March 19-23, 2007

[whyamcwhy]

Well, the only positive thing I can say for Days ratings is that at least they stayed the same. Several of the other soaps went down last week. Now, if Days could just get their act together I am sure they could go back up to fourth place. The audience is there for them but the poor decisions/management are keeping them away.

[Chris B]

B&B got two 2.8's and one 2.6 on his 20th anniversary week?!

I said it was a waste of money to send FOUR people to Australia, two of which are NEWBIES. They should've spent this money to buy out Rodeo Drive and have Brooke and Ridge's lavish wedding which could've utilized the entire cast.

The show is too heavily focused on Phoebe/Rick (two NEWBIES) and I want more drama, catfights and CAMP! This is a show set in LA in the fashion industry. Clearly all that fierce camp (or fierce anything) came from his father.

So many brilliant actors like Winsor Harmon and Lesli Kay are EXTRAS. Why?! It's sad because I doubt Brad Bell will EVER be fired, he already said he doesn't care what the fans want, which is worse.

[Alix]

1 Y&R 4.1 (+0.1/-0.2)

2 B&B 2.9 (SAME/-0,5)

3 GH 2.7 (SAME/-0.3)

4 AMC 2.4 (-0.1/-0.3)

4 OLTL 2.4 (SAME/-0.3)

6 ATWT 2.3 (SAME/-0.3)

7 DOOL 2.2 (SAME/-0.6)!!!

8 GL 2.1 (+0.1/-0.1)

9 PS 1.4 (-0.1/-0.3)

[numberonedaysfan]

It aint that good either........When will these soaps learn its all about the writing???And why hasnt Ken Corday(ep of days) come out and explain whats happening and where is diedre hall and the rest of the big four?Even when Kristian alfonso and peter reckell appear on the screen they look bored...I cant believe Ken corday is allowing this to go on esp witht he numbers the way they are!

[Brandeis]

Alix, thanks for the comparison to last year.

[Soapsuds]

Not surprised by the least. ATWT was bad last week as well. So I didnt expect any increases. They should be lucky they didnt drop.

[Ridge]

The difference between DAYS and those soaps is that the high ratings will count for those shows, bring in revenue and make them look good whereas the LOW ratings will count for DAYS (sad considering that is the time they really did CRASH), affect their revenue and make them look very bad. Sweeps is what counts, that is why it is called sweeps.

[Ridge]

Hopefully the demos look better for DAYS as those have been dropping steadily for DAYS over the past month and that is what counts the most.

[PhoenixRising05]

Sweeps count Ridge. I agree with that but the other 9 months of the year are just as important.

It was a bad time for Days to crash but sweeps only get shows so far and everyone has fallen since then. Most soaps at least hold on to sweeps gains for a little while. The minute sweeps ended they all began to spiral. That isn't good regardless of what sort of sweeps they had.

I am not demeaning sweeps but the rest of the year is just as important IMO.

[Brandeis]

You are right, of course. We all know that sweeps determine ad revenues, but just think how much better those revenues would be if all shows (I'm mostly looking at you ABC) if the audience were larger throughout the year. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm all for sweeps stunts, by all means do everything and anything to get the audience back and keep the shows alive and profitable, but word-of-mouth would have much more influence if all shows were consistently trying to be at the top of their game the rest of the year.

I don't know how many times I've been asked by lapsed soap viewers "How are things going on ______? "

So I tell them about some big sweeps stunt and they go "Hmmm, I'll record it!" only to have them record it when the writing is back to its lazy, between-sweeps status - and they are loathe to come back to daytime ever again.

It seems all that's left of the audience are the truly devoted and loyal, or the easily pleased. Lifetime brand loyalty and that all important demographic means nothing if you are offering a product that expires at the viewers' maturity.

Yes I know, I'm talking about the vehicle for the advertising and not the advertisers themselves - but watch the commercials during any "good demos" show closely. Most are fly by night fad products not geared to lifetime loyalty anyway. If soaps are around in 5 years, P&G, or whatever corporation, will just change the name of the shampoo (or whatever) again to match that "five years from now" zeitgeist.

The sponsors are trying too hard to catch the young audience, but even their products can't keep them. No brand loyalty when the brand name has changed.

My rant about DEMOS is now finished.

[PhoenixRising05]

Exactly Brandeis.

What good is it to attract new viewers via sweeps and then have them tune out after? That does nothing except help the revenue. That is important but it's also important in the long term to put you all into the other 9 months of the year to catch those fans that heard good work of mouth about sweeps and want to tune in to see what the fuss is about.

That is what helped Days last year. It was solid from June on and some people came back here and there and checked it out. The show wasn't amazing until December but people gave it a chance because it was making an effort all the time. The ratings weren't huge but they were stready and things were slowly improving up until February.

Again, I know sweeps are important and I want sweeps to be HUGE for everyone but I want the soaps to put emphasis on the rest of the year too. Otherwise, it means nothing in the broad scheme of things.

[Brandeis]

YEAH..amid all the doubletalk and everything else, the lazy between sweeps writing has to stop. And for DAYS, I can appreciate that Hogan is trying to build a foundation for future big fireworks, but he needs to address the day-to-day. Dialogue is better than ever but its between people no one cares about. It's painful for me to watch.

[Ridge]

Huh? I'm confused LOL, if the rest of the year is so important then why is DAYS stagnating as it (as you say) always does through late January to May??

The other soaps are not reaching record lows, THAT is the difference. Record lows hurt the show in the 12 year run wheras 3 months of good ratings will better shows in the 12 month run. No doubt the drop hurts, but drops after drops are much worst coming off a few big weeks where drops are all VERY expected. It's clear mathematics and it is why soaps pull out sweeps stunt. The difference is the sweeps aftermath are usually there to set up bigger stories for that, you are almost gaurunteed to lose a few points, but those viewers almost always return when the next sweeps comes along, WHEN IT MATTERS.

And, if budget is such an issue as people here claim it is, then DAYS should be trying its best for sweeps. That is where the revenue comes in, and that is why it is VERY good for soaps to have good sweeps and not as essential for them afterwords. All of these shows that had a good February 2007 will have good revenue in return whereas DAYS will have its record lows in demos and probably MORE budget issues than it started out with.

[Ridge]

DAYS is building nothing IMO, there is no improvement in sight and the spoilers don't indicate much. DAYS has been this bad since late January when Chelsea and Nick and Shelle took over. And foundations should not take 2+ months to lay with nothing happening and balance being thrown out the window. DAYS has A LOT of issues right now and can not use "laying a foundation" as an excuse when ratings are dropping the way they are.

[PhoenixRising05]

Days always stagnates this time of year. I don't know why nor do I like it but it always seems to happen in the past few years. It then picks up around May or so and the rest of the year is solid.

As for the other soaps, I am sorry but if you gain +5 and then lose pretty much all of that a week after sweeps there can be no spin on that. The whole goal for sweeps is to bring fans in and keep them. What good is it to all soaps if they only see big increases during sweeps and then drop immediately after. There are only 3 sweeps months but there is 12 months in a year. I just can't see that.

No one is disputing sweeps are important. I know Days was stupid and has been stupid concerning sweeps. I am not arguing there. What I am saying is while sweeps are important, it would be nice if all the soaps gave us a year's worth of good entertainment. No soap is doing that right now. The soaps we are praising now we will probably be criticizing by year's end. It happened like that last year. Y&R, ATWT, and even B&B were on fire in the early part of the year but by the end of 2006 people were upset with them and Days, GL, and GH were getting a little more praise. Gone are the days of consistently. It's all about gimmicks now and pulling out all the stops for sweeps and emmy's. That isn't what it's supposed to be. If all soaps went back to the 12 month effort idea instead of the 3 month effort, they would do better. Pult your all into sweeps but don't give us everything and leace the rest of the year a boring mess. That does no good for the long term, even if revenue is better because of sweeps. That revenue will only go so far if you are reaching record lows repeatedly in the other months of the year.

ATWT is hitting lows too along with Days. B&B is dipping as well. GH's numbers almost look like they never even gained during sweeps. Days and/or GL are one +2 or +3 jump away from getting back into the top 5. That is sad.

I am not making excuses for Days anymore. I am upset too despite me still enjoying many aspects of the show. The balance is appalling but I know it will get better. It's pretty easy to see they are holding back and we know the vets will be back in the mix soon with Drake returning and the wedding coming up (which we know they will be there for). The budget issue is a real one and I am pretty sure now that they decided to hold the vets back and save money so they could use them during sweeps and the rest of the year. We'll see but that is what I think and hope happens.

As far as saying Days is building nothing, I don't see that. The pace sucks and the balance sucks but new couples have been built and characters are being placed where they need to be. It's all up to whether you like who they are featuring and I understand Ridge that you don't care to see those characters right now. That is fine but things are being built. That can't disputed.

Having said that, the show is still in a transition. Yes, Hogan has made it his own but now he has the budget to deal with. It is clear something happened with that in January. You don;t go from a great balance of characters to all of a sudden focusing on a different crop of characters from that point on. Something happens. Is it stupid? Yes it is but it happened and Days has to adjust accordingly and I think we will start seeing those adjustments and inprovements beginning next month. The show was a royal mess when Hogan took over after years of mismanagement and bad writing. Days has issues right now but it is still better then it's been in awhile quality-wise and it's still trying to fix the mistakes made by previous regimes. I know some think that is stupid and that should be over by now but it isn't and it shouldn't be.

I agree that the show has issues but all soaps have issues. The balance on the majority of shows suck as does the pace. Days's fall is the most drastic but others are starting to bleed out too and the fact that only one soap is over a 3.0 is cause for alarm IMO.