March 5-9, 2007

[PhoenixRising05]

I will be short and sweet.

-Shitty week for all soaps.

-Bad week for Days but I expected it even though there was movement in direction last week.

-I expect Days to nose up this week because Bo and Hope were featured and maybe NBC will pick up some fans due to basketball. It usually happens but who knows.

-I think Kevin Reilly's statement is a bigger issue then some realize. Days's ratings have gone down before and the balance has been bad before but never was there a drop like this. Never. The bleeding started right after that comment. Coincidence? I think not. It's hard for fans to invest when they know a show can be gone in two years. Now some will say that those that don't go online or read mags won't know. A majority of them will because they have people that surf the net or read things and will tell them. News travels in this day and age so they know and that is probably hurting the show more then anything else. The balance is an issue and so is the fact that not much happens but the cancellation issue is the big one for me. I think the balance issue and the lack of big things happening over a long period only enhance the big issue.

Anyway, I am not going to assign blame. We really don't know who is at fault. We re all just assuming. It could be the actors, Hogan, NBC, etc. Who knows. They should say something but they probably won't. Who knows...maybe they knew this would happen and are banking on what they have planned to get them back up. I do think it is more likely this is Corday and NBC's majorly at fault. Hogan is a big mouth but he would,'t say all that and then go against almost everything he said. That ruins his reputation and doesn't make sense. He knows what he said and why he isn't speaking up I have no clue because it is clear something got mucked up big time beginning in January and just now do things seem to be ever so slowly getting better. The balance issue is a soap-wide epidemic IMO so I don't think that is the biggest factor here. The big one is Reilly comment IMO and then you can add the balance issue, pacing and lack of movement for nearly a month, and the budget in there. Those only compounded the problem.

[PhoenixRising05]

I have been around. I am not feeling well and didn't feel like arguing with the usual bashers and such today.

[SteveFrame]

I wasn't trying to say that nobody wanted to see them. All the characters that are on have someone who wants to see them and there is even a small minority out there that wants to see them everyday. I have learned that really quick that there are some Fanatical Fans out there that want their favorites on everyday at the expense of everyone else.

But the average fan does not want to see any character or couple everyday. We want balance. Hogan still needs to write for these characters but the whole show should not center around them and they should not be the be all and end all of the show.

There are many fans out there that still don't get Patch & Kayla as a couple and so no they don't really want to see them. Even in their heyday I was not a Patch/Kayla fan, but I never minded them as I enjoyed so many people that were in their stories with them. Right now the story is totally about them and EJ with Bo or someone listening to them every once in awhile. They are not active in the story so there is no one to root for if you are not into the characters at all.

[winterguy125]

Good Grief a new low for Total Viewers for ATWT and Men down to 6th, will someone please fire JP, like now!!

[King]

Thanks, Suds. Also, I have been watching PSNS this week so I can attest to its crappiness.

[Soapsuds]

Hope you feel better soon.

Yup, and her spoilers for the future sound horrible. The same [!@#$%^&*]! Sorry had to say that word. Jen/Maddie/Will front and center with that remote. She needs to be fired and so does Goutman.

Your welcome King. I tried watching PSNS this week but couldnt. It is bad but so are the majority of the soaps.

[Ponz]

The voice of reason!

[PhoenixRising05]

Thanks Soapsuds. I appreciate that

Great post King about Passions. Couldn't agree more.

[Evan]

DAYS is officially fucked, ladies and gentlemen!

Who would have thought Sheffer would be doing worse than Reilly?

TIIC need to do something fast to staunch the blood flow, otherwise the show won't last into 2008.

Very sad to see, for this guy who grew up watching DAYS.

Get Matt Ashford back on contract, write for the vets/favorite couples might be a good start, Mr Sheffer!

And, it's time Corday fucked off - he should share a lot of blame for this debacle!

[Soapsuds]

Sorry Evan but the ratings still sucked with Matthew Ashford on. Btw...any chance you are Matthew Ashford?

[Evan]

No, I'm not, but I wouldn't mind his pay check.

Ashford has a big fanbase out there!

[Adam]

Eeeek! We had such good weeks there for sweeps and now this. I mean sweeps is all that counts so we can take it at that but damn, those numbers for DAYS are very scary. I mean Hogan is just driving them away. He needs to wake up and get "the big4" on screen if that is what all you DAYS fans want. Scary for all of daytime. I mean Y&R lost 700,000 viewers from Monday-Friday. AMC is barely hanging onto 4th, they will lose it next week I am sure. Its the same cycle.....

GL tanked too. God back to the negatives for daytime

DAYS gets shut out of the emmys and now receives its worst ratings ever. That show just cannot catch a break and as a fan of the genre, that really upsets me.

[Soapsuds]

Just checking since u love him so much.

[RogerNewcomb]

Why is it all the soaps are way down in female viewers since last year but all (but one) are up with males? Do men have more tolerance for crap than females?

[SteveFrame]

Phoenix, I hope you get to feeling better.

If you will notice Days is not the only show being bashed as you put it. Personally I don't feel like for the most part Days is being bashed as you put it. People are frustrated and don't see anything being done to change it. Sure there are a few fans in here today who from a big fanbase but for the most part I see fans in here mad about these ratings.

I find it funny that the same things that are being said about Days are what the fans of ATWT are saying is wrong with it and has been that way for months. We know what is wrong with ATWT and we want it changed. Those same things are what is going on at Days.

ATWT has good day to day writing just like Days does. ATWT has great actors & actresses just like Days. ATWT has a good set of young actors just like Days does. ATWT stories are not all that bad but for the most part they are always featuring the wrong characters all the time and have been at times very very boring and slow over the last few months.

We recognize what the problems are and realize that both the writer and producer are to blame.

Days biggest problems right now are the stories and the balance. I could care less about the budget. My #2 favorite show right now is GL and look at their budget. I could care less about the cancellation rumors and most fans do too. Look at GL how many years now have fans been told that CBS has no faith in GL and that even P&G have no faith in GL. Has it made them take the falls that Days is going through now? No it hasn't. Those rumors have been even more rampant in the last year but what did GL do - they have been at times up in the ratings and until this week have stabilized.

I still hold for the majority of fans they don't know at all about what Reilly said. I remember just months ago on here we had this same argument about something with Hogan being announced as the new writer on Days and that even made the front pages of the magazines. People wondered why people didn't run back in droves when that was announced. I don't know if it was you but I can remember so many saying that the majority of fans don't know it yet. They are not like the Internet fans or the ones that read the mags every week. They just look and see things getting better and then they will come back. That wasn't just one fan that said that but many that said it. I still believe it is true. Sure word of mouth is going to get out about certain things but it didn't get that widespread about HOgan so I don't think it has this either. There are many fans who don't even know that [s.W.S.N.B.N.] was the Ghost Writer and that was tied with Saddam. The average viewer just don't get these INternet rumors and sayings.

Fans are frustrated on the whole. You say that Days balance got bad before and fans didn't leave in droves. They did under Langan. Many quit. But frankly except for then I don't remember Days balance ever getting as bad as it is right now. And you say it is getting better. I know I am not watching everyday right now and I will have to take your word for it because the days that I am watching the balance is still the same. Fans as I have said have been mad about this for a long time now. All of daytime is in this trap and that is why you see the big drops in ratings. When the shows focus on more people during sweeps months - it is not just the stories that draw them in but the balance. Days is falling into that same trap now. It doesn't work on other shows and it won't work there either.

It's definitely not working on ATWT. And fans are sending that message to CBS and Goutman and Passanante that changes need to be made.