All My Children News & Gossip
News for the week of 20-May-2013
Prospect Park’s Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz released a lengthy statement May 16 about the immediate decision to reduce the number of weekly episodes from four to two for both AMC and OLTL. They cited research of online viewer habits — which they claim was different than TV viewing — and deemed that watching four episodes a week was just too much to ask of the average person. Therefore, starting Monday, May 20, AMC will air online Mondays and Wednesdays, OLTL on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Fridays remaining intact for the behind-the-scenes stuff. “This allows us to introduce a new episode of quality television every Monday through Friday and gives the audience a chance to catch up as we continue to build awareness and excitement around these new shows. Because Hulu agrees with our findings, for the meantime they will keep all of our episodes on Hulu.com for free to give viewers the opportunity to find us and catch up.”
Jill Larson (Opal), Debbi Morgan (Angie), and Cady McClain (Dixie) all have backed Prospect Park’s execs in this decision, saying it makes sense and will help fans all around. “We just don't want to lose the people who don't have the time to catch all 4 episodes. Everyone is special and matters,” tweeted McClain, May 16.
Jill Larson (Opal) is one of AMC’s biggest cheerleaders and one of the most popular soap actors with fans. She chatted with Take 2 Radio for an April 29th interview to help promote the online AMC debut.
Cady McClain (Dixie) went behind the scenes May 14 on her blog for her faithful fans. She admits the breakfast available on-set can be tempting, but she sticks to healthy choices (egg whites, fresh veggie juice). If she ever saw chocolate-covered biscotti, though, watch out. “I like coffee with cream and sugar, so that’s my naughtiness for the AM unless they have chocolate-covered biscotti, and then I’m a goner.”
Sure enough, Michael Nader (Dimitri) will return in the role he made popular opposite Susan Lucci (Erica) in the 1990s. He returns June 3, as Brooke’s main guy at Chandler Enterprises’ Chandler Media.
Gossip for the week of 20-May-2013
Quite a number of soap fans on Twitter didn’t react favorably to the May 16th news that Prospect Park would reduce the number of weekly episodes from four to two. ScottyB (scooterbeanbag) was one of the more vocal detractors. He didn’t buy the reasons given, stating that he made time early every morning (4:30 a.m.!) to watch both AMC and OLTL, because they were that good. He believed others would do the same. “We all have crazy schedules, but that was the point of ‘anytime’ TV. We are supposed to be able to watch #AMC/#OLTL whenever… I can think of several ways to make more fiscal sense w/o losing 2 eps a week. Drop MORE, build in 1 week breaks, longer ads...” He even questioned the research PP gave that online viewers couldn’t keep up: “Translation: We weren't getting as many viewers as we wanted and it would cost us too much to produce more episodes.” Matthew Smith is another fan who didn’t like the change. He tweeted, “I think it’s a big mistake to cut the episode number for both #OLTL & #AMC NOW when the TV season’s over & there’s less to watch overall.”
All My Children News & Gossip, Copyright © 2013 Carol Banks Weber. Published by SoapZone.com / Jeff Jungblut. No part of this page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and may not be representative of SoapZone.com or its advertisers. Don't steal scoops.
