Sunday Surgery: Dead On Arrival

Yet another article trying to explain the collapse of the online deal. This is from more of a media perspective in the New York Times. Bottom line--as in most of life, comes down to money. What gets me going is the fact that ABC had a chance to revitalize the soap genre all together with the advent of Soap Net. They never really did much with that channel. Put on a talk show...a "Day in the Life" but never really developed much else. There was a short-lived primetime show-- but they never did what really was needed. MOVE A SOAP that was in production over there!! If they would have moved one of the ABC soaps long ago, we would have bitched but made the adjustment. Not only that, if OLTL was allowed to go over there, with it's kick ass writers and producer, it may even have become a cult hit. They could do so much more on a cable net-- and with the right marketing? Hell. So much wasted opportunity. Why not put a "Dirty Soap" on there as well? A 'behind the scenes"...all of our great fan get togethers and charity events? Pay Rick Springfield and Jack Wagner to show concert footage. I have a million ideas. I'm sitting here in Rochester, NY and I have a hat full of them, don't tell me someone at Disney couldn't have thought of some great things to do. Instead, Soap Net stuck to showing reruns after reruns of old soaps, and not much else. Now, it too is going off into the sunset to make way for yet another kid's station. 

 The time to have saved the soaps was about 10 years ago-- the writing had gone downhill and then the block taping kicked in to save money. GH seems to have used it the most, making stories choppy and basically unwatchable sometimes. When I hear people say how "great" the show is they are usually younger and have no idea what real integration looked like. They think having 2-3 people talking in a room for days on end is the norm. Stories taking months and months to tell with little movement. Dropped characters are also everywhere. Too bad the don't show more of our old clips pre 1997-- jaws would drop. Families...core families together, celebrating. The shootouts came late Generation-Guza.  We didn't need that sheeze everyday to have a good time. 



The news for GH is bleak. Kim McCollough and Jonathan Jackson, both legacy characters who grew up on the show, are packing it up. They aren't even waiting until the final curtain call.  With OLTL and AMC not coming online, doubt GH will either. We can hope that some other station picks up the show but I'm not holding my breath. The way the writers/producers are destroying the last vestige it has left of attracting viewers, who's going to want it? 


Look, I've been online since 1998...doing my Wub thing. I don't pretend to be anything but someone that loves the show and it's fans. I took over for Gedstern back in the days when actors were still on the show I had contact with and things were looking pretty good. Morale wasn't in the toilet. The Internet was new and few of us had many readers. Now there are a ton of sites out there. Quite a few talking heads. Some say this, others say that. Some say Disney's fault...others say it's just the money. I bought the Prospect Park Deal when Frank and Ron said they were staying with OLTL. Surely these two talents knew something I didn't. Heck, Ron even had an offer from GH to come over to write. (who knows where that stands now). All I know is this: OLTL has no business being cancelled. It kicks ass and has done wonders all on it's own steam. Word of mouth and praises from people like me had some people going back to take another look. I don't know what else they want. I feel like even if GH's ratings improved, it wouldn't matter. Turkey's on the wall. 

I've talked to some of the other people that run sites and blogs. Only they can understand what it's like to invest your free time, to drum up a show and give them more PR than the damn station does, only to be mislead and acted like a fool.  Most of us rarely get any privileges as far as  exclusive photos or interviews go and have to get a lot of things on our own.  We attend and report on events more than the mags or networks care to. We advertise charity events and merchandise. For what? For the love of the genre, that's what. I'm sure as hell not making a lot of  money on this. Ah, that's besides the point. The point is whatever the REAL story is, our shows are not coming back online. I fear the longer they are away, and even IF someone "picks them up" the cast, writers and everyone else involved will have moved on. Who can blame them?

We the fans are the ones that suffer. What other genre other than die-hard sci-fiers and sports nuts can boast at selling out $280 events with only two stars? A band that charges through the roof for 'cover songs' and sell out all over the East Coast? How many fans PAY to help their faves build houses for the poor?  We sell out events everywhere. Oh, you've heard me preach it before. We may be "older" for the most part but we have jobs and money. 

I think there will be fallout from all  of this and I think Frons will be on his way out.  Which of course, usually in corporate speak means moving sideways or going to another net to create havoc. Just like bad soap writers and producers, it's just a gin mill.


Ok, on to the rest of the week. Since GH was only on for 3 days, and I hated the Thanksgiving Epi so much, it's going to be hard to pick but here we go:

SCENE OF THE WEEK: Tracy goading Jason. Jane Elliot is spot on, and even got Burton to emote. Great scene. She doesn't coddle Jason, that's for sure! Plus, we got a table toss out of it! 

NOT THE SCENE OF THE WEEK: Honestly? Anything with the above character in it. She's just... oh, there are no words. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. AND if you want to know why I call her Mulva, watch this Seinfeld clip it "rhymes with a woman's body part": MULVA

• By the way? The Poll? An overwhelming majority think Jake is alive and well. I'm still not convinced. Rewrites are all  over the place. I don't even think the actors know the skivvy!