AMC: Lifetime TV Movie Franchise Announced

[All My Shadows]

Those are some interesting, and realistic, thoughts. I do agree with Schnetzer that it’s too late for AW. Maybe if SoapNet was still a thing, but if it was, the soap landscape would probably be different altogether.

[DRW50]

By the time Soapnet ended they were showing "reality" shows like Southern Belles or whatever the hell that was called. 

I think the real gift to AW was it managed to stay on for twenty years in spite of crashing so hard at the end of the '70s. I know I'd watch AW movies and I still wish it was around today, but it wasn't a show that after said '70s ever had the same name in the public eye as AMC had.

[Vee]

I think certain shows like GL or AMC (or OLTL, for different tonal and content reasons) are endlessly malleable and renewable, particularly because GL and AMC are kind of quintessentially Americana. GL in particular had so many eras that the core families themselves are less essential than the specific tone. Edge of Night is perhaps an even more evergreen property for its own reasons that has sadly been left on the table.

AW or others, I can't see it without maybe very light ties to the past or those families, maybe a focus on  publishing empire or aspirational stuff like Lemay's class divides, and similar deep familial or Oedipal conflict with all-new characters. Beyond that I think it would need to be a whole new thing.

Edited October 12, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

I think the same goes for shows with cult followings, such as DS and PASSIONS.

[Vee]

The irony of course being what we talked about before re: Dark Shadows, which is that somehow no one who's picked it up since has managed to make it work long-term. I still feel that's because the market has such a glut of DS-like shows now already, all its imitators. EON is maybe even more optimal but there's also many shows similar to it, though I think it could still easily succeed since it kind of straddles the ideal line between soap, horror-themed mystery show and procedural. In many ways I feel what EON became in the '70s is what DS could've and should've done had it hoped to survive long-term.

Edited October 12, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

That's true.  I also think - and I might have said this in the past - that those who've tried to revive or reboot DS really didn't understand that part of the original series' appeal was seeing just how long Dan Curtis and his team could keep the crazy train going before it all fell gloriously apart.  They always attempt to revive the whole Collins family saga with clear-eyed maturity instead of just going for it, lol.

[All My Shadows]

I feel like what makes GL easy to go back to (tone taking precedence over core families) is also what makes AW hard to go back to, because as it changed families over the years, it also changed tone. People forget that GL's TV debut might as well have been a soft reboot since it had already moved completely away from its original characters and setting. I actually just got in the mail an original edition of the tie-in book "written" by Rev. Ruthledge that goes through the early storylines.

I know I talk AMC up because it's my favorite, but it really does deserve its props for maintaining continuity. These movies can tie even the tiniest thread back to the show's first year without trying very hard. I feel like only DAYS and B&B (maybe OLTL via Viki) can say the same - quality of such continuity notwithstanding for alllll of the above.

After posting earlier, I was thinking about how DS could be a series of TV movies that come out annually at this time of year. I really want a continuation. What is the state of Collinwood in 2024, and what is the state of the Collins family? I don't want someone trying to be Barnabas, but create a character with the same mystery played by an actor with the same charisma. Carolyn and Maggie as the creepy old ladies in town who've seen a lot of sht, recast David if Henesy won't act. I can't remember what was established by Julia and Barnabas's trip to 1995 in the original series, but retcon if you have to in order to set up a new generation of Collinses.

[Vee]

Well, that timeline doesn't exist anymore because Barnabas and Julia prevented it by stopping Gerard and Judah Zachery.

I think you have to reboot DS at this point, but I too will always adore the originals.

[te.]

The issue for Another World is that it's tied to Procter and Gamble. I know they're dipping their toes lightly back into the game with Beyond the Gates, but so far they've shown zero interest in mining their vast soap library. 

This is the Mouse trying to do something with their old IPs - if anything I'd view the AMC movies as a test balloon like Beyond Salem was. Is there still any interest? Will AMC's audience stream it on platforms? Doing two Lifetime movies is a pretty safe way for them to test it out without having to invest too much. I wouldn't be surprised if this does well, it'll get some sort of series order on some Disney owned platform. 

[Soapsuds]

https://soaphub.com/general-soap-operas/news-general-soap-operas/after-all-my-children-reboot-talk-as-the-world-turns-alums-weigh-in-on-possibility/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGTqctleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbccoCND8uv2PWsuZYzUUFZ8POXFlx2Wpxc9fPTCfQddUscISZkKRJfbYQ_aem_VsAmQNkv9qsPiraTjvq5dw

[Liberty City]

Martha Byrne looks bad in that photo... whew.

[Khan]

I really hope they stop this feature before they end up asking former SECRET STORM cast members how they'd feel about bringing the show back as a movie.

[Soapsuds]

Please register in order to view this content

[Khan]

On the one hand, I'd kill to see La Lucci play Erica Kane one more time.  But, on the other hand, what more is there left for Erica to do?  Launch her into space, lol?

[Bright Eyes]

Act her age.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Bright Eyes