July 21-25, 2008

[MarkH]

LOL. I'm like an armchair quarterback is all. In fact, for me SON is fantasy football.

LOL. I'm like an armchair quarterback is all. In fact, for me SON is fantasy football.

[Ann_SS]

MarkH, I have a different perspective. I always think that promoting stunts on the soaps properly usually work which is why I was stunned when "Out of the Ashes" didn't work for LML. She was the master of stunts that brought in the ratings. I remember when the whole Brad's story was climaxing, Y&R got 4.6 for a week or two. The problem is that the audience is never sustained. People come they watch for a few days, then they leave and the random fluctuations return.

[dm.]

Wow. 4.0 for Friday. I didn't expect that. I know it won't be the same next week, but I'm glad I got to see that number again.

[TMOTVSoaps]

I knew Y&R would be the first soap to break the 4.0 mark even for a day after touching the low 3s. It shows if Y&R makes the necessary changes and give the fans that left a reason to comeback it will work. Its worked for OLTL this year and GL recently.

I bet DOOL really wished they had Sheffer right now, I mean how do a great like Tamara Braun get written off like that.

Let me breakdown each soap.

All My Children

Very surprised its having these great numbers during the summer when the show is not that interesting right now and transitioning for a new writer this fall.

As the World Turns

This show has completely turned it around as this remains the one show where every storyline is watchable. They've got play from their main characters Holden/Lily/Carly. The energy coming from Liberty and Parker. Emily and Casey with the Snyder/Hughes feud with Alison and Chris has added extra momentum. Barbara earlier in the week too. ATWT may slowly get back to where they're at in third place.

Bold and the Beautiful

After the Katie show, they have gotten back as a powerhouse. The best talented characters of all the soaps right now. B&B is not getting enough credit for performing better without Y&R and its been doing good through sweeps.

Days of Our Lives

The olympics may help them out as they've got GL on their heels and they've got the worst writing problems of all the soaps and they need to be addressed. I watched DOOL for five straight years when they had the Salem serial killer and I stopped watching for the first time this spring. That pretty much sums up this soap needing Sheffer.

General Hospital

High week, but still disappointing ratings considering they had two straight weeks of around 3 million viewers each day.

Guiding Light

The hottest of the eight soaps and making a complete turn around has some momentum heading into this week as the Reva/Josh is good to have a veteran s/l, but the show stealer is the Remy/Bill/Ava baby situation as that's been heated and hot. This is the first time I've seen the ratings touch 1.8 in months since the format change.

One Life To Live

Dominating the Girls 12-17 for 5 straight weeks is something to be recognized especially in this day in age where we need these demos to do well for the future soap viewers. OLTL a surprising 2.3 on Monday. Ron and company is doing a fantastic job this year congrats to them. When Starr's baby is born they will reach another height.

The Young and the Restless

They give all soaps hope when they rise and they proved they could turn the tide of free falling and get back to the 4s or close. The 4.0 on Friday is huge and they reached 5.7 million viewers during the daytime. This is why soaps are still so huge for networks b/c they still bring in big numbers for advertisers. Next week should be a huge week for Y&R as the eppys were better this week.

All in all its a good sign when all soaps rise and this next week might be the biggest for most of the soaps.

[Soapsuds]

Well the negative

Y&R has gone up two straight weeks. No show so far this year has gone up three straight weeks.

Positives

It has been better this week than last week. And 3.8 and 3.7 across the board can make it go up again next week. Which is possible.

[Soapsuds]

Good points I completely agree with your AMC thoughts. Ummm....so looking at Y&R 4.0 number on Friday....makes me wonder if Toups is right. Maybe Days needs Reilly to come up with something big to bring their numbers up. Because Higley and Hogan couldnt do it. And oh dear gawd..I hope GH doesnt see Y&R's 4.0 because they willl go back to their explosions and shooting big event drama to bring in the ratings.

[BlueLick]

That was a good read there and break down of each soap. I agree with you about all those CBS Soaps rising again. The only thing failing is NBC and DOOL even though they might have a ratings charge here the next three weeks.

[quartermainefan]

I think Sheffer is where all their recent troubles began. He had the misfortune of coming on at a terrible point in the show's finances but he was the one who decided to devote months on end to Belle and Shawn on that island with that annoying man and his daughter. Then he brought on Celeste full time to hang out with Sami as basically the only two regular characters in Salem other than EJ. Marlena, John, Bo and Hope all MIA.

The show would be better off with JER because at least he knows who the go to characters are.

[Errol]

Is anyone else still alarmed that ABC is still the network with the steepest declines? Each show lost more than 400,000 viewers from last year which is collectively over 1.2 million viewers not tuning into ABC Daytime.

[quartermainefan]

I think ABC's story just revives the old idea about studios having a certain image and brand. MGM had more stars than there are in heaven and was known for lavish musicals and the biggest stars in Hollywood. WB was known for genre films starring Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis.

ABC Daytime has less stars than there are in hell, and they are the studio of Maurice Benard, Alisha Minshew, Steve Burton, Kassie DePaiva and Rebecca Budig. With a roll call from hell like that and the Louis B Mayer of daytime, Brian Frons, at the helm, do you expect anything different?

[Evan]

Congratulations to Y&R and B&B, we need those two powerhouses to be in good shape!

On the down side: it's sad to witness the slow death of DAYS! I find very little to interest me about their SLs these days, James Scott is perhaps the only actor who I'd be inclined to watch.

That idiot Corday has a lot to answer for!

[Soapsuds]

I think we are going to see a total rise in ratings in all soaps come September. It's back to school time and season premieres of primetime shows. Means more viewers watching their TVs. Summer is always a bleak time for soaps in general.

[Jess]

OLTL lost 500,000 viewers between Monday and Friday. I'm not into the Ron love affair so I'm not surprised. It looks like people tuned in on Monday to just see some of their old faves and lost interest quickly.

I'm glad Y & R is picking up because I think it has been enjoyable the last couple of weeks and I hope it sustains the momentum. I'm disappointed in Days. Overall I have like it the last few months, but now it is dragging again. It seems to have lost direction. ABC soaps, in my opinion, do not deserve good ratings. People talk about AMC, but right now, to me, it is the most enjoyable. It's only marginally interesting. Y&R is the only show I'm watching every day right now. A month ago it was Days.

[Soapsuds]

I think people tuned in to see Vicki. Wasnt Fridays cliffhanger with Viki and Dorian crashing? Then they saw it was a Vicki goes to heaven epi and tuned out the rest of the week. The part of Bo going to the past to 1968 was absurd in my opinion. You would have thought the ratings would have gone up the rest of the week when Vicki was sent to the hospital but they continued to go down to a 1.8.

I think AMC is just blah right now. Thats why I was surprised by the 2.2 on Monday. The show to me is still a hot mess like the rest of the daytime soaps. I dont find it entertaining. Thats what a soap should do....entertain you for an hour or half an hour.

[Angela]

People just underestimate the popularity of Ryan's sperm, heh, I kidd BUT that episode was predominantly made up of people waiting for news about Ryan's sperm. There was some steroids in that ABCD water for Monday (GH went down, but over 3 mil is good for them).

MONDAY, JULY 21

1.(1) Y&R: Monday: 3.6/5,014,000 (+111,000)

2.(2) B&B: Monday: 2.6/3,532,000 (+26,000)

3.(4) OLTL: Monday: 2.3/3,032,000 (+268,000)

4.(3) GH: Monday: 2.2/3,012,000 (-36,000)

5.(6) AMC: Monday: 2.2/2,889,000 (+328,000)

6.(5) ATWT: Monday: 2.0/2,669,000 (+86,000)

7.(7) DAYS: Monday: 1.8/2,486,000 (+192,000)

8.(8) GL: Monday: 1.7/2,480,000 (+366,000)

TUESDAY, JULY 22

1.(1) Y&R: Tuesday: 3.4/4,750,000 (-264,000)

2.(2) B&B: Tuesday: 2.7/3,589,000 (+57,000)

3.(3) OLTL: Tuesday: 2.1/2,868,000 (-164,000)

4.(4) GH: Tuesday: 2.1/2,824,000 (-188,000)

5.(5) AMC: Tuesday: 2.1/2,808,000 (-81,000)

6.(6) ATWT: Tuesday: 2.1/2,790,000 (+121,000)

7.(7) DAYS: Tuesday: 2.0/2,784,000 (+298,000)

8.(8) GL: Tuesday: 1.8/2,494,000 (+14,000)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.7/4,776,000 (+26,000)

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.8/3,604,000 (+15,000)

3.(6) ATWT: Wednesday: 2.0/2,792,000 (+2,000)

4.(4) GH: Wednesday: 2.1/2,741,000 (-83,000)

5.(3) OLTL: Wednesday: 2.0/2,721,000 (-147,000)

6.(5) AMC: Wednesday: 2.0/2,601,000 (-207,000)

7.(7) DAYS: Wednesday: 1.7/2,253,000 (-531,000)

8.(8) GL: Wednesday: 1.6/2,200,000 (-294,000)

THURSDAY, JULY 24

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.6/5,190,000 (+414,000)

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.6/3,504,000 (-100,000)

3.(4) GH: Thursday: 2.1/2,735,000 (-6,000)

4.(5) OLTL: Thursday: 2.0/2,725,000 (+4,000)

5.(6) AMC: Thursday: 2.0/2,707,000 (+106,000)

6.(7) DAYS: Thursday: 1.9/2,680,000 (+427,000)

7.(3) ATWT: Thursday: 1.9/2,528,000 (-264,000)

8.(8) GL: Thursday: 1.6/2,148,000 (-52,000)

FRIDAY, JULY 25

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 4.0/5,626,000 (+436,000)

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.7/3,780,000 (+276,000)

3.(3) GH: Friday: 2.2/2,860,000 (+125,000)

4.(7) ATWT: Friday: 2.0/2,779,000 (+251,000)

5.(4) OLTL: Friday: 1.9/2,448,000 (-277,000)

6.(8) GL: Friday: 1.7/2,402,000 (+254,000)

7.(6) DAYS: Friday: 1.8/2,400,000 (-280,000)

8.(5) AMC: Friday: 1.8/2,331,000 (-376,000)