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

[John]

TOLN should have just done it & not bothered announcing it

[greens_dupres]

Oh god- they can't change back. The bible beaters will come after them with pitchforks then. I can see it now "you promised us it would be more wholesome & I let my 4 year old watch and now she needs therapy.....And where is GIGI?"

But ok trying to be zen- obviously despite the hiatus, they're still interested in the project and fans of the shows. Twitter is BLOWING UP- they have to be seeing that not everyone is a Puritan housewife who wants a moral, sexless show to watch with her children

I'm grasping at straws, I know.

All of this makes me want to cry. I want to love you PP. Why must you make it so hard all the damn time?

[DRW50]

He himself said that he wanted to train viewers. Viewers weren't demanding Rylee or any of that garbage. That was his issue. And if he really did cater to the fans who hated women and minorities, that is his failure, not anyone else's.

[Vee]

It's damn annoying, but it's not that serious.

[Winchester91]

Actually, now would be a good time for TOLN to launch a new online show that won't have the baggage of soap fans. It would be cheaper to produce prolly due to less union/licensing issues.

[DRW50]

This is the only reason I'm relieved about the cursing ban. It was overdone with AJ, and Eric Nelson wasn't able to pull it off.

[Vee]

My concern is that they're taking all their cues from the most vocal malcontents on FB, etc. The profanity was not that big a deal and I think it's a mistake to cut it. The shows don't need it, but it was nice to have.

[greens_dupres]

I love that idea but I want it to come along with not in place of AMC & OLTL despite the crazy fans and the licensing and the union issues. I hope TOLN does branch out further as a place for displaced and disenchanted fans who were tired of networks destroying soaps. I would love a new show & a new town. Agnes probably has a dusty bible in a drawer somewhere.

But I think its a catch-22- yes AMC, OLTL are a massive expensive headache but they also got them press & an initial substantial built-in fanbase (granted one filled with many crazies with baggage like you said). I don't know if a new show could attract advertisers, financial support from Hulu in quite the same way so it would be interesting to see if they tried.

[marceline]

I'm having flashbacks to the ABC days. One small group of loud ignorant, stuck in the past infants gets to determine what the rest of us are allowed to see.

[greens_dupres]

Exactly, I won't necessarily long for AJ cursing but its the larger implications that are scary.

Maybe they just thought hey we haven't riled fans up in almost 2 weeks- let's throw this out there.

[chrishntr]

I'm just afraid of what they are going to be cutting next.

[DRW50]

I don't think it's just about Facebook complaints. I think they were trying to be edgy, to get attention for the early run of the show, and they may have wondered about some elements that were driving some viewers away without bringing new viewers in. I think profanity in some cases adds to a scene, and I hope that won't completely go away. For the most part I don't think it's added to the shows. In OLTL's case the Matthew/Dani scenes have felt more real because of the profanity, but that can be remedied.

I don't believe they're going to bring back the Fords or Rex and Gigi or any of that. Listening only to Facebook would turn a show into Mein Kampf.

I had a dream a few days ago that Roxy was on OLTL in a starring role, so perhaps my occasional psychic powers were telling me something, but I don't think she's coming back either.

[DRW50]

The problem is there are a lot of people out there who aren't just crazy soap fans who would object to too heavy of a focus on youth or profanity. They would have to go 100% into only a certain in-your-face youth drama and hope that worked out. I guess it could, but I think they're probably better off staying with a slightly safer format.

You can take away some "edge" and still move forward with the times. You just have to do it right. If you look at the AMC of the early 80s, they were progressive, and managed to reach out to young people as well as older, conservative viewers.

[Vee]

I don't think it's going to kill anything, but at the same time I wish it wouldn't go away.

It irks me, but the quality is still quality.

[marceline]

Well Fairman's "radio" show starts tonight. Maybe this is their way of trumping up listeners.

(I don't really believe that. I only wish they were being that cynical. No, this is just plain old caving.)