beebs

You also gotta love how, despite having almost 10x as many daily viewers at the time, DAYS "outdoor" sets in 1975 could amount to little more than a poorly-disguised curtain of trees and a baby picnic table, yet the story was far more compelling. A lesson could be learned by the writers of today watching this (but won't be).

On 1/15/2020 at 11:11 PM, SFK said:

 

Precisely!  I can't stand a suck-up, especially an ignorant one.

In fairness, Ron's quite happy to block anyone whose nose is anything less than a deep brown after interacting with him on Twitter, so I guess folks wanna stay suckholing.

23 minutes ago, Khan said:

Wait, wasn't Summer exposed as some sort of fraud?  Or is that just wishful thinking on my part?

I vaguely remember hearing that too, but I had tuned out by the time Bo died, so...

20 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Three months was the longest that lead time should have been allowed to get.  That still gives you time to course correct and have impactful sweeps because you could still shift things around.

 

8+ months is just crazy for a daytime soap.

Exactly. I don't understand how taking more frequent breaks to keep them around the 3 month mark is less cost-effective than getting themselves 8-9 months ahead by doing the same thing.

5 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

Yeah, they'd never reshoot or scrap anything. Not when they're 8 months ahead. 

 

Our luck we'd get Dena Higley back.

 

I wouldn't mind giving Quan a shot at being solo HW, but I think he'd need a co like Sheri Anderson (who never shoulda left)

Realistically, I know that. But creatively/ratings-wise, it would be necessary to turn the ship around at this rate.

And yeah, Sheri was the only thing reigning him in, it's plain as day. Quan had good ideas, like I'm fairly certain it was his idea to bring on Eli and Valerie during his last stint, but of course, Dena doesn't know how to execute anything, and I think he's too green to really know how to execute his ideas effectively, either. He would need someone like Sheri or Lorraine Broderick to help him steer the ship. But even if they were to drop the axe on Ron tomorrow, it still would be way too late to course correct with them so far ahead. SMH.

Girl, Hitohah outta here. 

16 minutes ago, pdm1974 said:

Wow....Remember when DAYS used to get a holiday boost??

 

I can't help but be worried that TPTB are thinking twice about their renewal decision. I wonder if they have wiggle room to still get out of it.

 

I'm not sure why people, including myself, are having trouble getting invested in the show. I haven't watched in weeks. I think the time jump was a good idea on paper, but after the first couple of weeks it started to drag. And, having things like Will and Ben being BFFs is just too much. I'm sooooo tired of "crying Nicole." I miss when she was a martini drinking bitch. Now, she just cries and whines and bounces back and forth between Brady and Eric. "Stevano" was kinda a last straw for me. Stefano should have permanently been laid to rest with JM. We didn't need him, and to be honest, the DiMeras at all. The one suprising thing I sort of enjoyed was Lani and Kristen's friendship. All of the rest, I just can't get into it.

I'll tell you exactly why, from someone who also recently tuned out after watching pretty much daily for the past 9 years:

There is no time taken to build anything. This show is so invested in getting to the next plot point, they skip the fallout from everything that's just happened to rush to the next big plot point. Instead of investing in characters and relationships to flesh out where the stories are now and how it all matters, it's all just bombarding you with flashbacks and expository dialogue to explain the convoluted scheme that lead to the latest unexplained "shocking" reveal. The reveal, with this team, is rarely worth the following two episodes where everything has to be explained in flashbacks, and is done shoddily here in part because of budget, and in part because the planning and execution is not meticulous enough for Ron's ambitions.

I had this same problem at OLTL, if you remember The Tale of Two Todds reveal where not-actually-dead Irene spent the next two days explaining the dumbest backstory on record after weeks of actually decent suspense, where the reveal could've been far more powerful if Irene had shown up around the same time as Todd and dropped some hints along the way to make the explanation less clunky.

So, TL;DR, Ron's ambition outpaces his talents, and why invest when nothing matters?

2 minutes ago, Faulkner said:

DAYS got its renewal. Guess that’s all that matters...

Ron needs to be gone, and they need to scrap the next however many months he's written and reshoot it, expense be damned, otherwise this renewal will be their last.

6 hours ago, Faulkner said:

2011-2012 was when ATWT, AMC, and OLTL were all cancelled. I think in the 2000s, there was still mild investment/innovation and hope that soaps could get younger viewers to tune in.

I do wish there would be more widespread reporting of online viewership, because with Nielsen only reporting traditional TV ratings, it's like driving with one eye covered. We have no real idea what shows young people are watching, because everyone's moved to streaming services, and none of them are reporting their viewership, which I find bizarre.

I assume the networks have SOME idea how many viewers are watching online, but apparently that isn't factoring into their business decisions, and thus the stories are catering only the remaining TV viewers, who are apparently largely 65+ and pearl-clutch at the very thought of saying the word "gay", and it's driving everyone else away.

On 1/1/2020 at 11:34 AM, KMan101 said:

DAYS: Like GH, 2013 was a mostly good year for DAYS. It really fell to [!@#$%^&*] in 2014. I mean, badly fell to [!@#$%^&*]. Just collapsed. The show's on fumes but Ron tries. There's too much interference and he needs a Sheri type back with him to balance some things out. The show just feels chopped up and messy.

 

2010 saw the loss of Alice Horton and we had a pretty great month long memorial to her as Hortons and others came back into town. Yet like none of them stayed. None

of them returned. Sigh. This was the time to rebuild.

 

2011-2012 - MarDar. Lots of lost potential. They too suffered from interference. Will always love them for shafting Daniel Jonas, but then we got Egg Baby under them, no? Or was that Higley? Or Tomsell. 2014-2016 really run badly together.

It did. I think losing James Scott, Camilla Banus, Eileen Davidson, and Ali Sweeney all in very short order really caused massive problems for the momentum for TomSell. I feel they had so many plans tied to those five characters, that to lose them one by one, they didn't know what direction to go in from there. Their antipathy toward the men of Salem didn't help. Drake Hogestyn was barely on the entire time, and when he was, he was a crusty husk of his former self. You really could sense a loathing of the character of John during that period.

Jennifer was, I think, the only character of the lot to stick around long-term after the funeral, no? Maybe she was back before then, to help usher Crystal Chappell back on the show. My timelines are a bit muddled on that era. Absolutely ridiculous they didn't keep John Martin as Bill around, as I haven't heard anything but positive things about his performance, admittedly, I thought he did a good job, and fit in like a glove.

They really bunged up MarDar, and the fact Marlene McPhereson was able to tell much better stories at AMC than DAYS speaks volumes about the interference they ran into. It always felt like stories would start, then disappear for weeks, before being wrapped up within a couple episodes, never to be heard about again. EXCEPT THAT STUPID EGG BABY STORY, which, yes, MarDar wrote. I feel like they were strongarmed into that. There was absolutely a campaign to push Daniel to the forefront in that era. He was someone's pet, and I have NO idea whose, because once he was killed off, we still hear about it! Certainly no actual FAN of the show.

 

On 12/28/2019 at 1:35 PM, soapfan770 said:

The best things of the 2010's? 

 

Karma finally caught up and struck Christopher Goutman, Les Moonves, JFP, Barbara Bloom, Frons, McDaniel, and some others as their careers were forever ruined by their own decisions and were all fired. 

 

Decent periods for the soaps? I'd say 2011-2015 B&B, 2013 for Days, and late 2012- late 2014 and the first half of 2017 for Y&R. 

 

Worst? 

 

Days: 2011-2012, 2015-present, with the nadir definitely being Chase raping Ciara

B&B: Everything since the fall of 2016 has been horrible with each year bringing in a new low. 

Y&R: This decade started out by Death by volcano! I'd say Mal's era was third worst after Latham and MAB&Co.

 

That said, we haven't had a soap dip below a 1.0 yet have we? 

+1 to this entire post, honestly.

I will say that my predictions for the coming decade are relatively bleak. I'm anticipating DAYS won't be on TV five years from now. We'll see how the app series pan out. They very likely are using the app to acclimate viewers to watching episodes via the app in preparation to move online. If they do, they'll need to shrink the cast down significantly, and episode lengths as well.

I have a feeling that the wave of annoying conservatism we see on the shows with regard to subject matter will only get worse. Recent exchanges I've had with folks on certain social media groups on Facebook confirm to me that the remaining traditional over-the-air viewership of these shows are stuck in 1962 and refuse to leave, yet complain endlessly about how boring the shows are. 

I'll venture a bet that one show will do something very innovative within the decade that will usher in a new era for soaps, and finally prove their viability online. I have a sneaky suspicion someone at one of the streaming services will attempt to package another reboot of a serial, much like Prospect Park attempted with OLTL and AMC. Or package a new serial altogether, though that seems less likely (though would also be the wisest move, IMO). It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think there is a potential audience beyond the diehard holdouts like us out there, it just needs to be done well, and paced appropriately (ie. enough time given to character and family building, something that has been consistently sidelined in recent years for poorly-executed stunts that have no long-term impact).

Also, I expect by decade's end, we will likely be seeing two remaining TV soaps, both on CBS. Expect B&B to overtake Y&R in households at some point. Steve Kent will burn the wrong bridge and be gone when B&B overtakes Y&R, and DAYS is cancelled on NBC (this will probably happen around the same time).

Additionally, I will bet money that Dena Higley will be rehired as HW at DAYS within the next year. I would've said two years, but the timejump has tanked the ratings, and since Corday doesn't know how to read a ratings chart properly, he'll think she's the perfect replacement and the show will bore everyone to tears to the end of its TV run, and possibly be the first HW for any online variant.

God, I sound cynical.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

 

Here's a thought: what if NBC, rather than ABC, had picked up EON?

Higher clearances for the same ratings, I'd venture.

47 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

https://soaphub.com/days-of-our-lives/days-of-our-lives-time-jump-proves-to-be-a-ratings-winner/

 

The coveted demographic of women viewers aged 18 to 49, abbreviated as W18-49, is the one most sought-after among network executives in terms of TV audiences. And now, Days of our Lives reached a big moment in that demo.

 

According to the latest ratings, Days of our Lives came in second in the W18-49 demo for the week ending last Sunday, December 15 with a 0.42 rating. The Young and the Restless came in first (0.44), while The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital tied for third (0.40).

That article's got more spin on it than a merry-go-round. 

I only have one thing to say:

The time jump has been an absolute disaster. WOW.

1 hour ago, Broderick said:

 

Same here.   I rarely skipped an episode while Sally Sussman was writing.   I didn't care for her the writers who preceeded her, and haven't cared for the ones who've succeeded her.    But I thought she did all right.  Yeah, some of her material was pretty dull, but it seemed like Y&R, and it seemed to moving forward in a somewhat logical manner.  None of the other writers since about 2005 have even come close to crafting anything I've cared to watch daily. 

+1

Do I think there are better writers out there? Yes. But of the people who we're liable to get who could potentially write the show in a manner that's familiar with characterization I could engage with, Sally isn't a bad choice. Now, I will also say that I would feel a lot better if she were paired with someone who could inject some pizzazz into her stories, as I do agree she can get a little bit blah, but I don't think she's completely lacking in talent, either. Considering the talent pool that's left, I could think of a lot of people who would be far worse than Sally.

I also can't  totally blame Sally for DAYS losing #2 after JER. No one was going to maintain the ratings he brought. Especially considering the fact two of his most popular stories ended just before Sally took the reigns. I think it was to be expected that most anyone that took over from Reilly was going to cause the show to lose some steam.

Just now, AdamNewmanFan said:

i'm a new viewer so bear with me but, Whats the deal with Stefano? Did he like have plastic surgery to look like Steve or was he memory mapped like on GH? lol

Probably Rolf either microchipped him or did some kinda MK Ultra type [!@#$%^&*].

3 hours ago, ironlion said:

Stev

Steve Burton is the only person that can play Jason IMO, even if he's not doing it well right now.

In addition to cast slimming I think cutting the show 30 minutes (and all other hour-long soaps for that matter) would do it a whole lot of good.

 

LOL, GH is bad right now, but in its defence....CBS may bring in the numbers but its soaps are currenly in  crap  quality where storyline is concerned. Y&R has been dull for so many years now, meanwhile The Bold and the Beautiful just keeps recycling romance plots. At least GH gets relatively creative with their lackluster stories.

 

I've been saying this for awhile. I honestly think the main reason B&B has been sustaining/gaining in the ratings is less to do with their storytelling (because we all know how consistent THAT is) and more to do with the fact it's aired in relatively bite-sized chunks so it's easier to get sucked in than an hour-long show (I also think this is why no soap that's debuted as an hour has ever been truly successful in the ratings).

GH honestly needs to do a big blowout story where someone who has hated the mob for the past few decades (I always figured Monica would be the best person to head this up) brings the mob down and then we jail the worst ones (Sonny/Jason etc.) and move on with actual doctors and medical stories.

delete

53 minutes ago, VirdenEMT said:

When I watched Wed episode, I was struck with how cold Marlena was around Mickey's cancer diagnosis. That is her granddaughter and she hardly batted an eye. She is more worked up over Gina staying at her apartment.

Bad writing and bad acting.

I would also lay that at the feet of the direction. More than once in the past couple years I've noticed directors on this show play things in a rather bizarre manner. See Justin's reaction to Adrienne's death for an example.

2 hours ago, Taoboi said:

Now that I'm caught up on the thread...

 

1) I guess I'm the only one that liked Sally's last run. I don't mind being solo on that.  But boring...no. Only real time other that double mess that Cane was ever interesting. And so many possibilities for someone who said she fell by the seat of her pants. Allegedly. 

 

Actually, Sally was the last time I watched Y&R regularly. I really liked where she was going with it, and then it started to feel like she wasn't being given room to move the stories forward...and then she was gone. I literally got through one episode of Mal's run as HW before losing interest. Was Sally perfect? No. Way too much time with Victoria and Billy in the Jabot lab/broom closet. But it was way better than whatever's come after.

47 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Ah, I see, lol.

 

In that case -- yeah, that would be a story that would come to mind.  Marlena in the Pit and The Three Faces of Kimberly are two stories that didn't feel as if they were within Anderson's wheelhouse.  She's always been laser-focused on high romance, which I appreciate as much as I appreciate anything else in this genre.

 

Was Anderson still around for the revelation that Bill and Kate's affair/Lucas' conception was the event that triggered Laura's mental breakdown?  Because, if so, THAT would have been a SERIOUS misstep for her.  Say what you will about her abilities as a storyteller, but I find it incredible she would play so fast-and-loose with established, on-air history.

I don't think so. Lucas debuted mid-April 1993 and Sheri left a week later, so that one would be all on JER. And yes, one thing I will say about Sheri, much as her style never really suited me, was that she KNOWS her history. It's the one thing I have IMMEDIATELY noticed the difference with since she left as consultant under Ron.

25 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Was that Sheri Anderson's story?  I've always assumed it was JER's.

You'd think so, but no, that was all Sheri. JER didn't join as co-HW until the tail end of that story.

This is just too sad. I really enjoyed what I saw of her work. She will be missed. 

50 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Yeah, I remember when Pease quit, because the material was taking an emotional toll.  Of course, I understood her reasons for leaving, but I thought it was a shame, because her performances as Kimberly and her (two?) alters were, for me, the story's saving grace.

 

In an interview w/ We Love Soaps, Sheri Anderson said, if she could go back in time and/or give her younger self some advice, she would've told her to say "no" more often to "the suits."  Apparently, there were times when TPTB would "suggest" story ideas; and instead of balking, she would say, "I'm not sure, but I think I make that work."  I have to wonder whether Kimberly's DID was such a story, because while Anderson did some good work in her '90-'91 return (the introductions of Austin, Billie, Kate and Lucas; the Lombards; Isabella's illness and death), there was also some stuff she wrote that doesn't seem at all what she would've written for the show in the past.

Natalie in the well Marlena in the pit comes to mind...

42 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

This:

 

 

That's what they're thinking.

 

They don't care about the long term anymore.  They just want someone to give the ratings a jolt.  They'll worry about down the road, down the road.

Well, I hope they enjoy the 1.9s they'll be getting by next Christmas, because that's exactly where this is going.