PP: AMC & OLTL to air twice weekly

[rhinohide]

Lol. Not an official definition, but my use of the term means someone who will not be swayed from their position (as on a battlefield) to the bitter end. No matter what.

[John]

OLTL had fimed about 24 episodes after 4 weeks

AMC only shot 12 in their first two week session. I believe they caught up the last cycle & OLTL will do the same this tim but thats why the sched change

Yes they would. They have one studio for two soaps. How would they film like GH does with a situstion like that?

[Chris B]

There is no positive way to spin it after 3 weeks time, but there are better ways to handle the situation that a good PR team would've presented to them. Either a hiatus, or waiting and rolling it out like a regular timeslot change instead of "OMG people aren't watching fast enough after 3 weeks, so lets completely change everything." The fact that they lost their FX Canada deal also proved how poorly thought out this was. They need cable deals and that additional money from international deals.

[Soaplovers]

That's what I was getting at, the fact that they are sharing one studio and alternating filming.. they had no way of knowing if the production goals set would have been met. It was untested, hence why i think they should have started out with airing 2 or 3 episodes per week to be safe. Then if the production model was being met, then they could have announced that they were going to 4 episodes a week. Then fans wouldn't have panicked.

And yes, I'm aware that they couldn't film like GH with one studio for two soaps. hence why I said if they were being filmed like the other soaps (no alternating film schedule, and a studio for each soap) then they would be able to start with 4 episodes per week right out of the gate.

I'm assuming that viewership is strong, but for an untested format such as these two.. i would have started out small and then grew as viewership grew and more episodes were produced.

Or they could have premiered the two shows later then 4/29 when both shows had two complete filming cycles under their belt.

[R Sinclair]

That's not the job of PUBLIC RELATIONS!

What you have a problem with is what's happening on an executive level -- over which Public Relations has no control. All PR can do is build a bridge between their client (the Company) and the consumers (the Viewer) over troublesome water. It's not up to them to tell the executives what decisions to make. It's up to them to come up with ways to spin it to the positive and make the decisions made by their clients palatable for the consumer.

[R Sinclair]

Oh, OK! I never heard that terminology (other than the movie series and the car battery), so I was hella confused! Thanks, love!

[rhinohide]

I always explain it that the decision may be to walk off a cliff. PR's job is to present that convincingly as a sound decision, and make sure the decision maker has a soft landing.

[marceline]

I'm throwing that term right on the bonfire with "real soap fan" and "cult member." I'm tired of entertaining the myth that the soap viewing audience is monolithic either in either expectations or behavior.

[rhinohide]

Those terms do not imply (to me) a monolith in any way. In fact the opposite. They seem to segment the audience into subsets.

The true fan argument is tired. I've used it myself. I was wrong.

But it's hard to deny that there are not segments of the audience who are diehards. Not all scrubs fans think Patrick should die if he can't be reunited with Robin. But it's hard to deny that there are some who do. And that no alternative is acceptable to them. Those are diehards IMO. No offense to scrubs diehards intended. It was just one example. There are diehards in every sub segment of fandom.

[Khan]

See, that's what I love about the GUIDING LIGHT fans I converse with online. We don't get caught up in our favorite couples and such. We talk about the show as a whole, because we happen to love the show as a whole.

[R Sinclair]

That, too!

Nevertheless, PR is told "MAKE IT WORK" and it's their job to do so. It's not their job to offer up alternatives and think of the broad picture. They're mere employees. Not partners, not consultants. People need to understand these things before they start blaming the wrong party for things out of their control.

I hated Guiding Light as a whole, so I'm not seeing the positive.

[rhinohide]

Lol. You still seem confused. PR would not be the ones who handled the decision. The decision was made. PR handled the spin.

[rhinohide]

That's sweet. Lol. I remember when it wasn't that way. Maybe not with your online friends.

[Vee]

Guiding Light fans weren't crazy? Tell it to Paul Anthony Stewart or Laura Wright.

[Errol]

It is my understanding that AMC filmed 20 episodes for its first round of taping (2 weeks) and OLTL did 40 episodes (4 weeks). When exactly did either series get "reduced" to less than 20 (AMC) and 24 (OLTL)? In fact, AMC will have aired its first round of filming beginning with this coming weeks episodes.