May 19-23, 2008

[DevotedToAMC]

The Price is Right probably has tumbled in the ratings due to Barker's retirement and not many are accepting Drew Carey as the host

[DeeeDee]

@my predicting this YEARS ago.

[Jess]

That is the way I view it too. There is never a long-term payoff watching an ABC soap. It's not like Pratt wrote for characters like J/A when he was at GH. I'm kind of surprised they the woman who plays Angie back. I think she had a pretty good career outside of daytime. It seems the gentleman who plays Jessie has had some success too.

[PJA]

That's the same exact thing I said when LML was writing. They should have brought on another writer to work with her instead of getting rid of her altogether. Hopefully Hogan will balance Maria Bell out.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't see how they could've brought anyone in to balance LML when they gave her all the power. She was also EP, I doubt it they demoted her, she'd stay to be paired up with someone else.

The last thing Y&R needs is another outsider (which we're getting yet again). The show needs some of the old writers and producers who made it what it used to be.

[Chris B]

Y&R doesn't need Lynn Latham, they need a good writer, period. Someone experienced who knows what Y&R fans want and can give it to them. LML or MAB with no experience or HS who hates vets aren't the answer. They need to go back to the old fold, accept that they ruined Y&R trying to rush [!@#$%^&*] and let Bill Bell's writers execute his vision. Just look at the fact that MAB hasn't even brought any characters back! They mention Dru every week, but VR hasn't even been contacted! The 35th anniversary was a [!@#$%^&*] piece of crap. No flashbacks, no returns, nothing. Now it's like every other soap, having one good episode or one good week, then falling back to garbage.

As for The Price is Right, I recall reading an article a while ago that it was up from Bob Barker. Look at how regularly they're giving Drew (successful) primetime specials. I can't see it tanking too much if they continue to do t hat.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Chris B, don't be surprised if Bill Bell, jr hires his pet dog to replace Maria when she decides it's time to step down...

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I don't understand this drumbeat by some for Natalie Slater to be bumped up. Just because she survived the LML purges doesn't mean she has the talent to be a headwriter. She was Kay Alden's secretary in Chicago for many years, and Kay promoted her after Bill Bell stepped down. She's loyal to Kay to a fault. She's outlined and edited, but again, that in no way makes her headwriter material. The problem at Y&R and so many of the other soaps today is that there are no real storytellers left in daytime. Bill Bell was a storyteller. Agnes Nixon was (and still is) a storyteller. Douglas Marland and Harding Lemay were storytellers. Claire Labine was (and still is) a storyteller. There's a big difference between a storyteller and a headwritrer. People can be trained to be headwriters. It's a skill that can be learned. A true storyteller is born not trained. There's raw talent. I just don't see that in the current crop of headwriters. As for DS becoming EP, I'm all for it. I'm for anyone who has a history with the show coming back to plug this sinking ship. But I agree with an earlier poster. I think Y&R was the one soap viewers didn't feel betrayed by. Then came LML, and the damage was done. History was thrown out, long time writers and producers were tossed aside, and TPTB let it happen. Now they're making yet another flawed decision by bring ing HS. His track record is spotty. He had early success on ATWT, but then turned it into a mess. DAYS was a quick and dismal failure. Note to the network brass: go back to the formula that made Y&R so successful. Bring back the people who know the show and the audience. Get on your knees if you have to and bring back the old writers and EPs and directors. Watch your audience drift back to you. Otherwise, you're going to see more audfience erosion. That is a certainty.

[Sylph]

Oh, I looooove this post!!! I wrote about this whole Natalie S. suggestion in the puppet thread.

Addendum: next time, Y&RWorldTurner, DaytimeFan etc., listen carefully to what I have to say! So that we don't end up with an ex-secretary head-writing a soap. (I have nothing against secretaries per se.)

[PJA]

Y&R doesn't need Lynn Latham, they need a good writer, period. Someone experienced who knows what Y&R fans want and can give it to them. LML or MAB with no experience or HS who hates vets aren't the answer. They need to go back to the old fold, accept that they ruined Y&R trying to rush [!@#$%^&*] and let Bill Bell's writers execute his vision. Just look at the fact that MAB hasn't even brought any characters back! They mention Dru every week, but VR hasn't even been contacted! The 35th anniversary was a [!@#$%^&*] piece of crap. No flashbacks, no returns, nothing. Now it's like every other soap, having one good episode or one good week, then falling back to garbage.

As for The Price is Right, I recall reading an article a while ago that it was up from Bob Barker. Look at how regularly they're giving Drew (successful) primetime specials. I can't see it tanking too much if they continue to do t hat.

I don't think they need her back..but they shouldn't have let her go in the first place (at least if it was for writing reasons). She kept the ratings consistent and although people on the internet seemed to despise her, the ratings said otherwise.

They made the mistake of promoting her to EP and when she went on strike for both jobs that may have been what ultimately cost her her job.

And as much as people want to claim that MAB is better than LML the ratings tell another story. If there was a small drop that would be one thing. But ratings are down like .6 since Griffith and Bell took over and it seems every other week they are setting a new low and this isn't due to gradual audience erosion either. It's due to the fact that for the past month or so watching Y&R has been like watching paint dry. LML would at least have one or 2 stories with somewhat interesting plots. Griffith and Bell are just now starting to really get into the meat of some storylines this week.

I know a lot of people hated LML because they felt she disrespected characters history. But over at B&B, Bell Jr has always disrespected characters history and still is to this day and that show is much better than what's going on at Y&R. To be honest the only person that I felt had drastic and all of a sudden sharp change under LML was Nikki. People say that Phyllis and Jill changed, and became weaker women. But to be honest, what reason did Phyllis have to still be a scheming manipulative bitch like she was earlier. She's married and has what she wants and her life is totally different than it was when she was chasing Danny. Also with Jill I think the problem with her was moreso over lack of storyline than anything. Victor also changed but that was due to a disease which whether you liked the story or not at least it was explained.

Just wanted to add something about Phyllis, she still can be a manipulative person when she's trying to get something she wants, like when she blackmailed Brad last year.

[denniel]

Can someone explain this?

Y&R

Monday: 3.3/4,503,000

Tuesday: 3.4/4,576,000

Wednesday: 3.4/4,726,000

Thursday: 3.6/4,733,000

Friday: 3.4/4,694,000

How does less than 7,000 viewers net you .2 more ratings points?

[Carolyn1980]

Households and viewers are two different things. Pretend there are only 10 households. If one person in 8 of the 10 households is watching the show that week, then the household rating is 8/10, and the number of viewers is 8. Now suppose only people in 5 households are watching, but there are 2 viewers in the first house, 3 in the second, 2 in the third, and 1 in each of the other two. The household rating would dip to 5/10, but the viewers increase to 9. More viewers, but less households.

[Jess]

That is really a great explanation. Carolyn, one of the things I wondered is the household number. Is that based on a scale of 10?

[Carolyn1980]

The household rating is actually a percent. So a 2.2 rating means 2.2% of all US TV households watched a particular show. Since we know the total number of TV households in the US, 112.8 million, then 2.2% of that is about 2,480,000 households. (Not viewers, just households).

The number of US TV households increases every year, so the value of that ratings point goes up every year. Back in the late 70's, there were only 73 million TV households, so a 2.2 rating then would've been 2.2% of 73 million, or only 1,600,000 households.

[DaysFanatic777]

Y&R would lose their spot tomorrow if there were another standout soap that could take them. As it is right now, I don't see them losing it, just going south with the rest of daytime.

As for right now, B&B is Y&R's steepest compeition, but B&B still has the feel of a Y&R extension in many ways. It's still a half hour, and primarily comes on immediately after Y&R in MOST markets. That inhibits it from passing Y&R, although B&B is not falling as quickly as Y&R.

Honestly, IMO, it would take another strong soap on another network to dethrone Y&R. IF, IF, IF, AMC, GH, or Days gets it's act together, another soap could topple Y&R. There are just a few soaps that have the timeslot, fan base, and reputation to take a top spot. AMC, GH, and Days are the three that could pose a threat. GH has almost taken it in the past, AMC was in second place for a long time, and Days almost took the top slot in the mid to late 90's under JER's crazy tenure. If only one of those soaps had momentum, Y&R would have already been knocked off three months ago.