PP: AMC & OLTL to air twice weekly

[KMan101]

WOW at this thread, first of all.

My first gripe is that they contradict themselves, several times.

Second, I think it's more production turnaround, like Vee has said. I personally love waking up and watching the new episodes so it hasn't been an issue to fall behind.

I see their reasoning, however, I don't buy it. I think they want viewers to tune in on specific days. Period. Which totally contradicts their "anytime" mantra.

Clearly viewers aren't an issue they're just not getting the views how they want them.

I could easily call this a clusterfuck but the hysterics and drama of this is a bit much. I personally hate they're dropping down to 2 episodes and think this headache could have been avoided but it is a learning experiment.

I really don't know what to make of this or what to say. I'll adjust my schedule and support the shows. I almost kind of like knowing Mon and Wed is AMC and Tues and Thurs is OLTL, however, they say that both aren't being watched by the same audience (or some jargon; sorry, a gazillion pages I just read through), so I just think this should have been their model from the start. It's just going to add more to the confusion. I totally get people falling behind, but REALLY? THAT is the reason? I don't know if I buy that. Time will tell.

I'm also running a fever with a sinus infection so I hope this made sense LMAO.

[EricMontreal22]

You miss the point completely. They stillhave to make a certain amount of revenue at a certain pace to keep up continuous production. If everyone is binging, let's say, then they have to slow down the pace because they get what they were expecting each week maybe each two weeks or month.

One thing not mentioned much here is how they seemed to expect everyone to watch BOTH soaps and clearly that's not happening (I find it fascinating all the opinions about which show is better--because, often for reasons that surprise me, fans actually seem more divided about which is better than I expected.) This new format of one each day I suspect makes them hope more fans will watch both. (Which kinda makes the point some have that they shouldhave just launched one at first make sense, although I still say the fan interest in the project that they needed to launch would not have been there if only one show had been chosen.)

[ThisIsHeavy]

Speaking as a statistician, yo can not base a decision like this on 2 and a half weeks of data taken within the same season of the year. If that were really the reason they would have needed to study viewing data for a random 2 week period in all four seasons of the year. As a business person, this is a rather transparent cost cutting measure that they are now trying to spin. I knew something was up when they sued ABC, they need cash and were desperate to find it but are now stuck with having to cut production.

This does not bode well for the shows. I will watch until the bitter end, but I don't know why I got my hopes up.

[Vee]

I'm not even trying to look at Twitter right now.

[Cheap21]

doesnt mean they will. Seems like damage controlI have to admit, the Cassandra story was something I immediately thought of. I find it too disturbing as it is and want it to end already so I cringed at the thought of it being dragged out much longer.

Oh and it'll probably be weeks till Petey and Celia get a break

[EricMontreal22]

I think the shows might seem even more choppy airing less frequently now, but the pace IMHO will still be faster than what we get on ABC (which isn't in all regards a good thing.) As for NBC--have you watched NBC? Even without JER there, DAYS is still the slowest soap on network tv (and that\s been its tradition for a LONG time.)

[Nate4]

.....horrible news! Oltl/amc are my favorite soaps, not primetime dramas.

[Jonathan]

Yes.

[Cheap21]

maybe OLTL but one of the most heard complaint about AMC since it started was that it was going too slow. Now imagine that except going twice as slow

[ChitHappens]

EM, that's why I'm asking.

However, I think it's impossible to train the audience the way they had hoped. We live in a world everyone believes "if it's not convenient for me, I'm out". People are not going to change their habits to accomodate the shows staying on.

[EricMontreal22]

You completely ignored the very valid thought though that this also could be due to being overwhelmed time wise with the production model.

The funny thing is I forgot how hysterical online soap fandom (and I don't leave myself out of this) can get. I've spoken to over half a dozen friends, or texted with them, about this change--I mean "real life" friends and NONE of them see it as a big deal (two even said it would make it a lot easier for them.)

[Vee]

It's also important to recognize that online fandom considers itself the tastemakers on the pulse of the general audience. That's only intermittently the case, and usually on a marginal basis.

[EricMontreal22]

Really? Not on here--I've heard about certain characters being on too much, but not that the pace of reveals (like JR waking up) was too slow at all. *shrug*

[dragonflies]

Are those friends people who would watch everyday or just a casual viewer. I don't see it mattering to a casual viewer...

[EastMA2]

Staying optimistic here. This is uncharted territory and they are being proactive in adjusting to what their research is telling them. Everyone I know who is watching is behind at least 2 episodes and some are already 2 weeks behind. It's hard to change habits and it has been tough to get into the habit of remembering to sign on to hulu to watch. Plus, I believe that the production schedules are more nightmare-ish than originally thought. Several behind the scenes people have tweeted about not getting out of the studio until midnight or later trying to edit the shows. I think this will keep evolving.