January 12-16, 2009

[dragonflies]

Yeah McTavish could work doing a very short term AMC stint, she always starts out great. Get rid of her before she fizzles. It's weird how B&E and Pratt fizzled out in less than a few months and she didn't fizzle out till almost a year later

[Soapsuds]

OMG...ATWT has been one boring [!@#$%^&*] of a show this week. Gawd it has been awful this week. The show is so stale and boring. I can't believe Goutman thinks this is must see TV because IT IS NOT!!

[MarkH]

Well, she has a lot to atone for, since the ratings plummeted (0.5?) during the first three-to-five months of her reign.

[aMLCproduction]

U R right. I was VERY worried back then. But this proves, given time and a free hand. great writers still exist. I wonder can MAB get it back to a 4.1. I never thought MA would be able to recover what she's lost but she almost has and that speaks volumes in today's evil soap veiwing habits

[juniorz1]

Nice to see DAYS solidifying it's spot as the #3 soap.

[SteveFrame]

Whoever said Pratts numbers are worse than B&E's don't remember the ratings that happened toward the end of B&E's run. Pratt's numbers are more consistent and higher than the end of B&E's run. And viewers are still up over their run - they are losing some each week.

I find it weird that the numbers have gotten worse as lately there has been less of a sense of balance on the show and several have mentioned it. Where we were seeing lots of other characters like Taylor and Brot and even Jesse & Angie in their own story with Rebecca - lately a great deal of that has been missing. What Pratt was doing right was more of a balance in not only who was being seen but the number of stories. And he is failing in that area now and I know I am reading a lot of comments that many on the Internet are starting to get scared that the winds are changing again. Recent spoilers have been more and more about certain characters and not well rounded. It seems that some of the other promised stories are being dropped.

I don't know if Frons has gotten chicken and starting to enforce his pimping due to letters and all that have been in the magazines. Or what but again we are starting to get a lot of resurgence of some characters dominating story again. And the Josh story has been a failure for most as it did not have the right focus and many members are turned off because they tried to play what Zach did as some big romantic gesture when most general fans of the show see it as disgusting.

[brimike]

Y&R is up FOUR-TENTHS of a point from A YEAR AGO in 18-34?!

HOLY CR@P!

[Southofnowhere]

Agree that for the short term Mctavish is the way to go. But they would need to have another writer ready to takeover. Also someone would have to have some control over the woman. Aft the big ratings for the end of the babyswitch(which was never really given a ending) they let her loose and she come up with the Josh/Slayer storylines.

[Southofnowhere]

Pratt could have struck gold with this Kendall heart deal but he killed off the wrong Kane.He should have had Josh shoot Binks. Erica chooseing between Erica or kendall now that would have been heartbreaking.Not to mention the long term stories like who get's her girls and Josh going to prison and stuff.

That's what Mctavish would have done.

[Southofnowhere]

More like 2 years. She started summer 2003 and didn't start to crash until Summer 2005.

She had some clunker's in between but the ratings held until up well for 2 years. With the Babyswitch Finale brging in monster numbers.

[Becki]

Great to see those numbers for Y&R. The show continues to get better and better!

[Supersage]

I find myself recording all the soaps these days for some reason or another. So, here is my take on each.

Y&R-I'm torn on this show. The writing is better, and so is the production, but it still doesn't hold my attention for very long. The Kay storyline continues to boggle my mind as to why Jill didn't do a DNA test on the spot! If Jill loved her mother that much, I would think Jill would have "made sure." That's just one example of things not gelling well for me.

B&B-If I have to endure one more Ridge and Brooke fiasco, I'll spew. Nuff said. This show needs a change in leadership. It is beyond boring.

DAYS-I've recorded this show because I want to see Marlena and John's last "days." Sorry for the pun. I'm actually finding myself getting interested in the show. What does that say about me?

GH-What is going on at General? Does anyone really care? The show does good "big stuff," but then drops off after the big event is over. I guess we'll see this week what the big hub bub is all about.

AMC-The Josh stuff is silly. I'm tired of J.R. being a drunk all the time. I can't see Krystal sleeping with David... ever. Still not seeing the purpose for Beth Ehlers on this show. Am enjoying Amanda. And Angie's campaign against David is... boring. I can see why this show didn't increase this week.

OLTL-Not a bad show, but not the best either. It is almost like Carlivati doesn't know what to do with it. One day is good, the next is questionable. Its never bad, but its hardly ever good. Kind of like sex with a sheep. Did I just say that?

ATWT-Tired of the Nuke bull crap. They don't promote them and they act like they are a backburnered couple. Where is the angst? Where is the emotion on this show? And why are the couples always marrying and divorcing in the space of a few months? We can't get emotionally attached to any couple if they won't stay together for more than five seconds.

GL-To me, this is the best show on daytime right now. When you take away the cheap filming look, you have an almost brilliantly written soap. There are a few spots on the show that aren't up to speed (see Marina and Mallet and the evil Grady that has nothing to do), but the show as a whole is entertaining. Didn't think I'd ever live to say that since Wheeler is still there. Of course, we all know Wheeler isn't entirely to blame for this mess. Glad the ol' girl moved up this week.

[dragonflies]

Damn AMC lost 141,000 viewers in just two weeks.

Way to go Pratt

[SteveFrame]

The Josh/Kendall think could have worked too if it had been done right. I have said this partly in other posts and on other boards but I will try to put the reasons I think it didn't work all together here.

1) For one it was too rushed. This type of story has got to build. Josh was off too long and arrived too quick with the going boom boom boom with no points being hit and sustained from beginning to end. You can't tell this type of story and get full dramatic impact with the pace they chose. We should have had time to understand fully why Josh was so mad over time and why all of a sudden out of the clear blue he wanted revenge. We knew what happened before but why all of a sudden did he decide to get mad about it.

2) The story did not focus on what the story should have focused on - Erica's choice. That is where the true story was. Again the pace even hurt here. We should have seen Erica taking more time to anguish over her decision. Even talking to her priest about it or praying, and not making the decision in haste while 2 men stood over her. We should have known more about the way Erica was feeling.

3) Making the story a romantic story for Kendall and Zach was a big wrong step. While they do have a fan base who claims to be the biggest out there (well some of them do) Zach and Kendall are equally as hated by a huge majority of AMC fans. They have been overexposed for the last few years too. But even all that is minor to the real problem. There is nothing romantic about death and murder. This was not the great love story of BJ's heart going to Maxie over an accident. Zach shot Kendall's brother in an act of violence and he played it so coldly that it left the majority of fans with the belief that Zach did this on purpose. But yet we are supposed to believe and accept that he had this great love for Kendall and we are supposed get all warm and fuzzy about that. The only people that did are the Zendall fan base. The rest of AMC fans were shocked and appalled by this story. And so many came away with the feeling of disgust and hatred toward Zach and even Kendall.

This type of story should have not left those feelings. We should have left with a feeling of heartbreak and hope. Heartbreak from Erica's decision and hope for Kendall. What we got was a feeling of many wishing that Kendall's body reject Josh's heart and never woke up. And she and Zach both go away. And just a big sense of regret over the sad existence of a character no one wanted and no one cared about in the end.

4) And this kind of goes along with the others, but the whole story lacked love and heart. It went too fast and the focus was so wrong that this story that could have been a story of love completely lost it. You had a man shoot a man right in front of his mother and sister. The first thing that the man does is go and console a woman - but no not the mother or the sister of the boy he shot. Then he utters the words to the paramedics "Keep him alive. I need his heart." right in front of the mother and the sister. Love was not focused on - all that was focused on was a man bullying around others and so set on getting what he wanted that he didn't care how anyone felt but himself. To hell with the rest.

To me that is what was wrong with the Josh story. It had promise. It could have been so much better. I went into it with the idea of giving it a chance. I said I would judge it then. I judge it one of the big mistakes of AMC's history, and I judge it as the big mistake in Pratt's tenure. A tenure that I have I highly supported.

[juniorz1]

AMC must be in a real mess if viewers are clamoring for the return of MCTRASH!!! I have a better idea- ATWT gives you guys JPiss, and we'll take Pratt. I have a feeling Pratt would work well in the Oakdale universe.