All My Children AMC: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[alexisfan07]

I wonder if the guy could've been wrong about the theme song. It's just weird for OLTL to have a newly created song while AMC has a commercial song.

[skiman12082004]

I am so not trying to start the AMC/OLTL war again but I loved RSW throwing shade and I agreed with him. But don't get me wrong I love OLTL and I can't wait for that one either :-)

[Khan]

To be honest, Eric, I was fine with the final ABC episodes being "The End" for AMC and OLTL. It was rough to see 'em go. However, ABC had rendered them both unrecognizable through years of bad decisions that gnawed away at their respective cores. Yes, OLTL was in slightly better shape. But even rebuilding OLTL would have taken years -- time which neither ABC nor PP, quite frankly, could or can afford them.

Aside from AS THE WORLD TURNS and maybe ANOTHER WORLD, soaps that go away have a good reason to. AMC and OLTL were no exceptions.

[John]

I figure Rob doesnt mean anything by the remarks however you know how some fans can be. I bet they go bat [!@#$%^&*] on his twitter & he doesnt deserve it. I too wished OLTL had more dialogue and was longer but I still loved it. Love both. Defintley sells the tones of the shows.

[Vee]

I thought ATWT was a nearly-unrecognizable smoking train wreck at the end, but that's me. AMC and OLTL, not so much.

[marceline]

You're not a heel. I think of you as a traditionalist.

Right now the excitement is at a fever pitch. Unfortunately, it's leading to a bit of groupthink where anybody who expresses reservations gets side-eyed. It's one of the reasons I wish people wouldn't link to every blog or comment where people complain because all that does is send the signal that dissent won't be tolerated.

I have to admit that I really am excited but I'm probably excited for the same reason you aren't. I like the changes.

[John]

I like the changes. I like that both shows have their own Tone & believe the trailers did a great job at showcasing that

[Khan]

ATWT was unrecognizable in the sense that the stories were far afield from the kind most viewers were used to. But I feel there was enough there in the way of long-standing characters, families and relationships for a different regime -- one that would get back to the kinds of stories that Irna Phillips and later Douglas Marland believed in -- to build on. And whatever had been lost, or allowed to get away from them, could have been retrieved with minimal effort. (Wish I could say the same about GUIDING LIGHT.)

[Vee]

I think the changes are fresh and needed and important. Particularly for AMC, which has a cleaner slate (partly because it was in worse shape before, IMO), but both shows just seem very much new and lighter without so much of the old baggage. With AMC in particular, it was and is an opportunity to toss a lot of the old mess and reset a lot of the factory settings back to basic Agnes Nixon storytelling and concepts, which seem very much in play here. So it's really something very old and immortal brought to the 21st century and made new, IMO. That's how it feels to me, anyway. That's part of what makes the AMC setup particularly alluring, after some of us spent the last few months discussing Nixonian storytelling staples through the years in the context of the long experiment that was Loving.

[Khan]

In other words: "Shut the hell up and go back to the home, Grandpa!"

[Vee]

But how was that going to make it commercially viable again? I thought so many characters had either been destroyed, miscast or killed off. By 2010, sadly, I felt ATWT's cancellation was basically the barely noticed also-ran to GL's epic flameout. Because just nothing of interest was happening. How do you make that ATWT work today and get new audiences? I thought Goutman had left it rotted to the core. It was a zombie.

I don't think ATWT could never be revived - I think it could, although I think GL is a much more viable candidate right now due to its versatility. I just don't see how that ATWT, the one that went off, could do it.

[JONNYSBRO]

If Alicia minshew doesn't committ to Kendall IMO they need to recast the role. The show needs it and btw it needs a short term appearance by Susan lucci. Erica cane is needed so bad.

[Vee]

For God's sake, she's been around since 1970, it's Kane. KANE.

[alexisfan07]

Jordan responded to me! It is the new song

[Khan]

Then why not create a new drama that adheres to those timeless concepts instead of re-setting a show that, IMHO, had very little left at the end on which to rebuild and renew itself? Yeah, I know: because the name "All My Children" is a known brand. So what? A name isn't everything. A brand-new soap, with brand-new actors and characters, stands an equal chance of flopping or succeeding as one that purports to be a continuation of one that's been on-the-air for over 40 years.