PP: AMC & OLTL to air twice weekly

[greens_dupres]

I'm thinking we'll get a lot more stuff like when Dani was in the hospital- everyone in the same place but we had the Victor/Tea reuniting,Todd stewing, a little bit of Jack, Viki/Clint/Jeffrey talking the Dorian scandal and Matt/Des talking about Drew & Dani's overdose. Granted it was 1-2 short scenes each but stuff like that could work. I always like when a lot of the characters are in a central location.

[EricMontreal22]

Well for cable they'd prob start at th ebeginning, right? SO would have a backlog anyway...

There have been a few articles about how percentage wise a lot more Canadians still watch soaps than the percentage of Americans. AMC is particular has long had a big following here as back in the 70s, before most Canadians had cable (in Canada basic cable gives you all the major American networks--usually from what other major American affiliate you are closest to) CBC picked up AMC and Edge of Night (I believe around '75--there's a youtube video of Agnes Nixon speaking about her show which is an excerpt from a profile for the show that CBC filmed at the time--I wish they'd release the full thing.) Another World also had a big following here (there was some very half hearted talk about continuingit in Canada), as does Y&R which for most of the country shows the next day's episode at 5pm where people often can watch most after work.

Of course I won't talk about our own awful attempts at daily soaps (the one I remember best from the mid 90s was Family Passions, a co-production with Germany of all places that lasted one year and included Kin Shriner, Roscoe Born, Andrew Jackson and Gordon Thomson in it and, coincidental to this thread, had Thom Racina was one of the headwriters--I can't find it on youtube but I remember thinking it was pretty bad... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Passions )

Back to FXCanada, they already air the soaps three times a weekday with complete marathons of both Sat and Sunday so obviously some changes to their schedule will have to be made, but so far I can't find anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnhi-vrvofs

[Khan]

My thoughts run along that same line, Gray Bunny.

Theoretically, the new viewing schedule could work. AMC and OLTL could each run twice a week, at thirty minutes an episode, and still be profitable, and still be entertaining. However, it requires re-thinking how these shows are written and produced (and I'll be honest, I'm not sure if people like Marlene McPherson can do that). From this point forward, AMC and OLTL need to follow the model established by the primetime soaps of the 1980's.

What does that mean?

* Smaller casts. AMC and OLTL's casts have to be even smaller than they are at the present. DALLAS and DYNASTY were, at heart, sagas about one family, with the regular cast composed of actors portraying key family members, and a revolving door of supporting actors/characters who came and went each season as stories dictated. AMC and OLTL might be wise to follow this, or a similar, model. (Yes, KNOTS LANDING wasn't as family-focused and they were more successful than either DALLAS or DYNASTY. However, each episode of KNOTS was sixty minutes, and therefore able to support a more broad canvas of characters. With each episode at approximately half that length, both AMC and OLTL need to take a good, hard look at their respective casts and determine which characters will give them the maximum bang for their buck.)

* Smaller stories. Smaller in number (the less number of stories to feature per episode, the better), and smaller in scope, too. From here on out, accept that EVERY story and EVERY main character must be featured in EVERY EPISODE. Moreover, episodes must cover more ground than ever before. We need to feel days passing as opposed to mere hours.

* More purposeful scenes. As nice as it was to see AMC's Angie chatting with Dr. Joe, for example, and catching up on everybody's doings, that sort of stuff isn't going to fly on the new, streamlined schedule. Not even on a show like "The Waltons" or "Little House for the Prairie" could you write a scene where essentially nothing happens. From now on, plot (character-driven plot, of course, but certainly gripping plot that relies more on dramatic reversals of fortune and of character) is the name of the game. If a scene doesn't advance the plot in a significant way, it's a waste of playing time.

* More on-location taping. A daytime drama that runs five or even four days per week can get away with being mostly studio-bound. On a series that runs less episodes, though, "studio-bound" translates often into "claustrophobic," "constricting," even "cheap as hell." (Example: The final season of DYNASTY.) My advice to AMC and OLTL would be to get those actors out of the studio as much as possible. Get them up, get them out, get them moving. Characters cannot afford to be seen working the same plot point or even several consecutive plot points in the same location any more than they can afford to spend episode after episode wringing their hands over the same damn dilemma. Again, characters on primetime soaps, as well as nighttime shows in general, are more mobile and more decisive, and that's because the shows' writers know they have only so many minutes and so many episodes to tell the kinds of stories that daytime soaps have the luxury of time to tell.

[marceline]

EricMontreal is going to have to marry each one of us so we can move there. I call dibs on being his first spouse!

[EricMontreal22]

IYou have a deal! Wait, what's in it for me?

[Soapsuds]

LoL

[Khan]

For OLTL, I'd go back to what I suggested months ago (I think): focus on Viki and Clint, make them the matriarch and patriarch of the show's now-sole family, the Buchanans. Keep Natalie, keep Cutter. Bring back Kevin and Joey. Bring back Kelly as well. Keep Dorian as the constant [!@#$%^&*]-stirrer for the family. Bring other characters, both new and old, according to story needs, sparingly. But for all intents and purposes, this -- Clint/Viki/Kevin/Joey/Kelly/Natalie/Cutter/Dorian -- is the new core of OLTL.

[Soapsuds]

LoL

[Dale]

Eric, since they are already re-running the shows around the clock all week long, I don't suppose this news will change that. FX really doesn't have anything to replace the soaps with - they re-run EVERYTHING non stop.

[EricMontreal22]

And with all this, the cost would be at least as much as it is now--and there would be no point.

But it is true storytelling in daytime has been described as being "tell them" whereas in primetime it's "show them."

[Soapsuds]

Do you have to ask?..lol

[dragonflies]

I actually think this is going to encourage binge viewing even more. I can see alot of people saying "oh heck I can just fit that hour for AMC(OR OLTL) in over the weekend, I'll just watch my show(s) then"

[EricMontreal22]

YEah, it sounds cynical, but one reason they jumped on this soap thing so quickly I think is they really need programming (although I thought they were mandated to show more Canadian programming--they seem to rerun some shows like Murdoch Mysteries in the small hours of the morning.) Aside from American FXs primetime shows (which there aren't very many of at one given time) they have usuallya couple of movies and I know the soaps replaced an hour block of 30 Rock reruns.

BTW Dale, did you see my post about FXCanada having a The Americans marathon all day Monday for the long weekend? While I guess it won't affect you as I believe you watch OLTL and not AMC, it looks like the soaps are airing at a special time early that day (6pstam) and then at their usual late night (1am PST) airing so won't be skipped over.

[Khan]

But I thought this wasn't about money.

[EricMontreal22]

Onthat point, we agree...