August 7-11, 2006

[ZaraB]

Given that Soapnet Reveals is featuring David Fumero, Mel Gallo, Kamar and Bree, and the big tease secret is 'Will Spenser be nailed for the murder of Thomas McBain?', I'd say the latter is more likely, even with the rumor of Higley out in October.

[SteveFrame]

All I am going to say is I responded the way I did because of the nature of the Days posts. More than any other show I have ever watched - all you hear about are the couples, and I only watch because of this couple or I only came back because of this couple. I very rarely read that ever from ATWT fans at all. The very vast majority of fans of ATWT watch the show and like the whole show or none of it. We all have our faves but we do not desert the show if our faves happen to not be on.

Days used to have those type of fans - even when the quality wasn't so good in the early 80's you still had those fans.

And yes I have quit watching the show GBB - for various reasons. I was already getting restless with the show in May, but still enjoyed it better than I had in awhile. I got very restless with the show when Steve and Kayla returned, and they were on alot. As I have said I don't really like them as a couple, but I still watched. And then my mother got worse and I started missing shows alot. Pretty soon I just got out of the habit of watching, and I found out I didn't miss it at all. And what I was reading on the boards was mostly about Steve and Kayla and I didn't even want to tune in to find out what was going on.

I have been a viewer of Days since 1970. I never thought I would quit watching it. The year 2006 goes down as a year I quit watching 3 of my all time favorite shows. I quit All My Children after watching it for 30 plus years, and I quit watching OLTL which I had watched for almost 30 years off and on. What is weird is that when I quit watching AMC and OLTL, I still for about 2 weeks caught myself sneaking and watching a few minutes, but surprisingly when I quit watching Days I have not even turned it back on. Even my love for Bo & Hope just doesn't even interest me at this point.

My argument was not about the ones who have completely quit at this point, but about those who only tune in for specific days or couples or performers. When I watched I watched the whole show and watched or taped everyday. I never found myself ff'ing any of it either. Days has got to have consistency in the ratings. Those 2.8's were totally negated by the 2.5's it had the rest of the week.

And yes Ponz or whoever you can blame the same fan bases who bring in the high numbers for the low numbers. What good are the high numbers if the low numbers negate them, and they do. From what we are reading (and that is all that I or anyone can base it on) is that they are not watching on those days. At least that is what we hear from the majority - so yes they might be responsible for the high numbers but those same fans and fan bases are responsible for the low numbers too.

Edited to add: I still love the show, and that is the reason I am so passionate about it in my arguments. I do not want the show to be cancelled but I just don't see the show ever getting the ratings it needs unless the fans support the whole show at some point.

[FanSoAp07]

ugh, Foucalt, shut the BLEEP up!

[cal3]

That just shows that they don't have a clue as to what is wrong with this show. If you can't identify the problem then you can't fix it.

[ZaraB]

My only guess is that someone at ABC really believes that one character can carry a show...and that character is John McBain. I doubt anyone there has even correlated what happened with Port Charles with what is happening at OLTL.

[Ponz]

Steve, you've missed the point that both GBB and I were making. On their own, hardcore fanbase members don't have the power to impact the ratings. As GBB said, EVERY SINGLE ONLINE J&M FAN could tune in and the numbers would not budge. Same applies to J&J and S&K fans. The numbers move when the stories are good enough to attract enough general fans. That was why I mentioned S&K generating positive buzz from people who aren't "offficial" S&K fans. The S&K storyline is not brillaint- not by a long stretch- but surely no one can deny it's a step above the never-ending Quads of Doom stories . That is why (IMO) people tuned in on Monday/Tuesday but left in droves the rest of the week.

There's a tendency (and I've been guilty of this too) to assume that online fans are somehow representative of all DAYS viewers. In reality, we represent only a very small minority. It would be a fallacy to assume that our motivations for watching/not watching are the same as the average fan.

[Ponz]

What is the point of wishing they tank? The budget is tied to the ratings so if the ratings go up, there is a greater chance of Matt being called back. I would not blame Matt if he told the show to go straight to hell for treating him like garbage. For whatever reason, though, he seems to not be holding a grudge and would consider a return. I am going to respect that.

Also- as angry as TPTB make me- I could never wish cancellation on any show (which is what would happen if the ratings continue to slide) . Corday and his cronies are financially secure but many of the actors are not. They are the ones who would suffer the most from the show being cancelled. And many fans still enjoy the show too.

[cal3]

I've often wondered how many of the McBain fans at OLTL were also PC fans and how many of the fans who have no use for ME/John were not PC fans.

Still, if they have any thought that ME can carry this show after the numbers from the prior year they deserve to be fired.

[pamela1965]

WOW gh when down i guess they should have not [!@#$%^&*] on the jasam rexis and liz and lucky fans

[ZaraB]

There is a cycle. You get what you feed, and the longer you feed it, the more trapped you are. There is no doubt they have feasted a certain portion of Micheal Easton's fanbase ( Even some of his fans are equally disgusted with the writing and wanted him to leave.) However, after years of giving him the lion's share of story and airtime, that IS who is watching the show -- others have or are tuning out. It'd be a very risky decision to step out of that cycle, and they'd need a very strong character/story to do it . I don't see FV as that man.

[upsy_daisy]

Anecdotally, I have a dozen friends on another internet site (LiveJournal), none of whom go to soap boards at all. But they all have returned to watching Days again after many years away because of Steve and Kayla's return. And like you, they all ff over everything else on the show, or they watch and mock it later on. Heh.

<--watches ATWT and GH, and has never understood the appeal of Days

[28yrsDaysFan]

The way we are going to get people to tune into our show and stayed tuned in is to go to a format where the stories are characters are more random than usual. By tuning into the opening Act of the, you are able to see who is going to be shown for the day. Since the Cordays back Y&R as well as Days, they should begin to use some common sense and show more than the same old faces for the whole show. With them dragging the stroylines the way they are, they would be easier to follow if more than the same people are shown for the whole day.

What do you think?

[Hartless]

Wow these ratings are bad! I'm not shocked about OLTL's though, the show has been so bad lately.

I'm surprised about Passions because I thought it's been really good lately.

[JER Soaps Fan]

Tell me about it, Hartless. "Passions" fans are IDIOTS if they don't come back, especially given how great the show has been. OMG, I wanna ring their necks with that 1.3!! ASSES!!

[King]

God, I like Higley's stories on OLTL, but obviously no one else does! GET HER OUT!!