Unpopular opinions: cancelled soaps edition

[DemetriKane]

@Liberty City

This is very accurate. AMC was killing it. It was very healthy canvas before leaving us! I was intrigued by so much that was going on; Amanda had this interesting HPV storyline too. 

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[Liberty City]

Broderick was setting everything up to continue to be told, and still managed to wrap it all up. It was brilliant. The Bianca-JR-Marissa storyline, the David Orpheus storyline (Dixie's return), Amanda's HPV storyline, etc. It was all active and moving. Plus, the fact Cady McClain signed a multi-year deal to return showed Broderick had a true vision for Pine Valley.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Liberty City

[DemetriKane]

She really did have a vision. I was eating every last episode up. The classic A-B-C storytelling. She’s just brilliant, and needed to be writing the show it’s entire last decade. I know they were working out Cady’s contract before it was canned but was Lorraine back? Regardless, the JR/Bianca feud was so fresh and fascinating to watch!

[Liberty City]

Broderick was announced as head writer on April 2, 2011, and supposedly signed a multi-year deal. McClain was announced on April 25, so her return came following Broderick's announced return.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Liberty City

[DemetriKane]

Oh wow! Thank you! So both of them were blindsided as well. I just remember Cady saying in a interview she had was negotiating her return months before the cancellation. I just thought of a new unpopular opinion lol. 
 

ABC Daytime 

AMC was the real red headed step child. 

[Liberty City]

Brian Frons was the evil stepmother, making ABC Daytime the evil stepsisters. So yes, they were blindsided. I think everyone saw Broderick's return as a positive thing, given her history... and then Frons dropped the bomb.

[DemetriKane]

Smh It’s all so sad to me. You explained it the same way Vincent irizarry does lol.  Her return had me fanfic writing about the show again.

Edited December 13, 2021 by DemetriKane

[Liberty City]

Frons mislead them; moved them to Los Angeles, brought on a returning fan-fave head writer (after their brief stint the year prior), and then canceled. Rude.

[Chris 2]

I wonder what really happened. You don’t got the expense of moving a production to the opposite coast and then cancel it less than two years later. That smacks of someone else coming in and changing directions. I wonder if there was an exec above Frons who made that call - someone who wasn’t there when they made the call to move the show to L.A.

[Khan]

I think it could have been the other way around: the network wanted to do everything it could to save AMC (and OLTL), but Frons, who never saw any value in the soaps, cancelled the shows first chance he got.

[Vee]

I don't believe ABC was ever fully committed to saving AMC at that point, JMHO. She did a fine job, sure, but I think Broderick was the swan song gesture the network gave the show and fans to give it a decent exit, whereas ABCD had always gone out of its way not to re-hire LB permanently despite her being Agnes' heir apparent for years. They wanted control to mold the show into what they wanted it to be, and Broderick and people like her did not fit into that equation long-term. But when the show was done, they could afford to be magnanimous. That's how it certainly read to me at the time, anyway.

That being said, the story I always heard about the cancellations was that AMC was def doomed, and that OLTL had to go with it bc of branding considerations despite outperforming both it and GH; OLTL was always the redhead stepchild, and the optics internally of cancelling only AMC and leaving OLTL were seen as unacceptable. Supposedly ABC/Disney also wanted to can GH at the same time, but Frons begged for its life because he worshipped Guza's GH as the flagship. Of course Guza went out with that reprieve, too.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Vee

[DemetriKane]

Idk, it’s a lot things that’s just not privy to us. I agree somebody higher up played some part in this. Frons actually did love soaps, and did try to save the shows many times. 
 

At times both shows been the redhead stepchild imo. The soap press to me never gave AMC it’s due respect; it was if they resented them for whatever reason. At award shows the best things about the show was never acknowledged or nominated! They were the consistent #2 performer for many many years regardless if they were better than the #1 show. 
 

OLTL owe Jamey/and the Daytime crew at his podcast for going up in ratings. AMC went up in the ratings in times when they were the most hated soap, and got no positive press. I’m sure the show could have climbed back up if they had people praising them every other week on other podcast and radio shows! 

Edited December 14, 2021 by DemetriKane

[Vee]

I don't think Brian Frons ever loved soaps, and you have the words of every lifer on daytime who's gone on the record about this since their soaps passed, including Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak. I think at most he loved his idea of what he could mold soaps into. And if they wouldn't be what he wanted them to be they'd be destroyed.

Even at its peak I would never credit DC for raising the ratings. Back then, a decade ago, soap social media was even less significant than it is now. They were a popular voice in a very small subset of obscure discussion forums like this one but they could not move the ratings. That's not me dogging DC, that's a reality. I wouldn't say Soapcentral or Daytime Royalty or whatever else could move it either. DC has never had the larger cultural footprint of a popular cultural podcast/site capable of that in the outside world.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Vee

[Taoboi]

Yeah, I do at all believe Frons loved soaps ever. But yeah he went about getting what he wanted in a 'square in a round circle' way and there was a reason people cheered when he was fired. 

[DemetriKane]

Imma still stand by him loving the soaps; I can’t fault him for having his own idea of the them. I believe all do as fans, AMC would have been totally different show if I was writing it and that doesn’t mean the general audience would love my ideas.  @Taoboi agreed! The way he went about it wasn't cool at all! And the EP was a majo Problem at AMC. Rebecca and Cameron and Thorstan were her pets not frons.