‘The Young and the Restless’ (Y&R) Interview: Tristan Rogers Talks Soaps Need Their Own Channel

“The Young and the Restless” (Y&R) Tristan Rogers (Colin Atkinson) isn’t just a great actor – he also created the iconic “General Hospital” (GH) character Robert Scorpio – but he is a pretty savvy business man. Rogers is just as passionate about soap operas as viewers and believes they need their own channel.

Tristan recently spoke with Soaps In Depth about the failure of SOAPnet – he places the blame for its failure on the execution of the business plan rather than the concept behind it. In fact, in August 2013 nearly 67 million viewers were tuning into the channel, about 58 percent of American households) received SOAPnet. It carried same day episodes of “All My Children” (AMC), “One Life to Live” (OLTL) and “General Hospital” (GH) – it later added “The Young and the Restless” to its nightly line-up. During the daytime SOAPnet viewers could watch reruns of primetime soaps such as “Dynasty,” “Melrose Place” and “One Tree Hill.” But with the age of video-on-demand and DVD technology, ABC decided to pull the plug on the channel and it eventually went off the air in 2014.

But if soap operas – daytime, primetime and even reality shows – had their own network Tristan Rogers believes that the channel could thrive. “It can be done – it just can’t be done in that way,” the actor says about the way the channel was managed. “The idea probably started out as solid, with a specific direction behind it, but it never got anywhere close to its potential.” And Tristan thinks that if soap operas had their own channel – just like sports, cartoons, food and travel do – a network such as SOAPnet would be a success.

When it comes to soaps Tristan thinks outside the box – don’t limit the channel to just daytime dramas. He thinks the soap genre should be much broader – it should include certain primetime shows and even some reality television shows. “Most of the reality shows out there are soaps. Even certain primetime shows have a very soap opera-ish makeup to them, so I think there are lots of possibilities – you just have to get a group of people together who are like-minded.” We think Tristan Rogers is on to something here! Rather than fight for ratings and see our favorite daytime and primetime dramas cancelled – why not have a channel that operates 24/7 and carries just soap opera-oriented programming?

What do you think? Should a channel be created just for soap opera-like television shows? Would you watch a channel such as that rather than use video-on-demand or DVR? Voice your opinions in the comment section below!

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