March 9-13, 2009

[SteveFrame]

There was a time when they did and special events in a couple's romance could really garner big ratings for a show. For instance Luke & Laura's Wedding or Steve & Kayla's Wedding which were 2 of the biggest rated hours of daytime. I don't think anything has topped either of them.

But things like that just don't happen anymore. I think that is where fan bases get the idea still that they have power and can threaten things but if the lack of impact on the ratings of Days that Drake and Dee's departure has made doesn't put an end to it nothing will.

For weeks and months we got the threats that Days was over when they were gone and that ratings would tumble after they were gone. Nothing has happened - in fact Days except for this week has gone up each week.

I agree with you that the days when couples or faves had that type of impact just are not there anymore.

[DRW50]

I don't think AMC has competition from GL at the moment. 1.9 is a low for AMC (although not an all time low, I assume), and 1.7 is GL's best number this year. AMC can always bounce back up, and probably will. I have my theories as to what is driving AMC viewers away (Rendall is a bad idea, Zach and Kendall as a couple are ruined, Zach is unwatchable, Zach/Reese continue to be a bizarre and unappealing relationship, stories like JR/Amanda/David/Jake/Krystal have managed to make all parties too unsympathetic to care about), but they will probably go back up next week. There's no way of knowing what's going to work on any given day, or what outside factors will be. Obviously some parts of AMC still work because the ratings have good periods and then fluctuate. The increased airtime for old favorites like Opal is a sign AMC can still play to some of their strengths.

I'd love to eventually see GL get to a 1.8 but I'm mostly just happy they didn't drop. Last week was very good and this week was good. I know they may move back towards some annoying stories soon, so I hope viewers who have given the show another chance will stay. I think many of the day to day episodes have been decent, not just some parts of them, and I hope that will continue, because that's a good way to get people to keep watching.

SteveFrame, there were some other people, like the late Kahlil Lowry, who saw some of what you saw in Jessica Leccia. I think a lot of viewers couldn't get past the triangle with Gus and Harley or how annoying Rafe was. Now that she's more on her own and is in the story with Olivia that uses her as more than a plot device, people have given her more of a chance.

[jfung79]

Yay, GL! The "Phillip effect" has not just been a brief bounce, it has been sustained for a month and a half, so I am happy. I think it is funny though that GL must have gained viewers last week among boys and women over 49 since they dropped in all the demos listed.

I have never disliked Natalia (and Rafe too, I don't think he is annoying).

About viewership being lower as the week goes on, I think part of this is because people tape their shows and don't watch them till the weekend if they fall behind during the week. That's what I do. Those weekend viewings don't count in these ratings, right?

[Phoenix11]

Speaking for myself, I gave up on Y&R weeks ago. At least for now - I usually come back around to watching it again eventually. However, I continue to thoroughly enjoy Guiding Light.

I think it had to do with the writing and the fact that she was in the Gush storyline. I never cared for Gush, but I know they had a huge fanbase and most couldn't stand Natalia for coming between them. I always thought she had potential to be a breakout actress and like some others, saw the sparks between her and Olivia even when Natalia was with Gus. Now that she is one half of the most well-crafted and beautifully told storyline in daytime, she has shown what she can do. Crystal gets a lot of the credit (as she should), but Jessica is holding her own. It's a shame GL's ratings aren't reflecting the quality story-telling. IMHO, it's the "best show you're not watching".

[josephm68]

i'm with yah 100% phoenix....it's the best soap i've seen in years. i even LOVE the production...to watch other soaps now....ugh...it's just soooo fake that I find it distracting....Y&R had a commercial with someone in a car in the studio...i laughed when i saw it...i think guiding light is really onto something here...it's terrific...and I hope more people check it out....but be warned...when you check it out...it is very hard to go back to the fake outdoor scenes etc. with the old fashioned soaps - or soaps that use just 2-3 sets for days....

[DRW50]

I do like the new production values for the outside footage more often than not. I don't think they're on the same level as Y&R, which has a bigger budget and also has Paul Rauch, who is the king of good production values. I can see where people would rather look at Y&R than GL. It's more the ABC soaps where the studio stuff is starting to bother me.

I'd really like to see GL eventually be able to improve their production values just slightly and keep using the location work, because I think it's the interior sets that may put viewers off. I think more and more of the outside footage is of a decent quality, and helps add to the appeal.

[JimTolkien]

I wouldn't go knocking fanbases thinking that they don't matter because the fact is the fanbases we are looking at are mostly online and I wouldn't even begin to think how low a percentage of the total soap viewing population that is but it could be growing. Now if the online fanbase is generally unhappy with a story, it will cause TPTB to constantly wonder and be aware if that unhappiness will manifest itself in the rest of the non-online audience as well. Kind of like snapshot polls in politics LOL!!

I think TPTBs and longtime fans of soaps are conceited and arrogant enough to continue to believe that soaps do matter. And you know what they really don't. It is only a matter of time before the genre sinks itself because it is not creative and innovative enough and longtime fans won't let the shows be creative and innovative enough. We all don't want the writing to step "outside the box" because we have been used to soaps being a certain for way for too long and we don't like change. We say we want it but when it does happen we are not comfortable and want it to go back to what it was.

I am a longtime fan of soaps and I never been so bored with the genre. I read more about the shows now than I actually watch or I will be in the middle of watching and I would just switch the channel out of frustration of seeing the same stories over and over and over. And then I don't want to see what's on for the next day. I love nostalgia as much as anyone can but more times than not going backwards just hold you back. I want to see something different more times than I don't want to see something different.

And nary a single one of the writers on ANY soaps can do what we all wish for...and that's QUALITY STORYTELLING. Because if we did have QUALITY STORYTELLING, there is no way that new fans would not be flocking to the shows to give them a boost. Or there is no way, the shows would be losing their longtime fans either. The shows can't keep relying on all us longtime viewers to sustain them like our ever dwindling 401(k) plans and Social Security! (I am not that old yet, just saying). And seeing as the shows are using other mediums to try and entice viewers to try out a soap, you would actually think the genre would be becoming more popular but no, it is going in the other direction. No one evens wants to do the Daytime Emmys anymore and viewers don't care to watch it either. And we can justify it by using all the excuses in the book like no one stays at home anymore, or the easily used excuse these days, the weather, or some other excuse when the ratings don't go up because we have "QUALITY STORYTELLING".

Somewhere in the bowels of the networks, there are "think tanks" trying to figure out how the heck we get around this money-losing aspect of our business.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I agree, GL because it's the only soap using this production model stands out, and not particularly in a good way, IMO. Soaps have been shot in studios for years, so it's only natural. And while the production model has improved somewhat from where it was a year ago, it's still not very polished IMO. The camera angles, closeups, filtering, and lighting are all grotesque IMHO. I think part of GL's ratings erosion last year had to with this production model, not the storytelling per se, because the show looked different, it felt different to many longtime fans. Also, you can tell the show is produced on a very tight budget when compared to other soaps, it just doesn't look very grand or polished, but some might like that rough look GL carries. If they had more money and better technical producers, this production model could've been so much better

I really hope no other soap suffers so much budget and ratings-wise to have to stoop so low and adopt GL's production model. It's just not particularly flattering and too much of a drastic change. Let's not forget GL had to adopt this production model because it had very little money, not because it was artistically the best thing to do.

[rhinohide]

Thank you!

I don't think the positioning really matters that much. I do think losing total viewers from one week to the next would be alarming. I certainly do not claim to know how tptb interpret these results, but as for Days? I would think being up 54,000 viewers from last year would be a hollow victory vs. losing over 200,000 from last week. I have no idea what this time last year was like for that soap (or last week for that matter), but if I were in charge, I'd be concerned. Perhaps the previous week was the anomoly -- unusually high due to outside circumstances not directly related to what was airing?

As spotty as I think OLTL is right now (some days are effin' brilliant and then the next is mind-numblingly boring or stupid) I am pleased that they seem to be holding their ratings and their HH numbers week-to-week. That's what I've wanted to see for my favorite soap (besides good programming each and every day that is). Reduced volatility and slow and steady positive progression.

[DRW50]

For years soaps were able to do location shooting as well as studio work. Events which needed more of a bang had location work. Or even if the soaps stayed in the studio, they managed to have some decent simulations of the outside (I think OLTL and Y&R still do this well). Now when I watch AMC and Greenlee goes over the cliff, I'm more inclined to laugh than to be caught up in the drama, because it just looks so ridiculous. Or when I hear GH going on about their great special effects for stunts like the Black and White ball, and then what you get onscreen is unintentionally hilarious CGI. Not that GL was that much better with their Grady dummy freefalling, but I thought the location work did add to the intensity of what was going on.

I don't think anyone is saying GL happily abandoned what they used to be. Some of us are just saying that there are some benefits to the new production model.

I watched GL when they were all about production values, during the Conboy era, and I thought the show itself became repulsive, regardless of the packaging. Now, with cheaper budgets and lower production values, I'm enjoying the show more than I have since somewhere around 2002. I don't mean this improvement in quality is because of the production, obviously it isn't, I just mean that for me at least, I'm really not bothered by the changes in the way they film. I'd like to see them have the money to go back to some of what they were, but I think sometimes people just focus on the production flaws and not on anything else.

[JONNYSBRO]

GL about six months ago was dead in the water. Now since it has been a year since the new production model took over they got Grant back but there biggest buzz of all is OTALIA. In fact Otalia is overshadowing Grant in every way. The buzz, groundswell, and all the fans writing in about Otalia is enormous. Jessica Leccia went from being one of the most unpopular actresses on GL to now one of the most popular. Crystal/Jessica are getting some of the most mail of all the CBS soaps. CBS and Telenext are shocked as they put all their energy in Grant but Otalia is the major buzz. The ratings have stablizied and gone up and the viewership up. Three months ago GL was hitting all time lows but I am telling you right now GL is close to getting a one year renewel. If GL is renewed for another year, it all due to Otalia. This is their money couple. Natalia will marry Frank but they need to make the big Otalia moment huge for GL. Compare ATWT when Nuke never gets promoted but Nuke is nowhere near as popular as Otalia. Honestly GL is delivering a profit right now. The show is about 50 to 60% less expensive then GH which is delivering not much better numbers.

[Phoenix11]

You had me until........ Natalia will marry Frank. Ain't gonna happen.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Occasional location shoots differ a great deal from what GL is doing, IMO. When soaps do location shoots here and there, they have much more time to focus on what they're doing, assembling good coordination, and they don't tend to shoot with the types of cameras GL is using. I mean, compare the picture quality (not the writing and acting) between GL's current look and the occasional location work B&B and ATWT do, there's a huge difference in picture quality and overall aesthetics.

Unfortunately, that's a recurring theme with Conboy - all looks and no substance.

If soaps had to adopt a model like this, I'd hope that they can find some middle ground, or some type of hybrid. For example, I LOVED the way The City was filmed and incorporated lush studio sets with location footage though a filmic filter. I've heard it cost some money, but I think The City never had that much of big budget to begin with, and they pulled it off effortlessly. The writing and acting are another topic altogether.

[brwnsugar33]

The fans of Jason and Elizabeth do not create thousands of email addresses. There is a lot of us Liason fans that vote for our favorite couple. Besides you can only vote once from a email address cause they track your ip address for each vote.

[jfung79]

Are there hard numbers on Nuke being "nowhere near as popular as Otalia"? Both seem popular to me, for good reason, and both also have detractors. Also, Nuke do get promoted, and I thought that was some fans' complaint actually, that for a time there was too much Nuke "hype."