Another World Discussion Thread

[Khan]

The ONLY way I could see a 90-minute soap MAYBE working is if you were to split up those 90 minutes into three 30-minute blocks, with each block focusing on a particular set of characters, but all under the banner of ANOTHER WORLD.  Even then, however, you still have the risk of viewers watching only the blocks that interest them and tuning out the rest.

[Planet Soap]

The network mist really have a sadistic steak to have writers churn out less than 90 mins of script for 5 days a week. Much less the actors having to memorize lines for presumably longer scenes. I sound like a broken record but 30 mins is gold!

[Khan]

NBC and P&G trusted Pete Lemay and Paul Rauch too much.

[danfling]

I wonder if it was the networks having the writers turning in ninety-minute scripts or if it was the show's sponsor, Procter and Gamble.

[Paul Raven]

Interestingly enough back in the 50's, NBC had the concept of Hometwon USA which would air 4 15 min soaps back to back over an hour .They would be able to utilize common sets and there would be some crossover characters. 

That show got very close to airing but was dropped at the last minute.

[Soaplovers]

Didn't they do that with Somerset originally... even titling it Another World: Somerset? 

[Khan]

Sort of.  Somerset was a separate town.  By the time NBC/P&G expanded AW to 90 minutes, Bay City was conceivably big enough that it could have had each 30-minute block take place in the same city, with maybe 2 or 3 crossover characters to maintain some continuity.  And if a major event was to take place - a flood, for example - you could have woven that event into each block as well.

[TVFAN1144]

I agree.   There's a lot to be said for the 30 minute format

[Khan]

These days, even the 15-minute format would be very appealing on streaming, as you could literally watch an episode (or two) on your phone or watch.

[Vee]

Which is what the PP soaps did with their sets, plus some changes to set dressing, and it worked.

30 minutes worked well for the shows after many years at an hour, but yes, 15 could for certain things as well. Quibi tried something like that with prestige projects (in 10-minute bites) and flopped miserably, but it's doable IMO for certain serialized formats - including soaps.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Vee

[SFK]

I love that I can knock out a week’s worth of B&B on Paramount in less than two hours.

[Liberty City]

I wish Another World was available to watch. I feel like YouTube uploads are either full episodes (fragmented) or random clips.

[Planet Soap]

this would work on YouTube or social media I'm not too sure about 15 minutes on something like Hulu though

[Marissa Gallant]

I know. Me too. The only full time frames aren't the ones I'm the most interested in.

[Liberty City]

If only we had dedicated fans, much like Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach to share their media.