I think people started to binge once VCRs existed. This is not a new thing, if people are choosing one show over the other to watch daily that makes sense.

The idea that someone has to start at the first episode if they are a new viewer is also ridiculous. Soaps are not constructed that way and if people want to see episode one and they can't without paying that is just like every other television show and having to pay for it on DVD or on demand especially since they don't have summer reruns anymore... They could in theory have open weeks that they have the older shows available to see for free (they do that for some prime time shows with on demand.)

Us online fans have speculated and pondered for years how to keep the genre alive in a world with so many viewing options, the Internet, changing lifestyles & pop culture interest, etc. Didn't an ATWT exec suggest changing the broadcasts to 3 times a week some ten years ago? It's 2013; there's four soaps left on television with 3 of those 4 shows pulling in numbers that Loving was in 1995 when it was revamped. The demand for 5 episodes a week isn't there like it used to be. An hour's worth of soap once a week, every week isn't such a bad thing. Especially when the alternative is zero hours for zero weeks totaling zero episodes a year.

Hell, I'm a loyal DAYS fan til the end, but most of the time I wish it came on only 2-3 times a week. They certainly could include all necessary story beats and wean out the filler crap. Especially in this day and age when soaps are so simplified due to their budgets and the need to crank out as many pages per day as humanly possible, a lot of scenes are redundant, lackluster, and sleep-inducing. Maybe that's just DAYS' problem though.

The most "traditional" of traditional soap opera viewers who crave that 5-days-a-week companion (or convenient background noise) aren't even watching/not gonna watch the new AMC and OLTL because they're not on TV.

1 hour a week all through 2013 is better than none. Currently, there are zero hours planned in production for the revival of Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Another World, etc.

I think people started to binge once VCRs existed. This is not a new thing, if people are choosing one show over the other to watch daily that makes sense.

The idea that someone has to start at the first episode if they are a new viewer is also ridiculous. Soaps are not constructed that way and if people want to see episode one and they can't without paying that is just like every other television show and having to pay for it on DVD or on demand especially since they don't have summer reruns anymore... They could in theory have open weeks that they have the older shows available to see for free (they do that for some prime time shows with on demand.)

Yeah I mean people who watch the network soaps surely can't start watching at the beginning, so they start at some point watching, unless they've watched since the beginning.

Sounds like the sharing studio stuff hasn't helped all that much.

One thing is for sure: unless and until PP adjusts the number of new episodes made available each week, AMC and OLTL have got to stop thinking and acting like daytime or even "anytime" soaps.

Us online fans have speculated and pondered for years how to keep the genre alive in a world with so many viewing options, the Internet, changing lifestyles & pop culture interest, etc. Didn't an ATWT exec suggest changing the broadcasts to 3 times a week some ten years ago? It's 2013; there's four soaps left on television with 3 of those 4 shows pulling in numbers that Loving was in 1995 when it was revamped. The demand for 5 episodes a week isn't there like it used to be. An hour's worth of soap once a week, every week isn't such a bad thing. Especially when the alternative is zero hours for zero weeks totaling zero episodes a year.

Hell, I'm a loyal DAYS fan til the end, but most of the time I wish it came on only 2-3 times a week. They certainly could include all necessary story beats and wean out the filler crap. Especially in this day and age when soaps are so simplified due to their budgets and the need to crank out as many pages per day as humanly possible, a lot of scenes are redundant, lackluster, and sleep-inducing. Maybe that's just DAYS' problem though.

The most "traditional" of traditional soap opera viewers who crave that 5-days-a-week companion (or convenient background noise) aren't even watching/not gonna watch the new AMC and OLTL because they're not on TV.

1 hour a week all through 2013 is better than none. Currently, there are zero hours planned in production for the revival of Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Another World, etc.

If I'm not mistaken, Goutman suggested they do 3 days a week as it'd save costs. It's one of the smart (and few) things he suggested.

And I have to applaud for the last sentence, which I've been saying from the start. Some is better than nothing. P&G fans aren't even getting tossed a damn bone.

If they had done this from the start, I think people wouldn't be upset. I think the fact they criticized people for binge viewing and not watching like they expected.

If any of the off air shows was revived and then less than a month later had its episode order cut in half I'd be just as angry.

If I'm not mistaken, Goutman suggested they do 3 days a week as it'd save costs. It's one of the smart (and few) things he suggested.

And I have to applaud for the last sentence, which I've been saying from the start. Some is better than nothing. P&G fans aren't even getting tossed a damn bone.

It's not even much of a bone really. This is going to lead to people not seeing their favorite characters for weeks on end. David Canary on AMC is recurring we'll probably see him, if we're lucky, once a month at this rate

Until they adjust the storytelling we may go a week or more without seeing contract people. When OLTL has Shelter episodes, unless they planned to have other material, they will just be concert shows and if you aren't into that why watch. That is going to cause much whining and people going to find illegal edits just to see favorites forgoing the rest of the show or only watching the days they know their favorites are on...

What is filmed now for both shows is for the 4 day a week format, unless they somehow fix that then, we'll probably see the same handful of characters for both shows for awhile

It's not even much of a bone really. This is going to lead to people not seeing their favorite characters for weeks on end. David Canary on AMC is recurring we'll probably see him, if we're lucky, once a month at this rate

I've said this earlier but I think story will be tighter by this new model, so in the start I think we might be missing characters for awhile but I think once they flesh it out, fans won't go w/o their fave characters for awhile. It's an adjustment on both parts and fans need to accept their part. PP brought our shows back and we need to continue to watch regardless the shift in scheduling. Assuming this is what they'll do, we'll still have something to watch on Hulu each day Monday through Thursday. Two of those days for OLTL & two for AMC.

One thing is for sure: unless and until PP adjusts the number of new episodes made available each week, AMC and OLTL have got to stop thinking and acting like daytime or even "anytime" soaps.

What in the hell does that mean? They are either daytime or "anytime."

Only with soaps would "excessive viewing" be considered a bag thing lol

What in the hell does that mean? They are either daytime or "anytime."

apparantly they're not either one since PP doesn't want people watching "anytime" they want lol

What is filmed now for both shows is for the 4 day a week format, unless they somehow fix that then, we'll probably see the same handful of characters for both shows for awhile

These shows dont film in order. They film in segments usually by sets. So no they dont shoot for the 4 a day watching model.

Edited May 17, 201312 yr by John

The material was written for the four episode week a format, not for a two. For example, if you watch AMC for Pete and Celia they wouldn't have been on this week at all if we only saw Monday and Tuesday...

WOW if JR hadn't already came out of his coma this two day a week thing it'd have been another month before he'd have come out of it lol