Was another Nixon soap really necessary?

[Saving ATWT]

Was Loving a good idea....probably not; however, you see hit writers and producers get show after show based on their track record on both primetime and daytime. Irma had way too many shows going at once but that didn't stop the creation of Another World or her work on Days. I think ABC saw Dixon in the same light. Also, I have a feeling that ABC wanted Ryan's Hope gone--it was never a huge hit, had a niche following and wasn't (I believe) network-owned. If Loving had been a hit, Dixon would have sold out to ABC as she had done in the past. The biggest mistake ABC ever made was not shifting AMC back thirty minutes to go head on with Y&R

[Max]

Even though AMC (unlike Loving) turned out to be a huge success, the question "Was another Nixon soap really necessary?" is actually more appropriate to ask in regards to ABC deciding to air a second Nixon soap. While a second Nixon soap was meritied due to the success of OLTL, that soap didn't become a ratings success until the mid-1970's; thus, the fact that AMC was placed on the air less than 18 months after OLTL debuted made zero business sense (and certainly was not merited at the time), given that OLTL's ratings (for its first couple of years) were absolutely horrendous.

Does anybody know why ABC gave Nixon a second soap so soon after her first soap, despite the fact that OLTL had terrible ratings at the time? This is certainly not the way CBS behaved in regards to Bill Bell: as I found out in an article posted by Carl, CBS didn't ask Bell for another soap until 1977 (after Y&R became a major hit). (Of course, B&B didn't debut until a decade later because Bell didn't feel like he could handle two soaps until that point.)

[DRW50]

ABC was trying a lot of different soaps at this point - three different soaps premiered on that same day in 1970. With Nixon's success at P&G and with OLTL at least being successful enough to stay on the air, it makes sense. She also had the bible for the show ready to go, which meant less time spent on planning ideas.

[EricMontreal22]

As Carl implied, basically ABC were desperate. While they weren't as trigger happy as NBC was (whose soap lineup was starting to cement in the very late 60s with AW, DAYS and Doctors all being fairly big successes after rocky starts for the first two), ABC was pretty desperate to get into the game. They had GH, and Dark Shadows but I'm sure by then the writing was on the wall that Dark Shadows couldn't last much longer. As Carl said they began three soaps in 1970, so obviously it made sense to see if they could get Nixon to do one of those.

OLTL was not a huge success at first, but it *was* a success--the soap press at the time makes this pretty clear, and I suspect it was also a success with the younger, less CBS style, more "urban" audience ABC was actively courting at the time (in their primetime as well as daytime)--and it got them a lot of press already. It does seem like such a quick decision--they must have asked for a second soap while OLTL was barely a year old, but by that time it was also known that Agnes could be in charge of two soaps at once (as she was for GL and AW for a year, and then AW and OLTL for a year), and Agnes, who already had the AMC bible, was obviously ready to jump at the challenge when someone asked her if she could. Even though AMC was low rated its first year, from all reports it was quickly apparent it had much stronger legs than its other 1970s ABC soaps A World Apart, and The Best of Everything. I suspect ABC was even testing all three and only planning to keep one unless all three were huge hits--hence the quick cancelation of the other two.

OLTL was considered enough of a hit in its first five years, and a success, despite not huge numbers (I am sure what we now call demos played a part here), although around the time Agnes Nixon left it in the hands of Gordon Russell who she had trained in '73-'74, the ratings did slump (although ABC was experiencing more drastic issues with GH), and took another four years or so to fully gell back up again.

I always wonder why AMC wasn't paired closer together to OLTL from the start though, timeslot wise--especially considering they did little gimmics joining he shows as early as the first two months, with OLTL characters visiting Joe in Pine Valley, etc.

As for Bell and CBS, keep in mind that in the 70s CBS consistently had a VERY VERY full schedule of successful enough soaps. Yes, they killed both Where the Heart Is and Love is a Many Splendoured Thing on the same day in 1973--and by ABC and NBC standards neither soap was a big failure, and only, I believe replaced it with Y&R (the other was replaced I think with a game show), but there still really wasn't much need for a new soap on CBS.

[Saving ATWT]

It seems like no one really had big luck with soaps aside from Irma and PGP. I know that the CBS shows were known for having more rural, less hip viewers; however, to this day, a majority of soap viewers seem to be older, less than hip and more culture wars 'family values' oriented.