AMC and OLTL Will Move Online!

[marceline]

If PP was going to go with 15 minute episodes then there was no point in licensing the shows to begin with. Fifteen minute shows would be no different than Venice, Gotham, Buppies or my much beloved Awkward Black Girl. They could've just started a YouTube channel like every other webseries and spared themselves the union issues. PP apparently wants to bring fully realized, traditional style content to the web, and not just soaps but other dramas and comedies. If that's still the case, if this is about launching a business and not just a couple of shows then they need to stick with what we have now 30-60 minute shows, year-round or seasonal, ongoing or telenovela style. They need to have a different product than we've gotten from webseries so far. JMHO.

[DRW50]

The problem with a 15 minute webseries is they're often run by people who don't know what they're doing - at least those which try to be big soaps (shows like Wed-Locked, which just tried to be fun little domestic comedies, I greatly enjoyed). I think there's a market for 15 minute shows with bigger budgets. It's a way to work with short attention spans and to also have a more diverse format.

I know it won't happen, but I hope someone does this someday.

[John]

According to a friend who saw Robin Strasser last night, RS was asked by ABC to come back but they wanted her to film in Late August/Early September and that was when RS was in the hospital with ecoli

[JaneAusten]

Its not really about supporting actors its writing to cater to fanbases and in some ways I think the soaps have been doing this in their owns ways for the past few years and all that does is limit the ability for good writers to be able to craft interesting stories. I am not saying its the main reason but I personally get tired of hearing I will tune out of xxxx if zzzz breaks up or if yyyy is not featured. I just think the smaller the audiences get the less creative the writing has become as they continue to try to toy and cater to certain groups of fans.

[R Sinclair]

And that's the problem -- there is no need to "cater" to these specific groups of fans. The majority of them are spineless. They'll stomp, huff, puff, hold their breath until they turn blue in an effort to get someone to "cater" to them, but they don't have the balls to actually stop watching. There are two specific examples on this very board. One of them whines and moans about how all the soaps are racist, yet watch every damn day. The other example is that every single show they watch is badly written by hacks, yet they watch every damn day. They think by making a bunch of noise, complaining and ridiculing the executives in charge damn near to the point of slander, they'll get their way. However, in the real world, it's not the noise makers (who still watch the shows they hate) that pose the problem. It's the viewer that quietly stopped watching as a result of simply choosing to bypass a day here... which turned into a week... which turned into 2 years because nothing kept their eyeballs to the screen in the first place.

[Chris B]

If they do a 15 minute soap they can't sell them anywhere. It's important to keep them running in the traditional format if only for internation sales, something I'm sure they'll pursue more than ABC. Already I know Canada and Australia air AMC and of course Canada also gets OLTL. They'd lose the chance to sell the soaps to those countries and many more if they aired 15 minutes. 30 minutes I could get behind and it might be easier to sell, but it's just foolish to suggest 15 minutes for these no matter how you look at it.

[DRW50]

I'm not sure if these are going to have a lot of international sales anyway.

[skiman12082004]

Soaps are still very popular abroad and I think there is tons of money to be made for PP from AMC & OLTL.

[SFK]

I don't think a 15-minute format is a remote possibility, but it is an interesting notion that they could "marathon" a four-day week's worth of episodes in an hour slot one evening on a network.

[SFK]

I wonder if sitting down 15 minutes a day for mere morsels would ironically make folks a little impatient. If they packaged the episodes at the end of the week as one long file, would many people just wait for that, and if so, would there really be a point of stringing them along throughout the week just to say it's still a "soap opera"? I suppose having the choice would be nice. I'm all for an half of one hour episodes, it would be nice to cover AMC and OLTL in sixty minutes.

[marceline]

I don't know. I have a webseries I love. The episodes are ten minutes long and it comes out every 10-14 days. Last season the eps were shorter but more frequent. Regardless I jumped for joy everytime I saw that a new episode was posted and still do. I even gave money to fund the second season. Whatever these new shows are, they are going to lose some (a lot) of viewers and they will gain some new viewers who accept the changed expectations as the standard.

[DRW50]

Some soaps seem to have followings in other countries but I'm not sure I've heard about this with the ABC soaps (aside from Loving). I know they're popular in Canada but don't know about anywhere else.

[Chris B]

The ABC soaps haven't been syndicated largely because ABC hasn't tried so it would be a new market, but there IS a market out there. AMC was only launched a couple years ago in Australia and is doing well, so if this ever gets up and running I'm sure they'd want the episodes. OLTL is more of a fresh commodity internationally because if GH and AMC were neglected, I doubt OLTL is being pushed anywhere. Still, the sales to these countries is another easy source of revenue and I'm sure PP will pursue it. They'd also be crazy not to try DVDs or some sort of merchandise for fans to purchase. Maybe they'll bring back a Super Soap Weekend type of thing. My overall point is that there are many ways to make money, they just need enough to get this off the ground.

Also, I'm sure a US cable deal would almost seal the deal.

[Soapsuds]

Just give me some good old 80's episodes...GH...Frisco and Felicia.....OLTL...anything Tina and Gabrielle.....AMC.....anything early 90's....hell and I didnt grow up watching ABC...but those were my favorites of ABC daytime.

[Chris B]

My heart would stop if they gave me a OLTL set with all that Tina, Cord, Maria, Gabrielle, Max madness lol. However, I'm not sure if Prospect would have the rights to release DVDs of the classic stuff.