February 23-27, 2009

[alwaysAMC]

Hmm - it looks like AMC is the only soap that has more viewers this year than they did last year. Interesting...

I've been waiting to hear from ZendallFan last week and this week....funny, no spin possible?

[SteveFrame]

I was wanting to hear too since AMC did good both weeks.

[juniorz1]

That's crazy! Look at B&B. They have lost nearly the same amount. And B&B and ATWT are both down .5 in the HH ratings as well. B&B was hitting 3s last year at this time- look at it now. Even with all that free publicity they're getting on The Soup. The Bells better pray that

. Otherwise, they'll be as screwed as GL in a few years.

The problem is part quality, part viewer erosion. Even Y&R which is high quality right now is down .4 in HH, which is not a good sign. CBS needs a good kick in the butt right now, as most of its execs are getting paid to run the show into the ground. Do the suits at CBS daytime watch ATWT & B&B right now? Because when I do, there's nothing there that keeps me hooked and it's a shame because there was a time where I was absolutely addicted to those shows (B&B 94-01, ATWT '00-'06). Now, I rarely catch B&B and though I DVR ATWT every day of the week, I sometimes don't bother watching every episode because I don't give a damn about what happens in the stories I'm shown each day. There's nothing to invest in. Frankly, it sucks. I miss my ATWT and its rich characters, but it just is not cutting it these days.

Actually, DAYS is up 6000 as well. Nothing significant, but an increase nonetheless.

[SteveFrame]

Oh Andy, Days still has more viewers now than this time last year too. It and AMC are the only 2.

It is good to see that and see that they are on an upturn. I would love to see more of them do that.

I know this time last year is when I tuned out for good for awhile. From mid-March to October I didn't watch any soaps at all. I never thought I would return but I can thank Maria Arena Bell and Charles Pratt for giving me a reason to return. Pratt has been slipping some in that area lately but I will still take AMC right now over B&E or McTavish's AMC any day.

[MichaelGL]

Just looking at these ratings, seems like viewers are fleeing from CBS soaps in droves. Look at those changes from last year in total viewers.

[Soapsuds]

I watched just 2 days of ATWT this week. That's how bad the show has gotten for me. Major changes need to be done. Both the EP and HW need to go.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I've got to say that the only show I find watchable of late is Y&R, and only because the Katherine storyline is such a poorly acted and written campfest. It's so fabulously terrible, it's good. Special kudos to Jeanne Cooper and the guy who plays Clint for some mindbogglingly poor acting. I know Jeanne's a sacred cow here, but whatever. That part of the show almost seems like a parody of Bill Bell's Y&R. I find the rest of the show lethally dull. I love Jess Walton. She's such an exciting presence, but she's still just supporting and it's obvious that the writers don't see her as much more than an afterthought in any of this. B&B's fortunes rise and fall with Y&R's. ATWT is a meandering mess. I'm still not getting GL. I hope it survives, but you can't expect a show to suddenly rise overnight because there's a lesbian story or because of Grant's return. It's the long term story that attracts viewers, so we'll have to wait and see how that goes. What can be said about the ABC shows? They're all SO agenda-driven. AMC is just meh. Not horrible, but not good either. My favorite part is Brot/Taylor. There's something so sweet about them, but they're hardly ever on. OLTL mystifies me. On paper, the show seems exciting, but the execution is just so shrill and so over-the-top cartoonish that it ceases at some point to be funny or watchable. It's probably the best and most intelligently written of the ABC shows, but it's become such a niche show, and that does not appeal to a wide audience. GH is just a sad, pathetic, unwatchable, pointless mess. They probably have the best stable of writers in daytime, but the story writing inspires one big WTF! These shows deserve the numbers they're getting. When you churn out crap, how can anything else be expected.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Ratings should jump a bit next week as the earlier part of this week saw some massive snow storms on the East Coast. Ratings never jump significantly because of storytelling anymore, it's all about external circumstances. We saw this a few weeks back when certain areas of the country had some massive snow storms.

[Soapsuds]

And Y&R has been good this week too. I hope Y&R gets a big bump in the ratings next week.

[CSF]

Y&R has been great all week. I am disappointed it didn't maintain it's 4.0. I thought it was very good last week.

[Cheap21]

wow GH is at a 2.0. Id love to see it dip below that

[DRW50]

People were saying the same about ABC soaps some weeks or months back. I think it depends on the week or the month. It helps that the ABC soaps had nowhere to go but up, but even then, GH is falling.

I've heard more and more complaints about Kay's kidnapping story about about how the Billy/Chloe/Cane/Lily story was rushed and poorly written. I think people are getting tired of these stories and want to move on, even if they're enjoying other storylines. Or they may have been affected by outside events.

I agree with you, although I don't think people expect GL to rise because of lesbians. The story hasn't been marketed as a big lesbian event the way AMC marketed Reese and Bianca. The story works for me because of the relationship, not the gender. Otherwise, I agree, the long term story is what matters. That and trying to create good individual episodes out of the story. As soon as I saw Grady on so many days last week I suspected a drop (as did anyone, probably), because the story is just awful. I hope they aren't going to drop again for this week, because there have been some good moments buried in the Grossness.

[CSF]

I would love to see GH drop even lower. I wonder though if something such as that would finally cause ABC to open their eyes and take a look at the damage they have done to their soaps.

[Ann_SS]

If GH's demos decline further, they will fire more vets and we will get more mob wars and violence. This is how Frons and Guza roll. Nothing will change the way that they do things.

[rangethatrover]

Loyal, you just described Y&R, OLTL, and GH perfectly. Perfectly.

OLTL- Niche show and over the top cartoonish- BINGO.

Y&R- The Katherine storyline is so cut rate, terribly acted, and downright cheesy- VERY ABC. VERY terrible. And the thing that bothers me is that they went all campy with it. Therefore, ANY suspense is lost. It is truly like watching a cartoon. If I was writing it- it would be hardcore drama. The psycho holding Katherine- Both Clint and the Bob Newhart chick would have been truly threatening and scary, I would have upped the violence and made it dark. Then you have this Empty Nest goofball as Esther's love interest. Give me a break. Yeah Y&R is so brilliant. I hate to say, the Katherine storyline reminds me of Carlivati at his campy worst.

Both Y&R and OLTL need to end alot of the storylines and take them in new and exciting directions