Another World with the old Mathews family......when Rachael and Russ mathews were together.....old nosy Aunt Liz, Ada and Sam ect.............

For daytime, I want Santa Barbara and The Edge of Night back. My nightime fix would include Falcon Crest, The Colbys, and Dynasty.

If you like vintage Another World, check out AOL Video. The episodes go back the the beginning, I believe.

I know Santa Barbara is expensive because of the music, but I would love it.

And I really, really wish they would make a Classic SoapNet channel for current soaps, just using old tapes. I, for one, would love to watch Luke and Laura from start to, well, disappearance. And Frisco and Felicia, Robert, Holly, Duke and Anna....I'd also love to see old 80s Days of Our Lives. And of course, if they were to revisit Stone's story from GH, I would bawl, but I'd love to see it all.

Why they won't do this, I just don't understand.

Perhaps we could change this thread to simply "Soapnet" to discuss their original programming, Sunday Night Movies, etc.

Just a thought!

Thanks DimSome !!! Didn't know that website existed!! Maybe I can check out The Doctors and Love of Life!! (Remember when the late Christopher reeves was Ben in LOL?? Loved the Betsy/Ben relationship on there.)

Definitely Edge of Night and a rerun of The Colbys!

I watch about ten hours of Another World a week because of that site! Such great soap. I also like Search for Tomorrow, too. Today's stuff just doesn't measure up. Even the melodramatic music is awesome.

Dark Shadows. Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous, but I was just getting into it when the Sci Fi channel stopped airing it.

If OG Dark Shadows ever makes a comeback, as far as a channel grabbing the rights to the show and airing it, it would most likely end up on "Chiller" (NBC-Universal's new horror themed channel). Heck, I'm suprised that they haven't already gotten the rights to the show/airing it already, given how it was a staple of the Sci-Fi Channel for years on end....

Alternatively, now that it's coming to an end, I would love to see Soapnet get the rights to rerun Passions.

No kidding. My mom used to tell me how she would break her neck just to get home from school so she could watch DS and how Barnabas would scare the bejesus out of her. I was thoroughly hooked when Sci Fi ran the show and was pissed the hell off when they stopped. I missed the last 15 episodes because of them!

Mine too. I watched DS with her when it was briefly run on a local network station when I was like 9 or 10. The station only ran the reruns for about a year and I was crushed when they stopped running it.

It would be awesome if SoapNet would take it on. Doesn't seem likely that DS would be more expensive than 90210 and it has a wicked following.

Maybe something from across the pond? I was just getting into Hollyoaks when BBCA pulled it, maybe SoapNet could pick up where BBCA left off.

I would love to see some pre-arc Port Charles.
Seeing vintage GH or AMC would also be amazing. I've always thought they should do those old marathons way more often- ideally weekly. They could have marathons for all the favorite old characters, best loved plots, etc.

I would assume that Dark Shadows may be even pricier than 90210, especially given the major league push the show's owners have engaged in as far as getting the ENTIRE SERIES onto DVD (including the rare pre-Barnabas episodes).

Alternatively, where would Soapnet put Dark Shadows on the schedule? It's pretty crowded as it is and given the investment a network would have to put into the show if they wanted to air it (let alone wanting to get maximum value out of a 1200 IIRC episode series), the only place I could think of would be if they cleared their entire weekend morning prime time soap rerun block and did a four hour, eight episode block every Saturday/Sunday morning, where fans can watch about 16 episodes of the show every week (which would get them around 800 episodes aired a year and allow them, if they are committed to the show, get the show completely rerun at least twice in three years).

There's lots of places. Instead of airing two Ryan's Hopes a day, howabout just one, that slot could go to Hollyoaks. Instead of reruns of third-rate TV movies on Saturday nights howabout a two hour block of Dark Shadows (or Edge of Night). Instead of reruns of reality programming (I Want to be a Soap Star) howabout a weekly viewing of The Colbys. Instead of Dallas every day howabout a different nighttime soap from the past every day (Falcon Crest on Monday, Knots Landing on Tuesday.....).

I'd watch that line-up!

I totally agree. SoapNet should be rerunning classic soaps. Actual classic episodes-- not from the last 5 years, but 25 years ago.

""" When I first got SoapNet, I was so excited. I believed that I'd be getting lots of classic soap, along with re-runs and glimpses of forgotten stuff. It's been about five years now, and I'm truly disappointed. I watch maybe twice a month now, and only to catch up on OLTL or peek in at other soaps. I used to love the original programming like One Day With..., Soapography and Soap Talk. They've been canceled or in re-runs forever. I still tune in for I Wanna Be A Soap Star, but after watching how the actors are graded/chosen, I don't get excited about it the way I once did.

After Another World was dumped and Ryan's Hope moved to 5 a.m., I was pretty much done with this channel. One Tree Hill and The OC don't mean anything to this 32-year-old soap-loving geezer.

I have to agree with the Port Charles request. I'd kill to see the show from the very beginning, as I started watching mid-General Homicide mystery (I believe it was the Nurse's Ball, actually). I'd love to see Matt and Julie and Chris and Eve, and eventually, Rafe and Alison. God, I miss that show.

Speaking of the Nurse's Ball, I also have to echo the request for some classic GH. I've only heard about wonderful NB skits involving Kevin and Monica (I think) dressed up as babies, or a young Emily doing The Wizard of Oz, and I'd love to see them. Also, I miss Tony, so seeing the BJ storyline would be lovely -- clips always make me cry, just because I know the story, but, again, they're episodes I've never seen. And I miss Alan, too; it'd be great to have him back. And Anna Lee! She was always a treat.

My favorite line up for SoapNet....Santa Barbara, Another World, Edge of Night, classic GH & OLTL, etc. Personally, if I wanted to watch the OC or One Tree Hill, I'd have watched them in their first runs. If I want reality programming, SN is the last place I'd look. If Frons isn't going to run real soaps, then they really need a new name for the channel to Frons' Follies.

Sisters.

I always liked it, and there's at least one episode I never got to see that I'd love to.

The Nurse's Balls are pretty well covered by You Tube where you see the whole eps in some cases, but other classic SL's are pretty much only in clip form. Someone over there did a pretty thorough job with the Robin/Stone SL, from beginning to end, you get to see a lot of the other stuff, the reactions of friends and family to Robin and Stone's whole ordeal.

But I hate that SoapNet got rid of things like Knots Landing and AW to show 2 eps/day of things like the OC, 90210 and One Tree Hill. I especially want KL and AW back, but I'd love to see Santa Barbara, Falcon Crest and yes, classic eps of things like OLTL and GH.

even stuff like Dynasty and the Colbys, Models Inc..Dallas...

mostly real classic daytime soaps. Why does soapnet even exist??

Another request for Santa Barbara...

As a diehard soap fan, here is my opinion on what SoapNet needs to focus on....

1) off-air, older soaps. Another World, Santa Barbara, Dark Shadows, Generations (add some diversity), etc
2) foreign soaps-British, Australian, and telenovelas (dubbed or subtitled)
3) Original programming about soaps....I always liked Soap Talk, Soapography, One Day with.... What about adding a trivia show?
4) heritage episodes (10+ years old) of current soaps. I enjoyed last year's mini-marathon of Marlena as the devil episodes, even though I HATED it the first time around.
5) Day of episodes of soaps...In my pre-Tivo life, this is how I kept up with my shows.

What I don't want......

1) reruns of shows that could be easily watched on DVD or another station (One Tree Hill, 90210, Greys Anatomy, Ugly Betty, ER, etc)
2) bad, cheesy TV movies. While I do love them, that is why I tune occasionaly into Lifetime. Soapnet should be for steady viewing. A possible exception might be made for the Danielle Steele movies which have such a soapy quality.
3) Guthy-Renker ads

Agreed. I don't consider any of the primetime dramas listed above to be soaps. And I don't want to watch them on SoapNet. I can also watch a glut of TV movies on Lifetime, Hallmark, Lifetime Movie Channel, and Hallmark Movie Channel. So that market is covered.

I really wish they'd split SoapNet into two channels. One could handle rerunning current episodes of soaps like it does now, and the other could handle the classic stuff. If they honestly think there isn't room for current soaps and classic soaps, they haven't seen my time management/TiVo skills.

What I wish they would understand is that interest in classic soaps is likely to generate interest in current soaps. If I saw old Days of Our Lives stuff, I would inevitably be interested in what those characters are doing now and I might give Days a Season Pass. Heck, I might even go back to AMC and OLTL if I watched Noah/Julia's romance again, or Marty's saga.

I think of it as I used to think of fan fiction years ago. It generates interest, and that can't hurt what's currently happening. Even if it makes me reminisce and sadly nostalgic for the good old days, it has me thinking about the soaps, and that's gonna get me closer to watching current stuff.

This is genius. Seriously, they could probably generate ratings (and new soapnet subscribers for the cable companies) if they ran ads during the current soaps. Like:

Love Kendall Hart? See when Kendall first came to town!
or

John and Marlena: See it from the beginning! (Ick)
or

Can't get enough Jason? See him before he became a cyborg! That's right ladies, reindeer sweaters AND 80% less blinking!

I really wish SoapNet brought back...SOAPS. Not ABC Family movie rejects, not reality tv shows too cheesy even for E!, just classic episodes of soaps. It kills me that Frons is trying to phase out soaps on a channel that was created for soaps!

Jason's the guy from General Hospital who got hit on the head, lost his memories/believed he was a mob hitman, and forced Sonny, the Male Mary-Sue, to take him in as his wacky sidekick right?

Hee! Actually Jason's the male Mary Sue, IMO. He can do no wrong, he's always right, and all women love him. Sonny's kind of his sidekick now, complete with the wacky Jazz!Hands.

But yeah, that's the gist of it.

The thing that pisses me off about SoapNet now is its new wanna-be E! Relative Madness crap. Does anyone watch SoapNet to see crap about Linday Lohan and the Olsen twins?

One word:

Savannah.

Actually, would also love to see some all-but-forgotten-but-not-by-me short-lived '90s prime-time soaps like 2000 Malibu Road (hey, it has Drew Barrymore, so there's a built-in hook), Central Park West and its revamped iteration CPW, Pacific Palisades, and the holy grail for me...

Dangerous Women. I would kill for that delicious hunk o' cheese now.

And how about Swans Crossing or, better yet, the completely forgotten Tribes?

Loving/The City would also be natural fits as well since that can be run from beginning to end (and ties in to current AMC, with Angie/Jacob/Frankie, plus those occasional appearances by Jack; and current GH with Tracy).

I would love to see ABC Daytime cares/Broadway Equity Fights Aids. They could entertain, raise additional money, and feel better about themselves all at the same time. Could it be that the music rights would be a problem?

In the back of my head, I can't help thinking: Sunset Beach and Passions (once it's officially dead and buried) back-to-back. It could be marketed as a late-primetime/midnight block of some sort: "Late Night Lunacy!" or some such.

Semi-seriously: while SOAPnet has always been wildly scattershot with its "theme" blocks, why aren't they doing more of them?

twotrey, yes please. I LOVED Dangerous Women. As I recall, there were not too many episodes, so it should be easy to fit into the schedule. Surely it can be gotten on the cheap. (as I'm sure it was before)

Sunset Beach and Generations would also be great additions. and, at half an hour each they could pair nicely.

One other suggestion, why hasn't a SoapNet competitor appeared? A P&G channel would be a logical choice. I'd sit through plenty of diaper, soap, and cleaning products commercials for that. Pad it with some telenovelas, too.

The standing of the soap opera these days has dropped considerably; the fact that SoapNet itself has survived like it has (I would presume in part, because it's expanded to carry prime time soap opera reruns like Dallas, Melrose Place, 90210, The OC, and Dynasty) is a kind of a big miracle all things considered.

Also, SoapNet has pretty much got all of the rights to most if not all of the major soaps, both prime time reruns and day time soap repeats. They are pretty much the only game in town, for better or for worse....

I have always had a thing for redheads and when this show appeared (I was an original viewer), I was over the moon. Desperately awaiting it on DVD.



At least 2 but probably 3 years ago, I remember reading an article or seeing an interview with the head of SoapNet saying that they have always had plans of SoapNet II which would handle the CBS soaps. They were still working out the bugs in programming in balancing between current soaps and reruns of classic material, along with other programming. Of course the biggest "bug" to be worked out was the financial kind and figuring out a way to make money. I am guessing that they have support that will allow them to continue to limp along doing what they are currently doing, including rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic/the continual revamping of formats, themes, marathons, etc. as filler around the main event of rebroadcast of current soaps. They probably have little if any budget to secure additional material beyond what we have already seen and are therefore trying to defy all basic laws of business by trying to make money without spending money. Which means we should all just settle in, be happy with what we have/get and not hold our breathes.

Paper Dolls and Models, Inc. Two incredibly cheesy series about modeling. But such delicious cheese.

IIRC Paper Dolls did get aired on SoapNet ages ago (and a decent ad campaign to promote it as well).

I'd like to see Model's Inc again too; I stopped watching it after the initial arc ended so I missed the last batch of episodes (including the show's imfamous "Hooker Hell" ending, though I keep hearing that TPTB somehow were able to get Fox to pony up the money to resolve that imfamous cliffhanger via a bonus episode that only aired overseas broadcasting, due to the show being a suprise hit outside the states).

1. Legacy

I'm probably the only one who remembers it, but is was bad and fantastic and full of prettiness. And it's only a couple of seasons long so it's won't take up much time.

2. The Young Riders

It's not really a soap but it kinda is. The guys are hot and shirtless a lot. Does that count for something?

callie lee 29, Young Riders would be an awesome addition. Soapy, on horses. Yay!

It would be nice if they could do tributes like TCM or TVLand - who knew those channels would be put together - for example, a Beverlee McKinsey tribute this weekend.

Only 52 episodes, as it aired twice weekly for 26 weeks. They can pull out the whole "Before They Were Stars" marketing angle with it as Casper Van Dien was on it (well, if he qualifies as a "star"...).



Another one they could do a "BTWS" angle, as Sharon Leal was on this one, and now she's doing it big with Dreamgirls and This Christmas and Why Did I Get Married?. And IIRC, the show didn't last an entire season on UPN.



The "Hooker Hell" cliffhanger left dangling; the shot-for-overseas ending to the final episode simply resolved the whole drama involving Grayson while poor Carrie was left to rot.

...Passions! It was a guilty pleasure from December '99 to May '01 for me.

I was wondering about something. Since Soapnet is a joke, with the invention of Blu-ray discs, which can hold much more than DVDs, I wonder if entire series of soap operas could be put onto DVDs? I would love to see the 70s and 80s of some soaps. And I'd love to more easily be able to see foreign soaps. I wonder if people would buy them if that happened?

Oh Savannah, how I loved you so. And it had Serena Van Der Woodsen's (Gossip Girl) real life older sister, Robin Lively! And Generations with Kelly Rutherford.

Why must Frons ruin everything he touches? I was talking to a friend who works at ABCFamily this weekend and even he remarked that SoapNet is getting rid of soaps and turning into E! Though his rationale was old soaps didn't get ratings. I just think their doing it wrong.

Texas!

I recently downgraded my cable package. Three years ago, I upgraded in order to get Soapnet, but in the last year I haven't watched that channel at all. If I wanted to watch bad tv movies and icky preteen "soaps" I'd just do it on Lifetime and network programming.

If Soapnet wanted me back, they could easily win me with:

1. Santa Barbara. I'd cheerfully pay premium prices to see my favorite soap again from the beginning.

2. Another World. I was miserable that they ended their reruns just when some of my favorites were headed to the canvas.

3. Dark Shadows. This classic could do much for their numbers, it'd draw from outside the normal soap-viewing audience, bringing in the scifi-fantasy fans as well as classic soap fans.

4. Models Inc. It was short-lived, and should be cheap, plus it had a post-Dallas Linda Grey going for it.

5. Texas- I have only vague memories of this one, but it was one of our "family" shows; I'd love to see what I was too little to appreciate in first-run viewing.

6. Ryan's Hope at a reasonable hour. Because I'm not getting up at 5 am for anyone, not even Maeve and Johnny.

Some well made "history of soap" documentaries wouldn't go astray, either. I saw a really good one on ovation in two parts, though it was focused more on Britsoap. I thought, "Why has no one done this in the US?" It could be fascinating viewing. Interview the classic writers, show clips from the most famous and infamous storylines (Casey the Alien, the Ice Princess, Marlena possessed by the devil, Erica's abortion, Eden's rape...) And while their little "one day with" and "soapography" are cute, something less fluffy, with more history to it, would be great. Maybe do primers for classic soaps; not those little commercials, but say, a half hour introduction to the Buchannons, the Lords, The Newmans, etc... go through pertinent family histories. Soap has lost tons of viewers; if you want to woo new ones, give them the backstories and draw them in.

Calliope:
It totally is turning into E! and it's annoying. Relative Madness! and cheap movies-of-the-week that no one bothered to sit through the first time they aired should not be making up the cable line-up of a channel called SoapNet. It's insulting.

Frankly, I'm still not over them yanking Another World off the air last April right before the Sharlene/Taylor storyline revved up and Judi Evans made her infamous debut (in Cali Timmon's green dress) as Paulina Cory. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.

Nmissi, I think we were separated at birth. I agree with everything you said.....my comments in italics. I've limited my Soapnet viewing to the 90210 reruns on the weekend (this was a Saturday morning ritual with a roommate back when it was on FX) and Days, my soap, when Tivo failed me on the normal viewing. Occasionally One Day with (I do love me some Wally K) or Ryans Hope in the early AM.

If Soapnet wanted me back, they could easily win me with:

1. Santa Barbara. I'd cheerfully pay premium prices to see my favorite soap again from the beginning.

2. Another World. I was miserable that they ended their reruns just when some of my favorites were headed to the canvas.

3. Dark Shadows. This classic could do much for their numbers, it'd draw from outside the normal soap-viewing audience, bringing in the scifi-fantasy fans as well as classic soap fans. -- If X-files/Buffy is any clue, the SoapNet crowd should clue into this obsessive fan base. As a soap fan, I'd watch Dark Shadows for a while just because I have heard so much about it. I'm sure if you merged the two audiences, it would be gold....lots of disposable income. If promoted right, it could be a small coup in today's competitive landscape.

4. Models Inc. It was short-lived, and should be cheap, plus it had a post-Dallas Linda Grey going for it. if not successful, did they really invest that much? It couldn't take that long to replay.

5. Texas- I have only vague memories of this one, but it was one of our "family" shows; I'd love to see what I was too little to appreciate in first-run viewing.

6. Ryan's Hope at a reasonable hour. Because I'm not getting up at 5 am for anyone, not even Maeve and Johnny. good stuff when you are battling insomnia, though, and the only other thing on are infomercials.

7. Dangerous Women - great campiness, and I think there were less sets on that show than every soap out there.

Some well made "history of soap" documentaries wouldn't go astray, either.PLEASE I saw a really good one on ovation in two parts, though it was focused more on Britsoap. I thought, "Why has no one done this in the US?" It could be fascinating viewing. Interview the classic writers, show clips from the most famous and infamous storylines (Casey the Alien, the Ice Princess, Marlena possessed by the devil, Erica's abortion, Eden's rape...) And while their little "one day with" and "soapography" are cute, something less fluffy, with more history to it, would be great. Maybe do primers for classic soaps; not those little commercials, but say, a half hour introduction to the Buchannons, the Lords, The Newmans, etc... go through pertinent family histories. Soap has lost tons of viewers; if you want to woo new ones, give them the backstories and draw them in.

I just want them to stop showing OTH, 90210, the OC (and I think MP, but I haven't checked) over and over and over again. Rotate in some new stuff! Some great ones have been mentioned, like Savannah, Model's Inc... I'd also like to see Titans (that one had a crazy good lineup, but that's about the only thing it had going for it), Sunset Beach, Pacific Palisades. (I do enjoy bad soaps too!)

And seriously, how about some classics from those that are already running? I wouldn't mind if they started some of these soaps from the beginning, and if they can't do that, they could show entire storylines or a clip show, or something. As mentioned above, even a documentary would be nice. Anything to get rid of "Relative Madness."