AMC and OLTL Canceled! Part 2!

[John]

i always took same format to mean 5 days a week 52 weeks a year that is the format for daily dramas. Length means 60 mins

[EricMontreal22]

If that is indeed true, and ABC actually said when they negotiated there was NO WAY they could change the length or episode frequency than it was foolish of PP to sign. But I still think a different format could have been agreed on.

[John]

According to Other folks in the soap press there were other producers that wanted to do different formats and ABC said No

I believe PP thought they could do it especially with Frank Valentini on board but they didnt forsee unions taking as long and the fact that investors would be so cagey as to invest. It really came down to money. The Format and length ABC losenced to PP was not attractive to investors

[EricMontreal22]

Interesting, although I refuse to believe anything anyone in the soap press says

[Max]

I'm not calling for anybody's head. However, an apology from somebody (in the soap press) would be nice. Perhaps one day, we can get an explanation as to why everybody got the essential thrust of the story incorrect.

[Soapsuds]

An apology for what?...lol

You are too much Max...lol

PP tried and failed....simple as that.

[Max]

Soapsuds, just a simple apology for being inaccurate when it was reported (as fact) that AMC & OLTL would move online. (These folks shouldn't apologize to me, but rather to the fans of the Nixon soaps.) There actually is some precedent for this happening: when the mainstream press called FL for Gore in 2000, and then for Bush, and then stated that the state was too close to call, they apologized for twice making a mistake.

We live in a society where apologizing is seen as some sort of weakness, but I consider it a source of strength. In the past, I almost always apologized after doing something that was wrong.

Sorry if I came across as if I was demanding an apology. It was just merely a suggestion of what I think is the right thing to do.

[DaytimeFan]

The media only reported what Prospect Park and ABC LIED to them about. They can't be faulted for two Hollywood corporation's dishonesty.

Finally, if anyone gives Prospect Park credit or a pass they're being stupid, Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank are both highly experienced Hollywood executives. They knew exactly what they were doing.

[Soapsuds]

PP counted their chickens before they hatched. Nothing should have been leaked until the deal was final to bring it online. Fans got their hopes up ...anyone would but come on.....this was a long shot at best....anyone would know that....I couldnt see how they would hire all these actors from OLTL plus crew including Valentini 5 days a week and pay for it all....

Add that AMC was dropped and that was a red flag that this wasnt going to work.

I dont think anyone is owed an apology.....

[Soapsuds]

Which was the one that posters on here were leary about?? Remember when the news broke and some said one of them wasnt very savvy...

[Max]

I admit to having zero knowledge of how the soap press works. If it is customary practice for them to just report as fact what corporate executives tell them, then indeed no apology is necessary.

Maybe the soap press felt that the PP executives had high integrity, so that explains why they were willing to believe them.

[edgeofnight]

It really stings to think that this was announced the day before Thanksgiving. I speak from personal experience. I remember when Mary Matthews was killed off on 'Another World' on Good Friday. I thought it was heinous to do that to the character around the Easter holidays. Little did I know that I would be walking the same path as the Matthews children, when my own mother died on Good Friday (1981) and was laid out on Easter. If that wasn't bad enough, I lost my father, suddenly, 2 1/2 years later on Dec. 21. He was buried on Christmas Eve. A year after I lost my dad, I lost my beloved "Edge of Night.' I will be forever grateful in the knowledge that I was one of only two fans invited to the studio on their final taping day.

So, as you can imagine, the holidays are very difficult for me. My mom's birthday is Nov. 30 (She would have been 88).

So many thoughts are running through my head. I don't know if they've been addressed in this thread, since I haven't read all the posts.

It seems doubly cruel for this announcement to come AFTER the studio had taped its final episode (Nov. 18). If there were problems, TPTB, somewhere, should have been more forthcoming at a much earlier date.

As many of you may know, I am also keenly interested in History and Politics...the only analogy I can make is if something like this had happened in our nation's capital, there would be a call for the establishment of a special congressional investigatory committee. We, the people, deserve to know the Who, What, When and Where of this Prospect Park acquisition, and ultimate suspension, of AMC and OLTL.

[DaytimeFan]

That's how the soap print press works (ie: Soaps in Depth, Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly)...they talk to the PR's the PR's tell them whatever they decide to be accurate and the soap print press reports it.

The soap digital press is different, it depends on the site. Some go off rumours, others are like 60 Minutes (I would say SON falls into the 60 Minutes category)...overall, things are vetted as best they can be, after all, nobody wants to get sued and doing their due diligence is their only defence.

There was such a stark lack of information from the Prospect Park executives and ABC that not even the actors who signed on knew what the hell was actually going on. Now, Prospect Park has dumped this news, wisely from a PR perspective, on Thanksgiving weekend, throwing blame at anyone and everyone, classic Hollywood stuff.

Frankly, if people weren't leery of both of them they don't know the business. Jeff Kwatinetz owned The Firm, one of the most prestigious management firms in Los Angeles. Everyone was on their books for a while. They were riding high, making fabulous money, they were big, big stars in the management field. Allegedly, Jeff Kwatinetz had his issues, major personal issues and very negative business practices with troubled actors like Britney Spears and Britney Murphy. Rick Yorn, his partner at The Firm, quit in 2008. All the trades seemed to turn on him and he became a pariah, resigning from the company he built in 2008. Nikki Finke at Deadline described him as being someone who "dreamed big but rarely delivered in recent years."

Rich Frank worked for Paramount Television as a studio executive, the Walt Disney Company as studio head for a decade before an ill fated year as head of Disney's television unit, took positions with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, MPAA and the board of AFI. He was, for a time, a big deal. And then he fell from grace and founded his management company which merged with The Firm after a year in 2004.

The two of them created Prospect Park, having worked together at The Firm. They've cranked out some cable shows. To say that they went in and "bit off more than they could chew" is a fallacy. Rich Frank ran Walt Disney Studios, he did the biggest job in the entertainment business. To say that they were held up by the unions is also a fallacy. Jeff Kwatinetz worked with the unions for years as a manager, he knew what the deals were. Both of them are balls deep into the entertainment business, this wasn't some rookie venture. These were two highly experienced executives who never had the money to make this venture run. They used and abused the actors who signed on, tried (and failed) to smear the actors who didn't sign on and ultimately washed up with nothing except bad publicity and that is exactly what they deserve. They're both scum.

[Soapsuds]

LOL...love this post! It was Jeff the one talked about. What if this was a big publicity stunt by the two to just get attention?...lol Not saying a conspiracy...just wanting the spotlight on them.

[marceline]

I love this post so much I want to marry it in a Kardashian style wedding.