January 19-23, 2009

[jimmyk311]

I find it hilarious and amazing that many people online and on soap podcasts think that Y&R and OLTL are the soaps on TV while I feel that Y&R is stiff and OLTL is all over the place.

You know when soaps are in bad shape when people can't tell a good soap from the bad ones.

[rangethatrover]

Y&R has ALWAYS been stiff and stodgy. But it works!

And OLTL has always been all over the place- Best of the best and worst of the worst. But it works!

And what soap do you enjoy?? And why??

[Kimmiemae]

I completely agree!

AMC is awful right now. Heck, all the ABC soaps are awful! I am still waiting for the emotional impact from Josh's death. There is absolutely no payoffs for Pratt's gimmick storylines. I barely watch anymore.

[LoyaltoAMC]

AMC isn't bad, but it's not good either. I still get the "let's throw something against the wall and see what sticks" vibe that's been its hallmark since the baby switch ended three years ago. Pratt's writing is definitely slicker and more evenly paced than B&E and McTavish, but it's just the same old same old. What's more, Pratt's writing has no heart or warmth. It's all very cold and mechanical, and It seems less like AMC than ever. Say what you will about McTavish, and believe me I wouldn't wish her back as sole HW in a million years, but you always got the feeling she cared about the show and the characters, and that always shone through her shitty writing. As for Y&R, I'm starting to lose interest. The Kay storyline had me glued for a few weeks, but IMO it's been losing some of its momentum the last few weeks, and the rest of the show isn't strong or compelling enough to keep me watching. The P&G shows are just awful and unwatchable. As for GH, it's GH! It is what it is. I find OLTL just so overrated. Like the other ABC shows, it has Frons' agenda written all over it.

[Kimmiemae]

I am actually enjoying DH's stories with the exception of J&M's exit. IMO, DH is letting the character lead the plot instead of making the stories all about the plot. IMO, no one that watches Days can say Nicole is being written out of character to push the plot. It is so like Nicole to do the things she is doing to hold on to EJ. I know it's going to blow up in her face, but I am still enjoying the story, and looking forward to the fall out.

[Soapsuds]

So MLK Day was a ratings winner for soaps. After that the ratings tanked downward. Only 2 million viewers for OLTL on Friday?? Ouch!!

[SteveFrame]

Some of us get called out for what are perceived as saying the same thing all the time.

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

As I said before I think next weeks ratings will be pretty bad. So much of the plains, Indiana, and Kentucky and even parts of Tennessee have been without electricity for a good part of the week due to the ice storm. Of course it could be made up for by some of the ones who were out of work due to the weather too.

I know that some people find the stuff like OLTL of late to be boring but I eat it up. I love the character interactions and seeing characters sit around talking. I get to know the characters so much better and that means a lot to me. I really think Jessica's story has been so much better of late and a lot of it has been talking.

That 1.7 for OLTL & ATWT on Friday is a big ouch too.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Friday was a horrible day for all soaps, were there any major preemptions that day?

[SteveFrame]

I think that is when the bad weather first started in the plains if I remember correctly.

[Angela]

MONDAY, JANUARY 19

1.(1) Y&R: Monday: 4.1/5,706,000 (+307,000)

2.(2) B&B: Monday: 2.8/3,934,000 (+263,000)

3.(4) GH: Monday: 2.4/3,189,000 (+325,000)

4.(3) DAYS: Monday: 2.2/3,186,000 (+20,000)

5.(5) ATWT: Monday: 2.2/3,072,000 (+330,000)

6.(7) AMC: Monday: 2.2/2,932,000 (+329,000)

7.(6) OLTL: Monday: 2.2/2,854,000 (+228,000)

8.(8) GL: Monday: 1.7/2,196,000 (+1,000)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21

1.(1) Y&R: Wednesday: 3.6/5,169,000 (-537,000)

2.(2) B&B: Wednesday: 2.5/3,308,000 (-626,000)

3.(4) DAYS: Wednesday: 2.2/2,959,000 (-227,000)

4.(3) GH: Wednesday: 2.2/2,746,000 (-443,000)

5.(6) AMC: Wednesday: 2.0/2,737,000 (-195,000)

6.(5) ATWT: Wednesday: 2.0/2,728,000 (-344,000)

7.(7) OLTL: Wednesday: 2.0/2,590,000 (-264,000)

8.(8) GL: Wednesday: 1.6/2,252,000 (+56,000)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22

1.(1) Y&R: Thursday: 3.6/5,080,000 (-89,000)

2.(2) B&B: Thursday: 2.5/3,645,000 (+337,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Thursday: 2.1/2,802,000 (-157,000)

4.(4) GH: Thursday: 2.1/2,735,000 (-11,000)

5.(6) ATWT: Thursday: 1.8/2,520,000 (-208,000)

6.(7) OLTL: Thursday: 1.9/2,430,000 (-160,000)

7.(5) AMC: Thursday: 2.0/2,363,000 (-374,000)

8.(8) GL: Thursday: 1.4/1,805,000 (-447,000)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23

1.(1) Y&R: Friday: 3.5/4,914,000 (-166,000)

2.(2) B&B: Friday: 2.4/3,437,000 (-208,000)

3.(3) DAYS: Friday: 2.2/3,008,000 (+206,000)

4.(5) ATWT: Friday: 1.7/2,431,000 (-89,000)

5.(4) GH: Friday: 1.8/2,414,000 (-321,000)

6.(7) AMC: Friday: 1.9/2,394,000 (+31,000)

7.(6) OLTL: Friday: 1.7/2,038,000 (-392,000)

8.(8) GL: Friday: 1.4/1,956,000 (+151,000)

[jfung79]

Whoa! What is going on at OLTL?

The GL numbers were relatively good for the Otalia days, that is promising for TPTB keeping that story going.

Count me in the "good writers can get bad ratings" camp. I've seen it happen too many places that the bad stories like the slasher story on ATWT and stunts like ice storms get rewarded with better ratings than quality writing does.

[SteveFrame]

Good writers can definitely get bad ratings.

Look at William J. Bell on Y&R for the first 7 or 8 years when the show was really good and really popular with esp. the young crowd but they were not really big ratings grabbers.

Labine & Mayer were great writers and have many Emmys and awards to state it, but none of the shows they wrote for ever got great ratings.

Gordon Russell was one of the best writers that OLTL ever had. he penned the great Karen Wolek story but OLTL did not get great ratings then.

The Dobsons were also great writers but their shows never got great ratings. Even Douglas Marland never got great ratings for his shows except for when he was at GH. Often he was beaten by camp and stuff that was of less quality.

The opposite also works too. Bad writers also get bad ratings.

Look at Lynn Latham - she was really bad at Y&R but her ratings were often very good.

Look at ATWT in the 70's. Days and AW and The Doctors were often better than it. Even LOL during the Labine/Mayer years was better than ATWT in quality at the time - but ATWT stayed #1 even during the awful last tenure of Irna Phillips.

To look at ratings and qualify someone as a hack because the ratings stay stable or go down is not using logic. To use that logic then Lynn Latham and some other writers who got great ratings are better writers if you use ratings as a factor to determine a writers talent. If we are using ratings as a guage then Dena Higley must be a damn good writer since Days ratings are going up.

Ratings and quality do not go hand in hand at all. Occassionally they will equal out but it is very very rare.

Ratings often measure what fans enjoy and often that has nothing to do with whether it was good in quality or not.

You cannot say that Carvilati is a hack writer just because some viewers are not enjoying what is going on right now. You could state other reasons like what he does with characters, his breakdown, his dialogue, etc. but just using ratings is not a convincing enough argument.

When you use that again you have to go back to things like James Reilly who was evidently not the hack that some made him out to be because he brought Days gerat ratings during the last SSK story. All it meant was that viewers were interested in what was happening. It had nothing to do with his real talent as a writer or not.

Also you have to count out McTavish being a hack since in February of 2007 when she launched the Josh reveal ratings went up - so obviously that means that she is a talented writer and not a hack.

[DRW50]

I think the theme and tone of a show affect viewers more than the talent of the headwriter.

Some of OLTL is just great right now. I'm more and more drawn into Jessica's struggles, even if I'm not sure about how they're writing Natalie. But how many people, after months of watching Todd physically and mentally scar his rape victim and traumatize his daughter, want to sit through months of methodical efforts to make sure Todd gets away with all his crimes? Or want to sit through a story which says if someone tries to commit suicide, that means they're a good person and should be forgiven crimes of rape, assault, baby-stealing? Are we supposed to feel sorry for Todd? Are we supposed to root for him?

I think viewers were willing to give AMC another chance, but even if some of the writing is strong, are people going to want to sit through months of Annie going through torment in a mental hospital, Krystal being drugged and used for sex (with her "friends" apparently believing she deserves to be drugged and used for sex because she cheated on Saint Tad), the Sonnyfication of Zach, Bianca having a child with Zach as he turns her girlfriend straight, Josh being gunned down as a vehicle to help push Bianca's fiance closer to turning straight and to drive up the angst for Kendall...no Adam to be found, a story which reduces Amanda to nothing more than her womb, little Emma burning herself thanks to Greenlee's neglicence, and Ryan telling Greenlee this proves what a good mother she is...

If people, especially when there's so much crap in the world today, don't want to sit through this constant sickness, who can blame them, no matter the quality of the writing?

[SteveFrame]

I gave up trying to figure out or guess waht viewers will sit through years ago. Some of the stuff that gets rave reviews from fans and high ratings often seems so strange and out there.

Some of the most damaging periods to certain shows have some of the highest rating periods.

Look at what Harding Lemay did to the basic structure of Another World - he made so many decisions that led to the final destruction of the show and were the key elements that set up the final elimination of the Matthews family who were the heart of the show. Yet that is considered Another World's golden age and it's highest rating period.

Look at the basic structural damage that Gloria Monty did to All My Children. She is the one who initially brought the mob to General Hospital and introduced the type of stories that ultimately set up them leaving the focus of the show's namesake. Plus she is the one that started the destruction of the older elements of the GH cast by backburnering the Hardy's and Jessie Brewer into almost relative obscurity. Yes he was GH's savior and the highest ratings period. Some of what she did was great, but she romanticized rape which set up the future stories like the one we just had with Todd and EJ raping Sami. She brought the out there stories to soaps with the Cassidines trying to freeze the world.

Look at James Reilly's first period on Days which was highly watched and regarded by fans. Much of what he did is what caused so many later problems for Days and soaps in general. His stories are what basically led to so many fans and critics disregarding Days. I was one who enjoyed a lot of it, but even I see the damage those type of stories did to Days in the long run.

It is a hard thing with ratings. Often what is lauded with good ratings is actually not good for the shows at all. Yet that is what pays the bills.

I do think some people equate too much into the ratings though and do judge them as quality. When all it boils down to is more of what people enjoy and are willing to watch.

It all boils down to what I have heard so often that look at how many people will stop at an accident or a train wreck and watch. There is nothing good about it but people can't help themselves but to watch and to watch in droves.

[DRW50]

I also don't understand what gets the ratings up. I try to keep in mind that during periods of OLTL I found downright shameful, like JFP's years in charge, or some of Higley's stories, the ratings were great.

I think the difference now with some of the soaps is viewers have sat through four, five, six or more years of torture, anguish, death, anti-heroes, propping, the same annoying characters hogging the airtime. At some time people say "Enough." And I think with AMC and OLTL right now, people were hoping and hoping for a change, for something more balanced, happier. Instead they're getting the same as they've already had for most of this decade.

I don't believe Y&R is a great show at the moment but the show is making a sharp move away from where they were for most of the past few years, and since the show is at least watchable and has some form of balance, viewers are responding.