March 5-9, 2007

[cal3]

I don't think it's that simple. ABCD should be very afraid at t his point, especially if they look at the pattern of NBC. They seem to be repeating all of NBC's mistakes. OLTL may have finished in the top 5 but it's back to the 2.4 it has enjoyed for most of last year and part of the prior year. ABCD is going to have to make some big changes if they want better numbers. That's going to mean giving some of the lost fans a reason to come home. There is an audience out there for soaps but ABCD is going to have to decide if it is an audience they care about having.

[Toups]

That's sad for DAYS.

But the good news, at least for us JER fans, is that JER no longer has the lowest ratings for DAYS in HHs, 18-49, 18-34 and I'm probably Total Viewers too.

As for killing of EJ, EJ isn't the problem. He is the best villain to appear on DAYS in the last 10 years.

If DAYS doesn't get better soon, I'm going to start rooting for Beth Milstein to takeover as HW or at least co-HW.

[King]

Ditto. It's sad.

Who knew Hoagie would take DAYS to its lowest ratings ever?

[King]

What can be to blame for EVERY soap falling???? Spring Break?

[Manny]

Yup... considering that I was one of those who yelled that Hogan would take DAYS to #2...

[SteveFrame]

It is good news for JER fans.

As to the EJ thing you might be right but considering the villians we have seen in the last 10 years it is not saying much. I once thought so about EJ but right now I rank him right there with Spencer on OLTL. Both could be a lot better than they are/were, but what ruins them both is that they were involved in stories that they shouldn't have been. As I said there is no reason for a character to be involved in every story. I love umbrella stories but only when they make sense. Just having one character involved and overlapping does not an umbrella story make. And many times the reason for them being in that story does not make sense.

For fans it becomes overkill and they grow tired of seeing that same face and same character all the time. There is such a thing as too much of even a good thing.

[King]

In DAYS' defense, this is my first week watching sine Jan 15th, and it's not as bad as it once was or as I bad as I thought it was. NBC is more to blame for the ratings than Hoagie, considering they basically announced its cancellation two years in advance. MORONS.

[winterguy125]

Here is the thing about ATWT sometimes for me, I feel like the storylines are good most of the time, but it is the characters that are in the storylines that suck, because it is the same characters over and over again, all we see is Gwen, Katie, Paul, Emily they are always featured in a storyline never backburnered and shoved down our throats, if I have counted right Gwen has been on 8 straight shows, fans don't want characters shoved down there throats, I think this storyline of Gwen and Maddie's would have been great if it would have been over characters that are not seen on a normal base. I really like Emily's storyline but again, I wish it was someone else in that storyline. Of course there are still crappy storylines no matter who plays them(Paul's storyline for example). As for Katie what is the point of always having her having a man, it is the only storyline she ever has, and it is just plain boring we watched Mike and Katie have sex for almost 2 years and that is it, now that Mike is gone, Katie is on to her next adventure Brad, which again will be all about sex. The only way to fix ATWT is to backburner all of JP's characters and give storylines to other people, I would love to see Dallas get a story, Luke get a storyline, Barbara get a storyline, Bob, Lisa, Kim, Nancy get a nice simple storyline about them, Tom and Margo to get a storyline about THEM not the teens. There are tons of characters on this show yet the only one's that get any airtime are Gwen, Katie, Will, Paul, Emily and that is the problem with this show, same characters non-stop. Why JP CG, or Barbara Bloom think fans only want to see these characters all the time is beyond me, only thing I can come up with is these [!@#$%^&*] fanbases that won't stop pimping there [!@#$%^&*] actors and characters non-stop. Go to the PGP messageboard, only thing on that thing is Katie this Katie that, Paul, Paul, Paul, Gwen, Gwen, Gwen, Meg, Meg, Meg, Emily this Emily that, Brad this Brad that, no wonder this is all we get, that is the board TIIC read.

[Gray Bunny]

Since some are mentioning family members who watch soaps, my mom happily reported that yesterday's show had no EJ. I didn't watch so I don't know if that's true, but I know she and my dad think EJ is involved in way too many storylines.

There's still JER fans? Well yeah, if I specify "I was a fan of JER's work on DAYS from 1993-1997" then yeah, I can proclaim myself a fan, too. But nowadays, um no.

I was also one who said Hogan's work isn't the bees knees. I was also the first to suggest that Beth Milstein should remain headwriter and was scoffed at. Hmm...

[Ponz]

I'm not denying that he's a good villain. But like Steve said, it alienates viewers having him on every single day and sticking his nose in every story. Characters like EJ rely on a certain degree of "mystique". Fail to use them in moderation and the charm fades fast. I used to think he was delightfully creepy but now I just find him tiresome (and judging by many DAYS boards, I'm not the only one). If they aren't going to kill him off, then he needs to at least be off screen for a few months. The show often did that with Joe Mascolo to good effect.

[Mason]

Exactly. But they knew precisely what they were doing when they said that. It was no mistake. They want DAYS to fail NOW so they'll have plenty of ammunition to get rid of it at the nearest opportunity. Bastards.

[Soapsuds]

When it comes down to it most if not all producers and writers of the soaps have forgotten what a soap is really about. It is about family, romance, intrigue and suspense. Paul having those stupid visions is not what I consider intriguing or suspensful. RH acting is horrid. The faces he makes during those flashes is horrible. There are so many other stories not clicking for all the other soaps but TPTB dont care!

[daysfan]

ITA King and Hogan. NBC does want Days to fail so they can cancel it. And it makes me so sad to see the fans allowing them to do so.

[WTGH]

I'm glad ATWT's mornic Friday episode crashed and burned to a million little pieces.

[SteveFrame]

King I agree that they were MORONS for doing that but I don't see how it has that much affect on the ratings. Sure to those who are on the Internet true, but not everyone is on the Internet. And has been pointed out here numerous times in other situations the Internet community is only part of it. And they are basically the ones who know about this.

I know that it has not been on the front page of any of the major Soap Mags, and have they even covered it. I know it came out in other magazines and not the soap mags initially. For the average viewer unless someone has told them about it they don't know. I haven't told my daughters and I know that neither of them have heard it because if they had they would have said something to me.

I think it goes back to what I was saying and what Winterguy just posted - people get tired of the same old characters all the time. ATWT fans are tired of it and look what is happening to the ratings. For months now we have seen the same people get the bulk of the stories and people are tired of them.

Days fans are even more fickle than other soap fans. Days has these big fan bases and they make up a big part of Days fans. Other shows have them but I don't think any compare to the fan bases of Days or at least I don't see the others as being as vocal. I think people are tired of the same characters being on all the time.