March 9-13, 2009

[SteveFrame]

There has been too much hype for Nuke and Otalia is quckly approaching that too.

They have both been tooted way too early and way too quickly for many.

But so were couples like Zendell and EJami and so many others.

They all have these fan bases that often make claims that often can't be supported by hard evidence. The Otalia love on this board seems small to what I have read on other boards.

I was on one board yesterday where an Otalia fan made the same mention that a Zach/Zendell fan made here in the last 2 weeks. They said you could tell Otalia was the most popular because of the number of visits that an Otalia thread had gotten on that board.

I guess the ratings must be really popular then if that is what we can go by.

[Rakesh]

GL was better this week than AMC, IMO. When I watched AMC this week, I was like wtf is this? lol

I don't believe Otalia is bringing big numbers. Toups should post the 50+ demos and we'll see who Grant is bringing in. On YouTube, all my Grant videos are DOMINATED by the 50+ demos. If you upload videos to YT, click on "insight" and you'll see. I would expect Otalia to bring in 18-49.

[Rakesh]

Okay, I just took a few screenshots of 3 videos and the Otalia one was very shocking.

I was really expecting the 18-34 to be high but I was proven wrong. I guess everyone is loving this hot storyline.

[Phoenix11]

Otalia is cross-generational. Their newer youtube videos are hitting over 10,000 hits and some have hit over 14,000. Even more than the kissing episode. I expect their numbers to go higher for older eps as more people get caught up on their story. There was a poll done recently on the BPD site of members ages and most were 30+, with many in their 40s and 50s - I think that age range ended up having more than any other. And that's just on that site. Otalia appeals to viewers of all ages, races, and sexual orientation because the core is a beautiful, slow-developing, well-written, supercouple-in-the-making love story.

[saveGL]

Did someone in hear mention that GL is getting picked up? That would make my week! Could not imagine GL not on the air!

[Guest dc cubs]

I don't watch ATWT so I can't speak to Nuke but Steve, I have to respectfully disagree that Otalia was tooted too early. In her Buzzworthy interview Crystal Chappell said this storyline has been in the works since January 2008. It has taken about a year to develop and really started hitting its stride in January of this year and that is when GL started promoting it.

Yes, I'm an Otalia fan but I do also realize that there are other factors involved in why GL has gotten better lately. Grant's return has really helped and opened up story possibilities. I also like Jeff Branson as the new Shayne. Some stories are still uneven but IMO the show is getting better. There is still room for a lot of improvement.

So yes, Otalia has helped to improve GL but it isn't the only reason and there are other factors involved too.

[Soapsuds]

Well, I am in the 30's+ category and I am watching because of Phillip's return. I could care less about Otalia. I highly doubt GL's numbers have gone up because of Otalia. GL's numbers starting going up as soon as Grant returned. Otalia was already started by then.

I doubt Otalia will bring in the 18-49.

[DRW50]

They definitely have bigger budgets and probably more experienced hands, but I have to admit that when I do see those location shoots, I don't really think, "Wow, this is incredible." The last time I've done that was B&B's big shoot where Thorne proposed to Macy and Becky got her baby back from Amber. It's like when Sarah almost went over the falls on OLTL last year -- I knew they were going to extra expense and I appreciated the effort, but I just kept thinking about how stupid the story was.

I think a lot of the recent GL location work has enhanced the drama, even though they're not as technologically proficient as shows with more skilled people or bigger budgets. That's not to say it shouldn't improve.

Many fan bases do this. There's no way to find hard evidence for most fan claims. I even used to see people who insisted that Luke and Laura had very little to do with GH's success in the early 80s.

I'm not really sure if all the fan bases can be compared. The most you can say about Otalia is they have passionate fans. So do many other fan bases. The fan groups who send death threats to actors, or who spread ugly rumors about actors, those are fans I think are too much. When I watched DAYS during the EJami days, their fans weren't what put me off, it was the fact that DAYS chose to have him force her to have sex with him, then continued to throw them together while taking an eternity to say whether or not what he did was supposed to be seen as rape.

I can see where they may seem overhyped, and I don't agree with the idea that they're singlehandedly behind GL's improvement (I give Phillip more of the credit, I give the most credit to the more consistently improved writing), but I don't think their fan base has become some impossible monolith. They're probably just one of the only popular new couples (or possible couples, I should say) created by GL in the past few years.

[Phoenix11]

Actually they did start going up pre-Phillip's return. GL hit the first 1.8 in a VERY long time on 2/4, the day that Olivia confronted Doris about the My Two Mommies press conference. The days surrounding that were a 1.7. Pre-Phillip's return, the biggest days were Otalia days and the HH dropped off the days they weren't on. I don't think that we can give credit for GL's rise in numbers solely to one person/story, but I don't think anyone should discount Otalia's influence on the numbers. I think Jeff Branson/Gina Tognoni deserve some credit too, because they are rocking all their scenes and keep me entertained whenever they are on screen, together or apart. And as much as people don't like her, I think we need to give EW credit and moreso, JLH. If not for the writing (I credit JLH), these amazing actors would not enjoy coming to work and we'd still see the same drivel we've seen the past few years.

Like I said, we can't attribute it solely to any one story/couple, but even though you may not be watching because of them, Otalia is a force to be reckoned with and has drawn in many viewers, some who have never watched a soap before. And I also still contend that if GL aired in all markets/better time slots, it would not be at the bottom of the ratings.

[jfung79]

I agree with what seems to be the consensus that everyone deserves a little credit for GL's ratings uptick, not just one person or one story. I do think the pre-Phillip return numbers were already higher in anticipation of Phillip coming back soon, not just because of Otalia, though. Also, I think all the head writers should be getting praise or blame -- Jill Lorie Hurst is not the sole head writer.