November 17-21, 2008

[miajere]

You know so much of what Y&R is doing goes beyond the other networks, because they seem to understand the power of viewer engagement- keeping the viewer interacting with the story to the point of watching passionately....They seem to be invested in sustaining themselves in television- not daytime- but television. I didn't feel left out of the escapism, as their black cast was just as engaged in the storytelling, and yet I wasn't so far into the show that I was cat fighting fans when they threw darts at my favs.

Watching the episode on CBS last night (4 times by the way, with the same group of people) was the most fun I had watching the soaps, by myself, in years. People were sarcastic, we all seemed to love and hate the same characters, cheered (yes, you can do this) in agreement at the end of the episode (Y&R has a martini glass available for toasting to which everyone raised their glasses to a well done episode). It wasn't just watching tv, it was fun....Y&R is fun....Okay I'm overdoing it, but I'm not, because I didn't watch the episode today, as I plan on watching online tonight at 6. Here's the clincher- while on the site, I considered watching some of the other shows, shows I quit watching, but wouldn't mind enjoying with some fellow fans.

What you are describing is exactly what happened to me while watching OLTL. I used to be so passionate I was canceling appointments, reworking my schedule on certain days- not anymore...I started watching the show randomly when I heard something good was going to happen, and then one day I was home and realized the show was on, and just never turned the tv on. People talk about favorites not being on, but I can remember at a point naming some of the current cast members as favorites-- not anymore. I judge them, mock them, and have had moments when the only time I could watch was when the television was on mute. But the soaps are essentially your friends and family, and I remember times of wishing their happiness more so than any friends I have....I still read about the show, and I'll watch a reported riveting scene on Youtube, but it truly doesn't interest me, nor do I find the performances overwhelming enough to return to watching. OLTL has gone beyond bad storytelling, it's left me detached from 15 years of watching- I don't blame them, but I don't negotiate my time to a show that has essentially moved on to a new demographic. I don't do it with ex- boyfriends, and I certainly don't do it for television.

[Jess]

Y&R is the only soap I watch right now and I truly enjoy it. I had gone back to Days for about a year and now, it's on the DVR only because I have not taken it off. You know, I watched GH briefly during the last Laura return. I thought, great actress, crap show. It was like watching something just to see if there was any reason to watch it. It is now off my DVR. It was interesting. I recorded GH for three months and watched a day. I like your ex-boyfriends metaphor. It works and that is exactly how I feel about OLTL. It was a guest that I invited into my home every day for almost two decades. It manipulated me and betrayed me. It will never be welcome in my house again.

[BlueLick]

Soap ratings are pretty weird now in days. The viewer numbers don't reflect the household ratings anymore. GH got over 3 million viewers and DAYS, but the households were in the low 2s.

WEIRD RATINGS!

At least the soaps didn't take a major hit this week and are stabilizing year to year and GL went up.

[SteveFrame]

The big reason for that is that colleges and universities are counted now. It is counted as just 1 in the HH numbers but could be as many 500 in the viewers. That makes a big difference esp. when the biggest households before were only about 10 or so and that was rare.

[rhinohide]

I hope you don't mind, but since we're getting pretty OLTL specific in a non OLTL thread, I am going to copy your post to the OLTL thread and respond there out of consideration for all the people here who could care less about OLTL.

[rhinohide]

I feel ya! I was scheduling sales calls around the show at that time. It became almost consuming. But to tell you the truth -- I am not sure I enjoyed it more. It was stressful because I was invested in a particular outcome, instead of just enjoying the ride. I really think, for now, I've put the show in it's place. LOL. And I honestly can't remember when I've enjoyed it this much. No! It's NOT must see TV. But when I do see it, I am entertained and I am not chewing my nails. When you get to be my age, manicures are important because everything else has headed south.