SoapNet's Fall Schedule

[detroitpiston]

I miss SoapCenter.

[Cheap21]

Its hard to beleive but this was the original SN schedule

[NYC123]

SoapNet has changed and for the WORSE!

SoapNet is turning into MTV and VH1. Its suppose to be about soap operas and nothing else really.

[JackPeyton]

i really dont mind the soapnet change.

i eman, if it was failing as a network then it needed to be reworked. and it does still air current soaps at night.

a network has to make a profit.

im sure the onyl reasond ays is still there so soapnet can keep Y&R, because its obvious to us all by now days doesnt do well inr atings on soapnet.

as far why not just cancel the network and starta new one? well various reasons - first being they would need to pay to break the contract with sony for YR & Days, as well as any other contracts they have. the biggest issue with that is they are not promised that spot by carriers. its the same reason ABCFamily doesnt ax that network and rename it, because they have long wanted to drop the Family from the name but due to an original contract they must keep the name family in the title.

[MarkH]

So people are complaining about 90210 running 26 times a week. I understand, but:

- the CW is doing a revival

- returning stars like Doherty and Garth, almost-returning stars like Spelling, non-returning stars like (all the men except Nat) get headlines on the entertainment sites/mags...SIMPLY based on whether they return or not

- yesterday, CBS released a new exclusive limited edition 90210 IPOD Nano, which will come preloaded with all seasons of 90210.

Clearly, this show is Soapnet's exclusive jewel in the crown...the moneymaker that drags eyeballs (and probably, despite the age of the show, younger ones).

As a daytime-serial-classic-style lover, this saddens me. But, as a rationalist/pragmatist, it is another sign that OUR GENRE has seen its day. Soapnet CANNOT be what we want, no matter how much we want it, because the audience/$$ is NOT there for it...and will not be again. (We have the dual burdens that nostalgia-TV has failed [VH1, TVLAND, GSN, AMC...only TCM seems to be hanging on to its formula], AND soaps have been in NONSTOP LINEAR PLUMMET [at least when you look at HH ratings, which adjusts for the number of TVs] since the 1960s).

I love love love the idea of Soapnet. I think it was a TERRIFIC idea for how to "repurpose" daytime. In principle, showing the shows in primetime SHOULD have helped. But clearly, the audience taste for soaps has based. It is done. Time to let go. (I also think the Sony SoapCity Download idea was great too...but it became clear that people DID NOT want to pay for soaps...and that says everything, doesn't it?)

If you look at the CBS download page, Y&R is CONSISTENTLY listed in the "most popular" programs section. So I do think there is an online audience...but not one that will pay.

It is done! For me, I watch my remaining soaps with the sense of sharing "precious last days" with my loved ones :-). Some of the shows should already have been put out of their misery, and they soon will be. I thank the heavens that my particular favorite, Y&R, has experienced a bit of a creative upsurge. My hope is that it can hold onto this improvement in quality through 2016 (or whenever it is finally cancelled). I am also realistic, though. The $$ for Y&R will also fall, fall, fall, so we're headed into last days without Eric Braeden, Melody Thomas, Jeanne Cooper, etc. The final days will be an unrecognizable newbie show...but that is how soaps die.

Soapnet CANNOT be what we want. It MUST become what it is becoming, unless the market can tolerate chronically unprofitable networks.

[JackPeyton]

so. much. word!

[AddictedToSoaps]

Wow, they even gave Ryan's Hope a marathon!

SoapNet is digging its own grave.

[MarkH]

My opinion: YES as Soapnet, NO as a profitable network. It cannot be both.

[rhythmchyc]

Wait a minute.

I thought I could catch just about ALL OF THE CLASSIC SOAP MOMENTS and catch up on an entire week of Y&R and OLTL, amongst others, without commercial interruption and access them any time on something called the Internet??????!?!?!

Am I missing something?

I mean, I know that during OLTL's 40th anniversary, when I wanted to know about The Secret Room, I typed in youtube.com and searched "The Secret Room" and found that 1985 episode in all its infamous glory.

Don't think that was on Soapnet...

[MarkH]

Yes, yes, yes. You are discussing the future!

What has to happen, of course, is something more systematic and better quality than youtube.

The new Hulu experiment for AW, etc. is the right direction.

Done right, and linked to advertisers (and probably posting not whole episodes, but compilations and "best of", to start), this COULD slowly, gradually, and permanently make money.

THAT is the future. TV as we know it is dead. Why waste time on Soapnet? Soapcity was the right model...just too soon, and not sufficiently invested in. The PGP online channel and Hulu are moves in the right direction. CBS.com is the ONLY network that knows what it is doing in this dimension.

Terrific moment of clarity for me, rhythmchyc! Thank you.

[brimike]

I'm with JP and MarkH on this one. We may not like what Soapnet is changing into, but clearly this is where they're getting the numbers they need to stay on the air. And the 90210 spin-off point is dead-on right.

I miss AW like you wouldn't believe - but if it was getting a 0.0, it's kinda hard to argue with that. Yes, Nielsen is flawed, but it's the only system that exists.

Soapnet's schedule for the fall is exactly what the numbers prove will be financially reliable. I'm sure if the 90210 spin-off tanks, they'll pull back on how many episodes they show a week. But for now, it makes perfect business sense, in spite of the emotional knife-to-the-heart I feel as a soap fan.

Thanks guys, for putting this in perspective.

[All My Shadows]

SOAPnet can be whatever the [!@#$%^&*] it wants to be, but they need to stop playing on pretense, calling themselves SOAPnet. They are no longer devoted exclusively to soaps, so they should drop the name. By keeping the name, they are still giving out the belief that they're "devoted to soaps and you," but if they're not (and it's their network, so they are free to change their programming if they want to) devoted to soaps anymore, they should stop lying to themselves and the audience. I think the only reason why networks that deviate from what's in their titles (TVLand, VH1, CMT, MTV, etc) decide to keep the titles is because they know that the title is out there, as a household name.

And the hardest thing is when it's a channel that's changed big time, yet I still enjoy a lot of the things that they air. MTV, for example. Okay yes, if it's called Music Television, *every single show* should be about music. Every single one of them. But I'm not going to change the channel if "True Life" or "Made" is on. Hell, I've been known to stay up until the wee hours of the morning watching a "Next"-a-thon. SOAPnet can't even give me that. All of the stuff that they're replacing real daytime and primetime soaps with is bullshit. IMO, at least. I'm just glad "The Fashionista Diaries" was long gone by the time I got it.

[rhythmchyc]

You're very welcome.

Youtube quality, both visually and aurally, does suck. But I'd rather that than taping the OLTL marathon early Sunday mornings because Soapnet had the audacity to put on TV Movies in its place.

As for 90210, why go through ALL of the seasons when the only really good ones were when Shannen was on-- the good ones were up until Luke left (the episode when Toni dies will always leave me a blubbering baby LOL). They should recycle the Shannen years on Saturday mornings and go through the rest during the weekdays. I'm a diehard 90210 fan and I still can't remember three-quarters of the episodes Vanessa Marcil was on.

What's the Hula thing?

And I was about to ask why ABC it hasn't included its daytime shows online but I guess it's money. Still, they should do it. "Life According to Jim" is on the website, isn't it? LOL.

[All My Shadows]

http://www.hulu.com

It's the most amazing thing. There are dozens and dozens of great shows, with full episodes of most of them. And it's not just a concentration in one genre or time period, either. There's everything from vintage episodes of "Father Knows Best" and "Bewitched" to current stuff like "Nip/Tuck, "The Office," and "Friday Night Lights." I especially love it to get my fix of fun, mindless crime/mystery shows (you know, before they all had to become "serious") like "The Fall Guy," "Hart to Hart," "Charlie's Angels," "Simon & Simon," etc. And then I like to take in some "One Day at a Time" and "The Facts of Life," too. They also have "Another World" episodes that pick up from where SOAPnet dropped it, as well as GL and ATWT episodes from last summer (2007).

There's also a part of the site with a good bit of full-length movies to watch too.

My only, and I can positively, honestly, absolutely say, only problem with the site is the simple fact that there's so much I want to watch, and so little time. It usually takes me like...twenty minutes to decide on something to watch because it's that hard. I just hope that they keep everything up long enough for me to watch at least most of everything I want to see.

[MarkH]

We splurged on one of those 42" 1080p LCD jobs.

Which can also hook to a (wireless internet) Laptop as a MONITOR!

So, thanks to Hulu, we're legally watching (like All My Shadows, 3x a year) classic Lost in Space and Dick Van Dyke on the big TV. The world has changed.

I regularly catch the CBS soaps this way via CBS.com. I DVR Y&R and B&B, but usually skip/FF through B&B. So, if I get the urge to see another show, CBS.com saves the day. Like, yesterday someone wrote "That Agim Kaba has a hairy chest now." So I had to see :-).