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October 20-24, 2008


Toups

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Nope it was 1964 or 1965. I forget but it is in my post above. LOL

It was in the 2nd season of the show when the other shows it was beating were cancelled and it could only beat The Doctors.

Even before Monty saved the day it was still beating 4 other shows in daytime and sometimes 5 after even Days dropped under it.

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LOL...so true. But wasnt ATWT full of Jack and Carly last week with Kevin and Luke sprinkled...hehe?? I didnt expect a big jump like that for ATWT. Great week for CBS.

Kudos to AMC too. I saw yesterday's show and was better than I have seen it. Less Kendall talk...she is in coma...lol....less of all of the six...although Ryan was on...ugh...and Annie.

I knew something was off on Days numbers. They just seemed too high.

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As far as the savior thing, I think too much has changed both on the powers that be part and the audience part. The powers that be have to change the idea that only certain viewers are important and I don't see that happening.

And 2nd they have to get balls which they lost a few years ago and be willing to take risks and chances. they are too scared these days.

Monty took risks big time. She allowed the very happy couple Rick and Lesley to be tested and put 4 of the big stars in a star crossed quadrangle. She tested the very popular couple Scotty and Laura. And she did get some back lash, but she stuck with things and kept it going.

She also didn't concentrate on one couple and one story. She had things going across the board:

Scotty/Bobbie/Laura

Luke/Laura/Scotty

Rick/Monica/Alan/Leslie

Tracy's fight to get rid of Monica

Jeff/Heather/Anne

and so many other couples and stories in just a short time. If you couldn't get attached to one couple or story you could find another that you could. And no one dominated the story either. there were A stories that got a lot of air time and then there were B stories that filled in the gaps. AMC is starting to follow that model but people are saying there is too much going on. Which to me translates many times as well there are too many stories going on and my faves are not on enough. That is not the case with all of them saying that but for some it is.

and most importantly the audience has to be willing to let changes happen and not organize big campaigns to undo everything before it gets the chance to work.

Today too much is written off before it is even given a chance. Back in the day that Monty saved GH audiences were more willing to let things happen and were not tied to the fact that couples were forever united - never to be parted.

I have said alot of this over and over so I will just stop there.

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Weekly Ratings Analysis

AMC Improves Year to Year

This is the best the soap ratings have looked in months. Every soap had positive ratings even though GH was a bit on the low side it still had solid ratings for soaps now in days.

Let me start off by saying when I saw the ratings today I was mighty impressed with every soap's performance improving week to week in households, viewers, and the all important main 18-49 demo. AMC was the showcase for the ratings this week since they had their big tornado event, which I have to say has been a success. The only problem is were getting some of the same old stuff from certain characters near the top, but its a big improvement from what we've been seeing over the last 2-3 years. One thing about soaps now in days that I'm starting to notice is that promotion, good stories, and consistency are major factors in the soaps performance in the ratings. Promotion is more of a newer thing to the soap landscape since it has a bigger impact than before. Y&R did it earlier this year with much success, GH does it every November or February sweeps period with major success, OLTL back in May and June, and now AMC has done just that. It doesn't work all the time, but when it catches people just enough then people will watch. Writing has been good for AMC b/c its stabilized that whole week at 2.0 and close to 3 million viewers, which hasn't been seen by the soap in almost a year.

ABC Daytime has a problem right now getting its past, casual, core, and future viewers to trust them for consistent good writing. If ABCD can have all three of their soaps clicking at the same time then they can get their ratings back up to 2.3-2.5 and hanging around 3 million viewers every week. AMC has a golden oppurtunity right now to prove themselves after this sweeps period to let people know they're serious about being a good soap. If they do then they will succeed.

This was the last week before sweeps and Friday October 24, 2008 was one of the best Friday rating days for soaps this year so far. Thursday and Fridays have been big let down days for soaps and always has an affect on the final rating, but if they can keep their viewers watching all week then they'll have high ratings. For the first time in a long time we saw every soap on Friday improve on Thursday's performance or hold the audience from the previous days.

This was also a rare week where we saw every soap get a consistent amount of viewers for each day, this could be a positive heading into November sweeps where I expect to see soaps like Y&R reach 4.0 or over and the others reach a height for at least one of the days.

Also if GH drops to second to last in total viewers than that should tell you how well the soaps performed last week for that to happen b/c GH viewers are still healthy hanging in the upper 2 range close to 3 million viewers.

Without further or do let me break down each soap.

All My Children

What a huge week for Pratt and company over at ABC. This has been a good event for the show, which had been dead for at least the last 2-3 years with only a few sparks in between. I feel the character development has grown a bit in the writing, but there's still some lacking in other areas, which I mentioned before. The tornado story has been a good one with some sub-stories also taking some good shape for the future. The 2.1 rating was a huge climb for the show from where its been lately. It also jumped many places in the rankings and b/c of the consistency the show will soon find itself getting over 3 million viewers and possibly that fat 2.3-2.5 or over rating its been looking for. Let's see next week if AMC can leap to 2.2 at some point next week. Good start before sweeps and Tamara Braun come through. Tamara could be a great acquisition for a show lacking likable characters at the top. I feel behind Angie & Jessie that characters like Taylor, Jake, Frankie, Amanda, Aiden, Bianca, Tamara, Dre, Colby, and many more could be the popular choice for writers to start showcasing them in the future.

As the World Turns

For the first time in a long time ATWT's ratings have shown some life. The show has stayed around 1.9 for so long and now its finally back to 2.1 and probably on its way to 2.2 or over once the other CBS soaps improve some. The show has been the most balanced of the soaps this year when it comes to storylines and Carly & Jack getting back together could very much key keeping Janet on the outside looking in. ATWT has a good start to sweeps next week.

Bold and the Beautiful

Folks are getting just what they want with B&B, Stephanie and Taylor vs Brooke. Pam vs Donna has been the other one, but Ric vs Ridge is the new one and it took affect last week especially the day after on Friday. Ratings wise the show is still very healthy surprisingly and consistent behind a better performing week from Y&R. I think the show could benefit from getting Phoebe back to battle her twin sister Steffy now that they've been established. Like I said in past months Steffy & Marcus have been the best new acquisitions to the soaps so far this year. B&B is a good major storyline away from getting over 2.8 for the final rating.

Days of Our Lives

This show is getting back on track a bit. I watched it the last two weeks to see where it was at and for the first time in months its had me watching more, but there's still too many holes with the main storylines. I like the way Chelsea's character is being rewritten back to the bitch version and getting away from the dreamy doctor. Chelsea always does better with the younger crowd. DOOL has been staying over that 2.0 mark and 2.6 million viewers the last few weeks and that's a positive for its renewal period coming up. Sweeps will only help it even more as I thought the next week was written much better. DAYS is on its way back here.

General Hospital

How bout that GH? GH is still the most well performing demo show on ABC's Daytime roster and it got the 2.2s that AMC wants. GH dropping is not a concern to me like it was before I opened up the thread to the ratings. November Sweeps featuring the presence and return of Laura and Luke should help it go up a bit plus the wedding and fallout from Robin's wedding fiasco. GH's disrespect in writing from viewers concerns me as I think the show has suffered too long from not being where the show needs to be writing wise.

Guiding Light

I have to admit that I haven't been watching GL lately and don't know what's going on, but they must got a winner of a storyline on right now. GL's ratings have suffered this year from its timeslot and format change, but I think this week is a positive for it. Its also been the most stabilized of the soaps. Getting over 2 million viewers on back to back days hasn't been seen in months from the oldest scripted program on television.

One Life to Live

The show has been very entertaining to watch this month so far. I haven't watched it everyday, but when I do it never disappoints. I think OLTL has had the best writing of all the soaps so far this year when it comes to consistency. OLTL just needs the bump from AMC to get the ratings up a bit. November sweeps should help OLTL bump up a bit when alot of good storylines come into play including Starr going into labor and aftermath from that. OLTL behind AMC's Tornado Event had one of its better ratings performances in along time. I think the crossover between AMC and OLTL fans is huge b/c everytime AMC goes up then OLTL goes up. Like I said sweeps is upcoming and OLTL should get back to its May and June performances.

Young and the Restless

Y&R has been one rollercoaster soap. It can set a new low one week and then look like the best ratings grabber in daytime. The ratings have certainly been interesting enough to make you intrigued and make you scratch your head a bit. Y&R writing wise has a good one going with one of their major longtime talents Kay. This will bring back those long lost Y&R viewers. Y&R needs some big performances here in the month of November during sweeps to help out the rest of the CBS Daytime lineup and they've got some good stuff going on here next month so we'll see. The 3.7 and 3.8 on multiple days last week makes me as a Y&R viewer very happy b/c last week was the ugliest week for the show in its 35 year history.

All in all this was a pretty positive week for the soaps in ratings. For so long most of the soaps have been hanging around that 1.9 mark and its good to see soaps like AMC pass that 2.0 mark and give the genre some much needed energy. November can be that month where we all can be happy for our soap's ratings performance. Watch out for that November 10-14 week as I'm expecting some huge numbers for some of the soaps that week as that frame has always been the most ratings grabbed week for the November sweeps period like GH's historic 30 million viewer performance back on Monday November 16, 1980. That week the soaps had their best weeks of all-time.

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I soooooo have to marry this awesome post!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just the same things that happen with GH, ratings rise with a STUNT like this, then go back down to where they were before said stunt. I don't see ratings staying up, Pratt is turning off alot of fans with character assassinations of popular characters

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Toups thanks for the info on the loss of 50 and older for Days. Those viewers are tuning out fast. That is a lot of households to lose in a single demo. That big of a drop in the 18-34 demo could be accounted for by a loss of a college or university tuning out, but it takes a lot of households to account for 116,000 viewers. Nielsen doesn't put boxes in nursing homes and that is about the only type of building that would account for a big group of viewers for that age group.

Toups what is Y&R's rating in the 50 and over group now. The last time I saw it they were still pulling 5's and 6's for HH's.

I recently saw that in the Knoxville area Y&R is still pulling 7's in HH's overall.

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