SOD

[j swift]

Yowza! They've lost almost 90% of their readers in the last decade.

As for Carolyn Hinsey, her book was total trash.  Not only was it terribly organized, cheaply printed, and filled with dumb lists, but it was mostly a regurgitation of her prior articles.  As if anyone on earth was asking for a literary compendium of her writing.  It was like reading a fourth grade book report where some kid added a bunch of fluff in order to meet the word count.

Talk about not holding up over time, she makes a tacky joke about how social storylines aren't used on B&B because they don't translate well in other languages.  She stupidly remarked that it would difficult to translate for South Africa, because nobody knows how to say "Lithium in Swahili." It is not enough that the joke is offensively unfunny but I remember that B&B is broadcast in South Africa and translated into Afrikaan because I read about it in an article about Brandon Beemer visiting South Africa in Soap Opera Digest, which proves that she never read any other part of the magazine beside her own column.

Edited May 15, 2022 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

Untrue. I know for a fact that she gleefully & cruelly took people to the cleaners for what *she* thought about *their* writing. She wouldn't have credited that not everyone wanted to write like her.

[Paul Raven]

The covers would look much better if instead of the crappy photo shopping, they put individuals or couples in their own box

[Contessa Donatella]

Great idea! Why do I think almost any suggestion would be an improvement over what they do, do?

[victoria foxton]

.

Edited May 15, 2022 by victoria foxton

[Contessa Donatella]

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[janea4old]

The SID print magazine shut down in spring 2020 when COVID shut down all the soaps except DAYS.   soapsindepth.com website is still running, and it's free to read. 

if your public library has "libbyapp" for periodicals, you can read SOD for free, the send you an online copy to read on your computer and it's an exact copy of the print edition.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

The most glaring error one can imagine, Hinsey got the date of the ATWT & GL cancellation wrong. For god's sake, they announced it on April Fools' Day!  How ya gonna miss that one?!!

[Liberty City]

Umm... you mean All My Children & One Life to Live, right? 

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[Contessa Donatella]

No, I don't. Quickest look: Wikipedia: "On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it would be canceling Guiding Light after a run of 72 years (15 on radio and 57 on television) due to low ratings. The show taped its final scenes for CBS on August 11, 2009, and its final episode on the network aired on September 18, 2009.^"

 

However ATWT shows a Sept. date, so my mistake it's only GL that they did on April Fools' Day.

[Noel]

Oh, that's right! Where the hell has time gone? I liked Weekly too and I remember the good ol' AOL days when I would chat with Mimi. She knew me back in the day as I recapped Guiding Light. I enjoyed doing it, but it was a lot of work. 

Now come to thing of it, you are right with Carolyn liking Y&R because she always had something to say about Y&R, lol!. Maybe my memory is thinking AMC actors instead? 

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@soapfan770 Ouch! So, Another World was canceled in 1999. Guiding Light's last air date was in September 2009 and As The World Turns shortly followed in September 2010. So, that's a decrease, but what I would like to see are the sales from 2011 and 2012 when All My Children and One Life to Live were canceled. Oh, and I forgot about the Prospect Park mess. Still, from 2010 to 2016, that's a significant decrease. I don't mean to get so nerdy, but this is kind of my professional background that I specialize in, but I'm more about statistical analysis. However, there's this behavioral component that intrigues me to this kind of information and that's when I get all nerdy.  

[j swift]

@soapfan770 & @NoelI wonder about a couple variables beyond content that may have affected the subscription rates. 

(1) The sale of SOD's publisher might indicate differences in marketing.  American Media aka A360media has gone through a number of acquisitions by investors who do not necessarily care about sustaining print media.  The fall out of Ronan Farrow's book on the company must have had an impact on the bottom line, and they may not be solvent enough to market to such niche consumer base.

(2) I don't know if these Wikipedia numbers reflect digital subscriptions.  When SOD began to become unreliable in terms of being mailed on the same day every week, I switched to the digital version through Amazon, which was much cheaper because the subscription was bundled with other magazine for under $6 a month.  But, since the subscription was through a digital media service not owned by A360, I don't know if those numbers count.

Now, I am not saying that 90% of readers dropped off in the last decade only due to digital access and poor marketing, but those could account for some of the variance.

Edited May 15, 2022 by j swift

[Noel]

Oh, for sure! There are other independent variables to consider and I'm glad that you brought that up as well. I didn't even think about the digital stuff as it flew right over my head. This is fascinating. If you don't mind me asking, where did you find this information? Is this through a database?

[Contessa Donatella]

I love people who understand statistics -- because I do NOT! LOL What do you mean by 'behavioral component'? Doesn't that apply to everything we do?

[soapfan770]

LOL right? I remember the 80’s and 90’s as being so distinctively different but everything for me since 2001 at least has been well one blended blur for the most part. Torchin was fantastic I remember her online chats as well but yeah SOW did her wrong. 
 

The last few years of Weekly like I said were just weird once they started covering reality shows and treated them like they were “soaps” especially the time SOW put American Idol on the cover. Desperation to sell magazines? Most likely but it made the soap press look very incompetent at the time. I get them putting Desperate Housewives on the cover the rest was silly.

I recall ending my SOD subscription around to 2004. I recall it was a mix of pricing as well I was tired of the heavy press given to Days and GH while most of the other soaps got ignored. Sure there were occasional Y&R and AMC covers but it was few and far between at the time. GL & ATWT? Ha ha ha only every other year! And Hinsey’s comments about male rape on soaps were very disturbing.

Edited May 15, 2022 by soapfan770