September 25-29, 2006

[R!ck]

My bad, ATWT came 60,000 or so viewers from tying B&B in 2004, but did pass them in August 2002 and December 2003 in viewers.

Even though it was 2 years ago. DAYS ratings before the Salem Stalker was hoovering between a 2.5-2.8 (not far from present ratings)) during TSS, DAYS went up to a 3.9 over the course of 4 months and started falling again during the dreaded Melaswen story. so the audience it still there if good stories are being told.

Just over the past few months I have gotten my mom, grandmother, cousins, and a few friends watching again. With DAYS having such a huge fanbase and lost audience, word of mouth goes a long way in bringing back viewers. especially with the lack of promotion for soaps in primetime.

I realize it's not going to happen in 2 weeks, but I predict by Christmas, DAYS will have a stronghold on #2 and will once again be #1 in 18-49

[Soapsuds]

Ok, I thought I was going crazy not remembering ATWT passing B&B for the #2 spot. I thought SON didnt have Total Viewers back in 2002 and 2003 just HH ratings. Although, I didnt start visiting the board until 2004 I believe. I am not sure though.

LOL about your Christmas prediction about Days being #2. I've seen your predictions in the weekly prediction game thread and this week u were way off. Now, the 18-49 I can see Days winning that back. But everything else u predict I will not believe it till I see it. If it happens I promise to apologize for being wrong.

[Canfan]

I agree with Rick. I think that DAYS can get back alot of the fans they lost. All through highschool and university most of the people I knew who watched soaps watched DAYS. I watched all the ABC soaps so I was among the miniority. I think AMC and OLTL will have a harder time regaining their numbers than DAYS will. I also keep hearing negative things about B& B and Brad Bell's poor writing, so if DAYS does end up passing them by Christmas I will not be surprised.

As for ABC's numbers all I can say is you reap what you sow. Give the audience crap to watch and they will eventually end up turning it off. ABC in its search for young demos has ended up alienating its hardcore audience and not attracting the youth numbers they want anyway. I can remember when AMC and GH where hovering around the 3.0's just two years ago. ABC can say all they like about daytime dying but when your show is losing numbers that bad that fast it is due to more than a dying genre. Its due to mismanagement and a lack of focus/vision. The only conclusion I can come to at this time is that ABC does'nt care anymore. In that case I wish they would just let the soaps fade out rather than destroy/murder them which is all I see going on at this point.

I have watched these soaps since I was a kid in the eighties and it is painful to see them in the shape they are in now. As a teacher I can also say that todays youth is not intersted in soaps the way my generation still was. With the advent of video games, high tech communication and god knows shopping todays teens have way more alternatives on their hands than I did. I watched because my grandmother did and I was attracted to it. I strongly feel the only teens who will consistantly watch today are the ones who are reeled in the same way. And I was taken in by characters not plots. Gimmicks come and go but if I loved the character I would watch no matter what. I think the powers that be have overlooked that aspect of soaps and that is why they are dying. Even Shakepeare knew that older characters were essential to stories, and his stories have lived on for centuries now. I just find it so sad a genre I love is dying out. Soap operas were so unique in the way they let audience peek into the lives of fictional characters and live vicariously through them. I will miss them when they are gone.

[Mitchapalooza]

My girlfriends mother, who quit DAYS back in the early 90's and who has vowed never to watch again is now taping the show EVERYDAY and constantly calling to find out about why this happened and what is going to happen.

LOL its hilarious, I remember years ago her seeing me watching DAYS and rolling her eyes.

She sat down one day in August and watched with me and she has not missed an episode since and is once again hooked!!

TOO funny, hopefully there are more of her kind that are rediscovering the show again!

[DruRocks]

The only thing I liked about Sheffer is that he gave Maura West some splendid EMMY WINNING material yet the emmy's continuously screwed her over. Her work during the Julia/Jack amnesia stuff was brilliant.

[Soapsuds]

Here's how the ratings looked in this week's SOW:

Of course these are last weeks ratings not this weeks

1.Y&R 4.3

2.B&B 3.1

3.ATWT 2.5

4.Days 2.4

5.GH 2.4

6.AMC 2.4

7.OLTL 2.4

8.GL 2.1

9.Pas 1.4

[px780]

I rarely post in ratings threads because they matter so little to me personally (do I get a cut of the profits? unfortunately, no). But your assessment? Awesome and spot on, imho.

I'm one of those who abandoned the show, for the most part, during the stupid neverending kidnapping crap, but now I'm floating back. What Days has going for it is that most of the same characters and actors are still there, so there's a familiarity there that makes turning it back on really, really easy. It's cool, and it's a sharp contrast to, say, AMC, where I tune in again and there's random people (That kid Jack was talking to, Sean or whatever? Colby? Colby's friend? the hell is that?!). Everyone, pretty much, is there, but they're doing more interesting things.

Frankly, if NBC can promote the idea of a change in writers without necessarily focusing on the idea that the show was crap for a while I think they can gain back viewers with relative ease.

As for soaps in general, I think it's really odd that the networks haven't been able to capitalize on the resurgence of soap-like storytelling in primetime. Reality shows have the same hallmarks (the melodrama, the strong, one-note characters, the continuing saga), and then there are the fictional shows that follow a similar model, with respect to long-term storytelling.

[Gray Bunny]

I find myself telling alot of former DAYS fans that it's finally worth checking out again, and I explain that there's new headwriter who's into more realistic storytelling and that it's not the same writer who does all the weird demonic possession and stuff. I tell about some of the current happenings on the show and they sound impressed. They say "I'm gonna have to start watching/taping/DVRing/TiVoing again!" Who knows? Maybe word of mouth is what'll bring back the former DAYS fans.

[dtchicago]

Why are these different from the numbers on here again?? I know its been mentioned before but I forgot. Do these reflect DVR viewers or something?

[King]

My sister-in-law came back to DAYS in May for Steve and Kayla.

And my parents both started watching again in mid-September. But the only REAL reason they stopped was because Soapnet moved it from 7 to 11. (They can put up with it sucking like I and most of us can.) They're not really into recording shows. But they've started staying up later to watch at 11.

[David V]

If we are to look at ATWT's history from 1993 to 2000, here's how it'd look:

1993-1995: After Douglas Marland's death in 1993, Lawrence Caso remains EP until 1995 whilst Parker and Bacchus (sp?) were head writers. The show held its own fairly well as people who worked with Marland were in charge, and wrapped up his storylines.

1995: Caso is replaced as EP by John Valente. Richard Culliton was head writer during 1995 and wrote one of the better post-Marland storylines.

1996: Culliton is replaced by Stephen Black and Henry Stern, who had primetime writing credits prior to joining ATWT. They proceed to wreck the show with pointless new characters and poor recasts (all so prophetic of what we've seen in soaps in the 21st century...)- all this in the show's 40th anniversary year! Ratings take a corresponding dive.

1997: Felicia Minei Behr, accredited with bringing success to AMC as EP, replaces Valente. Jessica Klein as HW offers little real improvement and eventually leaves. Late 1997 however saw one of the more touching storylines of the period.

1998-99: Lorraine Broderick takes over and works to stabilise and re-focus the show. Succeeds to some degree, as the ratings slide is even halted (in fact, in the second half of 1998 ATWT managed to climb to 4th, above GH, for at least a couple of weeks).

1999-2000: Chris Goutman becomes EP, Leah Laiman becomes HW after Another World was cancelled. But Laiman's tenure is critically panned and Hogan Sheffer takes over in 2000.

[Mitchapalooza]

Why are the ratings never posted here anymore?

This is the 3rd week in a row where there has been no official report from SON on the ratings?

Whats going on? Has SON lost its ratings source or something? I miss seeing Total Viewers and complete listings for 25-54, 12-17, 18-34, Males & 18-49 Viewers

[skiman12082004]

While I totally understand your frustration, at least when Toups gets the numbers he posts them and they can be found in the ratings archive. This is the only site that has ever provided for so much ratings info and for that I will be forever grateful. We may not get the ratings exactly when we want them, but at least we eventually get them and for that reason I'll never [!@#$%^&*] about it. If it wasn't for Toups I'd still be relying on Soap Opera Weekly and Soap Opera Digest. So, thanks Toups for all that you do.

[Mitchapalooza]

Well first off, I wasn't b*tching and I want to make it VERY clear that I appreciate EVERYTHING that everyone here at SON does.

My post was simply a question about what is going on and why the ratings are no longer posted, that is all, it was NO indication whatsoever of me being ungrateful or whatever (which I feel your post was indirectly trying to say).

So my question remains!

[Soapsuds]

It's a bummer the ratings didn't come out. I am always interested in total viewers and other demographics.