2 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Sorry, all this is just my recall of what was posted & in articles at the time. I'll see if I can come up with a link to an article at the time. What I recall is a kind of a competition between a Claire Labine soap (Union Place), Spelling's soap (Sunset Beach), a Stephen J. Cannell soap (lawyers, I think) & if there was a 4th one I do not recall anything about its identity. The set-up supposedly where the affiliates were made a part of the process was the annual meeting with them. 

So, Paul, I looked for over 2 hours & all I found was Labine in the Stuart Damon/WLS interview which sheds NO Light on the NBC affiliate involvement when SUNSET BEACH was tapped. That doesn't mean I will stop looking but it does mean I'm stopping for the moment. I recalled one other thing & that was that the reason for giving the affiliates involvement in the decision was very specific & that was their hope that they would get much better clearances rates by doing so. 

2 hours ago, Alan said:

Even if BTG ends up not being my cup of tea, I hope that it is successful, if only so that it may open the door to a broader revival of our beloved genre. The networks want eyeballs on their streaming services.

I agree, which is why I'm more interested to see how Beyond the Gates performs on streaming rather than linear. Unless it outright bombs (as in sub-1 million viewers) I think it'd be okay as long as it's doing okay on streaming. That's why I hope they'll attempt to push it on streaming as it's the only way to get a certain audience watching. 

If they can get an audience on streaming for a soap that isn't an old brand, then that'd be encouraging for streamers to start developing their own soaps, specifically done for streaming. That would pretty much secure the survival of the genre in the long term. 

2 hours ago, Alan said:

Disney, which basically invented modern intellectual property management of entertainment assets, has yet to realize the value it has in its defunct soaps.

With the upcoming planned AMC movies, I'd say they're starting to wake up that they might be sitting on something worth exploring at least. 

15 hours ago, Chris B said:

When it comes to past soaps and old episodes, I do think there is value for them in streaming. The amount of content is perfect for a binge and long term subscriptions. Dark Shadows has been a staple since streaming began, B&B has been a success on YouTube and The Doctors has been trucking along. I feel like that should be the future of most of the cancelled soaps. 

I'd love to see many more classic soaps streamed but the fact that so many of them have so many episodes makes it such an expensive proposition. However, that makes the shorter run shows appear to have an advantage. Santa Barbara, for example, which is owned by Disney & last year Jerome Dobson indicated that streaming might be in its future. Then, from another perspective apparently Corday made a statement that they'd begun modern digitizing on the archive approximately 10 years ago, which if true is an amazing investment & it also gives them high quality flashback resources. 

15 hours ago, Chris B said:

In terms of reboots, I think AMC is the only one that I could see coming back and having potential to be a real success. I could maybe see a form of GL returning, but the problem any returning soap is going to have is endless complaints about things that are different, people who aren't there, continuity, etc. 

I wonder if EDGE OF NIGHT wouldn't be the most likely to succeed in terms of rebooting. 

15 hours ago, Chris B said:

Launching a new soap that has something new to say was definitely the best thing they could've done. 

Absolutely & placing it squarely in the area of a previously underserved group seems to me fairly brilliant. 

I read recently that some of the people working on BTG have been nursing this project along for 4 years!! That, like many things just amped my excitement up!

 

20 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

I read recently that some of the people working on BTG have been nursing this project along for 4 years!! That, like many things just amped my excitement up!

I remember scoffing when Jamey Giddens said he'd originally pitched Ambitions as a daytime soap opera and wondered if he was delusional. But I'd assume Beyond the Gates must've had a long planning time and CBS must've looked over other proposals besides Val Jean's, so it's possible Ambitions was a pitch they heard. 

It just goes to show you how things might be moving slowly along in the background that we just never know about. 

Edited January 4Jan 4 by te.

34 minutes ago, te. said:

It just goes to show you how things might be moving slowly along in the background that we just never know about. 

That idea seems particularly delicious to me.

3 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

So, Paul, I looked for over 2 hours & all I found was Labine in the Stuart Damon/WLS interview which sheds NO Light on the NBC affiliate involvement when SUNSET BEACH

Not Stuart Damon! Damon L. Jacobs.

So, this appeared in my email this morning. 

https://www.msn.com/en-in/entertainment/tv/the-gates-the-first-black-led-soap-opera-in-35-years-show-promises-a-fresh-perspective-on-the-daytime-genre

Oh, good lord, this purports to be from MSN, then you see it is from ... wait for it ... The Times of India. WHAT?!!! 

Then, it has these amazing facts in error. Only two but egregiously wrong.
The examples:
Wrong #1
The series is still under development, so CBS will have to determine whether to pick up The Gates for formal TV placement.
Wrong #2
There has been no announcement about The Gates' casting or release date at this time.

I'm thoroughly disgusted.

 

 

 

 

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Can someone post the link to the NY Times article? I keep clicking on the links but it's just a screenshot. 😅

@te.Earlier you mentioned being more interested in how this does streaming rather than broadcast. I wonder if they've done enough to make it clear that viewers of Paramount Plus "regular" will have to wait till the next day to see the show & that to see it on the same day you must subscribe to Paramount Plus WITH SHOWTIME? 

Also, two things from IG.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CY7yJsbjqG1/?img_index=3

I did not know that MVJ was involved in writing the end of Mary Mae which I remember being well done. Labine & her, great teamwork. 

And, this one from the B&B 36 anniversary bash

MVJ often shows pix of her with friends. Here she is with KKL.

 

8 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

Can someone post the link to the NY Times article? I keep clicking on the links but it's just a screenshot. 😅

Main article (locked behind paywall)
Archive article (not locked)

8 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

Can someone post the link to the NY Times article? I keep clicking on the links but it's just a screenshot. 😅

More info? Article title? Byline? I'm looking & there are too many options!!! 

14 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Main article (locked behind paywall)
Archive article (not locked)

Thanks! I couldn't find it since I was looking for an article with BTG in the title.

14 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

More info? Article title? Byline? I'm looking & there are too many options!!! 

The link was posted as you were posting.

10 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

Thanks! I couldn't find it since I was looking for an article with BTG in the title.

Of course; glad to have helped.

16 minutes ago, BoldRestless said:

Thanks! I couldn't find it since I was looking for an article with BTG in the title.

The link was posted as you were posting.

Not a problem. Karmically, I made an effort, so ... 😉😇