I think Toups is absolutely right. Soaps are never going to go up again. Yes CBS is going up right now, but maybe six months from now OLTL will be going up. It's all the same viewers moving from soap to soap and then coming back. Overall, the number of viewers will decline.

My ol pal Cal3 and I continue to agree on one thing, however. Frank Valentini is not a good EP and should be fired. His public comments demonstrate that he is not a mature manager. This is a guy who hired Mikey because he was cute, who fired Dan G. because he said something Frank didn't like, who probably is going to continue to punish Forbes March because Forbes in a joking fashion said he and Frank disagreed about Forbes' hair, who makes people learn when reading scripts that they have been fired and who won't take responsibility. I do look forward to the day when someone -- Malone, Griffith (or Griffin), the dreaded Higley or maybe even RC or GT -- tells the truth about OLTL and FV's. At some point, when all these writers have been passed from soap to soap, there is going to be a book that is going to tell the story about daytimes dying days.

Now Toups that is the book for you to write. LOL.

I was not able to watch, like many people, ATWT due to the Basktball game, i think that explains the drop in the ratings for CBS. I watched OLTL instead during the week

You know what if Frons just hired good writiers/EP's ABC would not be at the bottom......

If Frons hired good writers AND THEN BUTTED OUT then ABC wouldn't be at the bottom.

March Madness is such a pain in the ass. I'm not kidding. You have all these guys who work half a day at their workplace and immediately get off and go to a bar and drink beer with their buddies. And they camp out too with their March Madness basketball brackets because their money could be possibly at stake if their team loses. And they're crazy too!

ABC; home of the worst Executive Producers in daytime.

Where are the ratings Toups??

We've seen shows make changes. OLTL did and it's been raved about by press and many fans and where did it get them. Last place. They were doing better under Higley, which isn't saying much since she drove away fans but still.

It depends what changes are made. Y/R has been dreadfully boring, and I hope that as the scabs are now gone it will improve. But it's been dreadful and I suspect a lot of the "praise" came simply because there was 'a change' and folks projected their own hopes on to that. But bringing back black tie affairs and a few slower paced character scenes, yet dumping any good storyline isn't going to work. The show is horribly unbalanced now, both in storyline type and cast use.

OLTL... I liked it under Higley *initially*. It was hiddeous under Michael Malone, at least when I began watching it again during AMC's babyswitch story. Higley restored a lot that was destroyed under Malone. Now all that being said, it may well have been Frons. I've noticed some of his hires do very well at first... maybe he initially gives them free rein, and then begins interfering.

I want to see vets, I want character driven stories, but I also want intrigue and suspense and exciting stories that keep me guessing and have good payoff. Is it too much to ask for BOTH?

I think with Guza back GH will climb again, and with Y&R dropping GH might be able to reclaim #1 again, keeping Frons safe.

As much as GH viewers complain about Guza they always seem to cave to his big sweeps stunts that keep him around. And people seem pretty happy with Guza's return this past week.

This is a blip for Y&R, the ratings will improve very shortly.

And once again ABC Daytime is getting exactly what it deserves.

MONDAY, MARCH 10

1.(1) Y&R: Monday: 3.9/5,374,000 [-165,000]

2.(2) B&B: Monday: 3.0/4,193,000 [-35,000]

3.(3) ATWT: Monday: 2.3/3,222,000 [-96,000]

4.(5) GL: Monday: 2.1/2,903,000 [-75,000]

5.(6) GH: Monday: 2.2/2,865,000 [-90,000]

6.(8) OLTL: Monday: 2.1/2,739,000 [+137,000]

7.(7) AMC: Monday: 2.1/2,715,000 [-38,000]

8.(4) DAYS: Monday: 2.0/2,639,000 [-456,000]

TUESDAY, MARCH 11

1.(1) Y&R: Tuesday: 4.0/5,702,000 [+328,000]

2.(2) B&B: Tuesday: 2.9/4,086,000 [-107,000]

3.(3) ATWT: Tuesday: 2.3/3,314,000 [+92,000]

4.(5) GH: Tuesday: 2.3/2,967,000 [+102,000]

5.(8) DAYS: Tuesday: 2.0/2,725,000 [+86,000]

6.(4) GL: Tuesday: 2.0/2,687,000 [-216,000]

7.(7) AMC: Tuesday: 2.0/2,559,000 [-156,000]

8.(6) OLTL: Tuesday: 2.0/2,512,000 [-227,000]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.6/4,995,000 [-707,000]

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.6/3,621,000 [-465,000]

3.(4) GH: Wednesday: 2.1/2,887,000 [-80,000]

4.(3) ATWT: Wednesday: 2.1/2,867,000 [-447,000]

5.(5) DAYS: Wednesday: 2.0/2,685,000 [-40,000]

6.(6) GL: Wednesday: 1.8/2,551,000 [-136,000]

7.(7) AMC: Wednesday: 1.9/2,505,000 [-54,000]

8.(8) OLTL: Wednesday: 1.9/2,445,000 [-67,000]

THURSDAY, MARCH 13

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.6/4,997,000 [+2,000]

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.7/3,659,000 [+38,000]

3.(4) ATWT: Thursday: 2.0/2,862,000 [-5,000]

4.(3) GH: Thursday: 2.1/2,788,000 [-99,000]

5.(5) DAYS: Thursday: 2.0/2,482,000 [-203,000]

6.(7) AMC: Thursday: 1.9/2,408,000 [-97,000]

7.(6) GL: Thursday: 1.7/2,398,000 [-153,000]

8.(8) OLTL: Thursday: 1.9/2,377,000 [-68,000]

FRIDAY, MARCH 14

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 3.7/5,178,000 [+181,000]

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.7/3,743,000 [+84,000]

3.(3) ATWT: Friday: 2.1/2,996,000 [+134,000]

4.(4) GH: Friday: 2.1/2,824,000 [+36,000]

5.(5) DAYS: Friday: 2.1/2,688,000 [+206,000]

6.(6) AMC: Friday: 2.1/2,545,000 [+137,000]

7.(7) GL: Friday: 1.8/2,466,000 [+68,000]

8.(8) OLTL: Friday: 1.9/2,436,000 [+59,000]

This is a blip for Y&R, the ratings will improve very shortly.

I hope so, but I'm not so sure. The stories under the new team have been, so far, pretty bad (with a few possibilities, but not much follow thru yet). This is the first time I've been really bored with Y/R. I hope it picks up speed and gives me a reason to tune in each day soon.

IA about ABC soaps. Even boring, Y/R is miles better than they are. It's amazing to see over the past few years or so, how far they've fallen (not just in ratings... in everything).

Y&R is a dreadful bore at the moment. Like all soaps, it goes through good and bad waves, but the ratings for the most part always remain stable. I think that's mostly due to people turning on the show during lunchtime out of habit, and either watching it or keeping it on as background noise. Whatever the reason for the low ratings this week, I hope they rebound next week, because the long-term ramifications of an audience-hemhoraging Y&R would have dire consequences for the rest of the CBS soap lineup, not to mention the state of soaps in general.

The ratings across the board have declined for everyone: daytime and primetime. Hopefully, the soaps can remain viable in the future so they can stay on the air. I love the soaps and right now I am watching a few shows that I never consistently watched. I have bascially let Passions go and I have been watching B&B, AMC, GL, Y&R and DAYS all the while sporadically watching the others. To be honest, I am loving AMC the best right now and GL is pretty good too. So to each his/her own I guess. Every show will not be everyone's cup of tea.

Total Viewers

1. Y&R 5,249,000 (-228,000/-19,000)

2. B&B 3,860,000 (-123,000/+90,000)

3. ATWT 3,052,000 (-25,000/+100,000)

4. GH 2,866,000 (-53,000/-726,000)

5. DAYS 2,644,000 (-254,000/-274,000)

6. GL 2,601,000 (-144,000/-32,000)

7. AMC 2,546,000 (-13,000/-615,000)

8. OLTL 2,502,000 (+18,000/-694,000)

Nice to see ATWT still at #3 in total viewers. Not bad considering all the pre-emptions last week. Thanks Toups for the ratings.

Thanks Angela. Yikes to OLTL coming in last every day in total viewers except for Monday.