AMC and OLTL Canceled!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think he meant the 6:00PM-8:00PM block.

But that wouldn't work either, since that time usually belongs to the affiliates, and they aren't going to give it up.

[Cheap21]

and that still wouldnt work for the reason you mentioned. The 6 o'clock hour is reserved for evening news in msot places adn that shouldnt be bumped for soaps

[AlexElizabeth]

This is going to be great.

[~bl~]

Only if a network would cancel the national news and broadcast a soap opera instead. Oh please.

What phase of grief are most of us feeling today?

[Marley]

The UK soaps also has (or at least had when I lived in the UK in 2001) the Sunday omnibus where they showed all the weeks episode in the morning.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yes, the Sunday omnibuses still exists.

[KMan101]

I didn't really mean the networks should do that NOW. I was basically just wondering why it was never ever tried here? There's more of an audience, IMO, in the 4pm-8pm slots.

The problem is that as much as networks talk about trying new things and being current, they really aren't. Nothing drastic is ever really tried.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

If they get affiliate clearance, perhaps smaller networks like the CW could try a low budget soap that airs at 5:00PM or 6:00PM, but the main networks won't do it, but it's even still a reach for smaller networks.

[~bl~]

In the 90s, that's what Fox did with some of their stations with Tribes. That didn't work.

[MontyB]

Since you brought it up, I have to say I totally agree.

[Scotty]

And she's following SON...even better.

[All My Shadows]

Another thing...while AW's 90-minute experiment failed, there are actually daytime telenovelas that air two hours a day (and 90 minutes too). I'm assuming they're successful.

When I was a senior in high school and taking Spanish classes, I'd watch them with captions and could follow along vaguely. They definitely seem cheesy and over-the-top, but I imagine that's a lot of the charm/fun. If I could understand Spanish fluently, I'd probably get a kick out of watching them.

I think they should have started experimenting with airing them in the evening or at night in the 1970s. In that episode of Tomorrow from 1975 (which, I swear, I'm going to watch a hundred times just so it can become my version of EricMontreal's All Her Children), IIRC all of the guests spoke favorably of the idea of soaps going to night. Daytime game shows were being syndicated to evenings and were hugely successful, and I'm willing to bet a lot in the soap community were wondering when they were gonna be able to spread their wings and leave the daytime ghetto (not that daytime was a bad place to be then -- but just think of the 30 million who watched Luke and Laura's wedding...would it have been 50 million if it was primetime?).

Of course, game shows could go nighttime and still have the daytime airings without worrying about keeping storylines chronologically correct and all that. I figure the soaps could have left network schedules for syndication, effectively giving affiliates more power to air the soaps whenever they thought the audience would be highest for them. If they could hack in daytime, they'd stay there. If they did better in the evening, they'd go there. If they did better in late night, they'd go there, etc. And plus, "network interference" wouldn't be an issue.

[wingwalker]

I have always felt that instead of launching SoapNet & having be mostly soap reruns, ABC should have moved it's soaps to ABC Family when they baught that channel (for way too much money BTW) back in 2000. They could have built their primetime schedule around the soaps. Unlike SoapNet, every it's carried on every basic cable & satillite package and until about 2008 or so, ABC Family had been nothing but an albratross for Disney with no direction or brand identity. Had the soaps moved their back then, I think both the soaps & that channel would have been in much better shape much earlier & they might not have been canceled, since they'd of had more viewers to target & take more story risks being on cable.

[ReddFoxx]

I think an even better idea for soaps would be something like a syndicated half-hour soap twice a week, on Saturday and Sunday in the late afternoon, when you've got more people at home and more bored channel surfers as potential viewers. Could be done on a reasonable budget and would fit with audience attention span. If soaps are ever going to have a shot at revival, that's the best route.

[Marley]

I agree as well. I think the worst for me is the Eric Braeden impression that usually goes on for 10 minutes or so.