AMC and OLTL Canceled! Part 2!

[DRW50]

I know that wasn't the intention but it's like even she's saying Aubrey was an awful character...

[EricMontreal22]

I still can't form the words to say how disappointing this is--but slowly, ever since October really, I think a part of me has kinda accepted that this will be the outcome. I'm still pretty mad (and don't need to be told by anyone that I should have never had my hopes up, etc).

And yes--THREE MONTHS? There are 35 more episodes--ie 7 weeks. Woman can't even do basic math.

[Dana]

Errol or anyone who knows, the mediadecoder article said that the licensing agreement specified that web episodes would be just as long and just as high quality as they were on TV. Was this something ABC demanded or that PP promised? I think keeping the same model going from TV to the Internet helped doom the project, but who was responsible for making that decision?

[Max]

I've given the soap press a lot of (well deserved) grief, but I would be remiss if I suggested that they weren't the only ones who screwed up. (At least SON allows posters to criticize it on its own bandwith, which is much to be grateful for, and for which its staff deserves much praise.) The fact of the matter is that almost every press organization reported as fact that the Nixon soaps would move online. (I only seem to recall a few articles--none of which were written by anybody in the entire entertainment press--that questioned the feasibility of this venture from the start.) How could so many turn out to be so wrong?

As Scotty previously reported, OLTL will soon incorporate a storyline where the fictional soap--called "Fraternity Row"--gets cancelled, and residents of Llanview rally to save it. Although this is just speculation, I'm guessing that the fictional soap does indeed get saved. The fact that ficton will not parallel reality will obviously break the hearts of many OLTL fans, but it (hopefully) will teach them one of life's most painful lessons (which I learned with great difficulty over the years): the improbable often happens in fiction, but seldom happens in reality.

[MontyB]

I'm with you Khan. I don't watch those other shows anyway and I'm not starting after OLTL signs off. It will just be an hour of electricity saved because my TiVo won't be recording anything.

[Dana]

I'm wondering that myself. It was so apparent to me from the beginning that PP's attempt to use the TV model of 5x per week 52 weeks a year for the Internet was not likely to be feasible, especially without charging a subscription fee. Did too many people, including fans, just ignore the warning signs because they were desperate to have their beloved soaps saved? I'd like to think that the skeptics, including myself, were just cynics, but the problems seemed so obvious to me from the get-go that I'm surprised that anyone is surprised or blindsided that it didn't work.

[John]

PP couldnt retool. In the leasing from ABC the shows had to be 60 mins, 5 days a week 52 weeks a year. That was an ABC Mandate to lisence the shows to PP

[Dana]

If so, then it was ABC's fault for mandating that and PP's fault for accepting that deal.

[beebs]

BINGO. IMO anything more than 2-3 episodes per week at half-hour length (19+commercials) would be doomed to failure with the economics as they are right now. It's as though ABC was inadvertently rigging this to fail from the get-go, though I'm not cyncial enough to suggest they were actively doing so. Maybe others are but...

[John]

IMHO PP thought it would be easier to get everything done than it was. I cant fault them they went in with good intentions. However I think by ABC Mandating that the shows be the same online as the net set PP up for a hard sell and ABC knew that. I dont think ABC wanted these shows 2 continue

[ReddFoxx]

I wasn't aware of that. A mandate like that made the venture a non-starter from the beginning. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have to wonder why ABC would place such burdensome mandate and why the production company accepted it.

[JaneAusten]

I dont think PP deserves a free pass. No one is blaming them but they remind me of my former employer who were a successful midsized company who wanted to be something they weren't so they went out and bought another company the same size without doing due dilligence and came to see they inherited a ton of bad clients , bad debt, and bad AR that was beyond collectible. At the end of the day it killed the company and they went bankrupt, Anyone who takes on a venture of this size is not blameless.It shows that they were either egotistical enough to believe they knew more or incompetent because they did not do their do dilligence and took ABC/Disneys word for things. They are not evil they just don't deserve to be held blameless

I want to know who here knows the details in the agreement saying PP had NO latitude. If they signed an agreement like that knowing that soaps as a whole are and have been losing viewers for years under this current model, they sound a little naive.

[chyti]

Exactly PP bite off more than they could handle it is just that simple. I would like to see it in print where ABC made that mandate otherwise it is just another rumor like all the others that has been floating around and with the lack of infomation that PP was giving out even to those involved in the project I doubt that the mandate existed. All this ABC wanted this to fail is just foolishness if they wanted to kill the job they never would have sold the rights to begin with they could have just placed the tapes in the vault. PP success equals money to Disney to think otherwise is just looking for someone one to blame when their really isn't anyone, besides it seems as if ABC was actually working to help them they realized both Frons and RC from their contracts, leasing them studio space it was a win-win for Disney.

[John]

From The original Press Release On July 7 2011

The licensing agreement, brokered by Disney/ABC Domestic Television Group, enables Prospect Park to continue production of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” beyond their life on ABC. Prospect Park will produce and deliver the two long-running programs to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet enabled television sets. Under the terms of the arrangement, the programs will continue to be delivered with the same quality and in the same format and length. Additional details of the new productions and tune-in will be forthcoming from Prospect Park.

[JaneAusten]

It says additional details. Again unless we all have the specifics of the agreement we don't know what latitude anyone had and contracts have confidentiality clauses normally preventing either party from disclosing the details. My friend the PP apologist no one is blaming them for cancelling soaps that only happened once but I really dont see what there is to congradulate them for. They tried a venture and failed as any other business. They are no better or nor worse.