticulously crafted story documents, even if the stories suck more often than not. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Also SuBe was an hour-long soap from the get-go with a fairly large cast of characters. Not only that, but it had a number of back-stories when it first started... Ben's Mr. Rochester-esque "dead" wife and the whole mystery there. The legendary Armando Deschanel and his descendants and their impact on a host of characters. Del Douglas. Annie's Poor Little Rich Girl background. I could go on. But I won't! In contrast, Bill Bell was starting up a half-hour, slow-paced soap with far fewer characters and not as much back story. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Bill Bell's bible outlined what his characters were doing before the Y&R story began. Only 1/3 of it, or less, was about future storylines. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Oh, OK. I never hung out with the master himself and so never glimpsed the bible. And I've only seen snippets of the early episodes, so... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Are you close to California? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hardly! Try the opposite side of the country. LOL, and I was being facetious about hanging out with the Big B. I was but a gleam in my father's eye when Y&R first went on-air. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 A shame - I could have told you where to read certain things. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 ^^ Do tell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted June 16, 2008 Members Share Posted June 16, 2008 (edited) I don't see how this show could've lasted, first of all, NBC affiliates barely gave the show any clearance. In some markets, it aired as early as 3:00 AM in the morning, who the hell was up to watch then? I also think it didn't even air in some markets. Also, on the quality side, the show was overwhelmingly inconsistent. Some times it was campy goodness, and other times it was just bad and tried too hard to be "different." In all seriousness, Santa Barbara did what SuBe tried to do a million times better, but that's a whole other thread. Edited June 16, 2008 by Y&RWorldTurner 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Toups Posted June 18, 2008 Administrator Share Posted June 18, 2008 But those are small families. I meant big soap opera tyle families. GH is like that right now with small group of families - not surprising since Guza is writing! I think Jim Reilly had a hand with those changes (more family members, slower pace). They didn't do well in any of the 3 years. They couldn't even pass their premiere week ratings, where as Passions beat their premiere week ratings in 18 months. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TC Posted June 18, 2008 Members Share Posted June 18, 2008 It aired here (or with the closest NBC affiliate) at 10 am and again at 3 am. By then AW was airing at 11 am (but still at 2pm on the Canadian station). Days was the only NBC afternoon fixture. All the confidence in that article didn't materialize in this region, and was apparently even more diminished in some others. By then the big promotions for all soaps seemed to be winding down, on all 3 networks. Certainly not as minimal as now, but to give you an example, it was a big deal that AW was promoted during Saturday Night Live. The CompuServe AW boards were in shock. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Laurie Posted June 18, 2008 Members Share Posted June 18, 2008 (edited) Awww Sunset Beach! My 1st soap love! LOVED it. The scene where the cast is all together, towards the end of the series finale *sob* Edited June 18, 2008 by Laurie 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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