June 23-27, 2008

[Toups]

I can't get access to my files right now (getting computer fixed....hopefully) so I might be missing a few "new low" or "ties low."

[edgeofnik]

People complain about soaps' ratings. Here are the ratings of some other key daytime programs from Week of June 16:

Only four of 12 talk shows and three of the 11 court shows showed week-to-week audience growth, according to Nielsen Media Research data for the week ending June 22.

Among the programs gaining ground in the traditionally low-rated summer months were genre leaders "Oprah" and "Judge Judy."

Among the talk shows, CBS' “Oprah” once again proved her mettle, taking the crown and growing 5% to a 4.2 rating. Other gainers included CBS' “Montel Williams,” up 9% to a 1.2, NBCU's “Steve Wilkos” up 13% to a 0.9, and NBCU's “Martha Stewart” up 14% to a 0.8.

CBS' “Dr. Phil” fell 13% to a new season low of 3.3, Warner Bros.' “Ellen” declined 11% to a 1.6, and CBS' “Rachael Ray” dropped 12% to a new season low of 1.5.

Among the court brethren, CBS' “Judge Judy” scored as the only court program among the top half of the bracket to show improvement, up 5% to a 4.5. Other series to show improvement included Sony's duo of “Judge David Young” jumping 13% to a 0.[/b]9, as well as “Judge Maria Lopez,” which gained 14% to a 0.8.

Source: TVweek.com

[Soapsuds]

Well looks like Carly's romp with Holden brought in low HH numbers. Call me shocked. Firdays show also had Liberty and Janet. But Mondays show had Janet and Katie.......so who knows anymore...LOL Wednesday was the lowest day of Viewers watching...It had Nuke and the trial of Chris and Allison. I thought the trial was bad but had some vets on that day.

[Evan]

B&B is in a mess!

So much for Bell/Alden thinking Heather Tom could deliver them an audience LOL

The problem is that the show has been so damn depressing lately.

It's summer, we need some fun SLs, sex, romance, shirtless hunks etc.

[Angela]

MONDAY, JUNE 23

1.(1) Y&R: Monday: 3.6/5,084,000 (+208,000)

2.(2) B&B: Monday: 2.5/3,465,000 (-27,000)

3.(3) GH: Monday: 2.1/2,640,000 (-36,000)

4.(4) ATWT: Monday: 2.0/2,613,000 (+65,000)

5.(6) OLTL: Monday: 2.0/2,514,000 (+29,000)

6.(7) AMC: Monday: 2.0/2,503,000 (+91,000)

7.(5) DAYS: Monday: 1.8/2,433,000 (-74,000)

8.(8) GL: Monday: 1.6/2,146,000 (+37,000)

TUESDAY, JUNE 24

1.(1) Y&R: Tuesday: 3.6/5,119,000 (+35,000)

2.(2) B&B: Tuesday: 2.6/3,715,000 (+250,000)

3.(3) GH: Tuesday: 2.2/2,815,000 (+175,000)

4.(4) ATWT: Tuesday: 1.9/2,736,000 (+123,000)

5.(5) OLTL: Tuesday: 1.9/2,578,000 (+64,000)

6.(6) AMC: Tuesday: 1.9/2,472,000 (-31,000)

7.(7) DAYS: Tuesday: 1.8/2,398,000 (-35,000)

8.(8) GL: Tuesday: 1.4/2,081,000 (-65,000)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.6/4,847,000 (-272,000)

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.4/3,292,000 (-423,000)

3.(3) GH: Wednesday: 2.2/2,924,000 (+109,000)

4.(7) DAYS: Wednesday: 2.0/2,752,000 (+354,000)

5.(5) OLTL: Wednesday: 1.9/2,573,000 (-5,000)

6.(6) AMC: Wednesday: 1.9/2,511,000 (+39,000)

7.(4) ATWT: Wednesday: 1.8/2,368,000 (-368,000)

8.(8) GL: Wednesday: 1.5/2,051,000 (-30,000)

THURSDAY, JUNE 26

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.5/4,521,000 (-326,000)

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.6/3,339,000 (+47,000)

3.(3) GH: Thursday: 2.1/2,794,000 (-130,000)

4.(5) OLTL: Thursday: 2.0/2,654,000 (+81,000)

5.(4) DAYS: Thursday: 1.8/2,541,000 (-211,000)

6.(7) ATWT: Thursday: 1.9/2,510,000 (+142,000)

7.(6) AMC: Thursday: 1.9/2,429,000 (-82,000)

8.(8) GL: Thursday: 1.5/2,109,000 (+58,000)

FRIDAY, JUNE 27

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 3.5/4,940,000 (+419,000)

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.5/3,660,000 (+321,000)

3.(3) GH: Friday: 2.0/2,836,000 (+42,000)

4.(5) DAYS: Friday: 1.9/2,737,000 (+196,000)

5.(4) OLTL: Friday: 1.9/2,635,000 (-19,000)

6.(6) ATWT: Friday: 1.8/2,633,000 (+123,000)

7.(7) AMC: Friday: 1.9/2,624,000 (+195,000)

8.(8) GL: Friday: 1.5/2,175,000 (+66,000)

[dragonflies]

I'll be shocked if GL is around in another 6 months......

[detroitpiston]

WAKE UP CBS/P&G! YOUR SHOW ARE DYING!

[Soapsuds]

probably a 1.1 rating and still on.

AMEN!!

[EricMontreal22]

I think AMC may just be wrappign up stories now as fast as they can for the writer change but I agree--it was showing signs of life and is now back to where it was--for the most part.

As for Ron C--remember that even in OLTL's last glory days--Maline and Griffith's 90s run the ratings DIDN'T improve much. It was still always in the middle of the soaps rating wise from 91-96 or so, I think often even lower than that. But it got the industry, magazines, fans, and critics/awards groups talking and that seemed enough for ABC at the time.

Wow I always thought Ellen did Oprah type numbers--or at least Dr Phil type numbers... 1.6 avergae surprises me

[EricMontreal22]

Totally agreed -- and my argument about OLTL in the early 90s--a period I assume many fans now think was really high rated--is an example. With daytime dramas USUALLY there is some correlation but nto as big as we'd liek to think--and I think the buzz in the industry that OLTL has had has made Ron's job safe at ABC for a while anyway.

However... Was World Apart really a *lot* better than AMC in their first few monhts? I know World Apart didn't have much of a chance/run but I've seen two episodes from it and didn't think much of either--they had hippy social elements that seemed especially forced. The 3 episodes of AMC I've been lucky enough to see from 1970-1971 all had better dialogue and seemed great (though not high production budgets)

Of course i'm biased to AMC...

[Loretta3938]

Thank you for posting these. I agree. It isn't just the soaps that are having problems in daytime...or primetime either. Right now, each of these soaps has over two million viewers. I don't see other shows replacing them unless they can do a lot better than that. I actually like GL's new filming techniques, and I've been watching soaps for a lot of years. AMC tried some sort of filming technique a few years ago and I hated it. It's nice to see some outdoor shots on a soap that aren't made up of fake plants and shrubbery in a studio. I wouldn't mind if Days went that route, but I realize that would be hard to do in LA.

Maybe I'm being optimistic, but soaps aren't dead yet, IMO.

Loretta

[Jess]

I think a lot of the hype about Ron is people who truly enjoy the return to what is referred to as classic soap. Back when I was watching, I did not see the "excellence" that other's saw. I guess everyone gets their own opinion. I think OLTL is boring and I think much of what Ron does is rehashed stories. OK, some like rehashed, others don't.

Ratings may not equate to quality, but the do reflect what people find enjoyable to watch. In that sense ratings certainly equate to viewer enjoyment. Santa Barbara was in my oopinion a good show, but it got cancelled because others did not like it. Because soap critics and other experts declare a show high quality certainly does not mean that the unwashed masses follow behind and sing its praises. I somehow see a contradiciton is this argument that OLTL is excellent yet people just don't realize it. It's certainly not the same thing as Frons saying soap viewers needed to be educated on what is good. In a more innocent way, I seems very similar in logic. I think people have a pretty good sense of what they enjoy watching and what doesn't crank them up. Soaps overall do not appear to be cranking many people up at all.

[Soapsuds]

Great post Jess. Ratings are reflecting what people are enjoying. As for Santa Barbara...I never understood the soap critics and eperts declaring it a high quality soap. I thought the soap was awful. I never cared for it even when Kim Zimmer was on the show. Santa Barbara was a complete mess of a soap.

[Carolyn1980]

Only TWO soaps are up year-to-year in the demographics that matter to advertisers: viewers under 50.

OLTL is up the most, 28,000 viewers under 50 (+22,000 in 18-49, +6,000 in 12-17). An increase in viewers under 50 is almost unheard of in daytime these days.

B&B is the other soap up in viewers under 50, by 12,000 (+56,000 in 18-49, -44,000 in 12-17).

By contrast, all other shows are down in viewers under 50:

Y&R.....(-220,000)

DAYS....(-216,000)

GL........(-121,000)

GH.......(-92,000)

AMC.....(-55,000)

ATWT.....(-41,000)

All soaps may be shedding viewers, but right now, OLTL and B&B are the only shows shedding viewers who don't mean advertising $$$$: viewers over 50.

[SteveFrame]

Santa Barbara suffered from what I was talking about before - it was on a bad network at a bad time.

If you will look at ratings often many bad shows benefit from being on at the same time as a hit show. Just look at Moment of Truth. That show is bad but because of AI coming on after it - the show did well. People chose to be loyal to the network for that night. Now that it is not connected to AI the show is crashing and burning.

Often esp. in daytime if one show on a network is hot all the shows are. When AW started getting hot in the 70's - guess what it rubbed off onto The Doctors and Days of Our Lives who both benefitted from the increase.

CBS had pretty much been the only network in the soap business for years - so even ATWT's domination of the ratings in the 60's can't really be used but that did help CBS.

But when Agnes Nixon put George Reinholt & Jacqueline Courtney together and put Robin Strasser as the interloper in the relationship - AW struck gold. The ratings started rising. And so did Days and The Doctors. Nixon came on in November 1965 and she started revamping the show and it started doing well.

The 1965-1966 season here is how the NBC shows did:

AW finished 8th with a 6.9

Doc finished 9th with a 6.6

Days finished 10th with a 5.3

Even GH which didn't have much on ABC doing with it at the time was ahead of them with a 7.3.

the 1966-1967 season AW started to surge and the other shows were coming with it:

AW finished 7th with a 9.0 - finally getting in the 9's with the CBS shows and very close to overcoming Love of Life.

Doc finished 8th with a 7.6

Days finished 10th with a 6.9 - the only one still behind GH

the 1967-1968 season

AW jumped to 2nd place with a 10.2 - only behind ATWT

Doc jumped to 5th with a 9.7

Days still at 10 with a 8.7 - still the only one behind GH

but the surgence of viewers was helping out overall. Even Dark Shadows which was the last placed showed now was in the 7's. It had finished the previous season with a 4.3.

It took AW even back then pretty much 3 years before it really took off. It takes time, but eventually it happened. And it pulled the other shows with it.

By the 1975 season AW & Days were tied for 2nd and Doctors was at #6 - all with 9.0 or above.

It won't benefit every show on the network as even Somerset never got remarkable ratings but I'm sure it helped enough to have kept the show around longer than it would have been otherwise. Remember NBC was a network known for getting rid of soaps quickly. Somerset lasted 6 years.

In the late 70's when first OLTL hit the surge by hiring Reinholt & Courtney and bringing many AW viewers over to them - ABC benefited as a whole. OLTL and AMC started to rise eventually letting AMC finish one season at #1 - then GH took over and ABC ruled the ratings until Y&R took over.

Y&R has always greatly benefitted from the lead in of Price is Right. The big PIR lead in just loses alot of steam as it dwindles down the chain.

***********************************

Timeslots and network have a great deal to do with things. As popular as Days was in the 80's and 90's, if it had been on a different network with a better leadin I am sure the ratings would have been higher and same for Santa Barbara and maybe even AW at a different point.

************************************

One other thing about timeslots just look at EON which had great ratings for years and then CBS moved it. The ratings went down and it never was able to regain them.

************************************

Right now the whole genre is suffering from apathy. People are just disgusted with daytime as a whole. When AW surged it brougth interest and viewers to the genre, but the other shows had stuff going on too. Right now none of the shows really are trying if you ask me. They are stuck with doing the same old same old - more interested in camera angles and gimmicks than telling a good story.

As far as rehashed stuff - daytime soaps have been rehashing stories since they began. People will tune in for rehash as long as it is interesting and told with characters they love and are familiar with.

Fans are just tired of many things: particularly too much of the same characters over and over; characters stories and history being screwed with just for the sake of telling story - many of the long term viewers went through some of these things with these characters and feel betrayed when it turns out to be nothing. Viewers just feel betrayed and so tired of being messed with. Why invest yourself in the soap when it will just be rewritten in a few months.

For instance with Marlena - they let her play out the grief stricken widow with just utter believeability and viewers grieved right along with her and the family - only to be betrayed AGAIN when John turned up alive.

The first 12 to 15 years I watched soaps there were 2 to 3 returns from the dead in that whole time. Now there are that many almost in one year.