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chiller
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clue
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soap net
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these channels might be familiar to you
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they may not be
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either way they all took a swing at the
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cable game
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and mist
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today on m story we're covering the
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tragic tales of chiller clue and soapnet
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[Music]
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fans of the horror genre long for a
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channel dedicated to their favorite
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slasher films for many
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many years their prayers of getting a
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channel of their own were answered on
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january 12 2007
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when nbc universal made the decision to
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tap into the potential a horror channel
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could have
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chiller hit the scene a little less than
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two months later on march 1st 2007 and
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the rest is history
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the first program to air on chiller was
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alfred hitchcock presents
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other early shows to air on the newly
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formed chiller were
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twin peaks
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american gothic and tales from the crypt
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horror movies were always in the mix
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with films such as the shining and
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psycho being broadcast frequently on the
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channel
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horror fans had mixed opinions at
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chiller's launch as seen here on
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comments left on fansite ain't it cool
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news
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concerns about the editing out of gory
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content were seen frequently in the days
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after chiller hit the airwaves others
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were enthusiastic about a channel all to
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themselves
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it didn't really matter what they
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thought though
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as the channel would go on to make a
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home for itself within the cable space
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from the beginning chillers main focus
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was on acquired horror movies and
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television series but that would all
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change in 2011
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when the channel produced its first
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original movie steve niles remains
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which happened to be based off the comic
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book series of the same name
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this marked the start of chiller films
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an in-house production company
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a total of 12 movies were produced by
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chiller films
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usually in conjunction with independent
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production companies
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an important thing to note was that in
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2014 one of chiller's biggest
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competitors
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net
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was bought out by comcast who also owned
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chiller
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feeling no need to have two horror
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themed channels fearnet was merged with
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chiller on july 30th 2014.
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what remained of fear net after the
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merger
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mainly some of its programming went to
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sci-fi
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another bold move by chiller was the
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creation of their first
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and only original show a horror
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anthology series called slasher
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it aired for one season on the channel
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before netflix acquired the rights
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although slasher ran for a singular
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season on chiller it has had a lasting
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impression on viewers
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two more seasons were produced by
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netflix before slasher got picked up by
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the streaming service shutter a fourth
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season aired towards the end of 2021
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and as of the making of this video
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slasher doesn't appear to have been
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cancelled
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chiller chugged along through 2016 but
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2017 would prove to be a difficult year
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for the channel
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at the beginning of the year on february
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1st 2017 dish network dropped chiller
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from its lineup
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things did not get better for chiller as
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the year went on at the end of april
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april 25th
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all charter communications subsidiaries
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removed chiller as well
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still chiller persisted
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the summer months came and went without
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any negative impact on chiller
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however it was in october that chiller
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would be given a scare
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one that it wouldn't be able to ever
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come back from
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on october 2nd 2017
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chiller was dropped by verizon fios
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21 days later on october 23rd mediacom
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removed chiller from its lineup
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but chiller was dealt its death blow on
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november 8th when cox discontinued
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chiller over a dispute within their
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carriage agreements with nbc universal
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entertainment group
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the end was coming for chiller if it
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wasn't already evident to what little
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viewers it still had
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in fact by the time chiller shut down on
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new year's eve 2017 only 33 000 viewers
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had tuned into the channel the entirety
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of 2017.
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the statistics alone made nbc
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universal's announcement to shut down
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chiller on november 16
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2017 not much of a surprise
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chiller would be quietly signing off
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right before the new year would ring in
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leaving horror fans without a channel
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yet again
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for a channel that had such a promising
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start chiller went out with the whimper
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chiller said goodbye with a simple
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message after it aired its final movie
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the babadook at 11 59 pm eastern
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standard time on december 31st 2017
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its quiet sign off shown here left its
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remaining viewers with the following
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message
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thank you for watching chiller
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good night
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[Music]
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an interesting concept for a cable
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channel came in the form of sleuth in
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2006
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the channel made its debut on january
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1st 2006
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filling the spot where trio
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another cable channel once resided
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sleuth focused primarily on mystery and
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crime programming at launch but by the
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end of its lifespan the channel formerly
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known as sleuth aired mostly nbc
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universal produced shows
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what happened
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for the first three years of its time on
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air sleuth stuck to its main focus crime
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and mystery
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shows like miami vice
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knight rider
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and dragnet were broadcast frequently
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it had a great lineup of shows for those
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who enjoyed them during their original
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runs
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sleuth at least programming wise stood
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out from the rest of the pack
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2009 marked the end of the originality
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that sleuth once had
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nbc universal stripped sleuth of its
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programming replacing it with shows like
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monk
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and ncis
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movies like enchanted
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and b-movie
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which had no ties to both the crime and
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mystery genres were aired on the channel
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furthermore in 2011 sleuth was renamed
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clue a decision based on the premise
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that nbcuniversal
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would be able to then trademark and own
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the name
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the lack of original programming didn't
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stop clue from two attempts at producing
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their own shows
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the first was dateline on clue
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a repackaged version of dateline nbc
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the second was killer instinct
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a true crime series
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both shows premiered on september 17
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2011 and didn't make it past their first
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seasons
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based on the fact that the show's
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founder and clue post 2009 could easily
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be found elsewhere
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and ending for the channel seemed more
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than likely as the 2010s began
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the first sign of clues decay took place
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on august 10 2013 when dish network
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dropped the channel
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verizon fios removed clue the following
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year
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both television providers had the same
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reason for dropping clue
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channel drift
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why waste their money on a channel with
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the same shows that other channels have
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things kept going downhill for clue as
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the 2010s wore on
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clue was dropped by charter
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communications subsidiaries in january
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2017 due to a dispute within their
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carriage agreements
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and to make things worse the media
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industry wasn't alerted of clues
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upcoming closure until the day before it
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signed off on january 31st 2017
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luckily no one lost their jobs due to
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the sudden shutdown as the channel was
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completely automated
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on the morning of january 31st 2017
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clue's social media presence was
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completely wiped from the internet
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its website was now directed to the usa
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network website
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and on the channel itself the last full
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programming day was made up of a full
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series marathon of the sci-fi show
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continuum
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after the final airing of continuum a
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slide appeared on screen that read good
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night thank you for watching clue
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the clue and nbc universal logos along
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with the name of the satellite that
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broadcast clue accompanied the message
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with the familiar nbc three-time tone
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playing as well
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clue was done
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the channel drift had just been too much
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for it
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[Music]
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disney and abc who had been joined at
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the hip since 1995
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decided to create a channel dedicated to
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the soap opera genre at the turn of the
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millennium
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that channel was so knit launching on
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january 20th 2000
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soapnet was created for the sole
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intention of convenience
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daytime soaps played while some or most
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of its audience was at school or work
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soapnet aimed to change that
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current abc soap operas as of 2000
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were aired in the early morning and in
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the evening on purpose so that their
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audiences were caught up on the events
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of their favorite soaps
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soapnet was successful right out of the
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gate for one reason and one reason only
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a large cable presence
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disney was known for pulling abc owned
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and operated stations and channels like
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espn from cable providers if they did
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not include soap net in their lineups
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a good example of this occurred in may
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2000
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when wabc tv a new york city based abc
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owned and operated station was dropped
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from time warner cable system for two
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days
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soapnet began adding to its programming
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lineup in 2002 with the addition of the
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original dynasty
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reruns of another world
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and dallas
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follow suit in 2003 though the soaps
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replaced the colby's
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falcon crest
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hotel
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and sisters on the schedule
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soapnet aired ryan's hope from its very
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first episodes starting on st patrick's
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day 2003.
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this marked the first time any episode
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had been seen since its 1989
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cancellation
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2004 saw the introduction of days of our
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lives to soapnet where it aired episodes
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on a same-day basis
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soapnet acquired the rights to air
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reruns of beverly hills 90210
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and merrell's place in 2005.
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the following year in 2006
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soapnet who hadn't had a cbs soap on its
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roster since its 2000 sign-on was
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finally able to say that they had the
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rights to same-day airings of the young
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and the restless
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but viewers still weren't satisfied
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they wanted less prime time soaps and
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more reruns of classic soaps like the
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edge of night
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and search for tomorrow
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so
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what did soapnet do to appease viewers
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they added reruns of team dramas the oc
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and one tree hill the latter of which
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was still airing when soapnet picked it
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up
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2008 was yet another huge disappointment
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for soapnet's audience
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in august soapnet lost the rights to two
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staples of its schedule
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dallas
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and melrose place
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both shows were gone by september
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2009 saw the additions of two canadian
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shows
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mvp
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and being erica
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but throughout all of this soapnet
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subscribers continued to grow
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by december 2010
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soapnet had gained 4 million new
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subscribers in a little over a year
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it was pretty impressive for a channel
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whose genre was on the decline
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by the start of the 2010s the big three
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networks began cutting costs by
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cancelling certain soaps instead adding
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game or talk shows to their daytime
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program
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all my children and one life to live
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were two casualties of this phenomenon
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leaving the total number of daytime
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soaps on american television to four
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in the factors of the adoption of dvrs
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and streaming services and everything
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all made sense
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soapnet was no longer needed in such a
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climate
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so what would disney replace soapnet
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with it all came down to three concepts
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the first two were women focused with
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the first being a quote hip and cool
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unquote channel called quote carrie
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unquote
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after the fictional character carrie
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bradshaw and the second disney moms
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being more family friendly designed for
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moms and their families
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the third was a concept suggested by
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disney channels worldwide a channel
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dedicated to programming tailored for a
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preschool audience
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the choice was obvious
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disney would fully commit to the
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preschool game
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disney had a preschool block on disney
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channel but at this point they didn't
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have a channel strictly devoted to
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preschool programming
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the decision was made public on may 26
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2010
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disney junior would officially hit the
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airwaves as a block on disney channel on
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february 14 2011 before its 24 hour
00:15:33
counterport launched the following
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january
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though this would be pushed back until
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march due to struggles within carriage
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deals
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some television providers would carry
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both soapnet and disney junior until
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soapnet's official closure
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the los angeles times claimed that some
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television providers had some anxiety
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regarding quote vocal soap opera fans
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unquote getting fired up about the loss
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of soap net and switching providers
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because of it
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disney junior was immediately added to
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certain television providers like some
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xfinity systems on launch day
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other providers like dish network
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continued to carry soap net until they
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made carriage agreements for disney
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junior
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the rest kept both soapnet and disney
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junior until soap net went dark
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during this time same-day airings of
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days of our lives
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general hospital
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and the young and the restless stayed on
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the schedule along with reruns of abc
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family now freeform programming and
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veronica mars
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soapnet's final year on air was quiet
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at the start of 2013 at t u-verse
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finalizes carriage agreement with disney
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which included disney junior within the
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deal
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april saw the loss of same-day airings
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of the young and the restless which went
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to tv guide network instead
00:17:02
november saw the announcement of
00:17:04
soapnet's upcoming discontinuation
00:17:08
disney was going to pull the plug on
00:17:09
soap net on december 31st 2013
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and that's just what happened
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soapnet unceremoniously signed off for
00:17:19
the final time right before the clock
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struck midnight eastern standard time on
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december 31st 2013.
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thanks for watching
00:17:30
first and foremost i want to thank
00:17:32
everyone that subscribed in the past few
00:17:34
days it means a lot to me that people
00:17:37
actually want to see this kind of
00:17:39
content on a regular basis
00:17:41
i also want to wish you all a happy new
00:17:43
year
00:17:44
2022 is going to be an amazing year i
00:17:47
can feel it
00:17:48
next on m story we're going to wrap up
00:17:50
the long forgotten art of the american
00:17:53
soap opera in another edition of a not
00:17:55
so 10 minutes or less
