December 4-8, 2006

[King]

Daytime is in a very sorry state right now. I haven't watched a full episode of ANY SHOW in weeks. It really sucks. No soap is at the top of their game right now. Not even close. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for me and soaps. I've never gone this long without watching DAYS, at least.

[Days4Life]

King, I hope you give DAYS a try again. This week has been very good IMO

[PhoenixRising05]

King, I hope you have all the episodes since last Thursday's Days on your DVR or something because these last 7-8 episodes have been the best all around episodes of the year and it's only getting better. This month has been like sweeps so I hope you find a way to at least catch this week's episodes when you have the chance. It isn't just me being my usual Days-obsessed self, this week has been perfect. Days is really the only soap delivering entertainment right now IMO.

[Soapsuds]

For the first time in a while I actually agree with you. All 9 shows are not very good. I've seen all of them except Passions this month and none are great right now. That is very sad indeed.

[King]

We haven't agreed in years.

[JAS0N47]

CBS Media

Household Ratings: Week of December 4-8

1. THE PRICE IS RIGHT 2 CBS 4.0/15

1. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS CBS 4.0/14

3. THE PRICE IS RIGHT 1 CBS 3.6/13

4. THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL CBS 3.0/10

5. The View ABC 2.8/10

6. General Hospital ABC 2.6/08

7. Days of Our Lives NBC 2.5/08

8. AS THE WORLD TURNS CBS 2.4/08

8. All My Children ABC 2.4/08

8. One Life to Live ABC 2.4/08

11. GUIDING LIGHT CBS 2.2/07

12. Passions NBC 1.6/05

[Reddi]

Excellent points (the whole post!) I agree that all soaps are losing ratings because they are not focused on balance and general good storytelling, but on grabbing a certain demo. It's like someone with tunnel vision driving a car. Kinda scarey, and sooner or later they'll be an accident.

The thing is, if you want the teens and youngers, you need grandma and mom to be watching also. Because the teens come into the show when grandma and mom are watching... that's how soaps have always been passed on. They lose that, and they might gain a few isolated teens/college age, but overall they will lose numbers. Higher numbers overall, even if the percentage shows more olders watching, will mean more youngers watching, simply because more people are watching.

[GBB]

With all due respect, if you haven't watched Days in the last week you don't know what you're talking about. There was a very noticeable quality shift a week or so back and the show is very compelling right now.

[ademption]

I posted this over at Coffeerooms' Days' Alice board almost 3 years ago, but the info comes from summer 2003 SOD ultimate Soap Fan Guide:

If the show is No. 1 in the female 18-49 demographics when the numbers come out on Thursdays, the cast and crew get ice cream with all the fixings from Baskin-Robbins.

http://www.w3pg.com/w3-cgi/getmsg.pl/6/9199.html

There's other cute factoids from that article:

Somebody is always working on-set, 24 hours a day, six days a week and shifts are staggered throughout the day/night.

For a minor role, Casting Director Fran Bascom sees around 25 actors. For a contract role, while she usually receives anywhere from 350-400 headshots, she sees about 150. They usually have an idea of what look they need, especially with a recast role.

ademption: Considering that AB won the Willow role, I'm wondering what the other 149 prospects were like?

[Bree]

I agree. It seems like Hogan and his crew deliberately slowed things down so they could start building up to the stories for next year. While it may not be favorable with the viewers, it does pack more of a punch when the stories really start to kick in. For the last two weeks, DAYS has been really good. Yeah, there's still more kinks to be worked out, but when someone has been writing for just three months, it's not going to be instant quality. I think (and hope) 2007 will be when it all begins to smooth out.

[SteveFrame]

I think overall many of the soaps are really kicking it in right now.

Y&R has me glued right now with the Storm story and even Kay's story has me interested big time. Even the psychic thing is being done very well. They have not overdone the psychic thing and made it more of a family event so far. Today was spectacular on the show to me.

AMC is doing super right now. I love the way they are handling the S/K story. The deaths have not been the focus. They are not graphic, and it is more of a story of the survivors and the search for the killer. Very well done.

And even OLTL that I have not been able to stand for so long really stepped up their game last week. Friday's show was superb.

I even have to give GH props. I am enjoy all of it right now. I esp. love the Ric/Alexis story, and the search for Rick Webber's real killer is good too. GH may have finally learned to use their gimmicks to further things along or cause story. I give them props for that.

I am still disappointed in ATWT and hope they will step things up, but even though the stories have been a little slow, repetitive and boring, I do still enjoy the actors and many parts of the show.

Good jobs all around, now if the ratings will just show it.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree Bree. It's not perfect but it's been the best soap this month and the last two weeks have been much different. I was liking the show before but it just feels differentce now. It's almost like we are almost out of the transition and things are really in overdrive. It really has been amazing comparing the show month by month since June as it really has improved to a new level every month and right now it's really good.

The rest of the shows on daytime right now are just horrible. AMC has been a bit better but that isn't saying much based on where they have been. OLTL is still the same and GH is a bit better but still is nowhere near the level of must see or good television.

Y&R and ATWT are boring and sleep-inducing. GL has been decent and B&B has actually held my interest for the most part. Passions is downright horrible right now. Days is the only one giving out solid drama every day this month IMO.

[SteveFrame]

IMO is the perfect way to put it Phoenix.

I gave Days praise big time in my Best of thread I started.

But I disagree that Y&R is boring right now. Y&R keeps my attention better than Days does right now. Days is good but IMO I still enjoy Y&R better for several reasons. I was talking to my aunt who has watched since the show came on in 1973 and she feels it is better than it has been in years. So it comes down to opinion.

My daughters who are 18 and 20 love AMC better right now. They have always put Days ahead of any show on the air. They don't miss AMC any since the serial killings started and Zarf arrived. My 18 year old daughter is usually at her boyfriend's house when AMC is on and she will call me at least 4 times during the hour now to tell me what is going on. She watches it live and then watches it again on SON at night. Somedays still she won't even watch Days even though she admits it is better.

It comes down as I said to an opinion. Everybody does not like what Days is putting out even though they admit it is better. Everybody doesn't like what other shows are putting out even though some may.

As I said it comes down to opinion. What some see as the best daytime has to offer is not seen that way by others.

It's just like many felt that Mary Beth Evans knocked it out of the park last week, but she did nothing for me. I found her performance very flat esp. next to Stephen Nichols who gave the performance of a lifetime. It is my opinion and my opinion only.

[PhoenixRising05]

Well of course it's only an opinion Steve and I am aware of that.

However, there is an overwhelming amount of people not happy with Y&R and ATWT and not just here on SON but other boards as well. The ABC soaps are facing that very same reaction to. Days has gotten a much more positive response in the past two weeks as fans are getting what they want. I am just saying that Days has been the best so far in December IMO and I gave my opinions on the other shows just like you did yours.

I am happy you are enjoying those shows. I just wouldn't expect the ratings to improve for them based on the reactions of some to those shows but who knows. The ratings are unpredictable but, out of the 9 soaps, only 3 are really holding my interest right now with Days being the front runner and B&B and GL right behind them.

[King]

GL is the underdog and is the little engine that could....and does. When all of daytime is sucking, GL is rocking. Sure, it sucks compared to the GL people like Dan remember, but compared to the rest of daytime? Self-contained episode vs self-contained episode? GL can hold its own more times than not! JMO, obvi.