HOLIDAY MIRACLE: Prospect Park Back On Track To Revive AMC and OLTL

[John]

I dont know how anyone can say they wont like them without seeing them first.

[allmc2008]

Exactly! We don't even know FOR SURE what the format will be. Even then I bet the shows will be a lot better since there wont be network interference!

[KMan101]

LOL. Exactly.

I actually like the idea and see the reasoning behind it. It makes sense.

And even though they are 30 minutes in length, I think that's WITHOUT commercials. A regular episode of a soap is what 36 minutes? 38 minutes? Not that much different. Unless I am mistaken and I could be. I mean, we get so much different information, ugh.

[John]

If its on Hulu, If they say length is 30, that will be the full length of the episodes and then the comericals go in between

[Adam]

LOL, she did thank him in her Emmy speech, did she not? I never knew Susan had this off screen reputation.... makes sense.... her playing Erica a lot of the time seemed quite natural.

To think, if Susan had have been high during her Emmy speech like Erica was at the Woman of the Year speech in 1996, could have been a lot more interesting

[Errol]

Whether or not its Hulu, a TV network or otherwise, a half hour episode means that it'll actually be 21-23 minutes of actual show with the remaining minutes left for advertisements.

Unlike before, Prospect Park is essentially now expecting to produce a pared down version of "AMC" and "OLTL" that may or may not be better or worse than "Passions" when it moved to DirecTV, which was also four episodes (but an hour in length). The only difference between Prospect Park in 2013 and DirecTV in 2007 is that DirecTV was able to transition most of its "Passions" cast and crew over without much of a gap in between the final NBC episode and the first DirecTV episode. Prospect Park is now trying to reboot shows that have been off the air for more than a year. While that may have worked for Family Guy, The Game and a select group of other primetime shows, something like this (and two shows at once) just hasn't ever been done before.

I agree with the poster that said if anything we should hope that both of these shows don't debut until at least the summer, but being that many people get long breaks in the summer (especially those in the key demographics), it will have to happen earlier. The best case scenario is the shows debut in April. This way they use the rest of this month to continue seeking out writers and other key jobs. Once the writing gets underway, they'll have all of February to get scripts written and actors hired. They can then begin filming in March with an April premiere. Mind you, this is a pushing it schedule.

[John]

Do u think PP would be smart to use the same studio for both soaps and film OLTL for a month then AMC then rinse and repeat until each soap has produced its 168 episodes. I was thinking they could film two episodes a day & film 40, half hour episodes a month. That would give PP 10 weeks of shows to air to start with

[Errol]

Using the same building (ala ABC Television City in New York/Prospect Studios in LA) is one thing. Using the same studio itself, I think is a stupid idea. While ABC felt that viewers watched each of their soaps in one settings (1-4pm ET each day), that wasn't the case for many viewers. Most viewers are fans of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," separately. To produce one show before showing the next and then going back and forth in-between is just stupid planning for this particular genre. Fans will be pissed that AMC or OLTL started up first, then pissed they'll have to wait a bit before the next episode of one of them airs because one or the other is currently taking up the preferential treatment given it by the production company. While this method may work for HBO/Showtime/FX, etc, this isn't a cable model of 13 or less episodes a season with an episode airing once a week and at a set time on a cable network. We're talking about over 100 episodes of each show a year (50+ if you want to fantasize that 2 half hour episodes = 1 hour long) with out a set time via the web (with cable as a second window if they're lucky).

[alexisfan07]

I like the book storytelling idea. It's a way to make people fans of both shows, too. I'd think it would allow for them getting a ton of vets that don't want to be on long term contracts and concise storylines. I hope it works out!

[Vee]

I don't see what's so scandalous about their producing either half-hour episodes or telenovela-style story arcs. I had many problems with Port Charles but the short novella arcs were not among them. I thought that was a manageable pursuit and worked for them. I think it would be a very good idea for a scaled-down soap. I never expected the shows to come back as full hours five days a week and I thought it was a mistake for PP to pursue that last year.

I still think they're con artists and this won't happen, but as for scheduling plans I've heard worse.

From what I know of Kaplan, he could take that and a lot worse. I adore Susan.

[Errol]

Going the telenovela approach and doing half hour shows is fine. Manageable for them and for viewers actually. I'm all for it as I've always felt hour long daily serials (because of the how many there were) was going to collapse the genre at some point due to the internet age where you can watch whatever you want, whenever you want. I'm happy they are going in that direction.

I do have a problem with one show airing, then the next show, then the next, etc. I just expect to hear numerous complaints from fans of AMC about OLTL being on and fans of OLTL about AMC being on. You can never please them. So if you want to do both, then do both. It's not like producing them for the web is going to take attention from either show and if they do get a cable window they'll have one hour for two shows. That's an accomplishment.

[KMan101]

Yeah, I don't know how I feel about AMC airing, then OLTL and then back and forth and back and forth. It could get confusing, though I can see their idea of doing "seasons" and why they would alternate between them. It's still just kind of weird. We'll have to see I guess.

[koos]

Personally, I'm excited about the 30 minute (23? 30 plus ads?) running time. No soap since 1995 has needed to be 36-43 minutes.

[dragonflies]

Don't they HAVE to be in production by February per the extension from ABC, I don't see that happening unless they rush

This is where I'm at too Errol

[Marco Dane]

Rumor Alert!!

SoapNet will replay daily episodes

Grain of salt it going around facebook