I thought part of the terms of the license was they couldn't cut back episodes so drastically ... This is practically primetime show scheduling. It makes a mockery of the idea these are the same shows.

This could be a good thing!! Now the stories can be more focused!!

I'm in the minority. I think that I this might be good. I knew that them shooting for 5 weeks and taking off for 5 might be too much. Now, both shows could shoot majority of the year, take off the rest and save money. People would be well rested and the writers won't have excuses for producing poor stories. IMO, stories will be well thought of. More money might be saved this way too. They might have to start smaller and then go big again when the ratings get larger.

The shows are now essentially 2 half hour episodes. They might as well just make it an hourly drama like a primetime soap. With less episodes, the writers need to adjust how they approach the storytelling and they cant write it like a daytime soap anymore. Im not sure if the current writers can work in this new format. I fear Marlene may just continue to write the way she has been and that would be terrible for any soap

But its only been 3 weeks. I think it was way too soon to make such a drastic change and it'll be a few weeks before the show/writers can catch up to this. The next few weeks are going to be painful

I feel bad for the actors. With even less episodes than on tv now, then thats less money to be made. I wouldnt be surprised if many are wary of signing on or even sticking around

Edited May 16, 201312 yr by Cheap21

I'm really surprised as I thought with the eps being shorter it'd be easier to watch.

Find it intresting what they put about other Soaps, people watching 2-3 eps a week and catching up that way.

Where as these shows i'd actually agree about being harder to catch up if you miss one, as they move much quicker & theres less filler

Edited to add, Most UK Soaps actually started in the 2 half hour shows a week format, they'd need to have big changes in the writing style though

Edited May 16, 201312 yr by soapgirluk

These shows are doomed. Soap viewers want the intimacy several times a week. I predict the whole experiment will fail because they won't be able to justify the production costs to the investors when they are trying to track viewing habits on so many different platforms. It's a shame.

Yeah, a cancellation is happening by the end of this year. Not enough people are watching.

I'll get back to y'all later. I need some time to digest this news.

Looks like some apologies are in order for 3 people who decided to stick with network TV...

where does it say the episode order is now 110???

I'm angry that they did this already as they don't even have a month of data. Who knows what will happen once schools are out and people are on vacation, I could understand if they abbreviated the schedule for that reason.

Now I feel like they are shooting themselves in the foot, as the second AMC cycle is already done taping. With OLTL, I expect rewrites and a big mess for the cast and writers...

Looks like some apologies are in order for 3 people who decided to stick with network TV...

No.

where does it say the episode order is now 110???

Did you not read the original post that JackPeyton used to create this thread?

Looks like some apologies are in order for 3 people who decided to stick with network TV...

they made the best decision for themselves and after hearing this, they'll probably have felt more confident of that decision

Edited May 16, 201312 yr by Cheap21

I understand the reasoning as outlined, but I think it's a bad idea. Even the UK soaps air 3 or 4 days a week.

It doesn't sound like they're struggling at all - they've been on top of the viewing charts on Hulu and iTunes - but rather experimenting. I just think it's the wrong experiment.

where does it say the episode order is now 110???

Nellie Andreeva said that in the deadline article

With the new schedule, OLTL and AMC will produce about 110 episodes this year instead of the planned 168, which is expected to give writers more time to catch up on scripts and also provide more time for editing and post-production.

I'm angry that they did this already as they don't even have a month of data. Who knows what will happen once schools are out and people are on vacation, I could understand if they abbreviated the schedule for that reason.

Now I feel like they are shooting themselves in the foot, as the second AMC cycle is already done taping. With OLTL, I expect rewrites and a big mess for the cast and writers...

Some are speculating that money is tight, and because the shows are not doing as well as they had hoped, it's time to cut back on the eppies.