One Life To Live Discussion Group
Message Responses
Subject: You're so negative all the time. Life isn't so bad. It's just a soap opera.
Response Posted by: Hallie
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 7:34:06 2010
Message:
eom
Subject: Hallie: I've never said that life was so bad. I'm not negative, just realistic. If the decision makers saw soaps as something more than 'just soaps' the genre wouldn't be in the condition it is in now, & has been for yrs. As I've said many times before, this isn't 'natural' or 'necessary', it is about bad choices being made from the top down. Soaps have a lot to offer, which isn't negative. I'm not sure what you (& others) see as negative here. I'm not the one saying that soaps have nothing to offer, no future, that they've 'run their course' or that this is a 'natural death'. THAT is negative. All I've ever said was that soaps are capable of better & that everyone (including the audience) deserves better. Again, that isn't negative. Fans of soaps have always been critical of the genre, that was true over 80 yrs ago & it is true today. But until about 20 yrs ago we weren't seeing the systematic destruction of this form of entertainment. Look at the shrinking soap opera offerings--we aren't seeing cancelled soaps being replaced w/new ones. Read what TPTB (Corp) are saying in interviews & look at how they've ruined entire soap opera communities. That isn't about ME (or Walter) being negative, that is about apathy & negativity on the part of those who decide what airs & what doesn't. THEY are the ones who don't see a positive future for soaps. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 11:00:52 2010
Message:
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Subject: Yawn. Wake me up when she stops spewing the same boring line.
Response Posted by: Frank
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 13:38:22 2010
Message:
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Subject: Frank: Now who's being negative?! You can yawn all you want to, but the truth remains the same. It would be great if TPTB would improve soaps' outlook for the future, but that isn't happening. I'm just as tired of that as other fans. But saying something that isn't true isn't going to make it so. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 15:20:04 2010
Message:
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Subject: PS: Frank, what is negative about saying that the show could/should be better? What is negative, or boring, in saying that there is a rich history to the show that should be tapped, instead of being minimized or ignored all together? Personally, I find it boring to see cardboard characters & actors who are capable of SO much more being hamstrung in these weak, pathetic roles of characters that have been strong, independent & inspirational in the past. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 15:22:47 2010
Message:
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Subject: Maybe it's time to stop watching if you'ree so unhappy. I happen to LOVE OLTL and look forward to it everyday.
Response Posted by: Celai
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 18:16:53 2010
Message:
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Subject: Celai: Where do you get the idea that I don't like OLTL?! I love the show & have since day one. Wanting the show to be its best isn't negative, nor is it a sign of hating. Personally, I don't 'hate' very much it is a waste of energy. But this idea that not being a sheep & seeing everything as 'great' or 'the best the show has ever been' isn't a sign of not liking it. I want it to do better, to come closer to living up to its potential--including pulling in millions more viewers. We are watching a genre of entertainment die on the vine here, unnecessarily. Not wanting that isn't negative, IMO. But I don't think that weak, underdeveloped characters & one dimentional stories are the answer to the problem(s). Neither are gimmicky plot devices or rip offs of others work. Soaps have so much more potential to be better & they should be striving for that over accepting mediocrity (sp). eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 21:16:28 2010
Message:
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Subject: Rosebud, I for one do enjoy reading your posts. I may not agree with every one of them, but I enjoy them because you seem to put a lot of thought into what you write. I like that.
Response Posted by: tweety
Date Posted: Sat Mar 13 21:35:11 2010
Message:
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Subject: Every single area of television is losing audience because of technologies out there. OLTL and every other soap could become great but they will never regain the audience lost to cable, the internet and tweeting. It just ain't gonna happen. eom
Response Posted by: Charlotte G
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 6:01:04 2010
Message:
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Subject: Take your own advice, Rosebud. You obviously dislike today's soaps and today's soap executives. So skip them altogether and spare us the CONSTANT bellyaching about how good things used to be. It is a myth. You are wallowing in nostalgia for a golden past that never existed. --Crane eom
Response Posted by: Crane Tolliver
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 13:55:50 2010
Message:
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Subject: Tweety: Thanks!Charlotte: Even if soaps regained 10% of what they've lost in terms of audience, they would be doing better. I disagree that everything lost is about cable or technology. Had TPTB (Corp), across the board, embraced technology & cable soaps would have thrived, not died. There IS an audience for soaps out here, in whatever venue that may be. Cable has been around for many, many yrs & so have other options for people's time, but there was always an audience for soaps. There still is. There is also the future & that potential audience has been lost, not because THEY made the choice to watch or not, but their choices will be limited because of the bad decisions of the last 20 yrs. That is a shame. It isn't just the loss of future audience, but the loss of talent, new & experienced. When soaps made the transition from radio to tv it was a process. There were soaps that doubled up, that were still being heard on radio & later seen on tv. No effort like that was ever made for soaps to make that transition to new technologies. It wasn't seen as viable--TPTB were assuming that there wouldn't be an audience. Just as they've assumed that the audience left soaps because they had 'run their course' and were 'dying a natural death', when it was REALLY about not delivering what the audience wanted to see! Good stories are good stories, whether they are told orally, on the radio, tv, cable, iPods, the Internet, etc. It is just a means to reach the audience that IS there. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 14:03:36 2010
Message:
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Subject: Rosebud. Put your money where your mouth is. YOU create these soaps. YOU put the money into it. YOU do these soaps that are so great. YOU do it Rosebud. Oops, you can't.
Response Posted by: Karen
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 16:46:05 2010
Message:
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Subject: Crane = I often wonder why Rosebud doesn't create a soap herself and run it the way she wants. What's stopping her?
Response Posted by: Sarah
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 16:50:50 2010
Message:
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Subject: I agree. Why doesn't Rosebud, who has 40 years of all knowing experience, and who knows everything about soap operas, create her own soap? Michael O'Leary did it, Crystal Chapell did it, Martha Byrne did it. Why doesn't the all knowing Rosebud do it?
Response Posted by: Steffie
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 18:54:00 2010
Message:
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Subject: Huh?! To create a soap from scratch takes yrs & millions of dollars that I simply don't have. The reason soaps could succeed was because of the deep pockets of their owners--case in point, P&G. It also takes 5-10 yrs of a soap NOT being profitable to find its core audience, a wait time most of those w/the deep pockets aren't willing to see as an investment. I've said many times that if I had the $$ I WOULD. I've also said that someone with the ability to do it could make a go of soaps that have already been developed & produced, if companies like P&G were willing to part with them, which they aren't. I'd love to bring some of the soaps from the past into the 21st century for a new audience, but having the ideas & being able to pay to make them happen are two very different things! There is also the unfortunate situation w/advertisers who have fallen for the party line about soaps having no audience & having no future. Advertisers would be necessary for success or failure. If I had the $$ I would love to do it. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 19:49:27 2010
Message:
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Subject: Of course Rosebud wouldn't put her money where her mouth is. She's all talk and nothing else. Here's how I look at it. ABC owns the show. They can do whatever they want with it. If I don't like it, then I can move on and look elsewhere. ABC owes us nothing. It's their show.
Response Posted by: Karen
Date Posted: Sun Mar 14 22:16:12 2010
Message:
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Subject: Karen: Who said that ABC didn't own the show? I sure didn't! I also never said that they couldn't do what they wanted. What I HAVE said, consistantly, is that for the last several yrs ABC/Disney hasn't respected the genre or the audience for their soaps across the board. Yes, they can cancel them if they want to. I've never said they couldn't. The only soaps I've said there was a permission issue with have been those owned & produced by P&G and Corday Productions, the Bells & Sony. Actually, all of those shows could survive if the networks cancelled them, if the owners had a marketable product to shop to other venues. But P&G is in a unique position, being the largest advertiser in both primetime & daytime, as well as owning 20 soap opera titles. That doesn't apply to those owned by a network. eom
Response Posted by: Rosebud1
Date Posted: Mon Mar 15 16:48:10 2010
Message:
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Subject: Rosebud = hot air and no substance. EOM
Response Posted by: Hallie
Date Posted: Mon Mar 15 18:26:04 2010
Message:
eom
Subject: Rosie, dear, it's ABC's show to do what they want with it. ABC owns OLTL. YOU don't. They can do whatever they want with the show. Until you own a show Rosebud, which will never happen because you are incapable of it, suck it up and watch what the OWNERS of these shows put out or stop watching. It's simple, really. eom
Response Posted by: Vee
Date Posted: Mon Mar 15 20:38:27 2010
Message:
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