OWN Cancels 'Ambitions' After Just One Season

[Errol]

OWN opts not to pick up "Ambitions" for a second season. The series starred Robin Givens and was created by Daytime Confidential's Jamey Giddens.

The post OWNS Cancels 'Ambitions' After Just One Season appeared first on Soap Opera Network.

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[KMan101]

Can't say I'm surprised. I thought it was better than Tyler Perry's crap though. I'm trying to put my finger on why this one didn't quite click though. Maybe it belonged on BET or an actual network? 

 

I also wasn't that fond of Givens, personally but I know Jamey had a hard-on for her in this role.

 

Folks on social media are wanting Jamey as the new Y&R headwriter. I mean, I could see it, but he'd never last because they'd micromanage to death so (there's a few reasons so many folks want nothing to do with being a headwriter) ... he's better off doing his own thing. He'd sure make Devon, Elena, Amanda and Nate interesting. But we can't have nice things.

[DramatistDreamer]

First, I have to preface this by saying I've only seen 2 or 3 episodes (the ones posted on the OWN YouTube channel) but Givens as the lead might have seemed a good choice superficially but is not the right move for a fledgling series of any kind due to her distracting acting choices. it seems as if the best time to have gotten Robin Givens on projects would've been the 1990s before she developed all these acting tics.

There's a rule in screenwriting that you have to grab the prospective reader (usually a production assistant) in the first 10 minutes (10 pages=10 minutes) or else it's a lost cause and if you've got the first ten minutes of viewers too focused or annoyed on your lead character's tics, a lot of people will tune out after a few episodes, (some even after a few minutes).

For whatever reasons, OWN is not invested in Ambitions. JMO but with Ava Duvernay opening up the path toward critical acclaim on the network, which now has a show by the writer who wrote the original play that led to the film Moonlight, it appears that perhaps Oprah is steering more toward those types of programs and less on the Ambitions type of show. Tyler Perry's programs came at a time that Oprah was more desperate for ratings and original shows to fill the time slots and Oprah may turn up her nose at most soaps, but she won't turn her nose up at the ratings that TP's soaps still manage to bring in (I don't know how people watch his stuff but that's a conversation for another day). 

Part of me wonders if OWN gave the series a go, hoping to develop a relationship with Will Packer going forward. One season may have been the "cost" of them doing business with Packer--they obviously hope to do more projects with him in the near future.

 

On a side note--, I think we all have to look at the fact that writing a series that airs five days ago, as opposed to once or twice per week, is a whole other bag.  Perhaps it is no longer possible for a HW to write a truly compelling show five days a week.  The writers of classic soap did it but clearly this has changed. 

This has nothing to do with Ambitions being canceled, of course... just food for thought.