Soap Reruns

[Carrie Fairchild]

Assuming rights holders were willing this is how easy it would be to put something together for cable channels....

This is how easy it would be to put something together that would have relatively broad appeal if you had enough capital and rights holders were willing. All shows from start obviously.

Monday - Friday Weekday
07.00 Emmerdale Farm
07.30 Emmerdale Farm
08.00 Coronation Street
08.30 Coronation Street
09.00 EastEnders
09.40 EastEnders
10.20 Doctors
11.00 Brookside
11.30 Brookside
12.00 Waterloo Road
13.00 Casualty
14.00 Holby City
15.00 Emmerdale Farm
15.30 Emmerdale Farm
16.00 Coronation Street
16.30 Coronation Street
17.00 EastEnders
17.40 EastEnders
18.20 Doctors
19.00 Brookside
19.30 Brookside
20.00 The Bill
21.00 (US Soaps - Sunset Beach / Dallas / Melrose Place etc etc)
22.00 (US Soaps - Sunset Beach / Dallas / Melrose Place etc etc)
23.30 Hollyoaks
And then at the weekend you could show omnibuses of the weekday content.

This would roughly be my ideal kind of line up. All shows shown from the beginning or as close to as possible. All shows airing one episode daily, with selected shows having a repeat of the same episode at a later time. The prime time slot between 9 and 11pm to be filled with only US prime time shows run in their entirety and then rotated. The early morning schedule mostly filled with US daytime shows, with a selected couple getting an afternoon repeat also. Daytime shows could be any of the long running shows. I have just added some that I would like to see or are familiar with. Entire weekend line up made up of omnibus editions of each show. Also I am aware that the runtimes are likely not accurate due to episode length and ads but it's a rough idea.
Monday - Friday Weekday
07.00 The Bold & The Beautiful
07.30 The Young & The Restless
08.30 Days Of Our Lives
09.30 Santa Barbara
10.30 Sunset Beach
11.30 Sons & Daughters
12.00 EastEnders
12.30 Coronation Street
13.00 Emmerdale Farm
13.30 Neighbours
14.00 Home and Away
14.30 Brookside
15.00 Crossroads
15.30 The Bold & The Beautiful
16.00 The Young & The Restless
17.00 EastEnders
17.30 Coronation Street
18.00 Emmerdale Farm
18.30 Brookside
19.00 Hollyoaks
19.30 Neighbours
20.00 Home and Away
20.30 Crossroads
21.00 (US 80s Prime Time Soaps - Dallas /Dynasty/Knots Landing/The Colbys/Falcon Crest/Paper Dolls/Flamingo Road etc etc)
22.00 (US 90s/00s Prime Time Soaps - Melrose Place/90210/CPW/Savannah/Titans/Desperate Housewives/Brothers & Sisters/The OC etc etc)
23.30 Prisoner Cell Block H

While we're talking wishlist lineups, I'd like to see a soapy channel like the below. Something with a mix of classic soaps with newer first run series to draw viewers in.

09:00 - Days of Our Lives
10:00 - General Hospital
11:00 - The Young and the Restless
12:00 - The Bold and the Beautiful
12:30 - Shortland Street
13:00 - The Heights
13:30 - Red Rock
14:00 - Classic US primetime soap slot - Dallas / Dynasty / Knots Landing / Falcon Crest / The Colbys / Melrose Place
15:00 - A Country Practice
16:00 - Sons and Daughters
16:30 - The Sullivans
17:00 - The Bold and the Beautiful
17:30 - Shortland Street
18:00 - The Heights
18:30 - Red Rock
19:00 - Aussie drama slot - Packed To The Rafters / A Place To Call Home / Winners & Losers / House Husbands
20:00 - Classic US primetime soap slot - Dallas / Dynasty / Knots Landing / Falcon Crest / The Colbys / Melrose Place
21:00 - Recent US primetime soap slot - The Haves and the Have Nots / If Loving You Is Wrong / Greenleaf / Empire / Filthy Rich
22:00 - Aussie adult drama slot - Love My Way / Tangle / Offspring / The Secret Life of Us
23:00 - Prisoner: Cell Block H

 

[Canon]

I honestly think some sort of soap box that just throws all the episodes up to watch would be the best solution.

But I guess unless it's a passion project for Amazon Prime or another similarly massive company, it would require a serious amount of financial risk to be undertaken to come to fruition and a hell of a lot of rights clearances

Amazon Prime in the US has mid 90s Emmerdale available to stream so they've obviously managed an arrangement with ITV.

The classic reruns on ITV3 seem to do well, 200k - 400k. You would think this would convince ITV of the interest in the older episodes and maybe make more consecutive episodes available on BritBox.

 

[cobbles]

Amazon Prime in the US has mid 90s Emmerdale available to stream so they've obviously managed an arrangement with ITV.

The classic reruns on ITV3 seem to do well, 200k - 400k. You would think this would convince ITV of the interest in the older episodes and maybe make more consecutive episodes available on BritBox.

I looked for ratings but couldn't find any. Not suprised they're in that range and that's not even for the golden era of corrie which is widely considered to be Bill Podmore's late 70s, early 80s episodes.

If you say 1 in 5 of those would watch the show from the beginning on BritBox that would be 40,000 to 80,000 Britbox subscriptions wouldn't it? Surely that's a massive amount of untapped potential for that service. Even if it's 1 in 10 that would be 20,000 to 40,000 subs?

 

[cobbles]

On which note I just logged onto Britbox to see more episodes had been uploaded - on the holiday theme this time to go with the valentine theme from the last mass upload

Here's the full list of 55 or so episodes now on the platform.....

Spoiler

9 December 1960 - First Episode
11 July 1962 - Bill leaves after Elsie finds out he's married
30th August 1967 - Elsie tells he Hewitts they can come to her and Steve's upcoming wedding/wedding preparations
3 July 1968 - Stan and Hilda go to a Chinese Restaurant
30 September 1968 - Elsie suspected after Steve is found dead
29 October 1969 - The Coach Crash
14 October 1974 and 16 October 1974 - the girls go to Majorca
2 March 1977 - Bet finds out that Anne is Mike's mistress and has kids
14 November 1977 - Stan and Hilda's second honeymoon
13 February 1978 - Stan gets a valentines card and Hilda turns detective
26 May 1980 - Stan and Hilda get the flu
14 September 1981 - A Mr and Mrs competition is held at the rovers - Stan and Hilda and Jack and Vera enter
21 February 1983 - The episode where Diedre tells Ken about the affair
4 May 1983 - Bet and Betty get stranded in a lake
25 May 1983 - Jack goes on the infamous date that turns out to be Vera
12 September 1983 - Jack and Vera move into No 9
24 November 1984 - Stan's Funeral.
2 January 1985 - Hilda advertises for a lodger
18 June 1986 - Bet wakes up in the rovers while it's on fire
12 August 1987 - Bet and Alec go to Torremilinos
25 December 1987 - The Street says farewell to Hilda
15 March 1989 - Alan Bradley tormenting Rita
8 December 1989 - Alan Bradley's death
25 December 1989 - Diedre finds out about Ken's affair with Wendy Crozier
24 December 1990 - Sally goes into Labour
27 March 1992 - Raquel holds a dinner party
30 April 1993 - Reg Holdsworth's waterbed
24 December 1993 - Terry tries to sell his baby
3 November 1995 - Jack and Vera take over the Rovers
8 December 1995 - Raquel's big decision over Curly and Des
13 November 1996 - Curly and Raquel have a heart to heart
9 February 1998 - Alma holds a dinner party
29 March 1998 - Diedre's Trial verdict
6 July 1998 - Roy and Hayley; first date
14 February 1999 - Roy asks Haley a question at valentine's disco
25 October 2000 - Curly and Emma go to Raquel's chateu
20 August 2001 - Jack and Vera anniversary
26 December 2001 - The police are after Terry
21 January 2002 - A blood blank arrives on the street
6 January 2003 - Tracy lets slip to Blanche about Diedre's dalliance with Dev
24 February 2003 - Richard Hillman's confessional
12 March 2003 - Richard Hillman properly loses the plot
16 April 2004 - Steve and Karens wedding
24 May 2004 - Gail and Jason find out Todd is gay
25 October 2004 - Dev and Sunita's wedding
24 November 2004 - Mad Maya's moment to shine
8 April 2005 - Ken and Diedre's second wedding
11 May 2009 - Dev's nude potrait
30 April 2010 - Roy and Hayley get married legally
6 December 2010 - The Tram crashes
12 April 2013 - Sunita's funeral
16 October 2013 - Roy and Hayley's Blackpool trip
18 April 2014 - Ken and Diedre go on holiday
15 July 2016 - Kylie's death
9 May 2018 - Aidan's suicide

 

[cobbles]

https://www.britbox.co.uk/soaps

Is it me or is Britbox having a dedicated landing page for Soaps a new thing? Headed as SoapBox....?
Also seem to be pumping out new episodes at a steady rate for Emmerdale and Coronation Street. Not much for EE yet - primarily Christmas episodes, but looks like some sort of long term dedicated section intent is there?

 

[Canon]

I don't see the appeal of random episodes. I'd imagine someone seeking the archive of Emmerdale and Corrie for the first time would want to watch it in order as much as possible, especially the binge generation.

 

[cobbles]

I don't see the appeal of random episodes. I'd imagine someone seeking the archive of Emmerdale and Corrie for the first time would want to watch it in order as much as possible, especially the binge generation.

I think Britbox is primarily targeted at an older audience who might have seen some of these first time out and want a rewatch.

The selection isn't entirely random, most of them are episodes widely considered classics or marking important occasions in the shows history. I've watched a few of them and they're entertaining even out of context - you can generally pick the threads up easily.

They've had the random eps up for a while though; I'm more excited by the fact they've set that sort of landing page up - I'm getting the feeling they might have something much more comprehensive in store long term.

 

[Rove]

As if people couldn't possibly watch anything in black and white.

On a side note one of the Australia commercial networks - on their secondary channel - consistently screens movies in black and white. For some strange reason I find myself drawn to them, not because it's black and white but the story.

 

[Alexis]

On a side note one of the Australia commercial networks - on their secondary channel - consistently screens movies in black and white. For some strange reason I find myself drawn to them, not because it's black and white but the story.

Same, I think maybe that the monochrome makes you focus on the story because there is less visual distraction.

 

[Rove]

Paula Duncan makes a good point about how were they to know that cable channels & DVD would become a thing when those contracts were signed.

It's a valid point she brings up. How is an actor or production company capable of foreseeing the future? Contracts signed all those years ago should reflect the time they were signed. Actors now complaining about residuals for work they did in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's could explain why networks are reluctant to screen classic TV. Now, everyone misses out.

 

[cobbles]

It's a valid point she brings up. How is an actor or production company capable of foreseeing the future? Contracts signed all those years ago should reflect the time they were signed. Actors now complaining about residuals for work they did in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's could explain why networks are reluctant to screen classic TV. Now, everyone misses out.

To be frank I think a fair bit of this falls under tough luck and given the overwhelming majority of actors are now deceased what's the big issue?

 

[Canon]

To be fair, B&W Corrie and early Emmerdale would seem a bit out of place on this particular channel. ITV4 would probably be a better fit.

I think Britbox is primarily targeted at an older audience who might have seen some of these first time out and want a rewatch.

The selection isn't entirely random, most of them are episodes widely considered classics or marking important occasions in the shows history. I've watched a few of them and they're entertaining even out of context - you can generally pick the threads up easily.

I would have to be really familiar with the show to enjoy the single episodes. I've had the 60s Corrie DVD set for years and have never managed to finish it. It's too jarring for me not knowing the outcome as the characters and storylines will have moved on between each selected episode. That's why I was glad that Network DVD released the first few years of Emmerdale in order.

 

[cobbles]

I would have to be really familiar with the show to enjoy the single episodes. I've had the 60s Corrie DVD set for years and have never managed to finish it. It's too jarring for me not knowing the outcome as the characters and storylines will have moved on between each selected episode. That's why I was glad that Network DVD released the first few years of Emmerdale in order.

I mean Corrie's one of those shows where you can pick an episode up and still get the gist of it. I did that for years. A lot of people have done it throughout it's decades on air, it's pretty impossible to have caught every episode and often life means an extended break from it.

There's enough familiarity to the long term viewer whether it's an ancient - and there's enough fan-sites you can seek a story resolution if you're that curious.

Having all 10,000 episodes at our fingertips to play catch up is always the preferred solution, but having the odd episode to dip into works for now. They've been carefully selected to be familiar characters/groups of characters to even casual viewers in relatively standalone story-lines or big dramatic events everyone's heard of.

 

[Canon]

it's pretty impossible to have caught every episode and often life means an extended break from it.

There's enough familiarity to the long term viewer whether it's an ancient - and there's enough fan-sites you can seek a story resolution if you're that curious.

A lot of the information on those sites, the likes of Corriepedia, has come from actually viewing episodes, from people who have made their way through every available episode. Whether from official DVD releases, the Granada Plus rerun or recordings from the actual airings.

 

[cobbles]

A lot of the information on those sites, the likes of Corriepedia, has come from actually viewing episodes, from people who have made their way through every available episode. Whether from official DVD releases, the Granada Plus rerun or recordings from the actual airings.

I'm really not following your point. Yes the two guys who get most of the info on Corriepedia etc have got a lot of it from watching the episodes through the BFI archive (they actually had to approach them as researchers to watch the majority of pre-1976 episodes as thats the only available option, there's no official release and no telerecordings for most episodes before the re-run that started in 1976) and Granada archives and taking notes. And fair play to them for going to the efforts to get the opportunity to do so, for most of us without an official release that's infeasible. Travelling to London to watch every episode of Corrie is an undertaking beyond most folk. And the number of people the BFI would permit to do it is low. However for example say you watch The Coach Trip and want to know what happens to Audrey and Ray's affair before you watch a later episode the information is there to see. Similarly if you want to find out why a character left in between. You don't need to have seen every episode to appreciate and individual episodes place in the shows history.

Yes we all want the luxury of watching it from the start. It doesn't exist at the moment, and I'm not going to wait for it to be possible to go and look at scenes and episodes that are often featured in Corrie clip shows - such as Ken/Diedre affair reveal/Jack's dating agency/The Coach Crash/Raquel and Curly's wedding etc when the context is available either in the episode or with a bit of research thank to the people I mentioned above.

It could be years - or even - never before the entire lot is available, so I don't see why there's anything to complain about with Britbox releasing iconic episodes. As I said in a previous post, the target audience is primarily those who have watched Coronation Street long term on ITV1 and possibly even watched these episodes first time out but want to relive them, rather than people who've never seen Corrie and want to jump in on them.

 

[Canon]

Yes the two guys who get most of the info on Corriepedia etc have got a lot of it from watching the episodes through the BFI archive (they actually had to approach them as researchers to watch the majority of pre-1976 episodes as thats the only available option, there's no official release and no telerecordings for most episodes before the re-run that started in 1976) and Granada archives and taking notes.

Ah, I did not know that. I had wondered where the information from the episodes that have never re-aired had come from.

 

[cobbles]

Ah, I did not know that. I had wondered where the information from the episodes that have never re-aired had come from.

Yup that's why some of these additions to Britbox are so treasured. Whilst most come off DVD or the Granada run a few have never seen the light of day before.

I look forward to the day you can just log into a online streaming service and watch corrie from the start, but until that happens the best we have as far as the first roughly 1500 episodes goes is just DVD releases, re-airings and for many of them those episode notes. It's worth noting the info for quite a few of those eps doesn't even come from watching them - it's from historic storyline notes and scripts as well as TV mags at the time. They really have put an insane amount of effort into getting that info.

Hopefully in the note too distant future we'll just be able to log in and watch from the start though. But many of us having been optimistic about this prospect since the advent of streaming only to be repeatedly disappointed.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

On a side note one of the Australia commercial networks - on their secondary channel - consistently screens movies in black and white. For some strange reason I find myself drawn to them, not because it's black and white but the story.

There is an appetite for older B&W programming. There's a British channel called Taking Pictures TV. It started as a niche channel airing predominantly B&W films, newsreels and series and has gained something of a cult following. They've already rerun the ITV daytime soaps Rooms (70's) and Together (80's). The viewing figures for it's top rated programmes average around 100k+, so the likes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale might be out of it's budget right now but they have transitioned to airing better known series over time like Widows, Van Der Valk and Robin's Nest, so as their popularity (and budget) continue to grow, I wonder will better known soaps feature on their lineup.

 

[cobbles]

There is an appetite for older B&W programming. There's a British channel called Taking Pictures TV. It started as a niche channel airing predominantly B&W films, newsreels and series and has gained something of a cult following. They've already rerun the ITV daytime soaps Rooms (70's) and Together (80's). The viewing figures for it's top rated programmes average around 100k+, so the likes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale might be out of it's budget right now but they have transitioned to airing better known series over time like Widows, Van Der Valk and Robin's Nest, so as their popularity (and budget) continue to grow, I wonder will better known soaps feature on their lineup.

Talking Pictures primary content is shows that the owner bought the rights to in the 1960s/1970s - they don't go out of their way to purchase new content, it's part of what enables them to remain profitable.

Corrie is unlikely on there - but more and more seems to getting put up on Britbox. 55 episodes now, just 10,020 or so left to see up there.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

Talking Pictures has shown Widows and The Gentle Touch, both good shows, I also like the Drama channel as they have some good content. CBS Drama has really gone downhill and it used to be great.