November 13-17, 2006

[King]

YAY, DAYS! I knew it would get a big bump that week. It was the only week I could really say as a whole was consistently gratifying and amazing all around since...forever.

[Soapsuds]

Kind of disappointed they didnt go up.

I guess JR's life in the balance helped out AMC's ratings. But ratings went down at the end of the week.

So Luke and Laura's wedding didnt hit a 3.0 on Thursday. Not good news for GH. I suspect GH's numbers well fall big in two weeks after Laura is gone.ONE LIFE TO LIVE

MONDAY 2.6

TUESDAY 2.7

WEDNESDAY 2.6

[Mitchapalooza]

AMC talent pool has absolutely dwindled in the past few years and NO WAY do they have the best actors in daytime.

Sure they have some true greats (Michael E. Knight, Cady McClean, Eden Riegel, David Canary) but they also have LOADS of stinkers and sorry but GL cast beats AMC in almost every area of acting imaginable!

Both shows may not be at their best at the moment, but at least GL still has it's acting talent going, AMC can barely even get good performances from their actors anymore.

AMC is the worst show on the air at the moment (yes even worse than PASSIONS) and horrible ratings will ONLY result in a turnaround with this show.

[Ms. Walsh]

Yeah, thankfully the comic-book episode was only 1 episode. A lot of us were afraid that they'd turn it into a storyline, but that hasn't happened yet, so for now, it was just one blip in what has been IMO a relatively good year for GL.

I think GL has really good acting. They make the bad writing actually decent.

A part of me thought that GH would do better, but I'm really not that surprised by their ratings.

[David V]

I honestly believe ABCD is pursuing a "slash-and-burn" policy with both AMC and OLTL.

Seriously, can we compare the state of AMC now to the state of ATWT in 1996? The similarities are there judging from the consensus about quality et al.

[cal3]

So what happened at ATWT in 1996 -- for the uninformed like me.

Are the sweeps numbers sufficient to give ABCD their reprieve ? Will the affillates be satisfied with a .1 increase and the status quo from last year? If things are supposed to improve within 5 months I'm not seeing anything that gives me hope for OLTL. ES's comments suggest they are continuing to circle the drain.

[Soapsuds]

Stephen Black and Henry Stern happened. The show turned dark and very gloomy.

[David V]

It's been discussed elsewhere, but in a nutshell: Valente and the writing team of Black and Stern proceded to thrash the show with bad writing, bad casting, new characters people couldn't care about, etc.

Judging by the ratings, responses from fans and critics alike, and the fact that P&G took action late in the year by replacing Fitts with MADD, and Valente with FMB- that one year quickly went down in infamy. You had some people say that at the time, ATWT had become the worst of the soaps on air and even the worst show on TV. Whether that was the case or not, we can say that they were frighteningly prophetic of what was to come on soaps generally in the new Millennium.

Now how is that relevant for AMC? With the slash-and-burn policy being practiced, I hear some people say that the show's cast atm is one of the most wooden on TV generally. I think that judging from how many fans and critics feel, and the fact that AMC's ratings have taken a huge dive over the past 2 years (a loss of 1 ratings point or thereabouts IS a big deal considering its value these days), some legitimite comparisons can be drawn. I'm more saying that the same things that were said about ATWT 10 years ago are being repeated for AMC right now.

[cal3]

Thanks for the information. It does sound like history is repeating itself at both AMC and OLTL. I still argue that AMC is in better shape than OLTL, that may be my bias that I can still stand to sit through an episode of AMC where I find OLTL an absolute disaster.

[MichaelGL]

Well I'm simply glad that DAYS went up. Not by .1 but by .2. I just wonder where are those same people who were making a big fuss about DAYS going down last week are?

[rsmith2k2]

Found this on the ABCmedianet site while looking for something else. I guess I'll find out if it's okay to share...

And just for general purposes: SUCK it, Fronsie, McTravesty and JHC!

[Jess]

General Hospital and Days were the big winners this week. General Hospital did very well with the return of Luke and Laura and Days had a very good week too.

A 2.9 rating for GH is very good, and it reflects on average about a half a million viewers for those two days. DOOL picked up viewers. In addition, soaps gained last week. AMC and OLTL didn't deserve to gain, but they did.

Luke and Laura remain a huge draw and no matter who the wedding was about -- and I agree it was about everyone but Luke and Laura -- the two of them still brought in the crowd. Unfortunately, ABCD never learns.

Here's hoping that NBC learns. Steve and Kayla, Sammi and Lucas, Bo and Hope, John and Marlena and FAMILIES bring home the bacon.

[Gray Bunny]

Exactly. And the comment about ABC's Fan February episodes were exactly the same thing. If Harley and Gus ever make a reference to Harley's brief superhero powers, then I'll be proven wrong, but I highly doubt that'll ever happen.

As for GL's talent, I can only think of one weak link (Michele Ray Smith as Ava).

[R!ck]

And even she's not that bad

[evermore]

GH's ratings weren't higher because all of the publicity noted prominently that Laura's return was only temporary, and all of the lapsed GH viewers who tuned in for Robert, Anna, and Holly's returns weren't going to be fooled into expecting a plausible storyline for another "legacy" character. Unfortunately those fans missed a well-done storyline, but Guza/Phelps/Frons are now reaping what they have sown. Crap on your fans enough times and eventually they'll just tune you out. Literally.

Whoever pointed out how great the classic GH episodes on Soapnet were was right: back then the show had a great ensemble, actors with chemistry (hello, Slick Jones!), multi-generational families interacting with one another, and most importantly any number of interesting, plausible storylines that often touched on one another. And how great was it to see David Lewis in action as Edward Quartermaine again?! (nothing against John Ingle, who I think is great too in his own right)