MovieChat Forums > One Life to Live (1968) Discussion > I knew it wouldn't work

I knew it wouldn't work

posted 11 years ago by bassman21
2 replies | jump to latest

I didn't know until I went to watch it today that they scaled it back to two days a week. I wonder if the episodes will be longer or still only 30 or so minutes?

I'm glad OLTL came back, but I knew bring it online wouldn't work. I'm expecting it to be cancelled soon with no goodby. I set my mom up with a Hulu account and she hasn't watched it since the first 3 episodes claiming she hasn't had time. Yea right mom!

Watching a show on a computer isn't the same as watching it on a TV. Yes there's a market for it, but it isn't for everyone. Putting a show online fills the gap when people can't watch it live on TV, it doesn't replace it. OLTL target demo has always been the older female. This theory that you can put such a show online and gear it to young people while keeping the older demo is pie in the sky, theoretical, corporate nonsense. Especially when they expect people to watch each episode the day its released instead of watching several in one sitting to catch up.

So how can they save this show? Well I don't think they can, but if they want to try do the following.

Make each episode an hour long and release 3 episodes per week.

Slow things down. Stop rushing the stories and build some suspense to keep people watching. You want people to go to their computers when they get home so they can see what happened.

Stop trying to target young people so much. What you think is young, hip and cool isn't. The Shelter is a Joke. No young person in real life would go there. The show was fine the way it was.

Have characters people can relate to. Not everyone needs to be attractive and sexy acting. You need people like the original Destiny and Matthew among others to keep it real.

Make a deal to get it on SoapNet or another channel to expand the audience. Online only isn't going to cut it. You need both.

Take the recap crap away. No one cares and it messes the mood of the show up. I want to feel like what I'm watching is real.

[–] DimlyGlowingEmber 11 years ago

wow, that's brilliant. SOAPNET is owned by ABC i'm sure they'd love the soaps on there.

[–] radrobd 11 years ago

"wow, that's brilliant. SOAPNET is owned by ABC i'm sure they'd love the soaps on there."

Are you being sarcastic? I can't tell. Anyway, Disney/ABC was supposed to end SOAPnet last year and replace it with Disney, Jr. But because of clearance issues, SOAPnet continues to run in some markets but is gone in other markets. I do believe SOAPnet will end soon though, they have lost the rights to re-air "The Young and the Restless," which will now air on another cable channel.

As for the OP's original post, you have some points. First and foremost, PP needs to know who their target audience is. Granted, it would be ideal to have the largest possible audience possible, but that's obviously not happening. I think the audience watching is mostly diehards (mostly women over 40). What PP hoped would happen is they would capture a whole new audience of teens to twenytsomething girls who helped make CW shows (like "Gossip Girl," "90210," "The Carrie Diaries") an internet hit. Those shows don't do well in TV ratings, but are very popular online. PP hoped to do the same, however, there's no appeal for younger females. Yes, Robert Gorrie (Matthew) and Corbin Bleu (Jeffrey) are cute, but having him strip to their skivvies is not a storyline.

I do think pacing is a big issue, too. Yes, the show is scaled down to half-hour episodes and now only twice a week, but they are missing very important story points (beats). Example, Victor (Trevor St. John) returns from the dead and almost no one batted an eye. Viki says she heard that Allison Perkins had him. Who told her this? Why was this not discussed onscreen? Similarly, Victor chokes the life out of Todd and he is left for dead. The next episode, Todd is alive and well and being discharged from the hospital, he's already been questioned by the police and Dani knows that Todd is accusing Victor of trying to kill him. Yet, all this stuff happened offscreen!!