Was there anything about AMC at that time that might have made it more palatable to male viewers?

I guess the timeslot helped. And I could certainly see a casual soap viewer finding AMC more accessible than say Y&R of that time.

1 minute ago, EricMontreal22 said:

Thanks for the correction. You're right of course that a lot of soaps had issues when they expanded--Bill Bell always grumbles about this with Y&R (granted, a soap I don't know too much about.) AMC somehow seemed to weather this better than other shows, despite Nixon's resistance (was it having to do a week of trial hour shows before Ryan's Hope premiered?)

DAYS under Pat Falken Smith, GH under Douglas Marland, AMC under Agnes Nixon, and OLTL under Gordon Russell and Sam Hall steered their shows very well upon the expansion to 60 minutes, IMHO.

1 hour ago, EricMontreal22 said:

That said, when I became a closet AMC and then soap fan in 1991 as an 11-12 year old, I felt it was something you shouldn't tell other people about.

I didn't feel that way, lol! In fact, I still remember being in the sixth grade, electing to write a research paper on Irna Phillips (although, why I chose Irna, I'll never know) and discovering along the way that writing for the soaps was very much what I wanted to do When I Grew Up. (It was also in the sixth grade when I discovered "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" on a local station and realized I wanted to write and produce half-hour comedies as well).

9 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

Thanks for the correction. You're right of course that a lot of soaps had issues when they expanded--Bill Bell always grumbles about this with Y&R (granted, a soap I don't know too much about.) AMC somehow seemed to weather this better than other shows, despite Nixon's resistance (was it having to do a week of trial hour shows before Ryan's Hope premiered?)

AMC did do a trial week of AMC at 60 minutes before the network insisted the longer length become permanent. I don't remember the specifics of those 5 episodes, but I do recall they were quite good.

12 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Was there anything about AMC at that time that might have made it more palatable to male viewers?

I guess the timeslot helped. And I could certainly see a casual soap viewer finding AMC more accessible than say Y&R of that time.

I think AMC had a slice-of-real-life feel, and a sense of humor, which was appealing to men. Like The Edge of Night, it was not predicated mainly on romantic anguish, and male viewers may have found that more accessible. Bell's soaps and ATWT were snail-paced; not everyone appreciates that style

4 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

I think AMC had a slice-of-real-life feel, and a sense of humor, which was appealing to men. Like The Edge of Night, it was not predicated mainly on romantic anguish, and male viewers may have found that more accessible. Bell's soaps and ATWT were snail-paced; not everyone appreciates that style

Bringing in Palmer, who was such a domineering, cool figure, and Tom, the masculine football hero, may have helped.

In Erica, AMC also had a female character male viewers could probably enjoy. She was scheming and grasping but always had a common touch due to characters like Mona, even if Erica would have insisted otherwise. And she never really won for long.

ATWT in particular had goddesses and that's never something male viewers can connect with as much (although if a lot of straight guys loved Kim, Joyce and Lisa I appreciate their taste).

I suppose OLTL was helped by men like Joe, Herb, Ed, Marco, as the Buchanans weren't quite there yet. Certainly Marco had enough of a following for the show to jump through mega-hoops to keep him on.

Hey!

I am getting complementary words from kind SON members, AND I just received notification from the administration that I have been elevated to the rank of "Veteran."

Plus...a "Reacting Well" badge🤔

Woohoo!

Edited 51 minutes ago51 min by vetsoapfan

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Bringing in Palmer, who was such a domineering, cool figure, and Tom, the masculine football hero, may have helped.

In Erica, AMC also had a female character male viewers could probably enjoy. She was scheming and grasping but always had a common touch due to characters like Mona, even if Erica would have insisted otherwise. And she never really won for long.

ATWT in particular had goddesses and that's never something male viewers can connect with as much (although if a lot of straight guys loved Kim, Joyce and Lisa I appreciate their taste).

I suppose OLTL was helped by men like Joe, Herb, Ed, Marco, as the Buchanans weren't quite there yet. Certainly Marco had enough of a following for the show to jump through mega-hoops to keep him on.

Perfectly said!

20 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

AMC did do a trial week of AMC at 60 minutes before the network insisted the longer length become permanent. I don't remember the specifics of those 5 episodes, but I do recall they were quite good.

In the Nixon archives there are notes on those episodes, and they are really impressive. She (with two writers who I don't remember--I'm not sure if Washam was involved yet) have a full folder on notes on how they can change the show to take advantage of an hour format (there is a note that they "don't want to do what Days of Our Lives did" which is another example of Nixon giving Days some shade :P )

1 minute ago, EricMontreal22 said:

In the Nixon archives there are notes on those episodes, and they are really impressive. She (with two writers who I don't remember--I'm not sure if Washam was involved yet) have a full folder on notes on how they can change the show to take advantage of an hour format (there is a note that they "don't want to do what Days of Our Lives did" which is another example of Nixon giving Days some shade :P )

Pffft!

DAYS was on fire when it went to an hour, and William J. Bell and head writer Pat Falken Smith wrote is beautifully.

Was Nixon's comment ever explained?

"Dear God, Aggie, why are you so hard on DAYS," lol?

33 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Was there anything about AMC at that time that might have made it more palatable to male viewers?

I guess the timeslot helped. And I could certainly see a casual soap viewer finding AMC more accessible than say Y&R of that time.

The timeslot might have helped (lunch for a lot of people.) I know people on here will disagree with me, but I think AMC at the time also did things like incorporate social issues (Vietnam remained a constant until at least 1974 judging from scripts) and stronger male characters than a lot of soaps had--or more complex. I do have a note from the Nixon archives that with OLTL (and presumably AMC) she does NOT want organ music, and I assume that would make younger viewer, male and female, not associate the show with their parents soap. (Of course ABC had already done this with Dark Shadows but that's a special case.)

This is just a guess, but I also assume it looked more "realistic" than the Hollywood look Y&R had (though hasn't Y&R also been known to have a pretty strong male demo over the years?)

29 minutes ago, Khan said:

I didn't feel that way, lol! In fact, I still remember being in the sixth grade, electing to write a research paper on Irna Phillips (although, why I chose Irna, I'll never know) and discovering along the way that writing for the soaps was very much what I wanted to do When I Grew Up. (It was also in the sixth grade when I discovered "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" on a local station and realized I wanted to write and produce half-hour comedies as well).

Ha I love this. When I was 14 I was interviewed for a full scholarship at a private school--it was a big deal in my family. I remember fighting with my mom when the introductory questionaire actually had the question "What's your favourite TV show?" She did NOT want me to write All my Children. I did, because I felt at the time it was the best show and a source of pride lol. I got accepted, for my final interview the person holding it didn't seem to believe me that I wasn't saying that as a joke (I guess that "all tv is bad?")

(At any rate I ended up at a theatre school--which is what I wanted, so it was fine though I never got a full scholarship to there :P )

1 minute ago, EricMontreal22 said:

(though hasn't Y&R also been known to have a pretty strong male demo over the years?)

That's due in large part to Eric Braeden, whose Victor Newman has always scored well, both with men and with "urban" audiences. He's basically their wish fulfillment: an s.o.b., who has enough money to tell whoever to go f**k themselves.

24 minutes ago, vetsoapfan said:

I think AMC had a slice-of-real-life feel, and a sense of humor, which was appealing to men. Like The Edge of Night, it was not predicated mainly on romantic anguish, and male viewers may have found that more accessible. Bell's soaps and ATWT were snail-paced; not everyone appreciates that style

I think these are great points (even as I admit I will never understand what appeals to straight men ;) )