May 5-9, 2008

[Roman]

Days lost 3,000 viewers?

[Darcy]

That is pretty good compared to most of the other soaps. Does anyone have a theory about why more than half (five) of the soaps lost @100,000 viewers or more from just last week? I don't understand what could have happened especially since it was the first full week of Sweeps. It's more than soaps are poorly written and ineptly managed and produced shows because that didn't just start happening last week - what could have happened specifically last week to explain the big drops?

[brimike]

It's just a nightmare all around. The fact that the best thing you can say ratings-wise about ANY soap is that GL gained a "few" viewers (comparatively speaking to the millions who watch) hurts so much, especially in the first week of May Sweeps, post-strike.

It's very telling. This audience is not coming back. Crikey, I need a drink.

[JackPeyton]

I do not. Well not when you send things to actors... but if you were to say send bob guza some gift that reflect liason yes. ya know what i mean? because actors just kinda act.. the producers/hw/execs make the show.

i also know that a lot of times when soap stars receve big gifts they often donate them.. i forget who, to be honest i think it was becky herbst or ali sweeney... got like a crib or something and donated it.

thats a very good topic tho.

O.M.F.G at GL being more watched than AMC!!

wow.. Y&R lost A LOT!

and i guess go days for losing the least?! lol.

[JackPeyton]

i agree with you there.

B&B is the best.

(but OLTL is right behind it...)

[dm.]

The executives at CBS Daytime won't do much about Y&R, at least not until B&B becomes nr. 1. I wish they'd do something about the show already.

[Steve]

I think you're right. Most viewers online at least (and the one person offline I know who still watches off and on, my mom) wanted Dixie back alive. If a short-term appearance was the route Frons & JHC wanted to take, they should have let her be a figment of Adam's imagination instead of making her a ghost and compounding their mistake of killing her off in the first place.

[dragonflies]

I actually think it's more about the slanted writing with this stupid Ghost storyline. We already get Adam=evul Tad=all that is sacred and good, we don't need to be forcefed it by some idiotic cackling ghost

Seriously I think her return as a ghost is starting to beat out her return in 2006 for the worst......

[Sylph]

Thank you, Mark, I'll keep them coming. Here's what I've got for you (data goes up to 1996 and I have yet to add the seasonal data from 2000 onwards – if someone can point me to the exact posts where I can find these, I'd be extremely thankful!!)

[Laurie]

These ratings are depressing

Thanks Toups

[Sylph]

[NYC123]

AMC last place..................This HAS to be B&E last straw!!

[Sylph]

[NYC123]

Thanks! Scince B&E took the helm AMC has been going nowhere but DOWN!!

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I hope Bell and Griffith look at how bloody boring the show is and take notice! They need to do like ABC and roll out all the stars. Tricia Cast, Victoria Rowell, Adrianne Leon, Ashley Bashioum--list goes on. The current canvas seems so stale and like it's missing a major jolt. There are people in each age group that could be brought back to improve things. They also need to pick up the pace and raise the stakes with the story. This Victor/Sabrina [!@#$%^&*] needs to end. Put Victoria with someone she has chemistry with, not her fricking real life husband. Don't let a major character like Nikki marry such an unpopular character. Hell, why is he STILL in town?

Keeping LML's staff is holding the show back, but the stories are just as bad as the pacing and story structure which has only improved somewhat. This is the most disappointing show for sure.

Personally, I don't think "rolling out the stars" will save Y&R if the writing isn't there. It's all about exceptional storytelling. While a popular, returning actor or actress may get some press buzz and a slightly, initial ratings bump, if lapsed viewers tune back in only to find their fav trapped in a deadly dull or preposterous story, that viewer will tune back out, possible for good. And who can blame them. It's happened too many times. And the results have been the same. There are exceptions, of course. Angie and Jessie's returns on AMC seem to have kept the show from free-falling even farther. But what Y&R needs now is a repositioning of its popular characters, in stories that excite and interest and are grounded in the show's rich history. There's so much that isn't working these days, pairings that have no chemistry: Nikki and David, Victor and Sabrina, J.T. and Victoria. Even Nicholas and Phyllis have become deadly dull. I think Y&R is at a crossroads. They have an inexperienced HW, who's been out of daytime for twenty-plus years. She's inherited a bloody mess from the previous HW. It would take someone very seasoned to extricate the show from LML's residue. At the very least they need to bring in a co-head, someone with history with the show. They also need to remployee many of the breakdown and scriptwriters who were fired during LML's tenure. They've written the show for years. They know the history of the characters. They know it's about emotional content, not about witty banter and dialogue. It's possible to turn this ship around, but as many of the other flagging soaps have shown, once the audience leaves, it's difficult if not impossible to get them back. That's why it's critical that TPTB back now, swiftly and decisively. If Y&R continues to sink, the rest of the CBS lineup will feel the fallout, which will further wound the soap opera brand.