AMC and OLTL Canceled!

[All My Shadows]

See, that's something I like about Ronald. Best believe, he is gonna get SOME kind of pot shots in toward the end, and I'm gonna love it. I'm waiting for Dorian to randomly go off on "Ryan Bons," the evil station manager at WLAN. Let Dorian host a talk show starting in August-ish, and have them cancel it after Christmas. I'd be fine with the last line being, "That rat bastard Ryan Bons canceled my show!" Cue Peabo.

[Adam]

Yes. If there was a Top 10 List for reasons the genre declined, the advent of the "spoiler" would be near the top of the list. Essentially we've been watching to see "how it plays out on screen" not what will happen. Like everything, nothing will ever match what you imagine in your head based on the spoiler you are given.

[~bl~]

They sort of did that complained about WRCW, when Erica wanted to do her Africa story thing, right?

There is a radio station IRL called WLAN that is in Pennsylvania. If OLTL wants to be META about it, what about Fraternity Row....

[All My Shadows]

He's been on Extra for like three or four years, Cheap

I agree, though. He should have pursued hosting instead of acting when he left in 2002. I may be in the minority here, but I'd love to see him host a syndicated talk show. It'd give him a chance to kinda calm down a little bit and let us really get to know him as Cameron Mathison the person as opposed to Cameron Mathison the soap star.

I've always liked the guy a lot, though. I feel he should be in the entertainment industry, just not acting (dramatically, at least). If ABC Family plans on cranking out any more sitcoms like Melissa & Joey, he'd probably be fine on one of those.

[Soapsuds]

I don't buy the spoiler theory. SOW has been doing spoilers for years even when the shows were high in the ratings. I would buy the magazines and read the spoilers and still watched the shows.

[DRW50]

I don't think that hurt the soaps. Spoilers have been around for years, in soap magazines, and even when the Internet hit, only a select few ever would have taken the time to actively read spoilers.

The stories suck. They have sucked for about 15 years, give or take. Good stories draw you in whether you know what will happen or not.

In some cases I think spoilers actually helped keep viewers, because some of the stuff is so rancid, I needed advance warning.

[Soapsuds]

I think SL needs to do a Joan & Melissa type show. Hell..Id love a CZP & HBS type show...lol

Exactly!

[~bl~]

For me the spoiler thing isn't a factor, even in the 1980s there were spoilers.

[Adam]

They have become so much more detail oriented since the internet though. The soaps would only have week-to-week spoilers, and general upcoming fall previews or what have you. They were very vague. With twitter, facebook, setside sources, etc.... we basically know the ins and outs of plots months before we see them on screen.

I can see that side of the argument for sure.... the drastic decline in quality obviously is by far the #1 reason. I just don't think spoilers have helped the cause in anyway shape or form.

Remember how when the magazines would do the "Red-Letter Days" or the daily blurbs about what will happen.... the Bell soaps always were very limited compared to the others, or just didn't have anything at all. The Bell sets were tight lipped.

[Carolyn1980]

I HATE his voice, lol. It's whiny, nasally...I can't even listen to him, it's so terrible.

I have to imagine he has a very durable set of kneepads to have gotten so many gigs.

[Soapsuds]

The cancellation fallout continues...it was just a matter of time before the soap press would start to fold:

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2011/04/d...alf-their.html

Friday, April 15, 2011

Two soap magazines are expected to lose half their staff following the cancellations of ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE, according to a new report in The New York Post.

The cast and crew of ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN aren't the only ones losing their jobs when the shows go off the air.

Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly are expected to drastically trim their staffs, the New York Post's Keith Kelly reports. As many as half of the 70 employees in the New York office will be laid off.

Publisher Source Interlink is turning the magazines' operations over to National Enquirer and American Media Inc. in a licensing deal.

Entrepreneur Jerry Ritterman bought Soap Opera Digest from News Corp. for $70 million in the 1980s.

After changing hands several more times, it was included in a $1.2 billion sale of Primedia enthusiast titles to Source Interlink.

In the 1980s, Soap Opera Digest was published every other week and had a circulation of 1.2 million. Now, it has a readership of 150,000. Soap Opera Weekly pulls in 500,000 readers.

Kelly says AMI is preparing reality TV show special issues on the Kardashians and Bravo's HOUSEWIVES franchise to take the soap magazines' place in checkout counters.

[Adam]

SOD and SOW should just remarket themselves to include the upcoming reality shows ABC will be offering.

THE CHEW BOMBSHELL!!! Batali squares off with Macadamia Nut!

SON should definitely adapt too. Daily discussion threads for The Chew anyone?

[Angela]

They got the numbers switched around. Original article (unless Digest is going monthly soon, the NY Post got that detail wrong)...

"The two magazines now have combined circulation of around 650,000 -- 500,000 for the now monthly Soap Opera Digest and 150,000 for Soap Opera Weekly. With the empty pockets at checkout counters, insiders said AMI is already working on a newsstand special on reality-TV shows, covering Kim Kardashian and shows such as 'Housewives of Orange County.'"

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/drama_for_magazines_after_soap_opera_ymiCLz1DyWK9wAeWxfqHgI#ixzz1JoIzrRq4

[marceline]

See this starts to go in a direction I HAAAAATE. The internet has affected all of the entertainment industry. Some parts have learned how to adapt and use it and others - like soaps and the recording industry - refused to accept the changed reality. Yes I know the internet portion of the soap fandom can be...ahem...extreme. (This insane haranguing of Oprah is a perfect example.) But the internet has also made it possible for fans to become a lot more informed and, for me anyway, it's been like learning what they put in hot dogs. Am I supposed to feel bad if the fact that I'm disgusted by how a product is made means I no longer want to consume it leads to that factory going out of business?

When your product is so bad that an informed consumer base is your enemy, then the fault lies with you.

(Not jumping on you specifically Adam. It's just I hate being blamed for being capable of critical thinking.)

[LoyaltoAMC]

Poor Cam!!! Is he the best actor in the world? Hell to the no. He is very limited in his range, downright terrible at times, and his overexposure year after year is probably one of the factors that ultimately led to the show's demise, but Frons' Rylee obsession was not his fault. The guy's a team player who was trying to make a living. I've met him a couple of times socially through a mutual friend, and he's a very affable guy and actually much better looking in person. He seemed genuine and down to earth. Our mutual friend, who is also very good friends with Kathy Brier (sorry for dropping names...that can be cringeworthy), has also told me that Cam is a guy who is genuinely grateful for his success. He had to overcome some physical disabilities concerning his legs growing up, and that made him appreciate all he's achieved that much more. He's a nice guy with a nonthreatening milquetoasty quality that appeals to the women of Middle America. That's his niche. I wish him well in his future endeavors.