April 28 - May 2, 2008

[wiccachick_1]

I do too! I've really been enjoying the show as a whole lately (with a few little glitches here and there). I can't tell you the last time I've enjoyed the whole canvas of a show and it feels pretty good.

[MichaelGL]

I'm praying to the soap gods that OLTL rises!!!

[Kwing42]

I hope all soaps have a good week.

I can not justify wishing bad numbers on a dying genre...just not right.

[Ryan]

Hopefully all the shows pull in a good ratings. I'm really rooting for OLTL's numbers to start going back up. RC is back and once more of his stories kick into high gear, I'm confident word of mouth will spread and the ratings will go back up.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Hoping ABC will get a bump. GH has the emotional Michael coma story going, AMC has really been upping its game lately, and OLTL has been having good word of mouth plus the expectation of Andrea Evans' return. Y&R continues to bore, so I'm wondering if it can rise above the 3.8 rut its been stuck at for weeks. I don't watch B&B, but its ratings usually depend on Y&R's numbers. Nothing much exciting seems to be happening at ATWT and GL. Days has its moments, but the Higley influence has really settled in IMO with one trite situation after another. The tight family feel that the show had during the strike seems to have dissolved. Oh and I wouldn't count on the announcement of Emmy noms last Wednesday influencing ratings one way or another.

[Supersage]

Don't know about the rest of you, but AMC and OLTL has been really good as of late. So has B&B. Those three soaps might just have figured out that viewers are the consumers and should be treated with respect.

[Ryan]

Oh I agree with you about AMC and B&B. I've commented that something has "clicked" with those at AMC (I'm hoping it's a completely new set of writers) and things day-to-day are much better than 6 months ago, hell even 3 months ago.

[ZaraB]

That's my question as well . I have to question how Frons is running SoapNet and how committed he is even to the idea of the soap genre. Granted, Disney is in the business of making money. But Soapnet has been airing old and not-so-old primetime soaps all along. 90210, Melrose Place, Dallas. It is airing the Daytime ABC soaps. But why is it not running the current successful Primetime soaps? Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy? Maybe it is being outbid for them, but it stil seems odd. They seemsthese fit right in with Soapnet's theme and audience, and I believe both have reruns viewed on cable -- on women's networks. Frons is making Soapnet into a poor woman's Lifetime.

[cal3]

There is something of a we can do it even better mentality that is going on with cable as well as a we are so out of touch with our audience we have no clue what we are doing thing. I notice it with both Food Network, HGTV and Soapnet. I was in a city that was part of the test market for SN. It was great and I got hooked early. RH was a particular favorite. I later moved to a different state and not only paid extra to have access to SN but added an entire tier of service simply to have access to one channel - SN. For years it was kind of a default but not any longer and at this rate I am moving towards dropping it because the reasons for my interest are pretty much non existent.

I also wonder about the effects of reality tv and poor tv programming in general. I think the last time I watched something on one of the networks at night was a Brothers & Sisters episode at the beginning of last fall. Their programming just doesn't hold the appeal that it once did - for me. It's not like my tv is on any less, it is just on other things.

[winterguy125]

Hopefully the ratings will be good this week

[koos]

I think they were truly more modern in the '70s than they are now. But, it's kind of like going from All in the Family to Everybody Loves Raymond or something.

I think soaps would get much better ratings if they changed the timeslots. Don't ask me what time they should air, but morning and early afternoon just doesn't work for most people today.

[Wales2004]

I don't think he knows it. I think he's looking for something to stick because even if he has higher aspirations of heading prime time, he still has to have enough success to warrant it. His taking over daytime and SoapNet is one thing but they will be more careful about handing him a prime time slot. He will continue to experiment with SoapNet until he finds something to which he can point as a major accomplishment.

As far as daytime goes, he's really about shock and controversy so it's miraculous that he seems to not be tampering with OLTL now. Maybe he's starting to notice that he's losing traction with all of his fan base generated wars since they're not as prevalent on the net as they once were. The current thing is trotting out the vets while looking for something to stick.

[emilyq]

Is this actually true? I have noticed for sometime that the volume of various message board postings and interest appears to have dropped, yet another sign. And I guess if you look at the ratings, it makes sense.

I never thought Brian Frons to be an idiot and I respect him for trying things to try and keep the genre alive. The problem is nothing he is doing is actually having that impact.

And I am still wondering about the experiment with Nightshift. I need someone to explain to me what he is trying to do. Is he trying to see if original programming will work on Soapnet?

[ZaraB]

I think he is testing the waters for moving production of the ABC Daytime soaps to Soapnet.

[henrietta]

Isn't Frons responsbile for all of ABC Daytime, not just soaps, The View etc? I always thought he liked soaps, and appreciates the fans. ABC seems to do more for fans. JMO

I wish DVR viewing was counted. I thought they were going to start doing that. I love to DVR my soap and then watch later when I can relax. Lots of working women do that and it is not fair we can't be counted too. I read that ABC takes into account the ABC soaps on Soapnet and factors that into how well they are doing as a whole, even if daytime ratings aren't good.

Maybe an interaction soap is the answer, one where we can take part. They could put GH out on disc like Grand Theft Auto. That would be fun.

I hope all soaps have a good week.