Well, MY did a haphazard job with these show. Promotion was lousy, so few even know the show existed. Worse, even fewer understood the format of a limited-run serial.
Also, the shows themselves had serious issues. Instead of doing them as romantic melodrama, which is what novelas are supposed to be, they focused on bitchy, unlikeable female leads (Bo Derek, Morgan Fairchild, etc.). It came off as a stupid, kitchy attempt to recreate "Dynasty." They didn't try hard enough to bring chemistry between the characters or between the characters and the audience.
Then there were annoyances for the few who were watching, at least in the first rotation. Those infernal flashbacks, stupid fashion segments, plus the overused stock footage and segue effects made it hard to watch.
As for the time slot, it shouldn't really matter in the Tivo age. They could have made it easier by rerunning the shows in daytime or late nights. Or they could have run same-day encores on FX. They didn't, so it made taping harder, I personally dug my VCR out of mothballs and set it aside for novelas.
Finally, they are doing reality shows because they understand the format. Making successful novelas proved harder than it looks, so they gave up. And reality requires neither writers nor actors, which makes them cheap.
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electrictroy
17 years ago
>>>MY has said they intend to air the entire 65-episode run of both shows<<<
I don't see how? 65 episodes at 2/week would mean running the show until November, but MNT already confirmed September will be the end.
Therefore, they'll probably show the whole Plot, but eliminate flashbacks in order to squeeze it into 50 episodes.
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Zezacer
17 years ago
If you take out flashback and the "story" episodes, you can probably make it. With the IFL show crashing and burning now, who knows? They may add two more nights, for all we know.
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tvhelms
17 years ago
Oh I hope so! A couple times a week for each series would be a great improvement. I hope this happens. And I also hope they might consider filming the novellas again. After all, they can only get better with experience. They seemed to have worked out some of the problems that happened with the first two--flashbacks and repitition--the next two were much better. I think the two new ones will be even better. They really didn't give it much time! Thanks for the info.
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Zezacer
17 years ago
There was a big Associated Press article today that dimmed my hopes:
"It was an attempt to zig when everyone else was zagging," said Greg Meidel, who became My Network TV president in January.
It was hard to get viewers to commit to watching something almost every night, particularly when there is a strong serial drama on the larger networks most nights of the week, he said.
Brad Adgate, an analyst for Horizon Media, said it didn't help that the soaps looked cheap and were populated by faded stars like Morgan Fairchild.
[...]
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, My Network is airing its final two soaps, "American Heiress" and "Saints & Sinners." Each will air as a two-hour movie once a week, instead of the nightly, one-hour telenovela form.
Guys might not like soaps as much as women, but they will like the scantily clad, beautiful women featured, Meidel said.
"There's eye candy for everyone," he said. "You can watch it with the sound off and still enjoy it."
I see that Meidel has no clue about the novelas, nor does he care. His mission was to get rid of them. Too bad. He'll keep running unwatched reality shows until Murdoch pulls the plug.
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tvhelms
17 years ago
I don't watch anything else on this chanel accept the telanovelas. I guess I won't be tunning in after the last two are done airing. Too bad.
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lil_bunny04
17 years ago
This new president is obviously an absolute moron and has no idea what he's doing. It takes time and PROMOTION for things take off, and these 2 new telenovelas are the best ones yet. If IFL had only a 0.8 debut rating, the same as the novelas, then it's not the format, it's the lack of promotion and commitment the people have to really pushing a show for any length of time. Moves like this will only hurt the network and cause people to see it for the trash it's becoming, no backing, no support, just throw things on the wall and see what sticks, who cares about the quality of something. Just what the world needs, another reality network. They had a good thing goin', they are just blind to what it takes to see it through.
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