The Beauty of the Clean Break: The Misguided Logic Behind the Crossover

It seems time is about up for the Llanview Three, as they're called, and I couldn't be happier. As sad as that may seem, I can't wait for them all to exit- stage left, stage right, don't matter.  Just get them out and Llanview-bound. This is an open note to PP.

Give us our characters back for reals and forever. Crossovers are not a good idea and will not function as some surmise. They will fail and not only cause dissension in the ranks of fans on both sides, but water down the brand. Stop this before it starts, Guys, it's a bad idea.

It's often true that corporate types think their logic is correct. It may seem correct. It may work in some venues. But that logic isn't absolute. You need to know your market and study it qualitatively, not just quantitatively. You need to actually hear what your consumers have to say and see how they feel before you make assumptions about how they feel about your product.

Here's an example. I live in Chicago and can attest to our dedication to certain brands and tradenames. We're loyal to a fault. We have to be. We have the Cubs and the Bears afterall. Michael Jordan could spit in our face and we'd justify it as he was kidding. We had one family run our town for decades even though we know it maybe wasn't the best idea. They were our Daleys,  damnit, and that was that. 

When Macy's bought what was left of the Marshall Fields brand, they decided to change the name of the long loved store.  I have a very close friend who's a lawyer in San Francisco. She knows some bigwig in marketing at Macys. Knowing my friend was a native Chicagoan, he called her and asked her opinion about the name change. Her answer? "It's a disaster. Don't do it. It's a massive mistake".  The marketing guy said his numbers said otherwise. She said, "You don't know Chicagoans. This is a massive mistake".

And it was. And is. People still actively boycott the store. They hate hate hate Macy's. There are still protests to get the name back. Finally, the CEO of Macy's had to come out and tell Chicago to "get over it".  We never did. Macy's sucks and their numbers in Chicago prove that.

Macy's took a century of good will and tossed it. They took a brand and watered it down as they still sold Frangos and kept a moment or two of Fields. But it's not the same. Having a little of what we loved makes it worse than having nothing at all. Numbers don't show attitudes. Logic isn't always controlling in taste and loyalty. Err on the side of caution when consumer choices are clouded with nostalgia and memory and family.

This is for you guys at PP. Read that line above again. Soap opera is all about nostalgia, family, memory, and love. Don't think you can use characters as marketing. That's not going to work. They aren't pawns in that way. They need to be centered and grounded. They can't run willy-nilly from place to place. People will not be invested in them.

THIS IS A BAD IDEA!! We need to get invested in a story or we don't care. The audience isn't invested in the character. They're invested in the relationships with other characters. You should have learned that from watching this crap with OLTL characters on GH. The majority of the OLTL audience did not watch or left pretty quickly. It wasn't my show so why would I watch?

Look, I was a huge fan of Howarth's interpretation of Todd. But I quickly found that I was only interested in him in Llanview. I not only didn't like him in Port Charles, I disliked him. I turned it off and avoided the show because of it. I would have liked to have seen Anna and Duke and Scotty and Lucy and Frisco and Felicia. But the show had the stink of the loser all over them and Todd made it worse. Don't get me started on Starr.

This will happen with the GH fans you think may come over to OLTL after any brief crossover. It will not work. It's about them liking Todd on GH, not following him back to OLTL. They'll be pissed as these are two different characters. On GH, he's whatever he was with Carly. On OLTL, he's Todd Manning. Different guy.

The shows have different tones and acting styles. They don't mesh. That should prove the point. If they like GH, they may not like OLTL. You've had Todd get new fans for a year. That should be enough. If they follow, it will be now. But having him show up and be whatever for the moment won't make anyone happy. Fans of both shows want their character for themselves. We don't share well.

So, look, this is your show, do what you want. But, like the marketing guy who thought he knew everything, my friend the lawyer knew more than him as she lived it. She knew the consumers. She understand the fan culture. She may not have done studies formally, but she lived it.

I'm doing the same thing now.  Abandon this idea. It's a bad one and it won't work. It will hurt you more than help. It will make me not invest in Todd if he's leaving, no matter how brief. He needs to go home, stay there, and rebuild his life. I'm not interested in him running back, even for a few months. GH fans won't be invested if he will then come back and leave again. This is logic, I get that, but it's faulty.

You're new to soaps. You need to rebuild trust with the audience. We're leery and you need to woo us. Just give us our people back and we're with you. We've been screwed but we're ones who want to believe. Just don't fuck it up.