Why Can't EastEnders Find A Home in the States?
By Larry Jaffee
Now in its 18th year, EastEnders is the longest running, most popular series in BBC television history, typically attracting 15 million to 20 million U.K. viewers four times a week in prime time. It is the British equivalent of Friends or Everyone Loves Raymond in terms of viewer popularity. It's a perennial winner of Best Soap Opera awards by various sponsoring organizations and publications, and in 1997 even won a BAFTA (the U.K. equivalent of the Emmy) as Best Drama.
In the U.S., EastEnders, which depicts life in a fictional East London neighborhood, never achieved anything more than cult status, despite attracting such celebrity fans as Cher, Madonna, Whoopi Goldberg and David Bowie.
On Sept. 26, the digital/satellite network BBC America, one would think an Anglophile's paradise and the perfect home for such a program, announced that it was canceling the series due to poor ratings. This development actually is not all that surprising because BBC America has done little to no promotion of the series, despite promises to fans last year that it would attempt to bring new viewers to the show. Admittedly, my perspective on EastEnders comes with a vested interest in seeing the program succeed on this side of the Atlantic, for I have published for the past 11 years with permission from the BBC a quarterly newspaper dedicated to the series. Yet I can be objective, having been a professional journalist for more than two decades, and will stick to the facts. First introduced to American viewers via public television stations in 1988, EastEnders was never picked up nationally by PBS, and subsequently only 50 stations carried it the first year. Today, 16 stations are left, including locally WLIW/Channel 21 in Plainview, NY. The public TV stations broadcast EastEnders episodes that are three to four years behind the U.K. storyline, whereas BBC America's episodes were two weeks behind the U.K.
My newspaper, dubbed the "Walford Gazette" (a fictional paper of the same name periodically shows up in the episodes), was created to give the public TV stations a fundraising tool to entice viewers to contribute financially for something of greater value than a station logo tote bag or coffee mug. Every 16-page issue features interviews with the actors and creative team, and other behind-scenes information of how the program is produced.
Inexplicably, my best customer for the EastEnders newspapers has been Prairie Public Television of Fargo, ND, which during the first 10 years of the publication's existence ordered 600-900 annual subscriptions for its members.
Notwithstanding the strange case of Fargo, EastEnders on public television is going through significant trials and tribulations of late, with cancellations this year in Philadelphia, San Jose, Dayton, OH, and Plattsburgh, NY.
When EastEnders made it to commercial television, albeit a fledgling niche in a 500-channel universe, its fans thought that they would finally be rid of the make incessant threats of cancellation if membership goals aren't met. What EastEnders fans have learned is that advertising-dependent commercial cable television is as-if not more so-an uncertain environment as the constantly financially struggling, non-commercial PBS world.
According to its own promotional materials, BBC America's mission is to bring "the best of British television to the U.S.-delivering a diverse mix of internationally acclaimed dramas, cutting-edge comedies, compelling documentaries and world-class news."
Most of its in-house commercial time has been dedicated to the home improvement series Changing Rooms and Ground Force, the popular comedies Coupling (which just spurred an American version on NBC) and The Office and the outrageous talk show So Graham Norton. Spots run less often for a second tier of shows such as the new military drama Red Cap (starring former EastEnders actor Tamzin Outwaithe), its continuing Murder in Mind mystery series of standalone one-offs, or its new off-the-wall comedy like Three Non-Blondes. (Separate segments of Murder in Mind featured popular EastEnders castmembers Steve McFadden and Michael Greco, but BBC America never thought to do any kind of cross-promotion.) In fact, the amount of on-air promotion (meaning just BBC America) for EastEnders wouldn't even rank on a tenth tier. Nonetheless, EastEnders had been on the channel's lineup since its launch in March 1998, but had a problem holding onto a regular timeslot. For the past year, BBC America ran four back-to-back episodes starting at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. "Nobody will be delighted more than us if EastEnders proves successful in its new time slot," BBC America announced 13 months ago. However, we must make it clear that we will be reviewing the situation next year and if the show fails to perform on Saturdays it will be discontinued."
Well, on the last point, BBC America kept its word. ItŐs debatable whether BBC America senior vice president Jo Petherbridge and the network followed through after stating in a Dec. 20, 2002 letter to me, "I'm pleased to say that, as we promised, EastEnders will be part of our promotional strategy for the first quarter 2003." A follow-up note to me a few days later from BBC America CEO Paul Lee further promised that "we'll be giving EastEnders a push in the New Year and we certainly hope to bolster the ratings."
Since the beginning of the year, I have watched on a fairly regular basis such shows as Coupling, So Graham Norton, Manchild, The Office, What Not to Wear, and Monarch of the Glen, among others, and never once had I seen even one promo spot for EastEnders. Ms. Petherbridge on Sept. 29 promised me the data from log sheets proving a high level of spots for the series in January and February. She admitted that the promotion was halted following because there didn't appear to be a bump in the ratings.
In order to grow EastEnders' audience, one would assume the network's goal, BBC America needed to pique the interest of viewers who tune into BBC America's other drama and comedy programming. It had done this effectively with the upper-class rural contemporary drama Monarch of the Glen. But would-be EastEnders fans were never given a taste of the show's rich tapestry of emotions and personalities that populate the fictional Albert Square. Without promoting it regularly during its other shows, BBC America inexplicably was setting up EastEnders for failure. It didn't always seem that way.
For example, in a January 2000 press release commemorating the series' 15th anniversary, Mr. Lee stated that "EastEnders has become a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. Who would have thought that a British soap opera-where no one has money or plastic surgery--would have captured the hearts of so many our American viewers?" The release goes on to praise EastEnders' "reputation for dramatic, uncompromising story lines."
And in November 2001 BBC America announced that EastEnders was selected to be the first show to be offered in a still unlaunched video-on-demand service, although certain favorites like Monty Python are available in some areas VOD. Mr. Lee acknowledged "many avid fans are keen to watch the show as soon as possible." (BBC America executives now insist that EastEnders was not canceled as a ploy to eventually get fans to pay for it.)
What has transpired since those earlier press release-speak platitudes that regard EastEnders with high esteem? Well for one thing, BBC America's potential audience has grown significantly, as more local cable TV systems deployed digital infrastructures, and thus creating larger channel capacities. An estimated 35 million households can now receive BBC America either through digital cable or satellite services like DirecTV. Of course, many customers signed on for these new services expressly for EastEnders. Hence, even without on-air promotion, EastEnders' audience was bound to grow.
Time will tell whether the barrage of complaints will sway BBC America or the London BBC powers. Fans have been inundating BBC America's offices with complaints and within 3 days amassed nearly 5,000 signatures on an online petition. EastEnders fans do have a track record of getting such decisions reconsidered. Last year, bowing to viewer complaints BBC America within three weeks reversed a decision that would have left EastEnders only on Friday afternoons. On public television in the past decade, viewer complaints forced station executives in St. Paul, MN, San Jose, CA, Buffalo, NY, Denver, CO, and Raleigh, NC to reinstate the program. Buffalo's WNED ended up killing it two years ago after a year-long reprieve, while San Jose's KTEH enjoyed a 10-year run after the first cancellation but again pulled the plug on EastEnders this past January.
The current uproar over EastEnders recalls the 1980s precedent of Doctor Who, a British sci-fi series that gained loyal fans in the U.S. but apparently not enough to ensure a permanent spot on U.S. public TV schedules, or even cable's Sci-Fi Network. EastEnders fans have good reason to wonder if the show's days are numbered on public TV too. In recent years, the Walford Gazette has arranged for actors from the series to appear during live fundraising appeals; this year the station has relied solely on previously taped spots.
It wasn't lost on EastEnders fans that the timing of the BBC America cancellation was particularly poor, two weeks before the character "Den Watts" was set to return to Albert Square after a 14-year absence, in which he was presumed dead. It was another example of how the programmers failed to understand the EastEnders fan psyche. And the very last shot of EastEnders aired on BBC America, further adding insult to injury, was a glimpse of another character, Lisa, whose disappearance six months ago fueled speculation of foul play by the hands of her former boyfriend Phil.
So the question remains, why can't this British crown jewel find a home in the former colonies? After all, it's available in some 50 countries, the latest being Ukraine.
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