Tristan Rogers Message Board

Hi Tristan,

I know you've been busy of late, but did you hear about this... Check out the article below.... I think you spoke about this channel being a watered down version and that it might be in trouble. Well, your not kidding.. First NightShift, which the season you were on had so much potential and now this.

I do believe the internet like you said is the way to go for now. Do hope things are going well for ya. Sounds like you've been real busy.

What are your thoughts about this one?

I really hope one day we can have a town hall discussion about why soaps are on the decline and what can be done to save it.

**************************************************

Preschool Programs Replace SOAPnetBy BROOKS BARNES
Published: May 26, 2010
LOS ANGELES — Moving aggressively to expand its hold on children’s entertainment, the Walt Disney Company will close its SOAPnet cable channel and replace it with a service aimed at preschoolers.


In 2012, Disney Junior will take the place of SOAPnet, a 10-year-old channel devoted to soap opera reruns that is available in about 75 million homes, according to Anne Sweeney, co-chairwoman of Disney Media Networks. Disney’s current preschool operation — a block of programming on Disney Channel and about two dozen Playhouse Disney international channels — will be rebranded Disney Junior starting next year.

“This represents the next step in a global preschool strategy that started 10 years ago with the introduction of dedicated channels overseas,” Ms. Sweeney said. Disney Junior will not feature advertising. It will be geared to a slightly wider demographic, ages 2 to 7, than other preschool offerings like Sprout and “Sesame Street,” which typically are aimed at ages 2 to 5.

Programming on Disney Junior will include about 200 new episodes annually of current Disney Channel shows (“Handy Manny,” “Special Agent Oso” ) and new series like “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” an animated series about children who pretend to be pirates and encounter Captain Hook. In the works are other shows that play off classic Disney characters (think princesses). Other offerings will include classic Disney movies like “101 Dalmatians,” “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid.”

With Disney Junior, the company has chosen a name that echoes the preschool brand operated by rival Nickelodeon, a unit of Viacom. Nick Jr. is a commercial-free channel that features programming like “Dora the Explorer” and “Team Umizoomi” and is available in 71 million homes. (Since Nick Jr. became a full-service cable channel in 2008, replacing Noggin, ratings have nearly doubled, indicating a demand for programming for preschoolers in the evenings.)

Carolina Lightcap, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, said Disney Junior was selected as a name because it clearly suggests shows aimed at younger children. “We’re very comfortable with it — parents know the difference between Disney and Nick,” she said. “The name represents our new brand to a T.”

Nickelodeon said in a statement: “The ‘Jr.’ has been part of our pre-school identity for over 30 years, and we have a leading educational curriculum that has forged a strong and sincere bond with both pre-schoolers and their parents.”

Ms. Sweeney called the decision to unplug SOAPnet “a tough one,” but something that made sense from a business perspective because the original purpose of the channel — time shifting soap operas from day to night — has grown obsolete with the rise of digital video recorders.

Disney, currently selling up-front advertising for SOAPnet, emphasized that the channel will not go dark for another 18 months or so. Disney is still in the process of obtaining revamp approval from cable affiliates that carry it. Although ABC remains committed to its soaps (“General Hospital,” “All My Children”), other broadcasters have been moving away from the genre, limiting the amount of product available for SOAPnet.

The enormous pre-school market, on the other hand, represents an area of growth for Disney, which has made inroads with shows like “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” but has not found a true cultural phenomenon like “Dora the Explorer.” That hit Nickelodeon series, now a decade old, generates over $1 billion in annual retail sales.

Disney also wants its TV portfolio to keep hold of children as they get older. The hope is that they will start with Disney Junior, migrate to Disney Channel, which targets ages 6 to 14, and then move on to boy-centric Disney XD or ABC Family.

One question with Disney Junior is whether the slight expansion of the target demographic will come with a shift away from programs built around education, which is the hallmark of pre-school entertainment. Ms. Lightcap said Disney has no plans to water down the educational components of its pre-school line up, adding that the channel will work to build “more of an emotional connection” to its young viewers but still emphasize language skills, early math and healthy eating.

Link - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/busine...isney.html

Not Tristan here, obviously. But I wanted to say that this is not surprising. The number of soap operas on daytime has been steadily decreasing over the years. Add to that the fact that most of them are shells of their former selves, it is no wonder the channel won't survive.

I used to watch soaps when I was younger. As I got older, work prevented that though, so I stopped watching. My wife has been watching SoapNet for many years now. We both worked daytime jobs so she would watch at night to catch up. I never did start watching again because I didn't know half of the characters on any of my old favorites.

Recently, we both joined the ranks of dislocated workers. The company we worked for moved production to Mexico. For the last couple of months we have had plenty of time on our hands during the day as you can imagine. I have tried to watch recent soaps with my wife now that we can watch during the day. The writing is incredibly bad. There is no character progression, nor any compelling reason to "like" most any characters on the shows these days.

GH is a particularly good example. Now the "good guys" are a mobster and his assistant. This doesn't sit right with me and a lot of other people it seems. Yes, there is an opportunity to have exciting storylines when you have the mob or other organized crime involved in a scene. But when they are the focus of the storyline and most of the show, it becomes stale. That is something that GH did in the 80's so well. The crime and bad guys were there, but we had believable heroes intact to combat them. Over the period of a few months, the story would play out.

This allowed a lot of creative freedom in the storylines. In the end, the bad guys were eliminated. Eventually the show would reload and introduce new bad guys. Then at some point, bring the former bad guys back for another appearance that was fresh. GH today is just the opposite. The bad guys never leave. I will say that I don't necessarily have any objections to today's actors so much. They seem capable, save for a few. But the writing that they have to endure is ridiculous at times and barely plausible the rest.

Combine the low number of daytime soaps with the low quality of what shows are on, and it is easy to see why SoapNet won't survive. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if the folks at SoapNet could get permission to play old episodes of these soaps, like from the 70's through the 90's, they would have a better chance of surviving than they do with today's mediocrity. Advertising though is what makes a channel. With smaller core audiences (daytime episode) it is no wonder that even fewer people are willing to watch at night. Advertisers, no doubt, look at that.