January 22-26, 2007

[SpiritualJunkie]

I thought it was pretty good that GL was tying or beating some soaps on Friday but I had no idea that they were 3rd in total viewers! That's amazing!

I've seen people at other boards wonder what would happen if GL took B&B's spot after Y&R...I have a feeling if they had that spot the day that episode aired, they'd be in second place.

[SteveFrame]

You're right that they held most of the month, but within the last 2 weeks they have gotten back down in the 2.4 daily ranges. And not knowing what some of those ratings actually are they could be 2.3's rounded up to 2.4. That was something that the show has not done in a while.

And yes last week nothing happened which accounts for the three 2.4's, but he didn't do much this current week either. I watched everyday and it was okay, but the balance was still off and I just didn't enjoy the show as much as I normally would have. The day I enjoyed the most was the day that Bo, Steve, Kayla, & Roman and others were in the bar. Roman interrogating all of them was to me the best thing that happened all week long.

And I for one am just not buying the sudden evilness of Philip. When I read what Hogan had in mind, I thought great. Philip is going to come back and he is going to become more like Victor. I can buy the reasons for Philip making the change, but the execution of it has been bad IMO. Philip is not just a villian now, but he is just evil. And he is mad evil. It has been poorly executed IMO. Johnson does a good job with it, but I don't buy it at all. I buy JER making Sheridan evil and the way he has done it better than I do the way Hogan has done Philip. And I don't rearly care for villianous Sheridan, but I will take her over evil Philip - he just disgusts me. On Thursday and Friday when he was on I switched channels to Will & Grace and just flipped back when his scene had enough time to go off. And I don't like him with Willow at all. I state those just because I know of other people who feel the same way.

And so far the spoilers I am looking at for February look like more of the same. There an exciting thing coming up for March that sounds exciting but nothing that I have read in between there sounds that exciting so far. They sound okay but not that great.

I will respect your opinion about Nick & Chelsea - I am just not seeing as a good thing for them to be on this much. And that IJMO

[DaysFanJean]

Jumping in here to comment on Nick and Chelsea. I for one enjoy the younger set the most. Nick and Chelsea are a breath of fresh air and are the beginning of the "supercouples" of their generation. The thing missing is the lack of attachment to Nick with his development. We've struggled all year long with Chelsea and she has pulled our heartstrings, but I think Nick, although cute and plucky, needs more investment in the fans. That will come, I feel pretty sure, if Hogan truly wants these two together.

I watched most of last week and enjoyed what I saw, but I have to tell you, I am not watching when Steve has his attacks as they bother me too much and as of yet, Kayla and Steve don't gel for me. I miss Marlena and John and would enjoy more of the true Bo and Hope. But, for some time the older generation (S&K, B&H) aren't involving my interest.

Mimi and Max, with the skeleton mystery, Phimi baby, how Sami deals with her dilemma, hating Kate, and looking forward to Abby and Chelsea as they return to college is my main pull to watch Days now....and how Jack will be portrayed if and when he returns.

Steve, I so agree about the new Philip. What a huge disappointment. JKJ is not being shown in good light and his wild, mad self is not appealing or believable at all.

[Bree]

One problem with DAYS is the stories aren't bad they need to start really juicing up. Sami/Lucas/Kate/EJ has gotten boring. The on-the-run saga needs to wrap up. The John/Marlena story was off to a good start and has seemed to drop. The younger set is a definite improvement over SSM's and Langan's teens seven years ago, but they can't take over the show. And I know the Willow hate has gotten old, but I feel she shares some of the blame for the dropping ratings, being a character that for the most part very few like, yet she keeps getting more airtime. The show is nowhere near as bad as JER's last few months though. However, he ruined the show so much, many fans left and didn't bother to come back to see the new direction the show has taken.

[SteveFrame]

Very well put Bree.

And I agree with you that the show is no where near as bad as JER's last months, but it does need a kick. I really loved the show in December as I said. January started out okay. But the last 2 weeks have just lost me.

[PhoenixRising05]

I will agree Bree. The stories do need to be kicked into gear and I think they will be. December was great and we can't always have what we had in that month all the time. January was solid to begin with but then things got a bit slow. We'll see. I do think we will begin to see things get going again very soon.

[DaysFanJean]

Steve, I just noticed your soap rankings:

My current soap rankings (as of 5 Jan 2007): 1) Y&R, 2) GH, 3) GL, 4) AMC, 5) B&B, 6) ATWT, 7) Passions, 8) OLTL, 9) Days

Days is dead last. Is that still your opinion? Gee, I only watch Days so think my opinion is much higher even though it's not batting even 90% right now. The reason for me is that I'm not a Shelle fan and even though I'm not hating them, I'm still not loving them and think their storyline is very ridiculous when none of us have forgotten that Marlena and John are loaded and Marlena is supposed to be a psychiatrist and she is supposed to approve of her daughter and granddaughter running from the law with no money and no where to go. It's just the lamest story. No wonder folks minds are wandering.

[Matt P.]

I honestly believe that GL deserved to beat ATWT, OLTL, and AMC. With the amazing 70th anniversary episode, emmy driven acting, and a suspenseful week that used to be known by this show, would have boosted them further. Now with Jammy gone, I'm sort of worried with what direction they're going to go. Hopefully they kill off Ava! I'm sure people would love to watch that.

[SteveFrame]

Jean, I updated my rankings today, and yes I still see Days in the bottom - but it is not necessarily a truly bad thing. I think all the shows are improving - so me putting at the bottom is not the same as it would have been a few months ago or even back in December. In December I had moved it up to 3rd.

Right now what is keeping it down there is that I just feel out of all 9 the stories are the slowest and because of the balance. ATWT dropped there in December because they were featuring the awfullest stories and the balance was way off. I have just now moved ATWT back into the top 5 - a place they have not been in a long time for me.

When Days first dropped to the bottom on Jan 5 - it was right after EJ had become so vile. I loved him before the shooting of John and the rape of Sami. Then the rumors of the "Who's the Daddy" story were making their way - plus the writing was already on the wall for it. Days had really gained so many points with me and they lost them all. Hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to update and they will move up. I still haven't watched today's show, but Friday I actually feel asleep in the middle of it. I just hope Hogie kicks them up soon.

[SteveFrame]

For excitemend and quality GL would have beat more than ATWT, OLTL, and AMC the last 2 weeks. I think they were at times the #1 show in the last few weeks, and overall would have been at least 3rd for the week.

[Bree]

Thanks for the friendly comments.

Hogan is a better writer than JER but he's not perfect and I didn't expect him to be this show's savior. You have to wonder if this sudden focus on the young set is dictated by him, or by Corday. I don't know what he did over at ATWT so I don't know if he wrote a lot for their young characters at the expense of vets. I do remember posters saying he was not a fan of couples sticking together, but so far all the supercouples are together, even if they aren't getting screentime.

DAYS is not known for doing big things during sweeps. Sometimes that could be a good thing---a soap should not rely on sweeps months to bring out their best stuff (like GH) only to get back to their usual crappy stuff. However, those savvy viewers who rely on their shows to pull out all the stops for sweeps but get no action or plot developments become disappointed and the ratings decline.

It will be interesting to see what the spring preview will hold. If it's more of the same (Sami continuing to keep what happened between she and EJ a secret, more of Willow taunting whomever when it's convienent for her, Chelsea waffling back and forth between liking Nick and hating him, the Claire custody saga, Salem U hijinks) I doubt DAYS will ever rise above a 2.5/2.6.

[SteveFrame]

Bree, Unfortunately Hogan did have the bad reputation of focusing on the under 30 crowd except for Hunt Block & Colleen Zenk Pinter who he loved - the rest of the vets were brought out occassionally and hardly ever got story. Poor Eileen Fulton had to go to the magazines and complain to even get an episode every now and then.

He hardly ever wrote exclusively for long periods of time for teens and when he did it was usually bad. His on the run story several years ago with Agim Kaba and Peyton List was terrible. But when he did focus on them they got heavy exposure.

I will be the first to admit that Hogan is doing better with showing the older vets, but I feel like the last few weeks shows that Aniston will no longer play that much of a part in Philip's story. To me a strong family element that I loved about the story is gone now. And that does bother me. I hope that Hogan proves me wrong but dropping Victor suddenly and Hogan's reputation just cause me to think the worst.

I love that he is showing Maggie more, but I don't like that she doesn't have a story. Suzanne Rogers is too talented to just prop someone else. But I know most young people but not all want to see Maggie but they don't want her to have a story.

As far Hogan with the couples I think he is smart enough to know not to separate the couples right now. He would be so dumb to even begin any kind of break up story for them any time soon. But as you, I and some others have stated many times, what is the purpose of them being together if you can't write something interesting for them. Right now Bo & Hope are together but they are so boring and never seen. Steve & Kayla are together but they are boring as a couple. I love Steve alone but I don't like what is being written for Steve & Kayla. And I definitely can't stand this John & Marlena story right now. And I love my Lumi but I even find them boring right now. Both characters have lost way too much of their edge. I wish he would find a way for them to keep their edge, but be together.

As you said I know that Days doesn't do much for sweeps, but my fear is that if Hogan doesn't do something for sweeps or at least step the stories up some more and get some better balance that the ratings are just going to drop further. And I hate to see that happen especially after they made so much ground up and were on the move.

[R!ck]

Here's the updated averages for the season

Total Viewers

1. Y&R 5,637,000

2. B&B 4,165,000

3. GH 3,379,000

4. DAYS 3,277,000

5. ATWT 3,244,000

6. OLTL 3,066,000

7. AMC 3,057,000

8. GL 2,923,000

9. PSNS 1,988,000

Women 18-49 Viewers

1. Y&R 1,316,000

2. GH 1,239,000

3. DAYS 1,181,000

4. OLTL 1,059,000

5. AMC 1,000,000

6. B&B 919,000

7. PSNS 880,000

8. ATWT 780,000

9. GL 765,000

[irish secra]

Personally, I think Days missed the boat when it came to writing for Steve and Kayla. They were probably the most missed couple in Days history but because of the uncertainty regarding the writing team - their story was slowed to a crawl. Fans were turned off when Steve professed his love for Billie but then super fast forward and Steve is madly in love with Kayla again and Billie is old news. Many fans who came back for S/K have left and are just waiting for a reason to come back and enjoy that couple again.

However, we still have no idea where Steve was, what happened to him, etc. The show has once more slowed to a crawl when it comes to the Steve/Kayla story. I still believe that if Hogie focuses on S/K in an umbrella story format that actually moves along(heavy on adventure and romance) and pulls in B/H and J/M that he can use it to gain buzz for the show and bring back viewers. One reason I was so thrilled to hear that Matt Ashford's Jack was returning for awhile was hopefully seeing Jack the reporter kick start the what happened to Steve story.

As for Hogie's time on ATWT, Hogie did a terrible job writing for teens on that show. He can write vets and the over 25 crowd, but he has difficulty writing for youngsters. I still cringe when I think of the Aaron, Lucy and Alison on the run story. Three incredibly talented actors stuck in a story that stunk up the joint.

[Mitchapalooza]

Well I disagree with you on the whole Steve/Kayla story! I personally have enjoyed them from the moment they came back and their current material is GREAT!

I do want to see some sort of adventure storyline where S/K, B/H and J/M all hit the road to help Steve find out his past and a big showdown with the DiMera's at some point!