MOVIN’ TO CABLE: For a 10-week period starting July 15, OWN viewers will be able to see Corbin Bleu (left) in “One Life to Live” and Cady McClain and Eric Nelsen (right) in “All My Children.” (
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Far be it from me to give an inch to Oprah Winfrey — I’ve never been a fan — but her OWN cable network’s deal to air repeats of online-only soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” is a savvy business decision.
Not only will it return both soaps to “mainstream” TV — albeit cable, and only for a limited run — but it will likely draw more eyeballs to OWN, which has made some viewership strides of late but is still struggling to forge an identity in the crowded cable landscape.
It will also give fans of both shows — revivals of which premiered last April on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes — a chance to rekindle their old soap romances if they haven’t followed “AMC” and “OLTL” on the Web.
(“AMC” was canned by ABC in September 2011; “OLTL” followed in January 2012.)
Starting July 15, and for the next 10 weeks thereafter, OWN will air repeat (half hour) episodes of both online soaps every Monday through Thursday at 1 and 3 p.m. (with “AMC” airing at 1 and “OLTL” at 3).
I don’t know if Winfrey herself had anything to do with this acquisition, but whoever pulled the trigger on the deal should get a big slap on the back — or, as WC Fields would say, “a hearty handclasp” for a job well done.
It’s also interesting to note that Disney/ABC-owned SoapNet, which aired reruns of both “AMC” and “OLTL” when they aired on the corporate mothership, is struggling — and has lost carriage on many cable and satellite providers who’ve opted instead for Disney Junior as the once-powerful daytime soap genre continues to shrink (only four soaps remain on NBC, ABC and CBS).
Now OWN can tap into that niche, as well.
So things are looking up at OWN, which has also gone into business with powerhouse TV and movie producer/writer/director Tyler Perry. The network is now the exclusive home for Perry’s original TV material (hey, he just might buy the entire network some day, who knows?).
While it remains to be seen if dipping its toe into the soap world will pay dividends, I give OWN a lot of kudos for thinking outside the box on this one, even for only a short-term gain.