Will we ever see classic episodes of current soaps online?

[Blake Comeaux]

I was wondering, since we've been seeing classic episodes of canceled soaps such as Another World and Search for Tomorrow and even Texas online, why aren't we seeing classic episodes of current soaps online? Is the rationale the studios are using is that people only have limited time and will not view current episodes and classics at the same time? I believe classic episodes of current shows would be good for current soaps. I think The Young and the Restless would benefit the most due to how many vets are still on the show. For example: This would have been a great time to put the original episodes dealing with Marge and Katherine, Dina, Nina and Phillip Chancellor III online for viewing. Of course, I'd rather they start at the beginning or around the time Victor showed up. Y&R has every episode saved and they're figuratively gathering dust. Compilation DVDs would be even better of course, but I don't see that happenening.

[Aaron]

I agree with you and think it's only a matter of time. I remember when the AOL P&G channel was launched, they'd said there were plans to show classic episodes of GL and ATWT, but P&G put the kibosh on it because the shows were still on the air. Not sure why.

But that's just one reason I'm secretly hoping for GL to be cancelled, just so we can maybe get a chance to (finally) see classic episodes again.

[YRBB]

Oh, that would be just wonderful! I am still waiting for it to happen!

[All My Shadows]

It is indeed ridiculous that all of these shows have thousands upon thousands upon thousands of episodes that are all sitting somewhere gathering dust. YouTube seems to be the only option right now, and as of now, I don't have any problems with that. There's at least one episode of just about every notable soap available on YouTube, and of course, for most, there's way more than just one. So yeah, for now, YouTube seems to be our best bet, and I thank all of the folks who put the stuff up!

[SFK]

And think about how much storage space would be freed up if they got a bunch of interns to transfer all of those old eps into a digital format.

I think the network websites, or new websites devoted strictly to the classic eps, or even a great site like hulu would be wonderful places where fans could watch old eps whenever they wanted to. I love hulu and aol video and I totally don't mind the little commercials. I can live with commercials if I'm seeing cool rare material. I don't know all of the particulars about soap residuals (if they get ANY, it wouldn't be more than pennies per ep) so I don't foresee that being an issue like music seems to be.

[alphanguy74]

I'm of the opinion that in these days of dwindling ratings and tight budgets, these soaps need all the new revenue streams they can muster. Have they ever thought of syndicating classic episdoes to foreign counties? A "best of" DVD box set? I think theyr'e afraid of putting classic eps of current soaps online, cause they think the older viewers will abandon the current show, and watch the classics. But that vault, especially at Y&R... is money just there for them to glean if they'd do it.

[All My Shadows]

I actually think that by airing reruns on cable or somewhere else, the current soaps would be able to evolve more freely. The shows can evolve, be modernized, and properly compete with their contemporaries, but viewers who wish to see things the way they used to be could still see it. That way, everyone would be happy. All one needs to do is see how far primetime has evolved over the last 50 years. There are millions who don't even watch network primetime anymore, but they watch reruns of the stuff that they do like.

[alphanguy74]

I don't know what you mean by evolve... evlove into what? Isn't that what they were trying to do with Guiding light? It didn't work. What about AMC and their "unsteady cam"? I think the FORMAT of soaps need to remain the same, the music, production styles, but they can modernize by changing the SL material they present. Luke and Noah is one example, I always felt a really BIG medical malpractice SL for a veteran character would be riveting. Soaps are a genre of tradition, and I jsut don't think trying to modernize them TOO much would work.

[All My Shadows]

That's what I meant, storyline-wise. Trust, I am one of the biggest opponents of making soaps look and sound like primetime...it makes it a non-soap to me.

[YRBB]

Amen!

[MarkH]

What a great idea and concept!

I don't know what the evolution has to be...but if you look at the bleeding viewers for existing soaps, something has to happen. I really like All My Shadows idea. If you give us the old school stuff in a venue where you don't have to make a bajillion $$ in ads (i.e., internet), you can take the current shows and do what you want with 'em.

[All My Shadows]

But, you see, the major hole in what I'd want to see is that for it to properly work (like it does for primetime), it'd have to first and foremost be readily available to the people who originally watched it. Hallmark Channel is probably the most well-known cable network that focuses almost exclusively on programming for the older generation. The most youthful show they air is "7th Heaven," and that's sandwiched between "Touched By an Angel" and "Little House on the Prairie." My aunts who are retired and pretty much stay home all day love them some Hallmark...they watch it all morning, switch to the networks for the stories, then go back to Hallmark for the rest of the night pretty much. Imagine if ATWT and GL had at least all of their color episodes saved and in a condition to be reran. It's been decades since that stuff originally aired, so can you imagine how many people in Hallmark's core audience would simply OD on those reruns like it's crack? And then you have the people who aren't in that age range but are still legitimately interested in watching the programming. The reason is has to be on TV, IMO, is the reason why SOAPnet no longer airs AW reruns and has RH in a butt crack of dawn timeslot. SOAPnet still isn't a widespread cable network (or is it?), and the odds of that core audience being able to see it on digital cable (when most people would probably just keep basic) aren't very high. Those odds would be even lower if said shows were only available online. My 53-year-old aunt knows NOTHING about computers AT ALL, so putting years worth of her GL online is not going to help her in the slightest. And of course, there's the whole demographic thing, but again, if Hallmark Channel can get by just fine by catering to the over-50 crowd (keep in mind that they are also constantly showing original movies, and that money comes from somewhere), there really still is an audience out there, right?

BUT, nope, it's physically impossible for that to happen because those episodes no longer exist, they were long ago deemed unimportant and not good enough to be saved for future use. And for the tons of stuff that does exist, it might as well not exist because they are gathering dust. Yet, "The Andy Griffith Show" continues to air every single day, as it has for over 40 years. And so, when grandmom and grandpop want to watch a little television, they can turn on Andy and Barney and not even give second thought to the constant murders on CSI, the bubblehead bimbos on "Grey's Anatomy" and all that other nonsense. But when a soap fan who grew up on and watched and loved soaps the way they were in the past, they have pretty much no choice but to turn on a current episode of a current show and either genuinely like it, pretend to like it, try to like it, admit to not liking it but watch it anyway, or just decide to tune in at all. Which one is the easiest after years of having to make a decision? Just not giving a [!@#$%^&*] and tuning out, of course.

And that's not to say that it'd be just for older people. Soaps have changed so rapidly from one thing to another that even what I grew up watching as "the stories" throughout the 1990s is something totally different from what is currently on the screen ("Guiding Light," anyone?), and so when a soap fan of any age or era wants that comfort (and let's face it, everyone watches TV for comfort, especially soaps, and that ties into the whole thing about traditions and vets and all that), again, our only choice (besides the internet) is to give the current shows a try. People wouldn't complain so much about the lack of vets on shows, I don't think. If I want to see AMC's Brooke in action, I'd only have to watch a rerun and there she'd be, and Julia Barr would get paid for it (right? I don't know anything about that aspect of the industry at all). And the advantage that soaps would have is that, hello, soaps are *never* reran, so there'd be no such thing as people tired of seeing certain episodes. Everything old would be new again.

The point I'm trying to make is...it's much, much, much easier to accept a bullshit version of "Guiding Light' when you know that you can watch the real GL that you know and love on another channel. And it's not just soaps. I'd be at least 100% more open to watching Drew Carey host "The Price is Right" if I knew that I could always watch Bob Barker on another channel (or the same channel, or whatever). Look at, for example, current sitcoms. If current sitcoms were the only sitcoms available on television, I'd never watch them because they're retarded. But I can still watch "Roseanne" and "Three's Company" and everything else that I like, and it's easier for me to look at something like "Til Death" because I don't want or expect that trash (I don't watch it, btw, it's just an example) to live up to watch I grew up loving and what I still love...I could actually watch what I grew up with a loved.

[All My Shadows]

I should add that for any of that to work, at all, the current shows would have to man up and write good drama. The reruns of soaps should only be used as a way for people to continue to see and get comfort from the things that they already know that they like and enjoy. The reruns would make it easier for a current show to introduce new characters and write new kinds of storylines, but if they continued to write crappy stories with characters that aren't thought out, people would just drop the current soaps in favor of the reruns. The idea is to get folks to watch both. With primetime, it's easier to just not care about certain groups of the audience because, despite what those folks' opinions might be, there are still millions who do enjoy the CSIs and the L&Os and the fake primetime soaps and the obnoxious medical dramas. As ratings have shown, however, people aren't as tolerable of stupid storylines, unlikeable characters, and entirely demented writers and producers (otherwise known as the current state of daytime drama). People don't want to watch that [!@#$%^&*].

[alphanguy74]

I TOTALLY agree with you about the older demographic not tuning into classic soaps online. The idea of the Hallmark channel is an excellent one. Why P&G didn't keep all those old episodes is a mystery to me. Just fool hardy, and short sighted. Luckily, Bill Bell was not so foolish. But when we speak of soaps evolving and changing with the times, consider this: Y&R is far and away the number one show, and has been for 20 years now, and it is the only show that has remained 90% unchanged (with the exception of the LML debacle) since 1973. Holy COW, just 2 weeks ago, they were playing the 1973 slow version of "Sally's Theme" in one of Kay's scenes. What does that say? I think a network such as CBS would be wise to have shows that appeal to the older viewers, other shows that appeal to the younger....I feel a vital and healthy network would have something to attract EVERY demogrpahic, but unfortunately, Network brass keeps being obsessed with young viewers, WHY? Theyr'e FICKLE. I certainly was when I was 22! But I watched Y&R when I was 22, and when I was 12, and 6!! So that show had things within it that interested me, although it didn't PANDER to me... the younger character were INVOLVED with the adult SL's, just like in real life. Over the top crap might be popular for a while, and even burn white hot in the ratings, but eventually fail. Look at how Dynasty burned brightly for a few years, and then collapsed, while Knots Landing kept going like the energizer bunny. They key is character that the viewer can RELATE TO. Otheriwse the show is a spectator sport, and the viewer doesn't get invested and engrossed.

[SFK]

I thought it was wonderful when Dark Shadows aired for an impressive number of years on the Sci-Fi channel. It's a cult classic, and it's subject matter allowed it to shatter the boundaries of who a "typical" soap viewer was. BET aired Generations at least twice. TNT aired Texas and The Catlins. But that's about it b/c the rest of our classic soaps are generally less overtly "themed", they fall into one category, and one category only which is "Soap Opera", and if you can't get the one and only soap opera network on television to air classic soaps, then, well damn.

Is the Romance network still around? What happened with Hallmark airing The Doctors?

The City is LONG overdue on SoapNet's programming schedule, why it has never aired on SN is a mystery to me, and no it was not that awful that it doesn't deserve to be shown again. Shows like The City, Capitol, and Texas seem like the obvious choices given their short runs, and in some cases 30 minute format.