Dark Shadows sells well. Would others? (1 Viewer)

[bretmaverick2]

I wonder if other soaps would sell on DVD/blurry?

There are shows that were short, like DS. Some were tailor made for release sets, like PORT CHARLES. During the end of its run it was done in "books" that could be released.


I think they could sell decently. Anyone else?

 

[Randy Korstick]

I think Dark Shadows is the exception because it crosses the boundaries of Soaps and is really more of a Gothic/Horror/Romance. Genre shows and movies like this are always big sellers so this is the reason why it sells the soap aspect is really not part of the equation here. In a time when all classic TV is struggling to have decent sales on DVD I can't see any other soap, especially older short lived ones selling well at all. And from what I have read Dark Shadows is also an exception for being preserved. Most soaps from the 60's and 70's were erased so the tape could be reused as they didn't believe there would be any desire to view them again.

 

[Radioman970]

I agree, but still I'd love to see some best of sets come out like they did with game shows. Image seeing the whole Luke and Laura thing again... I'm actually more of a fan of the theme songs from those shows like Days of Our Lives from the 70s, Ryan's Hope, (and of course Dark Shadows which my dogs Honey bun and Kayla both sing along with!) I don't think there is anything but cover collections available.


Oh! Don't forget Mary Hartman Mary Hartman that plays like a soap too. Great we have that.

 

[Frank Soyke]

Don't forget, the main reason DS sells so well is that it is a CULT show as opposed to other daytime soaps. It has a devoted fan base not unlike the sci fi devotees that will buy anything Star Trek/Battlestar/X Files, etc. Other soaps I'm sure have plenty of fans, but it's not even in the same ballpark as a cult show like DS. Let's face it, if Peyton Place didn't sell enough to continue, huge massively expensive sets of Days or All My Children would simply not be worth the time and money for a distributor to even consider, given the projected earnings IMO.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I think some of the Luke and Laura adventures on General Hospital from the 80s could sell, specifically the Nicos Cassidine freezing the world storyline. Those characters are still popular. I would love to see those episodes again. Another thing Dark Shadows had going in its favour was that it only ran 5 years.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I think some of the Luke and Laura adventures on General Hospital from the 80s could sell, specifically the Nicos Cassidine freezing the world storyline. Those characters are still popular. I would love to see those episodes again. Another thing Dark Shadows had going in its favour was that it only ran 5 years.

Hi Ron!


It's been decades since I've viewed soaps, but I still remember the Port Charles' deep freeze! I loved GENERAL HOSPITAL's foray into the Science Fiction genre! Even the High School jocks (I was never one, sadly!) talked about it as a cool thing to watch!


Yes, assuming the episodes for the aforementioned story-line are extant, I do believe a home video release of these could sell! Emma Samms was a significant part of this, as well!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Ethan Riley]

I'd be interested too; they should do just that one storyline.


But even if ABC released just the early 80s "glory years" of GH with Luke and Laura, which you can roughly mark off as three years, that'd be a whopping 750 episodes give or take. And think of how many dvds there'd have to be.

 

[MatthewA]

Whatever happened to that company that was selling compilations of P&G soaps? Talk about a fly-by-night. They just sprung up out of nowhere and disappeared as fast as they opened up.

 

[Brian Himes]

You also have to take into consideration that Dark Shadows was sold into syndication the moment it went off the air. True, it didn't start showing repeats until 1975, but things were already in place for it to begin as early as the summer of 1971. The fact that the FCC stepped in and forced the networks to sell off thier syndication companies is the only thing that delayed Dark Shadows repeats untl 1975. So, Dark Shadows has been seen on TV for years after it was cancelled. Therefore it continued to build its fanbase. These other soaps have not been repeated. Outside of the odd clips shows or flashbacks, entire episodes from the past have just been sitting around unviewed. That's not saying that they wouldn't sell. Some probably would. Port Charles did get a very brief repeat on Soapnet after it was cancelled but it was only the last two years or so. Ryan's Hope was repeated on Soapnet for years but I don't recall at what point they started or how many years were actually repeated. Soapnet managed to get 80s Another World epiosdes shown again as well. What would help sales, in my opinion, is if a new Soapnet started up and actually showed these old episodes. It's all about exposure.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I'm pretty sure Soapnet showed all of Ryan's Hope. It seemed to do well for them; people were really enjoying it. But it was one of the better-written shows in its time.


Soapnet or an equivalent should come back. But I think their mistake was just repeating that day's ABC shows over and over. It got boring. They should have unvaulted more classic stuff. They'd occasionally do a GH retrospective or something, but it never really went anywhere. I always scratched my head over the fact that they didn't rerun the Luke & Laura years in their entirety.


Another interesting show was Passions. That one had a lot of fantasy/comedy elements. But alas, it was also the lowest-rated soap in tv history. It does still have a dedicated fanbase but it hasn't run in the U.S. for 7 years already. But there's nothing they can really do in terms of dvd--how do you release a show with 2,231 one-hour episodes?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I suspect one of the reasons Ryan's Hope was aired, and no other '70s shows, was, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that series unusual for the time period in that all of the episodes exist?


About the only other soap in US syndication was an Australian one: Prisoner Cell Block H. Syndication must've helped there, too, as that show has been sold on DVD in more than one region (maybe even here in R1, too).

 

[Ron Lee Green]

About the only other soap in US syndication was an Australian one: Prisoner Cell Block H. Syndication must've helped there, too, as that show has been sold on DVD in more than one region (maybe even here in R1, too).

Us Prisoner fans here in the USA only got 2 best of sets.

The show was released first in Australia, and then in the UK. I got the Aussie versions--all 40 volumes.

Here's another soap for consideration: "Strange Paradise"

It was Canada's answer to Dark Shadows. It wasn't as good, but it had a certain charm (creepy mansion, cryonic preservation, spiritual possession). There are only 200 episodes, so it's possible. I think one of the writers had been a writer on Dark Shadows. Maybe MPI should look into it since they've had much success with DS.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Regarding Ryan's Hope:


One of the reasons those early years of RH survive while episodes of some of the other ABC soaps from that era are gone is that RH's creators and original writers, Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, owned the show and ABC didn't. For financial reasons, they ended up selling the series to ABC sometime in 1979. But they were able to save those early years while other series (network-owned) at the time were getting wiped. So when Soapnet started and wanted to air the show, only a few episodes weren't able to be located or were in too-poor-to air condition.


Soapnet didn't air the entire run, unfortunately. The series originally aired from July 1975 until January 1989. Soapnet started with the 1st episode from 1975, but once they got to mid-December 1981, they started over with Episode 1.


When Soapnet began, various plugs and mentions on their little "news" show SoapCenter discussed plans to run the entire series. Then, when it was 1st announced that they were starting over instead of continuing into 1982 and beyond, the reason given was that so many more people now had access to Soapnet than when the network debuted; so they wanted newer viewers to be able to catch up/see how it all began/etc.


Annoying, but they were still showing 2 episodes per day at that time (10 per week), so it wasn't like it would take 6 years to get back to where they left off. The excuse seemed to be true when they reached the mid-December 1981 episodes again. This time, Soapnet did indeed keep going, continuing on to the next show rather than starting over.


Soapnet aired about 2 more weeks of 1981, getting us viewers a few days past Christmas '81. But before we got to see New Year's Eve, it was suddenly back to 1975 again.


No announcement or explanation this time about starting over. For whatever reason, Soapnet only aired those 2 additional weeks worth of shows before cycling back. Labine was asked online, and she speculated that it might be due to music rights issues. As ABC started exerting more creative control in the early 80s, they wanted the inclusion of popular music in all of their daytime shows, including RH. I don't know if that was Soapnet's reason, or only a partial reason, since some of the early-80s episodes that Soapnet DID air included then-current music either in the background or as a specific element to a scene. One of the actors, when asked, speculated that it was related to residuals, which he said became a possibility in the early 80s contracts. (I don't know how valid that was, but that was his speculation in a response to an online question about the situation.) Soapnet never offered a reason this time.


During the original cycle of episodes, Soapnet had aired a few post-'81 episodes - the St. Patrick's Day shows from 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1988. But that's all.


I wish someone would rerun the show again, this time all the way to the end. (Retro TV has been airing The Doctors for the past year, starting with December 1967 episodes at 2 shows per day most weekdays and are now almost at 1970.)


Long (longwinded?) post, I know. But Dark Shadows is a favorite of mine and I started watching RH when it appeared on Soapnet because RH had several ties to DS with behind-the-scenes people, props, and, for a brief time, actress Nancy Barrett, and I quickly grew to like RH in its own right. So I like watching and talking about both shows.


At least all of DS has been released and approx. 1/3 of RH was rerun. In general, I agree that DS is the exception, and soaps that don't have its cult following (and relatively brief run) will never get the full series release treatment that DS got (1st on VHS and then DVD).

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

Hi Ron!


It's been decades since I've viewed soaps, but I still remember the Port Charles' deep freeze! I loved GENERAL HOSPITAL's foray into the Science Fiction genre! Even the High School jocks (I was never one, sadly!) talked about it as a cool thing to watch!


Yes, assuming the episodes for the aforementioned story-line are extant, I do believe a home video release of these could sell! Emma Samms was a significant part of this, as well!


CHEERS!


Tony

I used to come home from school and my Mom was always watching GH and I got caught up in this story. I was very excited seeing John Colicos on the show, thought he was in more episodes. It was also good seeing Emma and a young John Stamos was on the show.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I'd be interested too; they should do just that one storyline.


But even if ABC released just the early 80s "glory years" of GH with Luke and Laura, which you can roughly mark off as three years, that'd be a whopping 750 episodes give or take. And think of how many dvds there'd have to be.

They could be released in Volumes like DS was. I hate the idea of the episodes being edited to remove storylines not essential to the Luke and Laura stuff but that's another option.

 

[classicmovieguy]

The early years of "Bold and the Beautiful" are slowly trickling to DVD in Germany... 10 box sets so far, with the first 250 episodes.

 

[bretmaverick2]

SANTA BARBARA was another show with a cult like following. Broken down into releases of six to twelve month sets, it may just sell

 

[moviebuff75]

Passions.