One Life to Live OLTL: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[Vee]

I believe Pepperman's association with OLTL dates back to at least '98. She then spent most of the 2000s at ATWT, I believe, before returning to OLTL around...2010.

[greens_dupres]

Oh wow I thought it was just the 2 year directing stint. That makes sense- she sounded like she really knew the show well. That's great.

Agree on AMC/OLTL crossovers. The baby switch was great back in the day and since PP seems to really want viewers to watch both, it might make sense to do this down the road as it probably the best way to draw in the less hardcore 1 soap fans who aren't going to click AMC just to support PP. It could be especially helpful to OLTL since AMC seems to be slightly stronger on Hulu (could be negligible of course- but I've noticed they both seem to shoot up the charts on the day they drop new eps but OLTL seems to drop more steeply more quickly within the next day or two- I analyze this way too much). I'm glad they didn't start off trying to do crossovers right out of the gate but at some point, it might be smart especially if they keep the 2 day a week alternating schedule for the foreseeable future. Of course, they would need to be logical, well thought out crossovers.

[cassadine1991]

Jennifer Pepperman's history with OLTL

One Life to Live

Executive Producer (April 2013–present)

Director (May 2011- January 2012)

Associate Director (2010)

Coordinating Producer (1998-2000)

[Honey]

I've never liked any of the soap opera crossovers. I hated the AMC/OLTL baby story. Wasn't into the ABC 'What Ifs'. I thought the OLTLers took over GH. I'm not exactly waiting with bated breath for the inevitable AMC/OLTL crossovers on TOLN either- don't care and don't see the point of, say, Angie and Blair crossing paths.

Crossovers work much better in literature and movies than in serials.

[JONNYSBRO]

Jen Pepperman started her carer in the early 90's when JFP hired her. Then Jill hired her again to be coordinating producer for OLTL. She left OLTL when Jill left and went to ATWT for probably close to 10 years under Chris Goutman and then back to OLTL. So she has worked under Jill, Chris and Frank. Honestly I got shes a really sharp shooter that she knows what she is doing and she is very direct. She kind of seems like a tough boss in the way that she wants to get the job done very effective. I like hearing that about her. I like her talking about Marin/Jessica I think what she is illustrated is this is a start up and of coruse they are making mistakes along the way but they are trying to correct them. They wanted a fresher apppeal in the writing more contemporary. Marin came from HBO and Jessica although briefly head wrote ATWT she was EP/HW for 90210 in its glory years for like 6-7 years. She brings a primetime perspctive. I hope they make OLTL more edgy more current then before. So far Jen has really impressed me so far. It makes more sense know to reduce episodes to slow down production they were going so fast they can really get together have time to get things right and it doesn't mean it can rexpand again. Honestly I am hoping it will go to 3 days a week, I think thats a great middle ground.

[EricMontreal22]

No kidding. It was refreshing hearing her say what she thought the past writers did poorly, etc. You rarely get that in interviews.

[Winchester91]

Pepperman is really good at working the PR for her show. Quite articulate, that woman is.

[cassadine1991]

I know her and Ginger Smith, seem like they really love the shows they are working on and I can see that down the line we could get some old veterans to return as long as storyline dictates it

[cassadine1991]

Jeff K's explanation of #OLTL #AMC episode cutbacks from SOD. This was posted in Soap Fans United:
JEFF K on AMC/OLTL Cutbacks in New Soap Opera Digest (June 10, 2013)

""SOD printed a more detailed interview with Prospect Park's Jeff Kwatinetz on why the decision was made to cut the weekly episodes of All My Children and One Life to Live in half:

"I think that with the daytime shows, traditionally it was easier to miss a couple of episodes and just pick it up. I think one of the reasons people are loving the shows is because of the way the stories move. I think people are excited about that, and so when someone watches our first three episodes and then misses episode four and five, they feel lost in episode six. Rather than be repetitive and figure out how to make them not feel lost, we want them to be able to go back and watch four and five....."

"This is a positive move. The more people we can get to watch the shows, the better. I didn't want to start dumbing down the shows or start making the episodes not as good."

Kwatinetz received feedback that the sheer amount of episodes was off-putting and overwhelming to fans trying to keep up with the shows:

"Believe me, my friends are telling me, 'Dude, it's hard to keep up.' We want people to want to watch. There are people who are just hearing about the shows. What happens to the viewer on June 1 who goes online because they're hearing the shows are good and they're seeing that there are 30 episodes of each show? What are the odds that person will say, 'Oh, I'm willing to watch 30 episodes.' We started to see very clearly that people were going to be daunted by that. We want people to feel that the shows are accessible, which is the kind of the whole point why we're doing this online to begin with."

Kwatinetz realizes there are advantages to producing less shows such as a streamlined schedule and more anticipated demand. But Kwatinetz assures that’s not the main reason for the cutbacks:

"We can market them better, it helps us in post [production], it helps us in writing. There are obviously a lot of advantages in terms of quality and marketing. But we probably would have just figured those things out if we had to, if people were keeping up."

Why is Hulu keeping the entire season of both shows available for free?? Kwatinetz responds:

"Every day, tens of thousands of people start with episodes one and two and we were looking at it like, 'We want those people to keep doing it.' That's why Hulu said to us they wanted to keep the episodes up. They usually have five episodes up of shows and we got them to agree to double it to 10. They're looking at it like, 'We can't take these episodes down. All of these people are just getting into it.' So they were reading the data the same way.""

[DRW50]

Why do I read comment sections? Why??

Some if it just felt like saying what she had to say, like the spin about KA/ME/RH (I wish someone would say, "I'm happy these people aren't on OLTL!"), but I appreciated hearing more of some of the changes in decision-making and segmented storylines.

I find it hard to believe that boring Ron Raines or the lizard formerly known as Paolo are ideal for roles, but we'll see.

I wish they'd asked her more about Dorian's story and what that is about, and about the Vimal/Rama story, as it would be, with proper writing, the most cutting-edge thing on the show.

I had to laugh when he asked her if she knew Tuc had kids. Of course she would know. Clumsy.

[dragonflies]

*dead*

So am I!!! I can see people who are busy not having much time to invest at all, they just won't watch if they don't have the time. If people can watch a half hour soap like Bold and Beautiful 5 days a week 365 days a year then I don't see the problem doing the same for AMC or OLTL.

These people need to realize not alot are going to watch both shows

[Dale]

I had a two soap habit for more than 30 years - hour long shows at that. I found a way to somehow incorporate them into my life and make time for them. Since the demise of OLTL (and GL before it) on network TV, I actually found it difficult to watch both AMC and OLTL four days a week online. I guess I just got out of the habit of daily soap viewing. I am kinda happy that the new OLTL and AMC are only airing twice a week each. It seems just right to me.

[Winchester91]

They'll expand back to 4 episodes once they have a stable viewership base, who are less likely to binge.

[allmc2008]

I know what you mean. Before the switch I would watch them in the morning and me and my parents would watch the week Friday nights. Since my parents only care about AMC we can watch them on the off-days. That said, I wish they would air a "Daytime to Remember" type thing on the off days for AMC and OLTL.

[cassadine1991]

Doesn't PP own the rights to the old episodes of both shows?? they could air classic episodes of both shows on the days there isn't a new episode