October 23-27, 2006

[Jess]

OK gang, Laura's return was a big hit. She was on Thursday and Friday. Both days were 2.9. This is a full half a rating point higher than the ratings the entire week before. GH earned a 2.4 the previous week. This week those two days were both 2.9. That is a very good and strong improvement.

There is no reason to think that Laura's return will have a huge impact on AMC. It leads into GH and is separated by an hour. Now I did seek that OLTL did better on Friday, marginally better. Too bad they can't break it down by the half hour because i bet OLTL isn't gaining any full-time viewers and is instead picking up folks for the last half hour.

Regardless GH got a good bump. They either sign Genie Francis and change the way they do business or it will be a very short term bump. They only get to pull this stunt once. The end result will either be a contract or viewers so totally pissed off, Fronsie will never get em back. Then again, if his only goal is to survive November then he will be fine.

It doesn't matter too much. I'll watch Luke and Laura then I'm done with it. It's impossible to trust ABC anymore.

[King]

Word. Why are we twins?

[beachbum]

I hope GH realizes that they need Genie long term.

They got great ratings this week

[King]

I agree with everything you said. Hate GH or Love 'em. They've got the numbers. And stunts or no stunts, numbers are everything.

[KBT]

We could still fool around

[Chris B]

It's still not a positive thing, IMO. GH always does well for sweeps because they actually try and pimp the show out with these big stunts. For the majority of this appauling year, GH has hit record low after record low and IIRC it's lost over a million viewers this year. Because of this it caused budget cuts which will cause cast members to lose and a good sweeps doesn't make up for that.

GH shouldn't be praised for slinging crap at their fans for the entire year minus sweeps. I've neevr seen a show that blatantly doesn't try or give any regards to what the fans may want. Alexis/Ric/Sam comes to mind..

[SoapQueen89]

Many who have watched GH for a long time know that in the next two weeks, they will hang around 2.9/3.0 after that .. PSSH! They'll be back down to a 2.5. WHY? Because all those who tuned in to the show for 3 weeks to see Laura come home will now be tuning out because it will be back to the Jason/Sam/Sonny/Carly show.

At this point, I don't watch anything on this show but Luke/Laura - I mute the rest. I don't much care about anyone else at this point. I want to see a good story for Laura's return and I KNOW I'm not going to get the payoff in the end. This is Guza afterall.

Unless this show can sustain a 3.0 and higher for longer than 3 weeks, this show has not gained or retained any new or existing viewer because of the sweeps stunt they hope would bring them in. Bring them in, perhaps, keep them? Forget it.

Jen

[King]

Well, I'd hope so!

Yes, it is. It bumps their averages. It'll bump them for sweeps. PSNS, AMC, OLTL, GL, and DAYS fans will be sitting here every Thursday with our thumbs up our asses saying "I'm sure February Sweeps or X-Mas will be OUR time to shine." Really, we have no guarantee, and GH is laughing all the way to the bank.

[Chris B]

But how are they laughing all the way to the back having lost a million viewers between sweeps periods? I don't see how having good ratings for two months out of a year is a good thing.

[Steve]

I think GL has a real chance of beating AMC next week now that the truth about Reva's cancer is out. I happened to catch GL live on Monday since I had the day off and I've been taping it all week and I hadn't watched since last November. I think other lapsed viewers may be tempted to tune back in.

AMC is just painful to sit through these days and getting rid of one of their best actresses, Julia Barr, is just going to make the show less watchable. I hope AMC falls to below a 2.0 if that's what it takes for Frons & McTavish to both be fired!

[Pine Charles]

HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!

I hope Passions beats AMC next week.

[King]

-->

But how are they laughing all the way to the back having lost a million viewers between sweeps periods? I don't see how having good ratings for two months out of a year is a good thing.

Because then they get to go to the advertisers with these numbers, look impressive, and get the big bucks.

[MichaelGL]

Haha so great for GL!!! You go GL. I was so shocked to see the show not second from last for once. Come on ABC fans WATCH GL FOR REVENGE ON ABC!!!

As for DAYS, i'm so disappointed by it's ratings. The show is simply stellar right now, and has been for quite sometime, unlike GH. I expect that by the end of the years things will be looking up for DAYS rating wise after reading some of the spoilers I've been reading.

As for those who are disappointed in Hogan Shaffer; why? The man hasn't even started his own stories yet, he hasn't even been on the show long enough to be disappointed IMO. DAYS is still in transition mode JMHO.

I'm happy for ATWT, though I haven't been that much into it lately. Seeing this soap above GH just makes my day.

[bandbfan]

Bored and had some time with Excel so here is the year so far for B&B.

Tried to add some of the bigger stories that corresponded with the points but the captions don't show up very well. So I summarized below.

High Points...

-Ridge leaves Taylor and goes after Brooke. Felicia and her family hold her memorial service.

-Ridge's heart problem. Brooke becomes CEO of Forrester.

-Taylor's trial and Jackie's accident.

Middle points...

-Nick stops Brooke/Ridge marriage. Felicia is Dino's father.

-Brooke/Nick marriage.

-Shane enters. Nick and Bridget sleep together and he confesses.

Low Points...

-Brooke and Nick growing closer. Felicia recovers from cancer.

-More Brooke and Nick. Bridget and Dante become closer.

-Darla's death. Donna comes to town.

*These are just based on the weekly ratings, not opinions.

[ademption]

Well, no ice cream for the Days' crew this week with the 18-49 demos in 3rd place..... Does Days still hand out ice cream when they reach certain demo targets?

A couple of weeks ago I would have been disappointed in Days' ratings and expressed some worry about it. But like I said last week, I'm not expecting miracles. After all, did Sheffer get good ratings when he was at ATWT? Not really right? His claim to fame was getting the show Emmy recognition, which is what Chris Goutman et al were really after. See the infamous New Yorker profile of Hogan Sheffer "Oakdale Days" for more on that backstory....

I don't expect HS to get stellar ratings this sweeps or Feb sweeps. That's not his style. I think people will come back to the show after hearing word of mouth testimonials from friends and family that Days has gone back to traditional storytelling. Until fans trust Hogan NOT to screw them over, they're not coming back!! Hogie's is an experienced turnaround artist. When Hogie delivers the goods, the core audience will come back to the show. He just has to prove himself first. Now that probably does not mean that Days will EVER reach B&B or Y&R levels, but if he can get a larger audience share that will stick with the show ALL throughout the year instead of during sweeps, then I would declare him a success in my book.....