AMC and OLTL Canceled!

[~bl~]

The video is gone due to Disney getting it pulled from youtube isn't it?

What else was in the Logan podcast?

[DRW50]

I agree. I imagine that Frons might even hope soap viewers go, as he, like so many executives, may believe there is some swathe of hip, rich, young people who are just dying to watch daytime but are being stopped because they haven't had enough "The" in their faces.

[dragonflies]

Yeah did anyone watch the DC podcast? What did Michael Logan say?

[wingwalker]

He said that none of the executives of these networks have any emotional connection to soap operas that executives in the past did & that neither Bloom, nor Frons took their job to try and save the genre. His biggest fear was that CBS & ABC would do a joint press announcement that they are getting out of soaps altogether. Said Bloom, as soon as she got hired stuck her hands into the soaps, where as in the past execs kept their hands off the shows. Feels that women need to be in charge and that men don't understand the emotional connection women have to these shows. Said one of the most unpublished scandals in daytime is how under promoted these shows have gotten. Talks about in the past as soon as a bad story hit a soap, Head writers & exec producers would be on the hot seat or fired, now you don't see that revolving door so writers are more inclined to keep "the status quo". That's just what I've heard so far. I'm loving Logan more and more he speaks.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I agree with most of what you wrote. ABC is going to promote the hell out of these final months with the hope of having an audience in place for the new shows. It would not be in Frons' or the new shows' best interest to do anything but draw attention to the fact that the shows are ending. Expect to see commercials inviting lapsed viewers "back home" to watch their favorite classic shows come to an end. It's almost gruesome in a way. However, I don't tend to agree about his motives for hiring back Broderick and Howarth. As Marceline I think said, D&D's contracts were up, and it was just cheaper to bump her up to HW than to sign them to new contracts. Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't for a second believe her "promotion" was anything other than monetary-related. As for Howarth, that's the biggest mystery of all IMO. Doubt that was done with any sentiment either. If Frons wanted to bring back an old character as a valentine to fans whose show was ending, I doubt Howarth would be many people's first choice. My guess is that the decision was made to cancel OLTL, all along as we've been hearing, and the idea to get Howarth back was done with the intention of sparking the ratings, with the goal being to carry those viewers over to the new show. That's all Frons and Sweeney care about.

[ghfan89]

Comment on AMC's cancelation from Lauren Holly:

"I was shocked about the soaps. I really never watched, but all those people.....some of them are still there from when I was on AMC. So sad. Plus, like you said, all the other businesses that will suffer. I know there will be new shows in those slots, but it won't be the same."

[DRW50]

I doubt Howarth will cause a lot of people to watch a Biggest Loser knockoff. I wouldn't be surprised if this deal was a long time in the making (the rumors have been going around for months and months) and they had no choice but to follow through.

[Khan]

I hope ML stays in the business. With a bit more 'seasoning,' he'll make a good lead or supporting actor on some TV series.

[Money]

Soaps may have have been dying but all they did was expedite the process painfully. Saedi said they tried everything and the one thing they absolutely needed to do was hire fresh blood and stop the recycling of the same old garbage - and they were unwilling. If they wanted women to run home from the work forces and turn on their televisions, they sure as hell wasn't going to run home to yet another ghetto who's the baby daddy, teens galore, zero diversity and unwanted characters stinking up the screen, especially because there were other alternatives. And all of this...

... is just pure unadulterated bullshit. All of the above may be true but they wanted a solution their way. They refused to adapt to the 21st century with storylines that reflect today's society and as a result they continue to use "the genre is dying" as a cheap, worn out condom.

[dragonflies]

Was this posted already? If it was, sorry

http://www.tvguide.com/News/ABC-Hoover-Soaps-1032020.aspx

[AlexElizabeth]

Yeah, I don't know anyone who is going to watch The Revolution because RH returned to OLTL. I won't. I don't think I'd watch The Revolution even if RH made an appearance on it.

[Khan]

WTF, yo?

;-)

[Ann_SS]

Quite frankly, if the soaps were canceled 100 years from now you and others would make this same unfounded claim. I don't think that anything was "expedited." Better writing and casting may have made the soaps have better quality, but nothing could change the fact that our society has changed and the genre simply no longer appeals to the audience like it used to. The soaps lasted a very long time and were going right about now regardless. MarkH used post graphs showing the ratings over the years and they showed that, with the exception of a few peaks and sharp dips, the decline was consistent and it was clear that the end was nigh. Yet most of the posters here act as if the decline suddenly happened recently, under Frons.

[marceline]

I think he is a lot of people's first choice. Not everybody's obviously but the guy has some pretty rabid fans. In fact, for years I was one of them. I'd say RH is easily in the list of top five requested returns. Perhaps even top 3. Of course, there was a time when SH/Marty was on that list too.

IMO, RH is back for a number of reasons: 1.) The show has been chasing him for years. Frons would feed babies to stray dogs to get/keep one of his faves. 2.) RH needs the money. 3.) OLTL is staying true to its brand as the rape soap; and 4.) He's a white male. Does anyone think you'll see the return of RJ, Layla, Rachel or Lindsay? Nope.

[Money]

Actually I did. When people were acting like they were going to commit suicide I told them to get a grip and my thread was promptly pulled. I demanded an explanation and was told SOC is a business and my negativity wasn't helping. Hey, they love that their posters are acting two fries short of a happy meal because it encourages traffic. Go figure.