AMC and OLTL Canceled!

[JaneAusten]

Its nice to read about these little events like barbecues. I think what many forget about soaps in years past is how much the showrunners promoted almost a family atmosphere. That kind

of loyality and commitment doesn't exist anymore same as anywhere in corporate america.

And while Peter Bergman was somewhat correct, AMC did cut salaries, cut down the number of sets I believe and moved across the country to try and ease production costs. I don't think the answer is what Days did unless your objective is just really trying to get a couple of more years out of the show. I actually thought the changes Ellen Wheeler made at GL in terms of production had it worked might have been more of an innovation than just cutting salaries and who knows maybe in some incarnation it could work.

Although its not their jobs I kind of wish the actors/performers and some of the backstage personnel could have taken more agressive action and perhaps encouraged the showrunners to venture out and be innovative. Or perhaps what this industry needed was an Andy Cohen type. I would actually have kind of been interested in seeing if someone like him could have made a difference on at least one of these shows. It would have been interesting to see what kind of vision someone like him might have had.

[Khan]

Starr: "You only have one life to live, 'Dad,' so why not live it with the one who really completes you?"

[Khan]

The "Peapack Experiment" might've worked, had GUIDING LIGHT ever bothered to improve its shitty writing. Unfortunately, too much was riding on it, so that when it ultimately failed, I believe it gave the networks all the incentive they needed to begin canceling at will.

[JaneAusten]

And the writing is the common complaint for all the shows. I'm not even sure with all the praise OLTL seems to be getting its the writing. They seemed

to have found some sort of balance between some of the classic stuff and more contemporary stuff with the younger characters they brought on. I am not into OLTL or the teen scenes. I also never thought GLs' writing was that bad in comparison to the others perhaps because most of their females still seemed to get focus and POV on the show unlike most of the soaps left. I also felt Ellen Wheeler got unfairly blasted a lot. Sure she did a lot wrong but I always felt she loved what she did, loved the show, and really tried to give it some life.

[All My Shadows]

The writing would have helped GL in Peapack, but those people didn't know what the hell they were doing out there. Shooting scenes from across fields and parking lots, having ALL of the streets sit empty as if it was a ghost town, the cheesy indie pop/rock playing in every scene, including scenes featuring characters who would never listen to indie pop/rock, etc. If that wasn't a dead soap walking before Peapack, it definitely was after. Just fail fail fail.

[Money]

So wrong but I actually chuckled. Those people looked like they were protesting for the sake of protesting. NYers probably wondered what the slight commotion was about and quickly kept moving. If future rallies look like that they would quickly become fodder.

[Vizion]

I COMPLETELY agree with that.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

Susan Lucci is a class act. You can tell she is mad when she said "This Brian Frons."

[Jonathan]

I saw Rob Lowe's eyes wander over to La Lucci's legs as she was sitting down.

[SFK]

I swear this is where exquisite taste trumps $$$. A Linda Gottlieb or the folks behind The City would have made The Peapack Experiment dazzle.

[MontyB]

[reallyhateskateonlost]

[All My Shadows]

Jay made some crack about how the black and white kinescope of AMC ("I want to be special...") looked like Rob Lowe's sex tape, and Lucci blushed and said "You looked good...on that magazine cover." Looks like Helmut might have to call some of his friends to make Rob Lowe sleep with the fishes!

Amen. They could have gotten some British soap people to come over and explain their techniques for shooting outside, and it would have been a huge improvement. I cann't see how EastEnders can make scenes in a filthy-looking street market, with such lovely set pieces as garbage cans, looks gorgeous while Guiding Light made scenes in charming, Americana-ish little Peapack look like sh!t.

[Bright Eyes]

Answer: TV Cameras vs. Film Cameras.

[All My Shadows]

Well yeah, but that doesn't account for the crappy angles and desolate locations. They could have made it work on videotape. They didn't even have to get UK people for that, just look at how daytime soaps did location shoots and exterior shooting over the last fifty years. I think the problem is that they not only wanted to do the outside stuff, but they wanted to be revolutionary while doing it. "Let's not just have Olivia and Natalia talking in this random prairie. Let's have them talking two whole football fields away from us in this random prairie. The audience will feel like they're stalking the characters!"