Deadline Hollywood Says AMC May Be A Goner

[Clear Drama]

AMC is more like the guy that bangs your wife, gets her pregnant and stays quiet while OLTL pays for the child support.

[Kylie]

Well there isn't much good about LA proper, so I don't disagree. LOL I just kinda heard about all of this, took off, and then only kept up enough to know they did move. LOL So I'm always curious about how all of that went down.

[Khan]

I'm really feeling ya @ this moment, Vee. ICAM.

[SFK]

When do you think that started? Early '80s? Did people really regard OLTL as that filler show between AMC and GH? Could it be because OLTL has never had a mainstream iconic breakout character like Erica or Luke&Laura?

[Khan]

AMC = "Judge Judy" Plaintiff

OLTL = "Judge Joe Brown" Defendant

(Yeah, I don't know what that means either.)

[Y&RWorldTurner]

But have DAYS, B&B, and the P&G soaps?

I've always heard OLTL referred to as the "forgotten soap" because no matter the ratings, it never got the attention that many other soaps have gotten.

[aMLCproduction]

Days had their super couples

[Vizion]

Yes they did and GL was the longest running show on the air, while B&B is the most popular soap in the world.

ATWT, I don't know honestly....

[Soapsuds]

They had Steve and Betsy. Their wedding was the 2nd highest rated(watched) behind Luke & Laura.

[Khan]

IOW, OLTL is (or was) to the ABC Daytime lineup what KNOTS LANDING was to CBS' primetime lineup in the '80's. It might not have always received the publicity or even ratings that it deserved, but b/c the network largely left it alone, the show (at least when it was still good) could be counted on to deliver, quality-wise, for its devoted fans.

I get it. Still doesn't make it the so-called "red-headed stepchild," though. If anything, RYAN'S HOPE came closer to fitting that description, b/c no matter how many inroads it made, the network always stepped in to say, "Not good enough!"

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's funny though, because DAYS' ratings in the 80's never backed up the supposed popularity of those couples, outside of a few instances. DAYS regularly trailed ABC and Y&R and sometimes ATWT/GL in the 80's.

At its peak, probably the most successful and consistently rated soap opera on daytime. They did have a 20 year run at #1 in the ratings, which Y&R has surpassed, but with dwindling viewership.

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[SFK]

Well there was talk that AMC would move to Stamford, CT where Maury, Jerry, and Steve Wilkos now are. That's about a 45 min. express train ride from Grand Central. Ironically, Canary would have already been in the 'hood.

Y&RWorldTurner, GL and ATWT had their long-running iconography going for them while Y&R had Victor, Katherine, and strong black representation, B&B its Y&R lead-in (and international success), DAYS it's Marlena, Bo&Hope and overall '80s soap splashiness... especially by the '90s, I think OLTL and AW fell into the generic soap opera category to the masses, just one of the many kitschy soap opera titles out there. You had your grandmothers who remembered feisty Rachel, your uncles who had the hots for Tina and Gabrielle, but the utter lack of soap knowledge to non-soap fans cannot be overestimated.

[leahanna]

so what do we think is going on? No soap is being canceled now? Did ABC change their mind

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Ryan's Hope is probably the equivalent to one of those primetime shows that was always critically acclaimed and winning all sorts of accolades at its peak, but never really highly rated, and the network wanting it to be, royally screwing it up in the process.

Even if you didn't watch RH at its peak, from the soap press and Emmy coverage at the time, you knew it was respected by both the industry and soap press.

I don't know if OLTL ever got half of the critical acclaim at its peak that RH got in the 70's/very early 80's.