You Are In Charge Of Digital Programming: Cancelled Soaps Edition

[DramatistDreamer]

It seems as though the current daytime soaps are finally starting to utilize digital platforms, streaming in particular, to expand their reach and each of their brands.

This is a good thing, as I have been saying for several years now. Still, I can't help but think about all those beloved soaps of yore that could have benefited from some digital programming but some daytime dramas were either long cancelled, or did not utilize the technology early enough in the nascent days of streaming.

If you were in charge of digital programming for a cancelled daytime soap, how would you go about doing this? The soap is already cancelled, so we're not talking about reboots or revivals, not are we pretending that the show never went off the air. Everything is the same except there will now be a digital platform created for your favorite cancelled daytime soap and you're in charge of it and how it will be run.

Have at it and have fun.

 

Okay, I'll go first.

As The World Turns

Streaming Platform: YouTube 

Uploading vintage episodes to a dedicated As The World Turns YouTube channel, especially from 1979-1989.  (Supposedly, there are little to no surviving episodes predating 1979. I am still somewhat dubious about these claims). Uploads would be scheduled daily, four episodes per day.

There would be viewing parties with a live stream and moderated chats for special episodes like Thanksgiving, Christmas, wedding, costume balls/galas, Emmy nominated/Emmy award winning, highest rated, groundbreaking and cliff-hanger episodes.

Selected cast and crew to discuss the creative and production process behind specific episodes in-depth (pre-recorded, if not live) to air after the episode has been uploaded.

A dedicated social media page where fans can not only find clips and pics from the daytime serial but the social media information of all available former cast members of ATWT.

Would not shy away from topics such as whether an episode, topic or character portrayal was dated (e.g. "that didn't age so well") or presaged the future ("that character wasn't appreciated in his/her own time") or eternal.

[Xanthe]

I would make everything available with thoroughly indexed metadata by scene by actor, character, and date. Users would have the option to watch by episode or by following a character (or I'll be generous, pair of characters so that any scene including at least one of them is in the playlist) sequentially from a user-specified starting point. User has the option to jump to the next scene or episode at any point, or to change between the linear episode option and following character(s).

"My" show is Another World and I refer to the AWHP a lot so I would like to have some linking from the episodes to that kind of information from within the streaming service but I am also very sensitive to spoilers (I have been maddened reading sprawling novels when I am tempted to look up information about a character to understand who they are and I wind up coming across information about where they wind up that I don't need to know yet) so ideally there might be spoiler protection in the linkage so you can proceed with caution. But to be able to know how people are related and how many times they have been blind or had amnesia (looking at you, Rachel Cory) would be good.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Xanthe

[DramatistDreamer]

@Xanthe A searchable index that functions digitally sounds like a terrific idea!

To piggy by off your idea, I would love a digitally searchable index that allows you to search a daytime drama writer's work and see specific episodes written by a particular HW or a specific group of writers. Maybe even see a particular character's first appearance onscreen and see an onscreen link (a la Amazon Prime Video) to further information such as who created the character, etc.

An accessible searchable index is great. If it's directly connected visually to the shows, so much the better.

 

[Xanthe]

Indexing HW would be a good feature, although I don't know how typical it is for the casual viewer to be aware of the HW. I was also thinking about whether there could be a way to search for specific storylines, which could require a lot of very fuzzy searching. In the current world if I want to find video of a storyline, I typically have to look up when the characters were onscreen, check the synopses to try to pinpoint when the storyline was in progress, and then search YouTube by date which may or may not yield results. (Although in the dream world for this plan the video is absolutely available and the indexing review can be done.)

[watson71]

Create a P&G soap channel on Pluto TV that debuts a new episode of each show daily and repeats 3 times during the day.  Create branding themes like CBS used to do for their soaps- "This week on..."  P&G if it chose to do so could still advertise its products on the soaps.  Do special marathons on the weekends- best weddings, best villains, etc.

12:00 PM/ 6:00 PM/ 12:00 AM/ 6:00 AM Search for Tomorrow- 2 episodes 

1:00 PM/ 7:00 PM/ 1:00 AM / 7:00 AM As the World Turns

2:00 PM/ 8:00 PM/ 2:00 AM/ 8:00 AM Another World

3:00 PM/ 9:00 PM/ 3:00 AM/ 9:00 AM Guiding Light

4:00 PM/ 10:00 PM/ 4:00 AM/ 10:00 AM Texas

5:00 PM/ 11:00 PM/ 5:00 AM/ 11:00 AM Edge of Night

5:30 PM/ 11:30 PM/ 5:30 AM/ 11:30 AM The Catlins 

Edited February 7, 2022 by watson71

[DramatistDreamer]

It's the writer in me, lol. 

When I was a liaison for the NYPL Performing Arts Library, scholars, artists and teachers would always contact me for access to the video archives. I was thinking about the education/research component, which often draws a good amount of funding. These type of efforts often draw funding, which something like this tends to require.

One of the problems that daytime dramas and soaps in general, have had to face is that they are often belittled as simple, mindless entertainment. If someone studying this genre (and there are people who write on its history and impact) can access these archives for study, it expands the significance of the daytime drama to realms beyond entertainment. It garners more respect for this drama, which has been sorely lacking.