GLATWT88

It would have been cute if they just used the ambulance opening to commemorate the anniversary and segue into the current opening if they had to. It wouldn't need to be edited much since there are no faces.

There were so many awkward and cringey moments and I'm not sure why. I tuned in hoping for something fun and it was a let down.

I see a lot of viewers calling for a double shantay in the Marcia 3x and Anetra lip sync. I agree that it could have easily been a double shantay as their performances were incredible making it a really close call. However, many people called Ru out for her reluctance to eliminate last season, so if there are no double shantays this season then Marcia going home was the right choice IMO. While both were phenomenal, I think Anetra had a slight edge.

I always hoped that GL and ATWT had a proper crossover storyline. The Springfield PD and Oakdale PD working together on some murder mystery. Starr Manning crossover to AMC as an intern at Fusion Cosmetics. Although, I don't know if Fusion was a thing in 2010 (around which time Starr would be college aged) as I was no longer watching then. It would be a great opportunity for writers to take the character in many directions.

Firstly, sorry if this has been posted about already. I know that GL had a novel produced around the character of Jonathan. I was a bit surprised since around 2007 GL was on its last legs. Are there any other instances of this with other soaps or characters?

Thank you @Soapsuds and @Paul Raven. I figured that it might have been a mix of timeslot competition and general viewer fatigue. 8 seasons is a great run for a comedy show. I also wondered if the height of the AIDS epidemic may have made an impact that final year, as more awareness was being drawn to this "gay illness" and maybe viewers didn't want to be reminded or see that representation even if it was a straight character playing pretend.

Does anyone know what impacted Three's Company final season ratings? It was a top ten show every other season with the exception of its six episode first season, but even so that first season finished in 11th place. It was a big drop from 6th place in season 7 to 33rd in season 8. Was it just viewer fatigue or was there more to this?

GL: small town-y, wealthy and working class families, a big focus was family and family dynamic. I started watching around 2003, so my perception may be different. I feel like a lot issues from 2003-2007 when I mostly watched centered around family.

That's horrible! I'm no Caroline fan, but this is just wrong on so many levels and absolutely unjustifiable. I was here a really thinking Brandi did the Lords work and called out Caroline on writing the court letter for her sister's abusive ex-husband, but of course not. She just needs to stoop to the lowest point.

Didn't know where else to post this, but I keep seeing this idea that BB will outlast the other soaps because of its appeal and reach in international markets. While I know this is true and definitely held weight in the 90s and early 2000s - how fair of an assessment and statement is that really. I feel like it is a comment that is regurgitated but no real data is there to back it up. I do think that international markets might help BB to be the last remaining soap, I just don't believe those markets are really doing as much nowadays to keep BB alive as we think. Streaming and social media apps are prevalent all over the world and people are seeking entertainment through these outlets. Traditional TV viewing has changed everywhere and young audiences aren't watching daily soaps be that in the US or internationally. So I can't imagine BB not experiencing dwindling audiences in its international markets as it has in the US. Im also sure several markets have dropped it in recent years...so how fair is it to say that international money will help keep it afloat. Is there real data to support this?

When I first started watching soaps regularly 20 years ago, I would have told you that soaps could be saved. Cable, the internet, and a dwindling demographic of stay-at-home moms ate away at the ratings, but numbers weren't all bad. Besides the reality was that ratings were on a decline for most network TV anyway. Things could have been done then to save soaps, but in today's viewing landscape of streaming and "fast tv" soaps in a traditional sense seem to be a thing of the past. An amazing and treasured thing we have all loved at one point, but definitely on life support with an end in sight.

To be completely honest, I was surprised it took a whole decade before network TV lost another soap. I feel that the CBS soaps will last a while longer but conditions, budgets and quality will be limited.

I caught today's episode on W. I'm living abroad and seeing as I won't be able to watch on NBC anymore, I managed to get a stream of W channel. Why was everyone passing out today? Is it something stupid? Why can't Days do a serious storyline...

Just to add to this. I would love for GH to do a special series with fan favorites for its 60th anniversary.

General Hospital was the first (that I recall) to venture into the spin off series category with Night Shift. I remember it being quite successful on SoapNet. Now, Days seems to be doing well with its limited series, Beyond Salem, at least it seems so as it was picked up for a second installment. Is there potential for YR and BB to develop their own programming of this style? I do feel like Days and GH both have the best reach for these types of shows, as they seemed to do well in the key demo through the 90s and early 2000s. I think there's a market for those that may have stopped watching around then for whatever reason but might still have nostalgia about their soaps and are young enough to be on streaming platforms. I know that YR and BB also perform/ed well on these demos but the audience just seems older and more traditional to me - but I may be wrong.

The platform is gonna be dead before Days even makes it on there 😂

I remember being confused the first time I tried to watch live post-switch and Days wasn't on at it's usual time. I actually thought it got cancelled and I didn't know about it 🙃 However, the change from 1pm to 12pm doesn't seem like a huge shift to make for viewers. Especially, since it only directly competes with half hour of YR at its new time. Now GL definitely had to be impacted by moving from a mid-afternoon slot to the morning.

I agree. My initial and gut feeling is that this is a way to get rid of Days. I also didn't mean that they would turn Days into a telenovela in a traditional sense, but some telenovelas nowadays have multiple seasons or series. So instead of Days producing 200+ daily episodes. Stories can be condensed to a telenovela of 120+ episodes that are released all at once to viewers each year. Stories can have a set course and some can wrap by the end of the season - taking viewers through a story beginning to end, while other stories can be left to pick up on the next season. It would reduce the number of episodes produced, but also create content that is more accessible to the modern viewer

You're right...anything is possible. There's nothing in the announcement that says Days will continue with its original format of 5 hour long episodes per week. I can see Peacock doing more of these 5 episode specials like Beyond Salem or maybe producing something more similar to a telenovela with 80-150 episodes per year "book" style and release all the episodes at once on a yearly basis. Netflix has heavily invested in telenovelas lately and they've found great success.

I don't know. It all just seems a bit rushed which is often never a good sign. The announcement should have read that 2022/23 would be Days final season on NBC before moving to its new home on Peacock. This would have given writers more time to wrap up stories on Network TV while being able to create a fresh start for the soap on Peacock that would allow for casual viewers or unaware streamers to pick up or dive in to the show. It would also allow for promotion of the switch over an extended period of time to allow viewers to make the switch more seamlessly. The only benefit I see with this transition is that there will be no pause in new episodes, which for retention, I believe is a good sign. Viewers won't have to wait months or a year for new episodes. However, everything about this sudden move, from the fact it has seemed to come out of nowhere down to episodes just being the same old stuff that's already being produced for NBC, screams like a last ditch effort by Days but also Peacock. No offense but Days is not going to save Peacock and if Peacock is this desperate than it's not a great sign.

I'm not very optimistic of this move from NBC to Peacock. Knowing the feeling of losing a soap, I would honestly wish that Days could go out with a bang on network TV than endure this prolonged death that seems inevitable on Peacock. I want to be optimistic, but a soap opera, one that is on a tight budget and with lackluster storytelling is not going to be draw in anyone. I think an established soap would find it very hard to create draw in a new audience on streaming. Good luck and I hope that Days could be successful in a new platform.

Thank you. I was looking at the ratings and noticed that there were several weeks we’re GL outperformed GH in 2001. It could have just been that GH was having a bad year. However around July to October GL had several weeks were it did better than GH, but also before then as well. It also had a nice demo boost around July compared to the start of the year.

What was happening on GL in 2001, as it seems the ratings were quite strong. Although, 2002 seems to be where it took a bit of a dip.

I also feel a bit as you do. I've wondered is it because the writing has gotten so bad on soaps, are production values so low that it just takes away from the pleasure of watching, is the genre as a whole having an identity crisis, is it me? Even back in 2011 after a few years of not watching soaps, I was able to get hooked on BB for a short while and still found it entertaining albeit not as before when I was an avid soap watcher. I watched the episode with Sheila jumping and in fact I've had soaps on in the background since the pandemic brought me back because of the classic episodes. Even still nothing remotely interesting happens to draw me back in or to care enough to know what's actually going on. The jump, the drama surrounding it, was just one major who cares. It's been done and a lot better before.

Brooke wakes up from a dream and undoes 15 years of storyline.