AMC and OLTL Canceled!

[Carolyn1980]

Ya never know, lol.

It starts in September....OLTL stops taping two months later. If after 3-4 weeks, it's dropping like a stone....I could see them keeping OLTL for awhile and calling it an "extended farewell."

Long shot, but the ratings for The Chew will tell the tale pretty quickly. A 0.7-0.8 debut followed by drops to 0.3-0.4 aren't gonna cut it.

[DaytimeFan]

And since the original "Pine Valley isn't exactly the corner of Hollywood and Vine" scene is still in existence, THINK of the flashback and voice over that could accompany such a scene.

Really, the next 4 months should be about Erica and wrapping up her arc.

[Adam]

The behind the scenes moves are always the most intriguing part, especially in the last few years.... we may never know. What do we all think of that 5 year contract though? I understand they are easy to get out of and what not, but why 5 years? Is that the standard for a HW?

[SFK]

Y&R SchmY&R, SuLu is a B&B kinda gal and she should do a flashy guest stint where CBS blows that half hour out of the water. I would love to see her going against her old ABC time slot and nabbing all them ratings.

Announcer: Susan Lucci joins The Bolllld AND The Beautiful!

Susan: Chew on this!

[Adam]

Yep! Only true way to do it.... how does Erica's arc end though? Does she just "retire"?

(Erica standing at the corner of Hollywood & Vine flashing back to her early day conversations about being a star)

Erica: I made it mom! I truly made it....

[SFK]

Exactly! Hey, there's one thing that would have made the move to Hollywood worth it.

[Carolyn1980]

The more I think about it, the only thing that makes sense is that OLTL was always intended to be canceled. Period. It didn't get to move to cheaper LA digs, it never went to HD, it didn't get its stars on Hot in Cleveland and Castle, it didn't get a new opening. AMC just got a new opening a few months ago, something that would NEVER have been approved had they intended to cancel shortly after.

So OLTL was a goner no matter what...but then AMC's ratings tanked so badly that there was no justification for keeping it over OLTL. So they ditched both. And they're keeping the one on longer that will get them better ad rates (which are set during the upcoming May sweeps) during those four months OLTL lingers after AMC.

The other way around, AMC being targeted for cancellation, makes no sense based on all they've done for it lately. And then, the idea that they were only canceling AMC, but then decided to cancel OLTL at the last minute when it was on a ratings upswing within a tenth of GH in the key demo? Doesn't compute.

ETA: Even Frons' comments to Deadline, that they had already agreed to cancel one show, but then "the ratings went south," so they decided to cancel the other. Well...OLTL's ratings went north, not south. So it must've been AMC that was going to stay.

[Adam]

AMC moving to LA and going HD, OLTL planned to go HD and then all of the sudden it was cut.... I think definitely the network was more interested in trying to make a case to preserve AMC and let OLTL go... you could be onto something their Carolyn. I think ABC execs assumed the move to LA would invigorate life into the show, and it did... for the first few weeks or so which coincided with Lorraine Broderick at the helm. But post David Canary and the lack of vision that seemed to dominate Lorraine's run and the bulk of David and Donna.... it was a losing battle.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Wow. I did not know he said that... I think your theory is correct. I am heading to Deadline now.. And I felt all along that OLTL would go first. wow..

[Carolyn1980]

From the Deadline article:

Originally, the idea was to cancel only one daytime drama, Frons said. But "the way the ratings developed and the pilots turned out, the ratings developed negatively and pilots developed positively, so we decided to make a bigger shift."

[LoyaltoAMC]

No, no, no, no no. HELL NO LOL...I don't want to see Erica at Hollywood and Vine. Just the f***ing opposite. Erica's epiphany should be that she didn't need Hollywood and Vine to make her happy after all. Her realization should be that true happiness in life comes from what there all along: family, friends, and the close-knit community that makes up PV. They could juxtapose that with her early "Hollywood and Vine" scene just to show how far she's matured. That's how I'd like her arc to end. Geez, I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

[Jonathan]

Close the window.

[All My Shadows]

But see, I don't see Erica having a "I did it!"/"I made it!" type of scene. I kinda picture her strolling along either Hollywood or Vine with Jack (or Bianca or whoever she's strolling with), reaching the corner, waiting for the traffic to pass, and casually catching a glimpse of the street signs. The audio, and just the audio, of that scene plays. "Pine Valley isn't exactly the corner of Hollywood and Vine." "Yeah, well I been on that corner, it's not all it's cracked up to be." "I"d like to find that out for myself." And then she smiles, chuckles a little. The other person asks, "What's wrong?" "Oh, nothing," she says. "I just remembered something a dear, dear friend once told me. He was seldom wrong."

[Adam]

True! I was mainly just thinking of a nice way to tie in Erica and Mona's relationship.... that's got to be part of any ending of Erica Kane's arc....

[DaytimeFan]

I really like this idea. In fact, I think it's the way to go. The Hollywood and Vine thing shouldn't be the last scene for Erica, but in her last weeks, absolutely. Erica needs to reconcile with herself. The end of Erica's arc needs to be that she's finally satisfied with herself.